A Plan for Taking Back the House!

In the past, I have tracked habits here at Common to Moms.  I've done this partially because the public forum is great accountability for me and partially because watching someone accomplish something is great motivation for others. 

This year- 2014- I am planning to make A LOT of changes in my life.  Mainly, my goal is to move past survival mode and choose to live in a more peaceful and complete way.

I'm happy to report that the process has already begun.  In the last week or so, I have already begun to do things like use my calendar to plan my life at least a week in advance (this helps to quell the chaos in a life full of doctors' appointments and therapies), taken back grocery shopping and meal planning, cooked a little, saved receipts (to soon use to do some budget tracking) and made a plan for how to take back my house from the chaos of twin pregnancy and almost a year of  3 children 3 and under.

Today I want to break down my plan for taking back my house and share it with you. 

First, I feel the need to clarify that although I have needed to improve my habits on cleaning before, this is not the only thing crying out for change in our current life circumstances.  It's more that while I was busy nursing, changing diapers and changing toddlers, stuff began accumulating in the corners of  our home.  And while some things grew, other things began to get lost in the shuffle.  Showers, make-up, clothes that fit, quality restful time all began to dwindle while chaos increased.  Life was hardly ever completely crazy, but neither was it truly complete.  Satisfying? Yes.  Fulfilling? Almost.  Complete? Not really.  The start of the new year has me realizing that what will get lost in the chaos of babies and small children (if I'm not careful) is peace at home and a respectable me. 

"Taking Back the House" to me means getting rid of clutter, working on cleaning habits AND adjusting our home to function for six people instead of four.  Let's face it- almost DAILY I run into problems trying to squeeze a six-person-life out of a four-person-home. I have been reading a lot about organization, cleaning and home management (as well as a little personal soul searching) so I have come up with a pretty comprehensive plan (at least I think it is!) for how I'm going to tackle taking back the house.  And as I mentioned before, I think its both helpful for me and inspiring to others to share it here on the ole' blog.  Consider this a life over-share and if you want to join me as I attempt to conquer some major disorganization and lifestyle adjustment, then I can only say thank you!  Any and all support and encouragement are welcome.

Without further adieu- here is the plan to Take Back the House.

1. Divide my home into three zones.   

Zone 1- Living Room, Dining Room, Kitchen & Laundry
Zone 2- Master Bedroom
Zone 3- Kids Rooms and Bathroom

Admittedly, I have chosen the hardest zone to tackle first- mostly because if I can conquer these areas of my home then I can DEFINITELY continue on and conquer the rest!

2. Chose a starting point within Zone 1 - The Dining Room!

3. Make a list of every stitch of clutter or randomness in that space and what I need to do about it.  The goal here is to check things off the list until the area is completely clutter free.

4. Keep this area CLEAN.

5. Celebrate my clean and de-cluttered space by changing things in the space to better fit our family including but not limited to changing or updating decor.  This is definitely the FUN step!

6.  Rinse and Repeat to the end of a zone, then take time to reflect and re-evaluate the process.  Share on the blog and keep moving forward.  Taking the entire year to complete all three zones is definitely allowed- it will be no small task!

So that's the plan in as much detail as I can predict!  Stay tuned for my Dining Room Over-share Post!

Till Next Time,
Rachel

A New Year's Post: Looking Forward to 2014!

This post is difficult for me to write since the last year of life (or more) has been truly about surviving.  When I take time to assess my life over the last year, there are a lot of wonderful memories as far as life events goes... the twins being born, my grandparents' 80th birthday bash, Peanut's amazing progress in the last month, Melody growing and beginning preschool and dance, seeing my family SO much in comparison to other years, seeing how much people care about our family by how they have helped us this year and so much more!

However, there is a part of me that has definitely grown tired of the surviving aspect of the last year. 

At the end of the twins pregnancy it was difficult just to walk!  Then I recovered from a c-section, Peanut started having surgeries, Melody started school and dance and I jumped back into a part time job.  Fast forward to today and I have grown weary of nights without sleep, days without showers, months without wearing make up and a full year of feeling like making it through the day is an admirable goal.

It is time.

2014 is when I get my life back.  When I start living my priorities again.  I know there will still be days where the goal is just to survive, but I simply cannot live that way as the rule anymore.

