Prepare For a Little Imbalance While Moving

Everyone needs balance in their lives, which I've slowly learned and am still learning. But, just like it's okay to have absolutely no school in the summer months, it's also okay to get completely into decluttering and packing for two months straight. Life will not end--I promise.

Other than laundry and dishes and tidying, pretty much everything else in the house is taking a back seat right now. No dusting, no deep bathroom cleaning, no mopping the kitchen floor, etc. All of my housekeeping duties have shifted to pulling stuff out and getting rid of clutter. Gasp! Call the cleaning police! You're not cleaning your toilet???

Clorox wipes and a little swish every now and then are in order, but here's a little secret. It takes about 10 minutes to clean a toilet and 15 minutes to clean a bathtub no matter if it's been two days or two months. Really! If you've ever been on bed rest or had a broken limb, you've probably learned that. Or, if you're imperfect like the rest of us, you've let it go before out of pure laziness.

Same goes for dusting. Did you know it takes you the very same amount of time to dust a surface whether it's got a coat of dust or is dust free? Remove items, spray endust, and wipe. You may have to turn the dust rag a few times more, but no biggy. And I venture to say, that unless you live in New Mexico, two months of not dusting will barely show a difference. Besides, you'll be doing your fair share as soon as the house starts showing!

The only things that seem to truly take a whole lot longer if they get backed up are, dishes (but not excruciatingly longer), laundry--my personal nemesis, and tidying. Keep these things at bay and leave the rest of the housekeeping til after packing and clutter-ridding is under your whip.

Other not-so-balanced move changes:

There are other imbalances that are okay to happen too. Here are a few of them that I can think of:

• You are the queen of the home-schooling ring and your kiddoes are in music lessons, do science experiments weekly, write a paper on the theory of relativity just for fun, get a full hour of nature study daily, chart the cycles of the moon...and of course do a lesson a day in math, reading, science, literature, ancient history, social sciences, and handwriting. It won't kill the children to have basic math practice and reading daily and starve the rest of their subjects for a while. Actually, they will probably come back invigorated.
• You are the chef of your Sunday school class and cook three new recipes every week, experiment with new flavors and herbs, and need every cooking tool in your kitchen. You're family will not hate you, and neither will your Sunday school class, if you bring it all down to your 7 most frequently cooked meals, and pack away all that don't apply for the new house.
• You are the family woman of the year. You have game nights every Monday, Family movie nights every Friday, The kid's spend the night on a rotating basis, and you always spend time at your parent's house at least once a week so the kids can build stronger relationships with their extended family. Oh yeah, and you barbecue once a month for a social gathering. Unless you are in need of one of these things for a rest, give it a rest for a temporary time. Your children will survive with Uno as the game of the week and maybe Friday night movie is a necessity for YOU, but come on. You and your family can get right back to it after the move. It won't destroy your family to work together more than play together for a couple of months.
• Your childrens' rooms look like a tornado hit them daily, but you can't possibly take their childhood away by packing their toys, right? Wrong! Pack those babies up and get rid of a whole lot while you're at it. Let them keep out a favorite set and something imaginative that never gets boring, such as legos. The rest gets packed. They will not loose their childhood for it. They will more likely find it.
• Etc.

You get the idea. Balancing life is wonderful and necessary, but it also means balancing STUFF! That stuff needs to be downsized and put out of sight to sale your house. That doesn't mean life doesn't go on, it just goes on in a downplayed, simpler manner. Love doesn't leave your home when you stop cooking fried chicken or sewing homemade gifts, it just shifts to another means of showing it, like curling up on the couch and watching Swiss Family Robinson.

So, allow yourself a little imbalance in life and it'll make your move just that much easier.