Before we had our son 11 months ago (!!!), I had grandiose ideas of what being a stay-at-home mom would be like. I was going to read a ton of books! I was going to try a boatload of new recipes for dinner every night! I was going to redecorate the house! 

Fast forward 11 months. My stay-at-home-mom gig has turned in to a work-at-home-mom gig as I've joined (and LOVE) helping people tell their stories with KEEP Collective. But even before joining KEEP, the thought of having time to read and make dinner and redecorate is laughable. 

I'm sure there are many, mythical babies out there who take regular naps daily, but our sweet son is not one of them. Some days, I get a long nap out of him in the morning. Some days, it's in the afternoon. Some days, it's not at all. So some days, I'm highly productive. And other days... we just get through the day. 

But as a type-A mom, I still need some sort of semblance in our day. I need to feel like I have a bit of a schedule, even if there's chaos and changes and unbalance. So here are my tips for making it through the day (or most days) with your sanity. 

Make some sort of schedule. For me, this is a load of laundry and coffee every morning. I know how trivial that might sound. But getting a load of laundry in first thing in the morning makes me feel like no matter what else happens during the day, I at least got a load of laundry done. Something gets accomplished every day! And the coffee is clearly just survival for momma. 

And while I never know what the day will bring, we do try to accomplish the same activities on the same days every week. We grocery shop on Mondays or Tuesdays. We go to a class on Thursdays. We try to plan a play date or errand on Wednesdays and Fridays. It's not hugely structured, but it's a structure of sorts, and that makes me feel like we have it a bit more together. 

Focus on the did-dos. This is an idea I took from another blog months ago. Stop focusing on what you're not getting done, and focus on what you do get done every day. I played with the baby! We read a lot of books! We had three meals and two snacks! That laundry got folded and put away! I made our grocery list! 

Get out of the house. There's something incredibly draining about being in the same place all day. There are only so many times we can read books, play with blocks, chase our wind up cars, crawl race down the hall, etc. We NEED some variety. And for us, that's trying to get out of the house (at least, when weather allows!). It doesn't have to be anything huge. A trip to the post office. A Target run for supplies. A visit to the library. SOMETHING to get us out and entertained! Getting out of the house breaks up the monotony and gives me something to look forward to. Plus, we usually get errands accomplished (bonus!)!

Don't get caught up in the little things. I try hard to do other things during the day. Organize the toy room during naps. Get a few emails sent. Fold said laundry I washed in the morning. It doesn't always happen. But when it doesn't, I try really hard not to beat myself up about it. First and foremost, my most important job is taking care of Henry. Everything else can wait. 

Out with the old, In with the new: Purging the junk in 2016!

Waiting until I was 31 to get married had its perks. I purchased a house. Got my Master's degree. Traveled. Filled said house with memories, photos, and items. 

And then I met Dan, and it all fell in to place. We made this house our home. Traveled. Combined our entire lives. Filled said house with a LOT of duplicates of items. 

And thus, here we are, three years after he's moved in, and a lot of that stuff remains. We've had two semi-successful garage sales in the past few years, but we've been left with items each time. And thinking we would sell them at the next garage sale, we've held on to them. 

But now, we've acquired a baby, and all of the baby things and OHMYGOSH they have a lot of THINGS. So we're at that critical point where we NEED to get rid of the old to make room for the new. 

So what's the plan? 

Donate.
We've literally held on to an old crock pot, toaster, and phone for years thinking we would eventually sell them at a garage sale. We haven't. Is it worth it to me to hold on to it for another year to see if we can sell them for a dollar or two each? It's not. I would so much rather donate those items to someone who can really use them. So we called St. Vincent DePaul. Why that organization? Because they're coming to our home to collect it all. I don't have to load up the car with our baby child and all of our belongings and schlep it somewhere. It'll be gone right from our home, and that makes me hap, hap, happy! 

