Chaos 2 Calm : Create A Safe Haven When Yours Is Falling Apart

I hate times like this! Everything's going fine and dandy when--WHAM--outta nowhere three of four things happen at once and they throw your home into disarray. In the past week and a half we've had Thanksgiving, sewage backed up in our bathroom tub, my best friend had her new precious baby, and we found out the house we've designed and planned to buy is not going to work out. Ups, downs, Ups, downs...sigh!

Didn't it turn out beautifu?l!! Too bad it won't be ours.

At times like this life has a way of taking on a temper all it's own. It throws curve balls straight at my head and makes sure that every mess imaginable is made all in the same week.

I know I'm exaggerating a bit, but that is how it feels. And at times like this, I have to force myself back to daily life and clean up all the many messes that've gone unchecked for days as I've wallowed in a haze of holidays and disappointment and who-cares and lots and lots of cooking.

So, when life throws curve balls and you're ready to move on, where do you start?

Creating A Safe Haven:

I start with creating a safe haven for the kiddoes to play while I get my patooty into high gear cleaning up the mess I've allowed to develop. Ya know...a place that my children can roll around on the floor, watch some Netflix, do a little school, and still feel, and even more importantly be, safe...while I spend a few hours cleaning up the house again.

I know none of you EVER let your house get over run with messes. But, just in case you do I put together some ideas.

What Makes a Haven Safe?

I think that depends on the age of the children, and each parent has to determine that for themselves. For a 15 year old it may just be a cleaned off table where they can focus on their school work, but for a toddler it might require picking up every small thing they might find, vacuuming the floor, making sure there's an older sibling around to keep an eye out, etc. I'll show you what I do for my 10, 7, and 14 month old.

First, I pick the nearest room to where I'll be working that's comfortable, easiest to clean up, and already has some entertainment for the kids. This makes it so much easier to prepare.

Next I gather a few things to help the clean-up process go faster:

No, the baby doesn't make it go faster...but it does entertain him while we work. I need two laundry baskets and a trash bag. This allows me to pick up all the dirty clothes/towels, trash, and gather everything in the room that doesn't belong in there without having to make a bazillion trips to other rooms.

The living room, for instance, doesn't have a trash can or a laundry basket that belongs in there. So, if I didn't have these I'd be taking multiple trips to the kitchen trash can, a few to the bathroom laundry basket, and dozens of trips to other rooms to put stow-aways back in their proper places. This way, I make only three trips after I'm all cleaned up. One to put the trash out, one to put the laundry basket up, and one to hand the basket to the kids and let them run a bazillion places to put all their escapees away.

It always gets super messy right by where I sit when I'm resting, writing, and snuggling with the kids--or staring at the t.v. trying to forget that the move is not going as planned.

And the floor gets to looking like this in one, maybe two days.

Then, because I have a toddler, I'm really careful to look around for small objects and/or vacuum the main areas that he'll be playing in and around.

Do you see that big 'ol smile on his face? Bubzy is absolutely in love with our vacuum. He dances around until I let him surf on it.

So, this is our living room and dining room all set up for Safe Haven.

Now, when Abby is watching her little brothers while I go on a mission of massive house catch up, I have no worries. I just stay close and check in often, while I know they're in Safe Haven.