Striving to Set the Year Up Well

I’m striving to set the year up well.  It means I need to invest in the right places and so I haven’t been online so much recently.

1. Children’s Rooms

Helped to clean and reorganised the children’s rooms in preparation for the start of the school year.

2. School Lunches

Cooked batches of lunchbox food to freeze because (from experience) I know I will find the first month of school overwhelming as we all adjust and so I’m anticipating by doing things now that will make the transition smoother.  I have never done this before but it’s easy: doing small batches of food here and there and freezing it…so now I have at least 3 weeks of lunchbox morning teas and 2 weeks of lunches in the freezer.

3. Family Schedule

Write up the annual calendar I’ve used as a system to help everyone keep track of what they are doing on what day, for example library day, sport day etc.  You can read more about my system here: Organising Kids for School.

4. Health

Started a fitness challenge with my PT to get my year off to a screaming start.

5. Family Life

Planning a special birthday party for my daughter.

6. Organise

Slowly going through the house, one cupboard at a time, de-cluttering and creating systems.  My daughter, who is saving up for some Lego, asked me if she could do extra jobs around the house to earn money and one of her tasks was the reorganise and clean the pantry.  She did a brilliant job!

7. Simplify

Thinking about how to keep things simple at home.  I bought a dedicated set of drawers (inspired by Pinterest) I will use to keep clutter to a minimum as I go.

Put Away

For items for the children to put away, whether that be from a car clean out or just items I find around the place. I will get the children to sort and put away their own items.

Give

I always have gifts and different things (like clothes nieces and nephews have left behind) to give to specific people and so they will be kept here until I have an opportunity to return them.

Donate

As I sort washing or in general tiding up, items that aren’t worn or used will go into the donate box.

There’s something else I’ve been working on.  It’s my attitude.  You see, I don’t like keeping house. Being a homemaker doesn’t come naturally to me. I’m not talking about housework (although I don’t enjoy that either) but  running and investing in a household…the routine of it all…the responsibility of it all…the day-in-day-out of it all.  I do it but I struggle and it drains me. Sometimes I feel resentment creep up inside. Give me a creative problem or a mountain to climb (literally) and it will exhilarate me. Perhaps being a somewhat nomad since having a family; not having a home of my own plays a part in this unsettled feeling I have, but regardless…it’s there.

I see our family as a team and my husband is helpful around the house and pitches in (gladly) wherever he can. However the way it works for our family at the moment, it falls to me to largely manage the household.  I was pondering about it and reaffirming what a privilege it is to have a family to care for, and what richness it brings to life.  I love and am loved.  I know things work better when I invest in the running of the  household…when I invest in love.  And so I can tap into that.  Do it out of love. Do it in love. Do it out of the privilege of serving my family in this way.

It’s not about being a doormat or everyone’s servant.  I strongly apose that notion. It’s about giving in love.  You see, having my own challenges is also important to me, like setting adventure and fitness goals and working on creative campaigns, and I’ll continue to do that.  The question is about balance and the importance of investing in the right places.

And right now, I need to invest more heavily at home and be disciplined about putting in place cracker systems and great planning to facilitate harmony in family life.  And I’ll get my mountains to climb.

Emptiness of blank space?

or

Possibility of a blank canvas?

It’s all in the way you look at it.

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