Over the past three months, I’ve been taking steps each week to simplify my home and streamline my home management. Implementing one step each week has really helped me to succeed. I also think doing this alongside Mary Jo has helped to keep me accountable, we were in it together, deciding the areas we needed to work on and posting each week about our accomplishments.

I do want to share that the one area that I have ‘regressed’ in is routines. I posted a detailed morning and daily routine that I followed for a week or two. However, for our family, it’s been more stressful to stick to detailed routines versus being laid back. Even though I’m not sticking to the detailed routines, we still do have routines. Daily we eat lunch around 12-12:30 and then nap time/rest time is at 1:00. And, before putting the boys to bed we do the same things each night. It’s okay to not have a ton of structure. For me, in this season of life, I’m happier just being free spirited and enjoying my little ones instead of worrying so much about learning time/snack time/reading time/play time. The boys and I have years ahead of us for structured time once we begin homeschooling and the structure can wait a few more years while we enjoy a laid back, carefree life!

In the course of 11 weeks, we have covered time management, stocking the freezer, meal planning, decluttering and cleaning routines:

Introduction

Tracking Time

Time Budgeting

Establishing a Morning Routine

Creating a Daily Routine

Streamlining in the Kitchen

Decluttering and Cleaning the Kitchen

Slowly Stocking the Freezer

Meal Planning

Streamlining Breakfast and Lunch

Decluttering

A Cleaning Routine

If you’re wanting to get your home in order, take baby steps and do one thing each week towards reaching that goal. You could use the different projects we covered each week as a starting point or as a guide of some areas that would be good to cover.

I’m finding that having a simplified home makes my role as a homemaker easier with more time to have fun with my boys and husband!

Be sure to visit Mary Jo at Covenant Homemaking to read how the past 11 weeks have impacted her homemaking! Her post is full of encouragement, including ,”I don’t clean for the sake of having a clean house. I clean, cook, and organize as part of my ministry to my family.”

Share with a friend

Last week’s home management project was creating a cleaning routine.

My intentions were to re-establish the routine that I had in place before Weston was born. I used to iron on Mondays, clean the bathrooms thoroughly on Tuesdays, sweep on Wednesdays and so on.

However, I’ve realized that I already am following a bit of a routine with cleaning, it’s just not formal.

Some examples:

• While the boys are in the tub, I clean the sink and wipe off the tub.
• The toilet area is cleaned with disinfectant spray at least once a day now because Paxton uses the potty now and is quite messy!
• I wash diapers when the pail is full.
• If there is enough laundry for a load, I do laundry.
• I sweep/vacuum when the floors are looking really bad.
• I do a ‘declutter sweep’ about once a month which really helps keep clutter at bay!
• I wash dishes or load the dishwasher every day. There is something about having a clean kitchen that makes the entire house feel clean.
• I make up the bed every morning. {Unless we’re leaving the house and I’m in a bit of a rush.} 

I no longer have a routine written out and I’m not following any guidelines or rules for cleaning, I’m just cleaning when I need to and taking steps to prevent becoming overwhelmed {staying on top of the laundry and dishes!}

This may not work for you and that’s completely fine but in my season of life, I’m learning that there are more important things than having a super tidy home and following strict routines.

I’d love to hear if you follow a cleaning routine!

Be sure to visit Mary Jo at Covenant Homemaking and read about her cleaning routine. She’s using the Motivated Moms Chore Planner which gives you tasks for the day! I had never heard of Motivated Moms until reading Mary Jo’s post and I just might purchase the chore planner for 2013 {I’ll have a 1-year-old by then and it will really be time for a bit more structure!}

This week there’s nothing new to do, we’re just continuing to maintain our homes!

Share with a friend

Streamlining Breakfast and Lunch

August 20, 2012 in home, organization with 102884 Commentshttp%3A%2F%2Fintentionallysimple.com%2Fstreamlining-breakfast-and-lunch%2FStreamlining+Breakfast+and+Lunch+2012-08-20+14%3A34%3A50Rachelhttp%3A%2F%2Fintentionallysimple.com%2F%3Fp%3D10288

When it comes to preparing breakfast and lunch, I’ve been struggling. There has been no plan whatsoever {and honestly, it’s been like this for years}!

I am not a breakfast skipper, I believe it’s important to eat breakfast however I never have planned what we’re eating for breakfast. We typically eat fruit, yogurt, granola, snacks and sometimes even leftovers. Paxton wakes up every morning and wants breakfast. Of course those mornings when he does eat a hearty breakfast {like 4 eggs!}, he doesn’t whine for snacks all morning so its worth the extra effort to prepare a filling breakfast each morning.

I shared last week that I’ve made a meal plan that I’m repeating every 2 weeks. {This has been working wonderfully!} I’m following a similar plan when it comes to breakfast. I’ve planned a week of breakfasts and I’m simply repeating that every week.

Here’s our breakfast plan:

Monday – Omelets
Tuesday –  Yogurt and Granola
Wednesday –  Chicken Biscuits
Thursday – Eggs and Bacon with Yogurt and Granola
Friday – Pork and Hashbrown Casserole
Saturday – Pork and Hashbrown Casserole
Sunday – Omelets

After a couple of weeks of following this breakfast plan, it’s working quite well for our family. It’s easy to prepare breakfast each morning because I have a plan to follow.

Lunch is always a crazy time at our house. It seems like I can never get breakfast on the table fast enough, somebody is always crying at the table and I’m shoving food in my mouth because I’m hungry but don’t have much time to eat!

Simplicity is the key for lunch preparation.

Lunch preparation tips:

• Intentionally prepare enough dinner to have leftovers for lunch the next day. Heating up leftovers is so easy!
• Have a few simple lunch plans and keep the ingredients stocked. Our favorite simple lunch is cheese quesadillas so I always have cheese and tortillas on hand.
• Serve a snack lunch. Just serve up a variety of foods. A typical snack lunch for us is apple slices, cheese cubes, peanuts, dried fruit and pickles. Paxton loves snack lunches!
• Let your child pick what’s for lunch! Some days I’ll let Paxton pick out what he wants us to eat. The result is typically a snack lunch since he loves cheese, dried fruits and pickles. As the boys grow, I’ll probably use this tactic more, letting them prepare simple lunches for themselves!

Week 10 Project: Decluttering

We’re switching gears from the kitchen to the rest of the house. This week’s project is decluttering. I’ll be going through each room in my home over the next week and getting rid of clutter.

Remember to visit Covenant Homemaking to see how Mary Jo is streamlining breakfast and lunch.

Share with a friend