When Life Gets Busy: Doing the Bare Minimum to Stay Afloat

I wrote a post a few weeks ago showing pictures of my messy home after a particularly busy time this summer.  It was well received and many of you commented on how you appreciated my honesty and that you felt better knowing that even a professional organizer's house gets cluttered sometimes.  You definitely helped me feel a little better about my mess and my decision to share it publically :)

I've been meaning to do an update post to show you the after pictures and give some tips on how you can cope and not get as overwhelmed during those particularly busy times when "life" happens.  Only I've still been quite busy so I never did.

Yesterday, I finally went to get started on the update post.  But, when I went to delete what I thought was a draft of a post I started earlier, I actually deleted the original post with all my messy house pictures. 

And I haven't backed up my blog recently.  Because, well, life's been busy.  Back to school, sick kids, new organizing clients.  You know how how it is (well your busy things will likely be different than mine but you get the idea).

Yep.  The post was gone.  Grrr.

When Life Happens: A Professional Organizer's Messy Home (Recovered Version)

[Note: I accidentally deleted this post yesterday but I was able to recover the content so I'm re-posting it today.  If you commented on the original post, those comments are now lost :(  I'd love it if you commented on this post again!]

Do you get overwhelmed at times when things get busy and you can't keep up?  You're in a hurry in the morning so dishes are left in the sink.  You rush home and drop what's in your arms at the door.  Things pile up to deal with "later".

Usually you you can stay on top of things, but there are those periods when it's hard to keep up.

Life happens to all of us.  Including professional organizers.

I've mentioned several times this summer that I have a few clients that I'm doing a lot of work for, including one who had to declutter and organize her whole home to prepare to sell it.  I love my job but I've been working so much this summer that I'm not keeping up at my home.

I've been rushing out the door in the morning to drop my kids of at day camps or grandparents' homes, working long days, picking the kids up, quickly getting dinner ready, and then racing out to baseball practices or games or other activities most evenings.  By the time we're all home and the kids are in bed, I'm pooped out and need to recharge before doing it all over again.

One of the drawbacks of helping others declutter and organize their homes is that I end up being too tired sometimes to deal with our home.  I'm not always as busy as I've been lately, but now that I've got a few weeks without clients, I need to take back my house!  I looked around my house this morning and this is what I saw.