Learning to balance running a home-based business with the reality of being a full-time mom is one of those thrive-or-die situations.  Either you learn to thrive or it all falls apart.

Thriving does not, of course, equal perfection.  My house is not always clean, my kids not always well-behaved, my laundry piles up, our bills are sometimes late, and occasionally we eat cold cereal for dinner.  The overachiever in me gets frustrated by these failures, but the eternal optimist keeps hoping that someday it will all come together.

Until it does, here are ten tips for squeezing the most quality time out of every day:

A psychologist explains why doing chores leads to less stress.

For a certain type of person, taking a few minutes to whisk the Swiffer Wet across the kitchen floor can feel akin to the soothing effects of meditation. Even the sight of a spotless home—especially at the end of a long, stressful day—can temporarily seem to blunt whatever’s bothering them. 

So you know you need to get organized, but don’t know where to start. You may lose things, purchase a new thing, and find that thing (you thought) you lost one week later. You’ve read something about Minimalism, but aren’t sure how it applies to you. You know you’re not ready to get down to 100 possessions, ditch your car, or work only from remote locations.

Sound familiar?

If you are looking to live a life free of the stress and (physical) weight of your clutter, but you don’t know where to begin, here’s how to start. Consider these manageable steps a process, one that may not happen overnight. But take it one step at a time, and you’ll find that less is really more.