I've just started a diet/exercise program and I just can't keep up! I get up at 6, work from 8-6:30, work out until 8, come home and shower, make and eat dinner, pack my lunch, etc. for the next day...and then it's 10 and I haven't done anything "me" all day, let alone clean. I know I'm doing this for the right reasons, but I just can't seem to juggle it all. Any tips on being better organized?

Have you ever looked into that Flylady newsletter? Some people swear by it. Personally, I don't think I'll ever truly be organized and my husband is even worse. I feel that the sink, stovetop and microwave should be super clean and do the best that I can elsewhere in the kitchen and try not to stress too much about it. The stress is bad for a diet. Hang in there! That you care about it says you are trying to be a neat and clean person. BJK

I would say get yourself some routines. I know what you are going thru. I have 2 boys under the age of 5....I go to school full-time.....I have been exercising like crazy.....I have a DH to take care of too. I used to be just like you. But then I found a site

http://www.flylady.com

it works!! You just have to start slowly and build yourself some routines to get you thru your morning and evening.

Hope this helps.

Misty

First of all, welcome to the 3 fat chicks forum, and a big congrats for beginning a new lifestyle! Now, on to your question. Sometimes you just have to pick your battles. If your kitchen is clean enough to be healthy, does it really matter if it's simply messy? If if does matter, you can follow the good advice the others have given you, or try to enlist some assistance from the family members who are helping to make the mess.

OMG, keeping healthy means my house is messier. I'm dealing with it, tho!

I agree with Jane and Wyllen! There are times when things around the house just don't get done. I have to prioritize, and for me getting this weight off and getting healthy again is very high on my priority list.

What do you do on weekends? Can you cook several things for the week and freeze them (either in individual containers for lunches, or for dinners/meals when you get home? When life gets crazy during my weeks I block off sunday afternoon to do several nights' worth of cooking for the week. It helps!

I crockpot on weekends and have all kinds of individual freezer portions in bags, both for lunches and dinners. Sure makes life easier.

I save all my cleaning for Sundays. It's my only day off. I know what you are going threw. I work 6 days a week 10 hours a day. I have 2 children under the age of 4 and I work out 5 days a week. Husband isnt much help as he works 45 hours a week and goes to school 20 hours a week. I say just make sure the sink and stove is sanitary and leave the rest of the stuff for the weekend. Hope you come up with something. Good luck!

Thanks for all of your words of encouragement! I am going to look up some good freezer recipes that I can use. I have Friday off so I'm going to do a mass cleaning/organizing and hopefully that will start me off on the right foot! Mainly I'm glad I found a place to rant with people who understand what I'm going through in trying to resist chocolate (which takes a lot of energy) and doing laundry!

Girl if it was illegal to have a messy kitchen (or house for that matter) they would have thrown me in jail and threw away the key a long time ago.

Remember a clean house just means the computer is broken!

Oh, shoot... it doesn't even hurt anything if sink and the stove aren't sanitary. My kitchen has been in a terrible state for years and years, with maybe one day semi-clean out of 10.... and no one's died of food poisoning yet.

Although, I must admit, that when people leave dirty dishes piled in the sink and then someone washes their hands or dumps a drink in and the dirty water starts rotting in the dishes.... it's really, really gross when you get around to cleaning it up- and there probably is some merit in not letting it get that way in the first place.... but I really can't bring myself to get stressed about it.

I clean it when I have time and energy and motivation. Otherwise, it's in a constant state of disarray and decay. It doesn't hurt anything- it's just unpleasant.

Peace and harmony in my household are much more important to me than cleanliness... and I'm much more likely to have them than if I'm stressing about cleanliness levels, and/or making my teens clean up.

By the way, we are a full cooking household. Meals from scratch, almost every meal- so things get dirty fast. The dishwasher helps, but there are so many things that can't go in it, and they do stack up in the sink after just a little while.

You can't have everything. We have good food, and messy surrroundings. It's not a sitation I could stand, reversed!

LOL Maria... I agree. My kitchen is such a mess right now that my clothes dryer broke and I am waiting to call management until I can get the mess cleaned up since I don't want them coming in and seeing this place! It would be nice if I kept it all nice and clean... but life just keeps getting in the way. And when I walk so much and then work out other ways, I am TIRED!

I also find taking a few hours on the weekend to cook and freeze meals really helps. Not only does it save me cooking time during the week but clean up is much easier too. I buy the aluminum pans to freeze my meals in. After dinner I either just put a piece of foil over the leftovers or toss the whole thing. The only mess I have to contend with is the dishes we eat from.

A change in attitude will make you feel better about things too. You say that 10 pm rolls around and you haven't done anything "me" all day. What if you started thinking of your work out as "me" time? Taking time to plan healthy meals is "me" time when you consider that you are doing to to make yourself a happier, healthier person. Try not to think of these wonderful things you are doing for yourself as just one more thing that has to get done. They are for YOU. Enjoy them and don't lump them in with all the other awful chores that we all tend to dread and have to make ourselves do.

But, to answer your orignal question...it is perfectly okay to have a messy kitchen! And I'm one of those compulsive neat freaks that drives other people crazy so it should mean a lot coming from me!