Minimalism With Hospitality In Mind

I was listening to a podcast about minimalism. I am a loose minimalist at heart and something about organizing and purging and living on only what is immediately used and needed makes me all giddy inside. Frequently going through drawers, bins, and baskets and getting rid of unwanted or unnecessary items in my house is both necessary in a home with so many people (for order's sake) but also brings me joy. I like being able to look my home and know the exact articles contained in that area. Maybe it's me. I can be a bit weird in this way. It's my toxic trait, ha!

Back to the podcast. I'm listening and nodding my head in agreement and giving all the "amen's" when it hit me. I love the IDEA of minimalism, but practically, in my own home, it doesn't quite look the same as the newest minimalist documentary on Netflix. It's more of a foundation where I build off of as I layer on our family purpose and lifestyle.

I live in a house with six other people. Each with their own opinion and perspective on what is unwanted or unnecessary. Some tend to be more sentimental than others and some could care less about the "heart" behind an object. And since this house is not entirely mine I have to balance my desire to keep our belongings to a minimum.  I have to respect the rest of the people who live with me, while still trying to teach our kids the art of releasing "things" that no longer serve a purpose in this home. This alone could be a whole other blog post! But today I wanted to touch on another area that makes living minimally a little bit tricky.

We have an open door policy at our home. Our revolving door brings in friends, family, and kids of all ages. I never know how many people I will be feeding at dinner or who will be spending the night. Not only that, but we bring in kids from all walks of life through fostering (as infrequent as it may be). I hate hanging onto articles of clothing or random items just because "I might need it one day", but if you hang onto it because there might be a child that enters your home needing that jacket or pair of rain boots, or when that gathering of 30 extra people from the worship and tech team come for dinner and you need extra seating or cookware it changes things.

So I have a few things I try to keep in mind as I walk around my home for the 8th time in the month seeing if there is anything that needs to be re-homed.

1 - SPACE: I would like to have the rule of one jacket and one bag hanging on the hooks for each kid in our mudroom, but sometimes I allow an extra jacket (or four) to hang around because not only do my own kids tend to lose things, but we may have a visitor who comes to play (or live) who doesn't have one and if my kid only has one, then I am stuck secretly hoping it makes its way back to us or I'll have to go out and buy a new one. And ain't nobody got the resources to keep doing that. 

In fact, an extra pair of too small rain boots is located in our shed with the rest of our rain boots that actually fit us. They will stay there until I no longer feel the need to hang onto them.

If the item is out of the way, fits into the flow of the rest of the house and doesn't add to a sense of clutter, it stays.

2 - PRIORITY: I keep plastic utensils (mostly because my kids have accidentally thrown almost all of our real ones away over the years. We have about 5 forks left, ya'll. Three real plates and million knieves...) and paper plates and even plastic cups on hand when the masses arrive, like 20 teenagers for a Friendsgiving or Super Bowl Party or 30+ adults for a worship team gathering. But when we just have a friend or three over for a few hours or sleepover I hate creating that waste so we tend to need cups. LOTS of cups. I can't tell you how nice it would be if I could open the cabinet in the kitchen and see seven cups. Just seven cups in the cabinet?! The space. The freedom. I can take a nice deep breathe just thinking about it! But that just isn't going to work with what we have created our home to be. So extra cups we have. 

Towels (and pillows, blankets, toothbrushes...) are another thing. Keeping up with just seven towels would be so much easier that having to find space for, lets say, 10-15. But people need showers you know?! And so that is something I will rearrange my closets and make space for in order for it to work for people to come visit or live with us.

If I find myself needing something over and over again when people are here, it stays.

3 - ZONES: As my kids have gotten older I'm not gonna lie, I have enjoyed clearing our home of all the previous stages of life to make room for the current ones. We cannot simultaneously have space in the girls room for Polly Pockets AND Hoola Hoops and various other circus apparatuses. Or Superhero costumes AND street hockey gear with a side of filming equipment. Our home has had to transition with the seasons. That being said, we still frequent littles and need to have things for them on hand. So up in the attic I have a pack-n-play, a highchair that attaches to a kitchen chair and a johnny-jump-up. Small, compatible items that give us a big bang for our buck. I also have a little bin that we use as a coffee table in our spare bedroom that houses sippy cups, baby blankets, a few pull-ups, toddler utensils and board books. Then under our stairs, in an area we call the "secret hideout", is our "playroom" with some drawers full of superhero figures and houses, nerf guns, cars, trains, tracks and magnet tiles.

