Quiet... and clear horizontal spaces

Quietness is something I find very elusive in my home. With 3 children aged 6 and under there is rarely a moment when someone doesn't want or need my attention.

However, since reading Lorilee Lippincott's book, Simple Living, I've been endeavouring to set aside some time every day to spend in absolute silence. For me, this is usually at the end of the day when the children are all asleep and my hubby is watching TV. I've been putting myself to bed a few minutes earlier than I usually do and I will just sit in bed and reflect on what is good in my life, what I'm grateful for, what my goals are and what steps I need to take to get there.

It is most certainly not the 20 minutes that Lorilee recommends but I am enjoying it anyway. I'm finding that my mind is calmer and more focused.

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I have also been working on on keeping the horizontal surfaces of my home clear.  This is something I have tried to do for years as it is a source of angst for my husband. I do have to agree with him though that having clear surfaces definitely makes the home feel calmer and more orderly. However it is a task I find really challenging. I always have something on the go and my two greatest hotspots in the home are the kitchen bench and the study desk. 

My kitchen bench is the hub of our home. We eat, we talk, we do homework, bags get dumped here when we walk in, the mail gets opened, and meals prepared. There is always something on the bench during the day. I do make an effort though to clear it every evening once the kids are in bed so that we have a clear space when we wake in the morning. I usually also clear it once or twice during the day as well on days that I am home.

We don't keep a lot of household items on the bench either. Since taking this photo above I have swapped my kettle to a stovetop one. The only 2 other items on the bench are my Thermomix and a hand soap dispenser. I know a lot of people keep toasters, utensil holders, knife racks and a multitude of other items on their benches but I've found this necessary. My toaster gets put away in the cupboard every morning after it has been used. My knife block is on the top shelf of my pantry as my eldest son was a climber. He would use the handles of the kitchen drawers to climb onto the bench, toddle around to the knife block and grab whatever knife was going to suit his purpose for cutting open packages, cutting up food etc.... After a few heart stopping moments the knife block got moved and never replaced. But I like it. And I've never had a problem with keeping my utensils in the drawer and just grabbing what I need from the drawer as I need it. 

Having so few items permanently on the bench makes it very easy to clean up after meal time and at regular intervals during the day. There aren't lots of items to move in order to clean the benchtop and there aren't a lot of items that need wiping  over due to splatters, dust etc. It works really well for us.

Having said that, I haven't found the perfect system for keeping the bench clutter free all day while my busy little family carries on the business of life! Please let me know if you've found one! In the mean time here are some lovely drool worthy kitchen for you to admire with me!

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Another dreamy kitchen

One more

Lorilee is offering her book for free from May 24-27 on Amazon! Go here to grab a copy! I thoroughly recommend it!

Underneath to Project 333

I'm onto the second task of Lorilee Lippincott's book Simple Living. This involves reviewing your wardrobe (starting with your underwear) and maybe giving Courtney's Project 333 a go.

Underneath

I had already gone through my underwear drawer not long ago and put anything excess to what I need for a week in a box in my wardrobe. Now as items wear out, instead of going shopping, I "shop" from the box. I used the opportunity though, to go through my children's drawers and cull the excess from them as well

Project 333

As for the Project 333 idea, this is something that really intrigued me. I have never been particularly interested in clothes and accessorising is not something I do a lot of. However I have come to realise that one of the reasons that I have a lot of clothes that I don't wear is because I have been shopping trying to achieve a "look" but not really achieving it as I didn't really have my "look" defined. One of the things that is missing from my wardrobe is accessories.

Starting Out

As part of the process of working out my "look" I created a capsule wardrobe folder in Pinterest to get an idea of the way I would like to dress. I then worked my wardrobe down to the suggested 33 items. I've hit a couple of stumbling blocks though.

1. The season suddenly changed almost immediately after I picked out my 33 items so I had to pull out a few more warm items from storage!
2. I couldn't cull down on the shoes - I'm not a big shoe person but I still had more pairs of shoes than I could decide between and I wear them all - so I didn't include them in the 33..... I'm working on it.
3. I noticed some pretty big gaps in my wardrobe.

I've worked out that the reason I don't feel like I was able to dress particularly well is that I always seem to go for the same type of thing. I am a stay at home Mum but I do work outside of the home as well. I tend to wear the same clothes to work as I do if I am going out. That is not my problem. The problem is that the clothes that I buy for my "Mum" stuff is always either shorts and t-shirts or jeans and t-shirts with a long cardigan over the top in cooler weather. Then to top it off I wear my sneakers most days. No accessories. No bling. Just plain practical.

