Do you ever find yourself frustrated when things go wrong and your house takes the brunt of it? You know, like you get sick or you have guests that stay for several days? Today I’m talking about how to get back on track when you get behind at home.

Question & Answer

Q: I loved your simple approach! Very doable and not overwhelming like so many others I’ve tried. Multiple times over the past few years I have added in more small habits, only to get railroaded by sickness or house guests. How do you stay/get back on track indeed of starting over after something like that? – Amanda

A: Amanda, this is a great question! The thing is, we all face these same issues of sickness, things going wrong, etc. and you will likely always have times when things just don’t go as planned. That’s okay!

If you find yourself overwhelmed by housekeeping or chores after a time of sickness, I like to try and set aside a day to focus on getting things back to relative order. I’m not going to say it’s easy.

The trick is all in the mindset. You can feel discouraged. Or you can be thankful. I’m also not suggesting that it’s easy to be thankful when we have a mess on our hands. Especially when we’ve been sick – it’s easy to feel discouraged. I’ve been there!!! But an attitude of gratitude goes a long way to making life more pleasant.

Okay, so having said that, there are a few things you can do to get things back in order.

How to Get Back on Track at Home

1. Start. Go back to your little habits or routines you had before you got sick. Do that will at the very least begin to get things slowly back in order. What you don’t want is to feel discouraged and give up or decide there’s no point. Just do what you can each day.

2. Set aside a day or afternoon and speed clean.

3. If you are feeling really overwhelmed and the house is a disaster read this article: How to Clean When You Feel Overwhelmed.

4. And if you are an easily distracted, naturally slow cleaner like me: do this book study with me: Have a Martha House the Mary Way

5. And here’s my method for an Emergency Quick Clean when you have children old enough to help.

Learn more in my course, The Disciplined Homemaker