If these things can stay out of the way and I don't have to keep moving them around to do life with our growing teenagers, but they are easily accessible and ready for sticky little hands to enjoy if the need arises, it stays.

These are the three things I try to weigh my purging urges through. If I lived in a home all by myself I would own one towel, a single set of dishes and utensils, and not much else. But I don't live by myself and I am so grateful for the atmosphere God has created in our home to be a safe place for so many. So I'm gonna keep hanging on to some extra just so you know there is a place for you here. You were thought of before you even arrived.

15 Minutes To Progress

Have you ever had one of those days?

You know, where the to-do list keeps growing and growing with no end in sight.

It might be a list full of the more mundane things in life such as just changing over the laundry or unloading the dishwasher to keep the dishes cycle going. Or it could be bigger more time-sensitive things.

Regardless, if you are having one of those days and you can't figure out where to begin I've got a simple system that helps my brain get motivated and unstuck.

First I prioritize my list into separate sublists:

1. Things that MUST get done today
2. Things that need to get done but are not time sensitive
3. Things that have been hanging over my head that I'd like to get done but are not urgent at all

I like to start with 2-3 small things that I KNOW can be accomplished relatively quickly so I can make some checks off of my list and feel like I really can get some stuff accomplished.

Set the timer for 15 minutes for each small thing you want to get done.  Most of the time it is something that gets completed way before the timer will ever go off so go ahead and see how many of those small tasks you can get done in those first 15 minutes.  It will challenge yourself to get moving.

After checking a couple small tasks off of my list  I look at my #1 list of things that MUST get done but may take a bit of heel digging and time.

Turn off all notifications on phones and computers and put aside anything else that might distract you.

Then set a timer for 15 minutes and just dive in.  You will be surprised at how quickly you can get in the zone when you get rid of all other distractions and you work as hard as you can until the timer goes off.  Most likely you will be ready to keep going once that initial 15 minutes is up.

Just getting started is the hardest part, but EVERYONE can give it just 15 minutes of undistracted focus to get going.

It Takes A Village ~ Tips and Tricks To Make Life A Little Less Crazy

This photo makes it look like two of the towels are the same color,
but one is actually a light brown and another is gray.

A few years ago, after implementing a great disciplinary idea I had learned from one of my friends, one of my kids said: "See, that is the problem with moms.  They hang out together and TALK and give each other ideas!"

It is SO true!

Just about every idea we have for discipline, organization and strategies has come from reading books, other's examples and ideas from friends. You better believe I watch my friend's very closely to see what works for them and pull from their ideas when I see one that also might work for us!

I want to tell you about one such idea that has literally saved us water, money, time, angst and battles.

I was looking at 12 cups lining my counter.  None of which were mine and Josh was at work, so they certainly weren't his.  It was only lunchtime so I knew that by the end of the day the amount of cups was going to grow but not the number of children using them.

I voiced my frustration to my friend.  I told her that we had tried to tell our kids to remember which cup was theirs and where they placed it so they could keep up with it throughout the day so we didn't have this problem, but it never seemed to work. I mean, I can't blame them.  I can't even keep up with my OWN cup...except that mine looks different than everyone else's so it's easy for me to spot or for others to find for me (shout out to Alethia who is my right-hand find-mom's-phone, keys, pocketbook, flip flops, cup...).

Then my friend spoke up and told me of the most brilliant idea that she does with her family.  They each have their own color cup! So simple, yet SO ingenious.

Then she went on to say that she does the same thing with towels.  And I immediately backtracked over the course of the week and realized just how many loads of towels I have washed (not to mention that my dryer takes about 3 cycles to actually dry a load, so I typically line-dry them outside), conversations I've had with the kids about hanging up their towel, remembering where they hung it up and then reusing the towel so I don't have to wash SO MANY FREAKING TOWELS all the time because nobody will claim them.  And then the famous question I ask on a daily basis: "Who's towel is this? I need you to come and hang it up to dry."

