Kids’ hats and gloves all over the floor and never handy when they’re needed? They need a home. Today is one more simple system in October’s series, Simple Systems: 31 Small Ways to Reduce Decision Fatigue. Setting up simple systems will make life run more smoothly. It might even help things get done and put…
The list doesn’t destroy culture; it creates it. Wherever you look in cultural history, you will find lists. – Umberto Eco These are the lists that I consider essential to my sanity. I always go through times of neglecting them, and then I feel crazy, and then I return to them and feel great relief….
I’m not the most naturally affectionate or tenderhearted mother. As much as I do love my children dearly, it is hard for me to remember to show kids love like I ought. As far as Myers-Briggs typing goes, I am an INTJ, and one personality description I’ve read specifically calls out INTJ as not an…
Homeschoolers use their homes hard. What cleaning tasks give us the biggest bang for our time bucks? What chores prevent chaos best? That’s what today’s list is all about. If only I were as good at doing my lists as writing them. But this month, I’m doing the fun part: writing and sharing my homeschool…
As homeschooling moms, our sanity is vital and often at-risk, isn’t it? Here are five strategies I have for keeping my mental and emotional buffer padded. Homeschool Mom Sanity Rather than things to do like “get out by myself” or “carve out reading time” or “get exercise in the fresh air,” all of which are…
I make lists. I make a crazy number of lists. Making a list is my go-to strategy whenever I start to feel a little overwhelmed (or a lot), scattered, or just plain crazy. David Allen’s book, Getting Things Done gave me a name and an excuse for this process: Brain Dump. It’s a great practice,…
It’s easy to go browsing Pinterest for inspiration on putting a command center together and feel like it will take a lot of time, creativity, and money to make yours as put together as those created for the photo op. So I thought I’d show you pictures of mine. I don’t have a great camera….
Many of us are task-driven. We want to see things done, accomplished, finished. This is what the world tells us is productivity. However, our life at home is not the kind of world where things are often finished. You might check off “laundry” for the day, but before the day is out, there will be…
Now is the time when we all start organizing our stuff, buying new supplies, and preparing for another fresh start: a new school year. I always get ambitious about how much better this new, upcoming season will be. This time will be different, I tell myself. Turns out big overhaul projects never stick and usually…
I don’t know how many lists I’ve made over the years about cleaning routines. I think I’ve tried all the plans out there. Trying them all (and never sticking with any of them) taught me over the years what they all had in common and what I needed to do to make a system for…