Resell. 
There are a few items that we'd really like to sell because they're in great shape (think, an entertainment unit we're no longer using and a CD tower that we don't need). But, we don't want to wait until we have another garage sale. So, we're utilizing a local Facebook selling group to post these items! This way, I can get rid of some of our bigger ticket items and make a little in the process. 

Don't let the clutter in. 
I'm notorious for having organized clutter. We acquire something and I stack or shove it somewhere so that it looks organized. This year, I'm trying really hard not to do that. If we get something new, it's going to find it's permanent home immediately. No more artfully stacked piles on the kitchen table or bedroom dresser. We put it in its forever home, or it doesn't stay! 

Follow the Declutter 365 Facebook group.
I love, love, love this group, because the organizer has broken everything down in to tasks that can be accomplished in 15 minutes a day. Today's task? Go through your kitchen utensils and purge the ones you don't need. So, like, those 18 wooden spoons we have on the counter? Today's goal is to work that down to, oh, I don't know, 10 (because really, will we EVER need more than 10 wooden spoons at any one time?!). This is something I can easily do once Henry is in bed for the night, and after 15 minutes, I get to stop and relax for the evening. Wins for all of us! 


What are your best tips for purging the junk? How do you get rid of it when it seems like there's just. So. Much?

Happy New Year! (Thriving in 2016)

A new year always brings so much excitement with it. A fresh start, a chance to try to be a little better, a time to do a little more. 2015 was easily the most amazing and sleep deprived year of my entire life. And so when I started thinking about resolutions, that seemed like a lofty goal. Resolutions feel designed to fail for so many reasons. But I kind of love the idea of having a particular focus. 

I polled my Facebook friends this year and asked if they had to come up with a one-word mantra for 2016, what would it be? Their words were powerful: Inspire. Simplify. Trust. Joy. Words that would be meaningful and rejuvenating all in one! 

And thus, I decided on my word for 2016: Thrive. I toyed around with others: Flourish. Passion. Savor. But I kept coming back to thrive. 

The first year of parenthood is hard. It's wonderful. But it's so flippin' hard. But it's so flippin' amazing too. And I want to do more than simply "survive" it. I want to THRIVE. 

I want to thrive as a mom. I want to be loving and innovative and give Henry good, positive energy. 

I want to thrive as a wife. I want to be loving and strong and supportive and let Dan know I'm the luckiest woman in the world because I got him as a husband. 

I want to thrive in our home. I want to get it organized and decluttered and beautified so that our home becomes a sanctuary and not just a place to put all of the things. 

I want to thrive in my business. I want to work hard and help people tell their stories and support my team and help them achieve their goals too all while working at home. 

I want to thrive as a friend. I want to get back to making the out-of-the-blue phone calls and really making time for the people who matter so much in our lives. 

Generally speaking, I just want to thrive in all things! So where am I starting? 

1. Take a few minutes for yourself every day. 
My sister-in-law got me an awesome journal I'd been looking at on Amazon - Mom's One Line a Day. It's a five year journal where I can record just a sentence or two a day about what Henry is up to. I've always been an avid journaler, but I've stopped in recent years, and I look forward to starting back up, even if just in a small way. I also picked up an awesome daily devotional I'm going to read. Just one or two pages a day - less than five minutes. But it'll be something to make sure I'm thriving first before I spread the thrive around! 

2. Simplifying and organizing. 
Much of my thrive gets sucked in to the daily monotony. Cleaning up. Laundry. Looking for something I need and can't find. So this year I intend to make our home thrive too! I found the Declutter 365 Facebook group and signed up for the mailing list. Each month, the site owner puts out a declutter calendar. Each day's task only takes 15 minutes, but the goal is to have an organized home by the end of the year. I can commit to 15 minutes a day! 

3. Be in the moment. 
A multi-tasker at heart, I'm the queen of trying to do a million things at once. In order to thrive, I'm going to focus on what's in front of me. Live in the moment. Be present. Savor where I'm at. 

Do you have a mantra for 2016? Or a New Year's Resolution you've committed to? Share it in the comments!