Here is where I post my disclaimer about Colony cleanliness.  Our family has NEVER been the family whose kids get clean every night...or even every OTHER night.  I know, I know, we have failed as parents...but we just can't do it all, and I'm okay with it.  That being said, we do now have 1 teenage girl, an almost teenage boy, and other little humans that smell pretty rotten most of the time, so we are trying to get better.  But regardless of the amount of times our kids get clean (or don't get clean), towels somehow always end up in random corners of the house or under kitchen tables or even OUTSIDE in the yard SMH (I know I'm going out on a limb with my great vulnerability and honesty here today, ha!).

Also, since I've already stopped, you can check out my simplified laundry routine that I wrote about HERE.  I actually think I came up with this one myself!

Okay, back to today's post.

So I did what any smart mama would do.  I drove to Target, found 5 towels ON SALE (it was a gift from the Lord!) that matched the colors of the kids bathroom, then marched right over to the kitchen aisle and picked out closely color-related cups, BPA FREE, and only $.79 people, and rushed home with high hopes.

I quickly went over the plan with the kids and I'm telling you, it was worked like a charm!

The kids now have one towel.  Their only responsibility is to hang it back up on the rack in the bathroom and when I do my weekly load of towels I'll throw them in to clean it.

As for their cup, they must grab their cup, and ONLY their cup, wash it out and keep it close by for the next use.

What ideas have you learned from your friends that have been a lifesaver for you?

Simplifying Life and Letting Go Of Perfection, One Load Of Laundry At A Time

This is just part of my project for today.

We have a lot of bodies to cover in this house.

Which means we have a lot of laundry that goes through our washing machine.

But if there is anything I have learned about being a mom, it is that I canNOT do everything.  I can't. And I'm learning to be just fine with that.  Really.  Truly.  Honestly.

One of the things that I have let go of is the laundry process.

I actually do pretty well keeping up with laundry (we try to keep  minimal amounts of clothing for each child so this helps cut down on the amount of laundry.  This tip is FREE.  You're welcome!)

I should also mention that I don't presort my laundry before washing...but don't tell my mom that part.  I know, I know, I'm breaking the #1 rule of laundering clothes.  But I just can't keep laundry going for so many people if I'm constantly trying to make full loads of different kinds or colors.

The part that always gets me is the folding and putting away.  We will have a growing mound of clean laundry piled up in our bedroom for days sometimes, before I get around to finishing the laundry process.

But I wanted to share a secret that has helped tremendously!

I stopped folding the laundry and putting it away.

Yup.  It's true.

Well, at least my kids clothes.

Now, instead of meticulously folding and putting clothes away (that are inevitably going to get all messed up in the next search for the favorite pants that were intentionally placed in the back of the drawer...ahem) I simply go through these next age-appropriate steps.

1. While Sorting the laundry - If I come across something that is Josh's or mine I immediately fold it.  BAM!  Done.  Then I have a girls pile, a boys pile and a Jude pile.  Towels and dish cloths are also folded right away.
2. The girls are old enough to turn their clothes right side out on their own.  So after their clothes are piled up together I go drop them off in their room and they put them away as they see fit, into their own drawers and closets.  I do still match their socks (because I'm a nice mommy;).
3. The older boys just transitioned over to this stage.  Previously I was turning their clothes right side out for them before placing them into their pile.  Then I go drop their pile off in their room for them to place in their drawers and closets as they see fit. I definitely match their socks as well (because poor boys have a hard enough time even getting said socks into the laundry in the first place).  I also put their undies and socks in their bins (since I'm an extra nice mommy to them, ha!)
4. Jude has just transitioned up a stage as well.  I used to turn his clothes right side out and then fold them.  I would make a stack of shirts, a stack of jammies and a stack of pants.  Then he could put them in his own bins.  NOW, though, I just turn his clothes right side out and pile them up for him to place in the appropriate bins as he sees fit.  He shares undies and socks with Cai so he doesn't have to worry about putting those away (because like I said, I am an extra nice mommy and I love my boys more, lol.  Just kidding, Rainy is reading this over my shoulder so I just needed to see her smile:).
5. Then all that's left is to put Josh's clothes away, my clothes away and the towels and dish cloths away. (and sometimes I'm not feeling like a nice mommy any more and ask a kid or two to do that step as well, hehe)

