Oh PLEASE help me...(vent)

[Brightdays]

I am and need a bit of motivation. I have so much to do that I feel like I'm getting NOWHERE!
I clean the house, do laundry, home school, cook 3 to 4 meals a day, do dishes and at the end of the night my house looks like I have done NOTHING. When I think of everything that needs to get done, I just want to cry. Believe me I am a schedule type person that lives by a daily schedule BUT for the past week my schedule is completely off and I feel very lost.

I have not even started Christmas shopping yet and we have many family members coming to visit starting next week. :doh My mother asked if I was ready to cook Christmas dinner for 40 to 50 people yesterday and I said firmly, "No I am not" then I got the guilty feeling after she says "Well I guess we'll have to find out what restaurants are open". I get no help to cook these big meals unless my DH is home to help.

My house needs to be completely cleaned AGAIN.

I have to :
Clean the entire house (and it is not small) from top to bottom
Do ALL of the laundry, fold, put away
Go grocery shopping
Start Christmas shopping
Do the front yard that is full of leaves
Still continue to homeschool (may need to take a vacation)
Get rid of old, broken toys to make room for new stuff to get broken

Please tell me where to begin. I feel like just going back to bed and crying over this. The stress is just so overwhelming. This is the part of the holiday season I can not handle very well.

[RealLifeMama]

:hugheart

40 or 50 people is a lot!! I strongly encourage you to find some dishes you can get already prepared, like from a local market or restaurant that does holiday meals (Honey Baked Ham, upscale grocery, etc) to help you out with a few dishes. There is no shame in that. My family used to do that all the time because we traveled for holidays and it was great!!

I completely understand the overwhelm and crying feeling. I really do. :hugheart

Laundry: if it is piled up all over the place, like Mt. Washmore forget doing it "the right way" like you would normally do. Gather it, go through it all and do the amount of laundry that was not fitting in the hamper, but wash the clothes that you need for the next few days, even if it means mixing some colorfast colors and light things. (shout color catchers are a wonderful!) This is so that it fits neatly in your hamper,Does that make sense? That way, it can sit in the hamper for a while and you will still have clothes to wear. Then just do one load a day until you get caught up.

Shopping- gift cards are available at the grocery now. Works in a pinch. You can get nice gift card holders at some stores, too.

Do any of your stores do online shopping? It is worth the extra money (5 or so dollars here) in pinches like this. You can add a few items to your list as you think of them or have a chance to do it, and then check out a few hours before you can go pick up your stuff.

Let school books go, and let your children do Christmas prep in a fun and educational way. I do not know how old your children are (didn't read signature before I started rambling) but mine are writing Christmas cards, copying carols, doing crafts, helping me bake (double recipes), writing lists that I dictate to them (spelling and handwriting practice), reading Christmas books, etc. Can your children rake for you? Mine raked last weekend. They were excited to do it. They can do the old, broken toy thing, too, or at least get it started.

As far as cleaning, other people have to give you advice on that one. :haha But, laundry baskets are your friend to stash and dash, and then you can actually clean. Also, when I am in crisis mode, I go ahead and take shortcuts like lysol wipes that I don't normally use.

I am the last person to give advice on homekeeping, but I wanted to :cheer for you and let you know it will all be OK. Really, it will.
You are opening your home to others and as long as it is sanitary, it is OK. It does not have to be perfect. As long as it is clean enough to be sanitary, people do not focus on the cleanliness of the house or how perfect it looks if they are having a good time and a hospitable hostess. They should be coming to see you, not the house. It will be OK. Do what you can. 15 min in each room should help a lot.

:cheer

[klpmommy]

totally online shop if you can. You can shop at your convenience, it is less stressful than going with the kids in these crowds. And for the most part the shipping charges are going to be equivalent to the gas spent driving at $3/gallon.

From another messy here- my housecleaning advice- clean what is going to be seen. Your bedroom isn't going to be seen (probably?) so I wouldn' worry so much about that, but your foyer/entrance, family areas, kitchen-- those will be seen. I would work on those.

Are your kids old enough to do the leaves? Or at least help with them? Can you rent or borrow a leaf blower to make it quicker? I love shoveling snow, I hate raking leaves. Thankfully the snow is mostly hiding the leaves right now.

Get rid of old broken toys while you & the kids do clean up. If you don't want them to see what you are throwing away, just have a separate bin during clean up to put things in that are broken, then put that bin in the garage out of sight. In a month toss the contents. That will give your kids time to see if there is something that they can't live w/o even if it is broken.

:hug :cheer You can do this!!!

[Brightdays]

You guys ROCK!!! :rockon

Ok I'm off to start this project. I'll update tonight to let you know how it goes.

:nails

[RealLifeMama]

How's it going?