Balancing Home Stuff

When school is in session it can easily be hard for me to find balance. I pour the majority of my energy into it, which means the house stuff doesn’t always get done like I like. Then during summer and vacations my attention and time gets focused on the house and it becomes a peaceful place again. This last school year, as hard as it was, I found a plan that helped my family to live and thrive in our home. Wanted to share what’s been helping us. 

This last year, I learned to stop working at the end of contract time.  

I know, it's a shocker! It's one of those things that are hard to do, but it does get easier when you can learn to say, "I'll finish this tomorrow." It gets easier when you make it a habit. My sanity was important, so I learned to say no. I learned to give myself a break. I learned that I need to give myself a breather. I learned that it's okay to let some things move to the next day. I was reminded that I don't get paid after contract hours, my sanity deserves a rest, and family deserves my best.  

So at 3:30 pm most days, I say most because it didn't happen every day, I closed the laptop or the grade book, stood up, and walked away.  Then I did something for me - I took a walk or read my book, I listened to music and enjoyed my backyard, I painted and then I spent time with my family... I switched to me mode, before mom mode, before being focused on the house. It was amazing how much I could accomplish when I took the time to recharge. 

I hope I remember that in few weeks when school starts again.

I bought the PPP home planner back in January to help me. I got the hard copy, but there is also a pdf to print. They've also now added a digital copy.  It's a home cleaning checklist in a planner format. It’s broken up by things to do each day. 2-3 things instead of trying to tackle it all on the weekend. It’s given us back our days, and Sunday is really a time to rest. As a family we get those couple of items done per day. My boys are older and are also trying to earn a little extra cash, so the list is my go to for their chores.  If life gets too busy, we catch up when we can. It created a peaceful place to be. 

Each day there are reminders about exercise, Bible reading, doing some laundry, tidying up the main rooms, and tackling the kitchen, etc. There are checklists to keep track. I love a good checklist. 

Each week there are reminders about vacuuming, meal planning, mopping, dusting, deep cleaning certain things, bathrooms, taking out the trash, etc. But only 2-3 each day so it’s not overwhelming. Everything still gets done. 

There are also overall projects for each week - like backing up pictures, that rotate 2x a year. 

Anyhow, this isn't an ad, just wanted to share what’s helped my family.  Hope you have a great day!

Finding Balance {Freebie}

Balance... a word that I'm NOT good at.  Once again it's going to be a goal to aim for this coming school year.

I found this old whiteboard in our garage (doesn't every teacher have a whiteboard in their garage?), so I used ribbon to divide it up into 4 sections.  Then I made up these headers to stick into the corners.

That weekly plan whiteboard is something I found at a thrift store.  I decided to put "home" on that since it is portable and my goal is to aim for one house thing a day.  Splitting up the laundry, etc...

This is sitting on a bookshelf in our bedroom/office area.  Just a little reminder of that balance I'm searching for.

Hope it helps someone.  Have a great day!