And because we all like a nice word diagram to help solidify a new process here you go:

Sort (into piles) --- Drop (in their rooms) --- Let Go (of your laundry control)

You might be surprised at the ones who actually decide to "fold" vs. "stuff".  Plus it frees up extra time in your day/life for other things (like playing Settlers of Catan or Dutch Blitz...because those are very important things to make time for).

We, as mama's, can get so uptight about things around the house.  Find some little steps you can do, like this, that can aid in letting go of some of those perfectionist tendencies.  It'll bring such freedom.  I promise!

***2018 UPDATE ~ Each of the kids are now at the stage where I simply sort their clean clothes, socks and all, into a pile (a boys pile and a girls pile) and they are in charge of all the rest! We don't do enough laundry, nor do the kids have enough clothes, to justify making full loads of just one person's clothing. So I do a couple of loads every other day or so and it keeps everybody going just fine.***

While You Were Gone - A Story In Pictures - another transformation (of the more difficult variety)

Last weekend Josh and I headed to his parents house in Virginia to drop off the kids.  They were about to spend the week with their Meme and Poppie in order for Josh and I to have a couple of days away for our anniversary.

Luckily I am not a hard-to-please woman and we had the best stay cation EVER, and the only thing on the agenda (well, except that it WAS our anniversary so there were "other" things on the agenda as well;), was to re-do our kitchen floors that we had been given Christmas money to do.

I made a list of all the things I wanted to complete while the kids were away and started knocking the projects out as soon as we got home on Monday afternoon.

We found some beautiful wood flooring on clearance (thank you Heidi!), and with that price we still had plenty of money to cover the other smaller project we wanted to get done around the house and stay completely in budget.

We immediately began prepping the floors to lay down the wood flooring.  Three layers of old linoleum later we found the subfloor.  We had a couple of friends warn us of asbestos (after we were almost done ripping it all out) in the old linoleum backing and glue so we did a worrisome amount little bit of research and calling around before making the executive decision that it was NOT full of asbestos, but if it was, the damage was done and was now sealed into the subfloor after some advice from our contractor friends, aired out the house for 3 days straight and gave each other lung cancer for our 13th anniversary, ha!

This is looking into the kitchen from the dining room.  This is how the floors have been adjoined since we moved in.

The white tile was the top layer.  That yellow tile under our living room? That was the second layer in our kitchen.  We still aren't quite sure how far into our home that layer goes under the carpet,
but that's another project for another week day.

Josh temporarily lifted my ban from tools, yay!

ahem...moving on...

Our laundry "room" is in the kitchen so we tore out the cabinets above the washer and dryer and used the wood to make a new desk for the girls to share in their room.

These are some of our "laundry room" transformations over the years

and then we knocked all the cabinets out

Since Josh's time was limited with work and school I found several other projects to occupy my time:)

I found an old cookie sheet to make a magnet board for Jude.

I finished up the painting in the kids bathroom that I began several months ago and painted the cabinets in there as well.

I added a little romantic eye candy to our bedroom.

using an old door that has been in the shed since we moved in

Painted and revamped the boys room.  This is the only room in the house that we hadn't touched since moving in over 5 years ago.

Painted all the exterior doors.

And began the work of painting the cabinets in the kitchen, which will be finished on a day when I get complete movement and feeling back into my hands again.  Painting for 3 days straight really begins to limit mobility and function of my griping muscles, ha!

After all of that my body is now paying the price.  I love the finished products, but man was I exhausted after picking up the kids Saturday afternoon and calling in quits!

Here are some shots of the finished products of the kitchen.