I guess you might say, "Well, what's the problem? Practical is good with kids right?" Right! But when I feel dowdy then that has to affect my mood and my mood is going to affect how I am with my kids and that is definitely not ok!!!

So I've been shopping. I know that this was not the point of the exercise.... but my choices were conscious and considered carefully based on my new understanding of what I want to achieve and not based on just liking an item without regard for what I already have in my wardrobe! The items are on lay-by and I'm hoping that they might help to glam up my wardrobe if only a little bit. Step by step...

Now...

The items that I have boxed up from my wardrobe will stay there for a while. If I really need to pull another item out I will. This is not a process of suffering but awareness. If I wear an item out I will try to replace it from the items in storage first. Most of my clothes are from Target. I don't really plan on changing that - they are fashionable, good enough quality for what I want and affordable. If I do need to buy new clothes then I will probably end up back here.

I have to say I really really enjoyed this process. For me it is not so much about the number of 33 as an absolute but showing me that less can definitely be more.

I will try and post pics of what I ended up with soon. Watch this space... In the meantime, this is what I'm aspiring to:

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I'm back!

It's been a while but I'm back. Since my last post when I thought I'd had a rough time.... it got a whole lot worse. 3 weeks after my grandfather passed away I lost my father as well. To say it shook my world is an understatement but I have battled my demons and come out the other side and am now ready to re-tackle my old issues of the simplification of my life.

I completely dropped my following of the Simplify your life Challenge and Gretchen Reubin's Happiness Project. I am in two minds as to whether to pick these up again or follow something completely different. But for now I thought I would start with something small and work my way through Simple Living by Lorilee Lippincott. Lorilee of Loving Simple Living has written a 30 step course that guides the reader through a process of decluttering and simplifying to create a simpler and more fulfilling life. I thought this would be a good way to ease me back into my journey and redefine where I want to go.

My family and I went on a holiday recently and while we were away we rented a simple 2 bedroom 1 bathroom unit. I loved the simplicity of this. My family being close together, not much space to clean, not a lot of "stuff" to work around. We had the basics and it was great! I know being on holidays isn't exactly like the normal day-to-day that life is but it made me wonder. Do I really need to have the big house with all the trimmings? What would it be like to live simpler on a more permanent basis?

Lorilee and her family did this. She moved with her husband and 2 children from a large house to a 2 bedroom apartment, then into a 1 bedroom apartment and most recently with only a few bags to China. As I read through her blog I was inspired and after getting her book decided that I really should give it a go. I somehow think that following a similar path is going to be completely unattainable for me (my husband would never agree to moving to a smaller house let alone an apartment!) but I can simplify my life.

So Task 1...

Dream

I want to live in a space which has only what I need, use or love.
I want to be able to breathe in my space and not feel suffocated with "stuff"
I want to be free of the guilt associated with half done projects or a to do list a mile long.
I want clean lines and space.

I would love to live in a small space that doesn't overwhelm me. I currently feel overwhelmed when it comes to cleaning my home mostly because of the size of the home but next in line is the thought of how much stuff I need to work around in order to do it.

I would love to not only achieve these things but be able to easily maintain it.

It's a start.

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LGO Week 1 - Basics

Ok, I'm a little behind on blogging about this (see my last post) but as well as doing the Simplify Your Life 52 Week Challenge I am following Becci's Let's Get Organised 2012 Missions at Beccis Domestic Bliss. I like to be organised but I'm not very good at actually getting around to doing the work that's required to get me there. So before 2012 began I decided I'd like to look at a couple of programs being run on line to help keep me on track. These are the two I've decided on. Why two? Because I couldn't decide between them! I have a really hard time with decision making! And I've been managing both quite easily so I've got no plans on giving either up.

So, in week 1 Becci challenged us to:

• Shine our sink
• Do a load a day of washing
• Pack away the Christmas Tree.

Now I found this an easy challenge. I too have been following Flylady for a couple of years now and while lots of her concepts really work well for me, not all of it does so I pick and choose. But shining the sink and a load of washing a day really makes a BIG difference to me.
Shine the Sink

I have 3 kids aged 5 and under. My day starts early and I hit the ground running. Waking up to a sink full of dirty dishes just makes for a bad day for me. If I start the day with a clean slate then somehow it all seems to run that much smoother. I put our dishwasher on every night before I go to bed and then I put it away each morning while I wait for the coffee machine to heat up - I won't tell you that I race the coffee machine to see if I can put it all away before the coffee machine is ready.... Don't judge!

