Juggling Motherhood

How do we let go of what we don’t need and value what we have?

Posted on November 7, 2009 by Mika

Yeah! Saturday! We were blessed with another sunny day!

DD8 and I took part in the Heart Foundation Heart Walkers Wellington 2009. It was really great! My mum and I did it last year, and this year I was lucky enough to participate with my daughter.

CELEBRATIONS:

Taking pride in our home: We were able to reap the benefits of keeping on top of the housework this week and had a rest from any cleaning! This doesn’t mean that our house was spotlessly clean, we just didn’t need to catch up on a week’s worth of housecleaning (like we sometimes have to do on a Saturday).

Taking pride in our car: Kids all took their bits and pieces out of the car when we got home.
We were able to find all the things we needed for our outing easily. Sunscreen, picnic blanket, pinic bag and water bottles were all in their “homes”.

ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT:

I still have some things that we used on our outing that need to be returned to their “homes”.
2 Loads of laundry needs to be put away now!

How do we let go of what we don’t need and value what we have?

Valuing what we have: Day 5

Posted on November 5, 2009 by Mika

I have been amused this week at what mysterious objects that seem to randomly appear in the bathroom. Today it was 3 magnetix balls and our mysterious elf also played with the bath toys while they were at it.

I had a discovery date today Photos and details to come!

Photo by Juggling Motherhood

CELEBRATIONS:

Taking pride in our home: Wiped down our door and some walls while the kids got ready for school.
Taking pride in our home: Washed the sheets and duvet cover from our bed.
Taking pride in our home/car: Just doing the usual routines and chores to keep the house tidy. Everyone pitching in means that we have more time for play. Today was a BEAUTIFUL day in Wellington! We went to Khandallah Park after school, so we had dinner a bit later, but we got everything done in the end.

Photo by Juggling Motherhood

Enjoyed all the space that we have been keeping tidy over the week.

ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT:

Organise our CDs.
Put away the washing.

How do we let go of what we don’t need and value what we have?

Valuing what we have: Day 3

Posted on November 3, 2009 by Mika

CELEBRATIONS:

I started making dinner on time today. This meant that after the kids did their chores, we could have “family fun time”. Tonight we played hide and seek in the dark (see Fave Five: Fun and easy games). The kids are soo good at hiding! It was a great way to end the day!
Taking pride in our home: Spent 20 minutes vacuuming the house before we did the school pick up. Yay! I grabbed a plastic supermarket bag and tied it to my belt loop in my jeans so that I could gather any foreign objects while I was vacuuming. I was able to re-home a hairclip and some new toothpaste???
Taking pride in our car: When we got home from school, I encouraged the kids to take out all their bits and pieces again. I gathered up any rubbish and quickly vacuumed it.
Taking pride in our things: I thought I would rotate some of the toys we haven’t played with in our while. I took the crate out with all the games that required batteries - mini laptops, musical games etc. I think taking pride in our things means lovingly playing with our toys, and getting rid of the toys that we no longer play with.
De-cluttered: Took the opportunity to de-clutter the crate while we had it out.
Throw away: A musical toy which half the piano worked.
Taking pride in our home: Reminded the kids during the day to put away the things they are no longer playing with. Even compared to yesterday, they are getting faster at tidying up.
Taking pride in our home: After the kids went to bed I cleared my desk!

ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT:

When I vacuum, I might attach two bags to by belt loop next time – one on each side. One for re-homing objects, and one for rubbish. Could have done with this when I was vacuuming the hallways, and there wasn’t a rubbish bin handy. (Let’s hope that no one comes to the door while I am looking so trendy!)
I need to find a way to keep all my “to do” stuff together in an organised way on my desk. The reason most of the stuff ended up on my desk was because I was thinking I needed to ”do” something with it.
It is amazing how easily foreign objects find their way into the wrong rooms. Tonight I found another toilet roll on the floor of the bathroom with toilet paper scattered around it (DS4 wanting to make toilet roll men). A cup from the kitchen and a random part of a toy found their way to the bathroom sink. I wonder what I will find in the bathroom tomorrow night

How do we let go of what we don’t need and value what we have?