(I really started off good with photos on my good camera and then got a bit lazy:)

And for your viewing pleasure, a little before and after:)

this was taken shortly after we moved in

then I had the bright idea of accenting some of the cabinets with dark brown
(what WAS I thinking?!)
and then adding the backsplash a year and a half ago.

This was taken yesterday.
I can't wait to get a fresh coat of white on the cabinet doors and finish the grey border in between them:)

The Shop ~ my OTHER job "outside" the home

We have this little room outside under the carport.

It houses the water heater, electrical switch boxes and dryer vent.

When we first moved in it also housed

random home fixtures, a broken freezer, a jammed filing cabinet and rusty tools.

Over the years we have slowly been cleaning it out and making it more "purposeful".

Last year, after opening up theColonyShop,

certain Colony members began to complain about the noise.

Like hammering metal in the kitchen on the floor isn't a "normal" occurrence or something.

Shortly after the complaints started coming in, the Colony leader 

requested I take my business elsewhere;)

As if creating fun spaces in my home isn't fun for me, ha!

I cleared out a spot in this little "gem" of a place and have slowly made it my own.

Welcome to theColonyShop, friends!

Areyna got a sewing machine for Christmas and theColonyShop creators

graciously let her set up her own special work place.

I found an old hanging planter that houses her fabric scraps

The abundance of storage allows us to keep all of our craft supplies in one place!

It's certainly not perfect, but I LOVE the incompleteness and imperfections.

gems, jewels, and measuring sticks

I spray painted a tray table gray (of course I did)

This old director chair was in my parents barn.

I brought it home, cleaned it up, recovered it and painted it

and now it makes the perfect chair for the shop.

It's one of my happy places, 

and if you ever stop by and can't find me, I'm pretty sure this is where I'll be.

The Secret Of Simplicity ~ embracing the imperfect home

I'm not sure where the American culture got in their minds that the wife is supposed to be able to carry the whole load of the home herself.

Did you know that even in third world countries mothers have help around the house and with their children and schooling?  Heck, even the Proverbs 31 woman had maidens!

The phrase, "it takes a village" is a reality in villages and homes all around the world.

Moms come together to help carry the load of mothering, cooking, cleaning, taking care of the sick, and that's just naming a few.

Families usually live closer together so it makes for built-in help, but when family is not around the friends usually step in, and when that doesn't cover it, families will hire out help.  It helps the economy and keeps families running smoothly.

So why is it that we, as moms, feel like failures if we can't keep up with everything?

We have the laundry.
Then the cooking.
Running kids all around to activities is a never ending job.
Then you add in the dishes, mopping, sweeping...
And then there is the working mom, and the yard work and the side buisiness...

Add it all together and you have one stressed out mama (and family)!

But I have learned that in order to thrive as a mom and wife I need to simplify, and even ask for help when I need it.  If you are on a low budget and can't pay for outside help, like us, then girl, you need to simplify.

Here are some simple things we have implemented in our home to simplify.

(Note that they are in list form because lists make me happy and seem to simplify even the most overwhelming of tasks.  And LIFE can most certainly be an overwhelming task!)

1 - To Do List(s) - Every day I make a short list of things that absolutely HAVE to get done that day.  Note that these are not things I'd LIKE to get done, but that need to get done.  I make a separate list of the things I'd like to accomplish that day and then an ongoing list of things that I would love to get done sometime in the near future.  This helps to prioritize my to-do's.

2 - Laundry - I no longer sort my laundry before washing.  I know, I know, it is better for the colors and duration of the material if we sort them, but this mama is NOT going to sweat over it.  I do not have the luxury of being a full-time laundry person, therefore my main job is to get the clothes cleaned and able to be worn again.

Here is another one.  I don't fold the laundry.  I pull it out of the dryer, sort it into boys, girls, Jude and mommy/daddy piles while turning it all right-side-out.  The kids are responsible for putting their own clothes away, so I place their clean clothes in a pile in their room and they put them away after school.  The girls take great pride in organizing and folding their clothes.  The boys, not so much, ha!  But the way they tear through their drawers looking for the perfect outfits in the mornings, I highly doubt they would stay folded anyway.  So, as long as they are put away I could care less.