I don't plan to change this by sheer determination (though that will be a part of it).  I sincerely am prayerful that God will carry me through this year and mold me into a better ME than I currently am.  I know I don't have any reason to feel guilty about where I am- in fact, there is probably good reason for me to think it could take MANY years to return to feeling some kind of normal under the circumstances.  But something in me is yearning to regain my lost dignity a bit, and I long not to feel defined by the needs of the current moment constantly.  Changing this will take time and effort, but as I said before- this is the time.

So without further adieu- in no particular order:

My list of changes to make in 2014.

1. Return to pumping and quit using formula (as much as possible) for the twins for the times I am not around or they need a supplement.
2. Get serious about saving money for a down payment on a new house. 
3. Take time to unplug from the TV and the computer more often.
4. Make our home organized and presentable.  (Clear out the clutter that has accumulated from being pregnant and adjusting in life and finally get good- or at least better- at cleaning and tidying.)
5. Make myself organized and presentable. (Return to making lists, wearing make-up at least occasionally, wearing real clothes rather than house clothes, etc)
6. SLEEP MORE and choose health over convenience.
7. Take time for God, service to others and fellowship with my church community.
8. Spend more time with Christian.
9. Get out of the house!! Both alone and with the whole family. 
10. Find more ways to stay positive and relaxed.
11. Let go of mommy guilt!
12. Prioritize items of importance on my to-do list, not just the urgent ones.

Unlike typical New Year Resolutions, I know that this is a list that will take time to tackle.  It would be ridiculous to attempt to change all of these things about my life at once!  Yet, at the end of next year, I hope to have made significant progress in many or all of these areas.  After all, when I look back at my life this time last year, we have come a long way! 

So tell me, what changes do you plan to make this year?

Wishing you the happiest of years in 2014!

Love, Rachel

Habit Update

Here is the habit update for how I'm doing on week #2 of my second round of habit forming. (Was that confusing yet?)

Here's the chart...


Successes:

I did laundry and dishes five days out of seven... whoot whoot for a less chaotic house!

Epic Fails:

Oh bed time, how you haunt me... You are the thorn in my side. I either forget all about you or desperately hate you. Why do I hate going to bed "early"? I have no idea- I just do.

Do you know what else I hate though? Waking up at 7am after not getting enough sleep. It just plain stinks. A little insight to that chart, you see the two days I actually went to bed on time? I was so tired from a week of staying up past 10:30pm that I finally desperately wanted to get some rest.

I should also add that I haven't found as much time to conquer the little loose ends in my life this week. 3 days out of 7 isn't exactly an epic fail, but it isn't great either. It's so easy to get distracted and forget to focus on these things.

Conclusion, with the start of school, foster care training and fall kicking into gear it is much more difficult to focus on changing my habits. But I am not giving up, I will keep on trucking and trying to focus on changing my weaknesses a little at a time.

I am so thankful for you (5?) readers that keep me accountable about doing this. Especially this second time around, I would have thrown in the towel in the midst of all the busyness if I didn't have you guys waiting for these updates. So thank you for taking the time to keep coming back.

Love, Rachel

Forming New Habits #3

Week #3 is now complete!

Now, I know for certain that I have never tracked ANY habit for 21 days. And I will hint that week #4 is still going strong- so look out for the grand finale soon! Blogging is really helping me to stay focused on this, and I have to say it feels good!

So here is the chart for week 3. Get ready for a few surprises!


Successes:

• This week I got a little more serious about doing my "chore of choice". Last week I only chose a chore to do twice. As you can see, I at least started working on a chore four times.
• I also started to do laundry five times as opposed to four times last week. I mentioned last week that I realized it would take concerted effort to make these things happen, and the number of times I did these two chores I think shows that I took myself a little more seriously.
• I also prepped for the next day all the times that I needed to this week.

Things that are the same:

• The number of days I did both a chore of choice and a load of laundry on the same day was the same (2 days).

Items of significance:

• I got sick this week. I added it in the chart so you could see how it affected me. I usually never shower when I am sick since illness usually depletes my energy level a lot. Unfortunately though, it almost knocked me off my course with that habit... Almost, but not quite.

I am loving tracking these habits to see how I am doing. And believe it or not, these habits are actually making a difference in my life. The dirty laundry pile in our laundry room/office is slowly diminishing (I should have taken a before and after picture) and we are having clean dishes more often. I am feeling less like a bum around my house, and it feels so good to have taken a serious step toward change.

Can't wait to give the final results about the habits I've formed next week!

Has anyone tried adding a new habit to their lives? How is it going?

Love, Rachel