What Happened to my System?

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What happened to my beloved systems??? I thought I had it all down to a science. A little background so you know where I'm coming from.

Up to last Spring, I spent the last several years just living in survival mode. I had a demanding full time job, I had my beloved craft business that I hardly ever had time for. I had a house, 3 kids who unfortunately rarely helped out, a house full of pets, and my elderly, ill parents who I had to care for daily. I was lucky to get 3-4 hours of sleep a night. I managed to keep the dishes done & clothes clean but that was about it. My house was messy, dirty & cluttered & I would be mortified if anyone came to the door.

I hated living that way. I'm one of those people who needs clean, and clutter-free environments to feels peaceful and creative. Wasn't feeling any of that for quite awhile & I longed for it.

Fast forward to this Spring/Summer. I get laid off from my job. One child who was sleeping in my living room with all her stuff, moves out to her own home. My sweet, wonderful Daddy passes away so I'm not going to the hospital or nursing home every day. So suddenly, I'm out of that constant crisis mode. Not that I'm stress free mind you. I still have my mom to take care of and she can be quite a handful at times. I still have 2 messy kids & 4 messy pups. I still have deadlines in my biz, bills to pay, etc. But it's SO much easier to deal with than it was a year ago.

It took me several months, but I got my house clean, organized and clutter free. I come up with a daily/weekly/monthly schedule to stay that way. I was so proud. I was so productive. I was so peaceful. Finally I could let people in and not be humiliated. My kids were not embarrased to bring their friends over. I felt like Suzie Homemaker & I liked it.

So what happened? The Fall happened with multiple orders coming in through my web site every day, and 4 large craft shows to do. Now, I got to say that I absolutley LOVE all of this. I love being immersed in my business. I love craft shows. I love my customers. And it goes without saying that I love working with my clay.

But now my house is back to being cluttered and messy. Not nearly as bad as before but all those wonderful systems I put into place have gone out the window. I don't have time for it and my business too.

Now the ideal solution would be to hire a housekeeper. Ummm, maybe when I'm making alot more money. Or clone myself. Ok, well that's obviously out. Or get my kids to help out. They will a little if I bug them enough but all the energy it takes to pester them into helping, I could have gone ahead and done it myself.

So I guess I need to come up with an adjusted system for 4 months out of the year. My original will work great for the rest of the year. Or I need to just come to peace with the fact it will be like this every year til after Christmas.

So how do any of you go through this and have systems that work for you when there just isn't enough hours in a day?