3 - Cooking - I choose simple, healthy and relatively quick meals.  I choose 5 meals a week that I can place in on our weekly calendar depending on the evenings activities.  I try to plan my meals and make my grocery list on Sundays.  And sometimes plans change and then I have a meal (or two) to roll over for the next week!

4 - Activities - We don't have a set rule about our family and activities, but we are learning how much our family can handle and getting pretty confident in saying the word "no".  We simply are not a family who can thrive with an activity every night or birthday parties every Saturday and Sunday afternoon.

5 - Cleaning - Every week seems to be different around here so I have always had a hard time picking a cleaning schedule.  I can't do it all in one day.  It is simply impossible.  And I can't choose certain things to do each day of the week because my OCD flips out when I miss a day to run errands or pick up a sick kid from school.  So I try to keep up with the day to day this way:

• I begin the day by straightening up each room after the kids go off to school.  I don't even necessarily make the beds (except mine), but just make some semblance of them, like making sure each kids covers aren't dragging on the ground and their animals are in the appropriate beds.  I open up curtains and blinds and make piles of the things the kids need to put away when they get home from school.  Every once in a while I get in super manic mode and deep clean their rooms, but for the most part I let them keep up with it.  They like me to get it all in a pile so they can see it whittle down to nothing as they pick it all up:) 
• making sure the kitchen sink is empty and the counters and table are wiped down by the end of every day.  For some reason, I feel as if I can conquer anything if I've got a clean kitchen!
• If I know I have a pretty light day I add specific cleaning things to my NEED list, like toilets or mopping under the dining room table.

6 - Ask for Help - I am not so good at asking for help, but we have so many people who love my kids and our family who eagerly step in EVERY time we need help.  Also, don't be afraid to enlist the help of your kids.  I promise they will love that you are being authentic enough to admit that you can't do it all and will step up to the task.

When I allow  Jude to "help" me unload the dishwasher
it allows me to enjoy his company, embrace his "help"
(that I get regardless of my wanting it or not)
and makes me loosen up my perfectionist grip on my home
because we all know that a home with 5 kids is far from Pinterest perfect

These are just a few things I do on a weekly basis that help keep our life moving smoothly.

I simply ask myself, what is my job in this area that will allow this object to serve its purpose.

If the 3 different sets of Legos are stressing you out because they keep getting all mixed up, then simplify it by making a big bin for ALL the Legos, or simply get rid of the sets that you don't use as much.

If you have way too much laundry that you simply can't keep up with it, go through the kids drawers and get rid of all the clothes that they rarely or never wear and give them away!

Clean up dishes as you cook.

Put clothes away as you are taking them off.

Put objects away right away instead of laying them  on my desk  on the counter or chair that holds all the random things in the home that haven't found their home yet.

I hope this has helped you feel like you can release some of those things you feel like you HAVE to do in order to be the perfect mom!

What are some things you do around your home to help simplify your life to make a happy mama?

Another Transformation (of the dresser to trunk variety)

This used to be the boys dresser.

Actually when it was given to us by our friends it was 

the yellow(ish) color on the bottom of the dresser feet.

(I'm not very good at keeping things their original color...)

But over time 

(and quite possibly a result of the frequency of rearrangements it had endured, ahem)

the drawers began to break.

In this pictures you can see that the bottom drawer had broken 

so we used that space to place baskets with board games

It served its purpose well until yet another drawer broke.

We ended up moving it back into the boys room and used the top two drawers for Jude's clothes.

The bottom half was turned into a reading nook with pillows and books.

But then the boys room was feeling a little cramped.

That's when I decided to move Jude to his big boy bed.

Which gave us more space under his bed for his own clothes.

The other boys clothes were moved into their closet.

So the only items I needed to find a home for were the boys costumes.

That is pretty much their only toy in their room.

I mentally created a plan and with a little help from the hubs

we transformed this beautiful dresser into a trunk for the boy's costumes.

My next project: trying to figure out how I can make my couch into a pull-out sofa!

IKEA Crib Hack: creating more space

All 3 of our boys share their room.
Zeke and Cai share a bunkbed and Jude has(d) his crib.