Valuing what we have: Day 2

Posted on November 2, 2009 by Mika

CELEBRATIONS:

It was so helpful to have lots of bench space in the kitchen this morning. My daughter was turning 7, and we have a tradition where they get breakfast in bed. So my hubby and I were both in the kitchen making the special breakfast and getting the school & Playcentre lunches ready without tripping over each other.
Taking pride in our home: As we were about to leave the house, I was thinking to myself, “I wish I allowed enough time to clear and wipe this bench (the one we ate off)”. Then I thought about my goal from yesterday of “just doing it”, and started to quickly clear away the dishes and did a quick wipe down. It took only a few minutes!
Taking pride in our car and our things: We all took stuff out of the car and put them away in the right place.
Taking pride in our home & Found a home: I gathered DD2′s books from her room and stood them up on her table, leaning against each other. When she went get a new book for me to read to her, she was having trouble when the books kept falling down, and not standing up properly. After she went to bed, I moved the little table next to her bed and placed the books in one of my spare wicker baskets and put on the table.
Taking pride in our home: After I put DD2 to bed, I wiped down the walls by the stairs. DD8 said, “I want to help!” hehehe. So she tackled the pencil marks, and I did the finger marks. Aaaahhh..felt good when we finished!
Taking pride in our home: I cleaned the bathroom and rid it of all the foreign objects (toys) that found its way in there. There was a bowl from the kitchen? a car? some dolls clothes? wooden birthday candles but no wooden cake?
De-cluttered & Found a home: I have been a mum for nearly 9 years, and I have FINALLY bought those mesh bags that you can hang up to keep your bath toys in. So I de-cluttered the toys and put the bag to use.
Throw away: Used shampoo bottle. Old bath toys. Old toilet rolls that didn’t make it into the bin!

ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT:

The car still needs work.
My desk is in a shocking state.
I want to vacuum the house!
More walls to wipe.
I want to start timing how long my cleaning projects take, because it doesn’t feel long.

How do we let go of what we don’t need, and value what we have?

Valuing what we have: Day 1

Posted on November 1, 2009 by Mika

CELEBRATIONS:

We shared the goal with our family about “valuing what we have” during Family Home Evening tonight. We showed a video that hubby and I took earlier. Hubby had the video camera and pretended to be a friend that had not been to the house before, and I was showing him around our house – he saw the messy shoes by the door, baskets of random stuff in the hallway – you name it, he saw it. We talked about all sorts with the kids. We also emphasied that we want our house to be nice, because it feels good to live in a tidy, well cared for house.
Taking pride in your home, is part of valuing what you have. And a way to take pride in your home, is to keep it tidy. So I will put some stuff under the heading, ”taking pride in our home” whenever I do some tidying.
Another way we can value what we have is by separating what is valuable from what is not. I will be posting things I have “decluttered”, “thrown away”, and stuff I will be “giving away” under headings too.
Once we decide what we value and want to keep, we need to find it an appropriate home. A home where it is easy to put away, looks uncluttered and where it won’t get wrecked. I will be posting stuff under “found a home”. When something doesn’t have an obvious home, it makes cleaning up harder because it isn’t just a two step process – found an item, put away an item (feel good). It becomes – found an item, think about where to put it, walk to a place, too full, walk to another place, doesn’t really go there, give up, put it with a bunch of other random stuff (feel defeated and guilty)
Taking pride in our home: Wiped down the cabinet doors in the kitchen while I was making dinner.
De-cluttered & Found a home: I decluttered two of my kitchen cabinets. I found suitable homes for my appliances that were cluttering up my bench space which I needed for my cooking. Also I found a good home for my vases thanks to new space in my cabinets.
Throw away: Old pan, old breastpump. Lots of random bits that were collected when were speed cleaning and “hid” the items in the cabinet.
Give away: A random glass plate and a random plastic cup.
Taking pride in our home: Wiped down the kitchen benches, that were now clear of my breadmaker and rice cooker. Gave some TLC to my gas cooker and made it sparkle.
Taking pride in our home: After putting DD2 bed, I put away some of her clothes on my way out.

ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT:

Make sure the kids and I pick up our stuff as we leave the room or car.
No longer close my eyes to things that need to be done because the job is too big. Instead, break the job down into managable steps, and just do 1 thing, or 5 minutes worth. Challenge myself to do something.
Hubby is a minamlist by nature, where I am one in training. His tip was to always make time to tidy up before moving on to another activity. I’m sure that a lot of you do that already
If something doesn’t have a home, find one.

How do we let go of what we don’t need and value what we have?

Posted on November 1, 2009 by Mika

Ugh! “Another scratched CD” I thought to myself as I heard a song skip while I was driving this afternoon.

The thought that kept popping into my head after that was, “we don’t take care of our stuff”, “how are we going to change that?!”.

I could blame it on being too busy, not having good systems in place, having too much stuff, being too easy-going etc etc. All of that plays a part, BUT I think that we are at a stage where we need to instill in each of us, a family ethos that “We take care of our things”. The fact is, when we FEEL it is too hard, we leave it (case and point: sorting the clothes that the kids have grown out of). We need to change the way we think and our habits. We need to tackle a little…often. That way it won’t be an overwhelming job, and we will avoid burn out.

So this is what I will be tackling this week, amidst birthdays and birthday preparation! yikes!

If you have any tips along the way, I would love to hear them!