Load a Day of Washing

With a family of 5 the washing pile is never ending. I actually do at least 2 loads of washing per day. Between a 3 year old that is (not so successfully) toilet training, a 17 month old who wears most of her food, and having a pool that is being used a lot at the moment we make a lot of washing very quickly. I'm sure this phase won't last forever but at the moment washing every day is essential to my survival.

I try to put a load on each night so it's ready to hang out first thing in the morning. Then I bring it in by lunchtime and it's put away during the afternoon. I try to iron every day too. I know not everyone irons but I do and if I keep on top of it it's maybe 15 minutes or so compared to if I let it pile up where it can become hours. I'm not so good at this bit but I do
try.

Pack away the Christmas Tree

I was already a step ahead here. The christmas tree sitting in the  corner of our family was starting to gnaw a hole in my brain and I couldn't stand it any longer. I packed it away on the first weekend in January. We were also heading away for a family holiday and I wanted it packed up before we left.

So the first week was easy peasy for us! Thanks Becci! I'm looking forward to joining you this year!
 
                                             

A fresh start

We've had a busy month. A really busy month. Some of it planned, some of it not so much.

We had friends visit from interstate and overseas. We've been on holidays. And we've had some unfortunate events occur in our family - one being the death of my Grandfather, the other a tragic accident which put my nephew in hospital for a couple of weeks.

I started out this year thinking I would be healthier, relax more, and generally focus on my little family a bit more. This hasn't happened. Instead I've drunk too much alcohol, eaten too much bad food, not exercised and been super cranky with pretty much anyone in my path!

So I'm making a pledge to get back on track. As of today, things are settling down. Our friends have gone home, holidays are over, school goes back next week, my Grandfather's funeral has happened and my nephew is home from hospital and on the mend. Time to start looking after me again. 

All that stuff I've been saying in my family motto about slowing down etc, I need to take that advice!

Just putting it out there... It feels good to get it off my chest

If you're looking for me, I'll be hanging out here (I wish!)

Source: 4.bp.blogspot.com via Belinda on Pinterest

Our Family Motto

Deb over at Home Life Simplified has challenged us again this week. She asked us to come up with a Family Motto.

This has really made me think. I love being a Mum but sometimes feel we get so wrapped up in the day to day rushing around that I forget to take a step back and look at the big picture. I'm so afraid of my kids "little" years whipping by me while I rush around "getting things done". I need to focus more on them and enjoy my time with them.

Part of the reason for me doing this challenge is that I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed with life at the moment. I want to step back, relax and focus on what is important to me. When I am overwhelmed I snap at my kids and my family, I am not as caring to my husband as I should be and I just generally don't enjoy life. I don't like the person that I am when I am like this.

So, when I read about Deb's challenge for making a family motto I thought this would be a great way of reminding myself every day of what is important to us and therefore stop me from "sweating the small stuff".

Here goes!

The mission of our family is to slow down and spend time together doing the things that we love. We will try to prevent times when we get too busy.

We believe in and will make our choices based on respect, trust, honesty and kindness.

We will fill our home with love

We want to teach our children to be authentic, considerate, respectful and loving.

We will encourage each other to pursue our passions.

This is really exciting for me! It's giving me focus and direction. Thanks so much Deb! To finish up, I found this sign on Pinterest which I think sums up my family mission statement perfectly. I am going to try and print it out and frame it.

Source: Uploaded by user via Belinda on Pinterest

What are my Values????

The challenge for Week 2 of the Simplify Your Life 52 week Challenge is to define your values.

This isn't something that I've really ever thought about before but the more I read, the more it makes sense as to how important it is. If we are aware of what we truly value in our lives, we can make the best decisions for OUR lives.

So, I've sat down with the list provided by Deb and narrowed it down.

My list when I started was as follows:

Growth
Contentment
Gratitude
Intimacy
Balance
Family
Health
Happiness
Nurturing
Love
Creativity
Self Development
Playfulness

Then I thought about each one and worked out my top 5 :

Family - For me this one value actually encompasses several of the values on the list including intimacy, love, nurturing and playfulness.

Happiness/Contentment - I combined these into one value.

Balance

Health - This encompasses physical and mental health.

Self Development/Growth - this includes personal growth and continuing education for my work.

In 2011 (and still now) I had huge issues with anxiety. This was mostly associated with returning to work. I discovered that these values are important to me because in one way or another they affect my mental well being. My husband and children are the most important thing in the world to me but when I am unhappy/anxious/stressed they are the first to suffer. 

I'm loving this challenge so far. It really is putting my mind into gear thinking about the things that are most important to me. Thanks again Deb for doing this for us!