It was beginning to feel a bit crowded in their room and finding appropriate space for 3 different sizes of clothing was a constant project.

This got my wheels turning (of course it did, ha!).
The dresser that held Jude's clothes originally had 4 drawers.
Over the years 2 drawers had broken off leaving only two, to house all his diapers, socks, clothes, etc. (more on what that dresser has become next week!)

So I decided to hack his IKEA crib/toddler bed and find a way to make some extra space in their room.

By the time we got his bed he was already a strong-willed little toddler so it has always been lowered.

So here's what I did.

First, I decided that Jude was old enough to try the "big boy bed"...again, which is now a role he has owned like a champ! {for the most part}

I realize that the toddler bed setting is supposed to be lowered, but I decided to make it a toddler "loft".
I took the front railing off,
raised the mattress up to the infant/baby slot,
and drilled a couple of holes for the toddler bar to hold the mattress in place.

Now I have a place to put these cute little baskets with his clothes in it, and we have the added bonus of some freed up wrestling space for the boys.

It's a WIN WIN!

Rearranging Your Home ~ The "Why" behind it

I love to rearrange things in my house.

I'm not sure if Josh knew just what he was getting into when he married me, ha!

Things don't stay put for very long around here before growing legs and relocating.  And many times my family doesn't even know what hit them until I am running errands and they go to look for something and it is no longer in its designated "home".

"Why in the world would someone enjoy doing something so meaningless."
"What a waste of time."
"Why can't you just keep things in the same place?"

Let me give you a few reasons why I, and other's like me, may tend to move things around so obsessively.

1. MAKING A HOME ~ I take my job as a homemaker very seriously.  I love creating spaces and environments around my home and sometimes things need to be moved to enable the current "project".
2. EFFICIENCY ~ Sometimes rearranging my home is out of necessity to make things move or work more efficiently.
3. DEEP CLEANING ~ Often, the urge to purge and a quick rearrangement of a room (or 3) tend to be simultaneous.  I begin to go through a closet and get rid of things and I find "treasures" I could use somewhere else in the house, which means I am most likely going to have to switch some things around to make it work.
4. NEED FOR CHANGE WITHOUT SPENDING THE "CHANGE" ~ Contrary to popular belief, the Colony is not wealthy, and we can't just run to the store and get the latest and greatest decor for the home on a whim.  So when I become discontent with my surroundings I am faced with a choice.  I can either sulk about the things I don't and can't have OR I can walk around the house full of blessings and make it feel fresh without spending a dime.  By moving the couch around to the other side of the living room, switching up the bookcase angles, even changing the basket that holds the dishtowels or placing the fruit bowl on the island instead of the counter, has a way of making things feel fresh and new.
5. THERAPEUTIC ~ My anxiety makes me feel the need to do something.  My fidget is organizing and rearranging things.  It helps ease the tension in my hands and body and gives me a sense of accomplishment in the process.
6. CREATIVITY OUTLET ~ It has become almost a game for me to figure out things to make, made out of things we already own or have laying around, without having to spend a penny!

I decided that it would be fun to write a post about HOW I go about rearranging my house.  So come back tomorrow to get some tips on how I make my eyes and heart oh so happy:)

First Things First

Some days I wake up ready to tackle the day.

Other times I wake up and just want to roll over and opt out of the day's activities.

But regardless of the way I feel, I still have to get up and be the mom I need to be to these 5 little people who will, Lord willing, be able to make their own breakfast one day.

So I try to start the day off right.  

For starters, I go around the house and open up all the blinds and/or curtains to let the sunshine penetrate through the darkness.  I've done this since I was a child.  What a difference some natural light can make!

Then, I make my bed and then ensure that the covers of all the kids beds are at least on their own beds.

The last thing that I like to do is make sure the kitchen is in order (by lunchtime).  This one doesn't always happen the way I'd like, but I try to make sure the girls have unloaded the dishwasher and I have loaded the dishwasher back up with breakfast dishes, and cleared off the counters taking everything out of that room that doesn't belong.

The book I've been reading, "Say Goodbye To Survival Mode", also encourages this idea by stating the positive effects of having a morning routine for yourself.

