Monday

Take a Peek Inside My Home

House porch with wicker furniture and flowers

Do you ever feel like you just can't pull it together when it comes to homemaking? 

Have you found yourself feeling discouraged about the disarray in your home even though you aren't slacking off? 

Do you thumb through magazines or browse Pinterest and ever wonder why your house can't look like that (and all on a dime of course)?

Maybe, when you come across top decorating bloggers on the web you feel that your home is far inferior because it isn't magazine worthy?
 
Well, it's time to be real with each other. You and I are not homemaking failures just because our homes aren't picture perfect 24/7 (or maybe ever). What we see online, on TV and on Pinterest is not reality and we need to stop comparing our real life to someone else's still shot life. 
As you may have noticed, I've been posting some pictures of my real (messy) life on my Facebook page. In so doing, I'm certainly not advocating living in a mess. I actually strongly prefer things to be neat, tidy, picked up and clean, but the reality is, there are 6 people living in this small house. Four of those precious people require a lot of my time and attention just to be educated, fed and cared for and the fifth one, my husband, I love to be with and most often choose time with him in the evenings over loading the dishwasher.
 
While I feel that I function better mentally and emotionally in a clean, organized little house, most days I have had to adjust my expectations.
 
Sometimes that means the clean laundry is on the living room floor longer than I would like it to be, the dishes have spanned the length of the counter once again and the floor goes unswept a little longer than I would like.

And it's okay.
 
So when I had the opportunity to join several other bloggers on a Keepin' It Real Home Tour, I knew that was something I wanted to be a part of. You may have already seen my real life pictures on Facebook, but in case you haven't, now's your chance! (Make sure you check out the other home tours at the end of this post).

Here's my personal "Real Life" tour of our home. Does every room that I am showing you look this every day? Thankfully not, but the whole point of this tour is to show you the real life aspect, not the tidied up look for a photo op. And if you look closely, there are hidden treasures in each pictures. If you can't find them I'll help you out. :)
 
My Real Bedroom

 
Visible: Bed not made, clean laundry waiting to be put away and books for my next blog post.
 
Invisible: The hasty departure from my warm bed to take care of children who  needed me, getting everyone ready to head to ISR lessons for younger children so they are safe in the water and a peanut dose that needed to be given right away;  a bed to sleep in complete with pillows (and extras for those who like them); a queen size bed to share with my husband; clean, warm sheets and comforter; books from a library; the ability to read; clean clothes.
 
 
My Real Laundry "Room"
 
 
Visible: The massive amount of weekly laundry that needs to be done and the extreme lack of space for all of it. This is what this space looks like every Monday and a few loads are left for Tuesday. I save up all of our laundry all week and do all my washing and drying on one or two days. (I used to be able to get it all washed and dried in one day but my washer doesn't always start like it's supposed to so it's guaranteed to take me two days now).
 
Invisible: Multiple outfits for 6 family members; an extra capacity sized washing machine, an electric dryer, a floor to put it all on.
 
 
My Real Living Room
 

 Visible: Clean laundry waiting to be taken upstairs and put away. Happy children playing a game. :)
 
Invisible: Not sure what is invisible here because I've already touched on the hidden blessings of laundry, but I am thankful for a cool learning game that our kids love and sweet brothers enjoying their time together.
 
 
My Real Kitchen
 
 
Visible: Recycling bag hanging on door and never ending dirty dishes, minimal clutter. I would like to say this isn't the daily look but it usually is. Somehow it all (mostly) gets done but it usually can't be dealt with until later afternoon or early evening.
 
Invisible: Way more than one dish and utensil per person, food to eat on those dishes, a dishwasher that washes and sanitizes our dishes for me, running water, newer cupboards and countertops that my husband stained and installed himself to save us money, the ability to stand and cook for my family and the gift of a family to cook for.
 
 
So there you have it. A glimpse into our real life home. How fun that instead of taking a house tour of someone's immaculate, magazine-worthy home, you get to see real, unedited homes with people living in them and who, like in our case, don't have the money for fancy furniture and decorations. (Don't get me wrong, I LOVE my episodes of Fixer Upper because it does give me inspiration, but the truth of the matter is, those homes probably don't look like that much past the 24 hour mark!)
 
Those of us participating in this home tour hope that through these tours you are encouraged to know that nobody has it all together in every area of their life and that's okay. We also hope that you have fun peeking into the life of another family and getting a glimpse of how other families live and, most importantly, to dispel the myth that everyone else has it all together.
  
 
BUT WAIT!  We want to see your homes too! Even if you aren't a blogger, you can join us and share pictures of your home on Instagram.  For the next six days we will have a little Instagram challenge with each day having a different topic for you to post a picture on.  Check out the graphic below to see what is assigned for each day.  Be sure to use the hashtag #KeepinItRealHomeTour on all your Instagram posts so we can find each other easily. 

Keepin It Real Home Tour IG Challenge
An InLinkz Link-up

Current Sponsor:

The Homemaker's Friend Daily Planner--a Daily Planner with the Homemaker in Mind. SALE: Buy a 2016 planner and get 50% off a 2015 planner

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2 comments:

Betsy @ Happily Ever After, Etc. said...

Your boys look so happy! Love the laundry room fort in your laundry room,,, looks like the pile next to my machine! Haha! Can't wait for my messy home tour tomorrow... great idea!

becky@purposefulhomemaking.com said...

Thanks, Betsy! :)

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