So take some time, put a short morning routine together and get on with your day!

These little things can make such a big difference, because even if nothing else gets done that day, I can at least reflect back on the morning work that happened.

Time It

The timer on my phone is one of our favorite things around the Colony household.

We even have a name for him: "Robbie Robot"

Sometimes he makes the kids cry with his abruptness, but it's hard to argue with him, ya know?

I set Robbie on my phone for EVERYTHING!

He helps motivate us to clean up our room, or get our homework done, or countdown minutes until the next meal (that one's for Cai;).  We set him for disciplinary actions and for picking up sticks around the yard for some extra money.  He also counts down between bathtub rotations and toy exchanges, or helps us get faster at our multiplication facts.

You name it, we've timed it.

I have started doing something new though.

I've begun timing myself!

I don't have all day to work on projects, I have 5 little people making sure of that, ha!  I do, however, have 10 min. to clean out the refrigerator, or 30 minutes to do a quick clean-up of the misplaced things around the house.

Just today I decided that the weeds had gotten way too out of control.  Alethia and Cai were crafting gifts for siblings and Jude had just gone down for a nap.  My to-do list had surprisingly dwindled (I'd been setting the timer a lot today) so I grabbed my gardening gloves and set Robbie for 1 hour.  It helped to know that I had a specific time frame to work.  It motivated me to keep going.  I tried to make little goals along the way to see if I could get to "that point" before Robbie went off.  If I hadn't have set the timer I probably would've gotten too carried away and worked well into the afternoon, forfeiting homeschooling the littles, playing with them, getting dinner prepared before the 2 older littles got home from school or even getting some other office work done.

If you are having a hard time tackling stuff around your house I'd encourage you to set the timer!  Everybody has 10-15 minutes to chip away at a task that continues to hang over your head.  You might not get the entire mountain of laundry folded, but you can at least make a mole hill out of it:)

Command Center ~ mudroom in the kitchen

With a Colony this size there has got to be some semblance of order and routine.

I've created chore charts of various varieties over the years with no long term success.

We've tried brainstorming different ideas to keep a balanced home,

creating unity, self-worth tactics and a team work mentality.

So with a little motivation from Pinterest, random treasures found in my parent's barn

and a supportive husband who always seems to be mandatorily involved for all my many ideas (thanks pookie;)

we came up with a make-shift mudroom/command center

This is my little piece of heaven...

first of all, we needed a little motivation for why we do what we do

Made out of a piece of wood from an old crate I found, written on with a sharpie.

The letters I found HERE to resize, print and tied on with twine (my FAVORITE accent piece EVER).

Then we made a "work for hire" board.

I got the idea HERE.

Made with three cheap IKEA pictures frames already on hand, 

and some chicken wire from my parents barn.  Tied together with twine, of course;)

Instead of giving our kids an allowance, just because,

we decided we wanted to work on instilling the attitude of hard work and how it can pay off.

Josh and I thought of different jobs around the house that always need to be done

but that regularly get pushed aside.

Each job can be selected, completed and then after parent's approval the payment will be given.

They are paid in small coins so we can still instill the money management ideas of tithing, saving and spending.

We have the appropriate money for the jobs in little magnetic jars next to the pantry so it is ready to hand out for a job well done!

I found some old, black shutters in my parents barn.

We cut them in half and are using them for organizational purposes.

Each kid has their own organizer for school papers, party invitations and weekly chore charts

There is also a hook under each shutter for their book bag and coat.

My Menu board helps motivate me to plan out our meals every week.

Found the idea HERE and just covered a push pin board already on hand.

This not only helps lower my meal time anxiety, but helps with grocery shopping.

I also added a "My Little Helper" tag so they know who gets to help me prepare meals that day.

Because we ALL know that meal prep is NO FUN with too many "cooks" in the kitchen.

Plus then there isn't any arguing as to who is going to help mommy with what.

At least ONE DAY there won't be any arguing about who is going to help mommy with what;)

I can also place the recipes for that week on it so they are easily accessible.

So far this system is working GREAT!

The best thing, though...

Total for this project ~ $0