Isaiah 38,1-6 is not only great advice this up and coming Lenten season but also for the master of her time and thus of her home.
“Take order with thy house, for tomorrow thou shalt die”
There is no better time than right now, to lay claims to your free time, and take hold of all those fleeting 15minutes to get accomplished.
We feel very overwhelmed by the constant revolving needs of our homes: dishes, laundry, DUSTING 🤢ugh and I just saw a post on Facebook with over 50 rotational tasks that I’ve never even heard of before to add to my list of to do’s.
Our home being the reflection of ourselves, our life’s work, and all we have to pass to our children and family: traditions, routines, work ethic, home economics etc., we set the stage for our families to thrive and not just “live” long after we are capable of doing the jobs ourselves or………….are gone.
It is said “It is how you spend your free time that defines you.”
Got an iPhone? Well….check your screen time hours before you groan….”I HAVE NO FREE TIME!” We have more than we think; we’re just very likely wasting it.
Here are 3 Meal/Cleaning/Laundry changes I’ve made recently in my home to simplify and more easily take control and “Take order of MY house” starting with my free time. A minute well spent toward a future moment will land you with more free time than you would have had if you spent that free moment now. Consider it like a “leisure bank”.
Reclaim’a million moments
First decide how much time you want to spend on your phone, each day and limit yourself to it. Don’t feel controlled or restricted, YOU are the only one who is going to slap on the boundaries and in return for your self discipline, you will get your life back.
This is a daily exercise of settings your own screen time, because each day will warrant different amounts of time. Today I’m blogging, I will need more than on Sunday. Tomorrow I’m doing taxes, I will need more time than today and so forth. So each day set your timer.
Prioritize your time: start your screen time with the important things, maybe checking emails, online purchases, food shopping, Bill laying, and after that is done allow for the Social media checking. I try not to do this before noon and leave the morning block for productivity. It can be a nice reward to sit down for lunch break and surf social media or an end of day reward.
Tip: get rid of alerts. You should not have to respond immediately unless your running a business and no one should hijack your attention other than family and clients and if clients only during work hours. Note, the work hour thing is BIG especially if your working from home. Don’t let clients invade your home unless during the hours you designate your home for work.
Meals
Meal planning and grocery list making, grocery shopping and cooking is such a process, probably one of the biggest “CHORES” that hangs over my head especially when cooking for a big family. Simplifying meals can make this process so much less a chore and coincidentally make clean-up easier too.
I’ve picked 3-5 base meals that require the same simple ingredients to which I can incorporate different additives to keep it refreshing. My choices had to fit a simple criteria.
To keep meals simple
1) simplify ingredients– grocery shopping is so much easier when no meal planning or lists are involved (yesssss!). Every week I get the same exact things with an infrequent exception.
Simplified meals also means simplified grocery budget too (whooooohoooo!!!) Thanks to Aldi’s we have averaged $225/wk for a family of 8; previous years we were $350-$400!! Man, I don’t miss it!
2) ONE DISH – easy clean up, less time cooking
*The notorious crock pot has long been the housewives secret weapon for this reason but now many of us have joined the insta pot trend, getting the same convenience but in even less time.
But have you noticed SKILLET MEALS?!?!
Skillets can be done a variety of ways, all dumped into one dish and again…simple clean up.
*Try using cast iron for even easier clean up. Just recently got turned on to some very savy reasons to use cast iron. Though I had them in the corners of my cabinets for years, I only recently harvested it’s full potential.
*Smoothies are another simple, healthful meal for anytime of day. If you have an immersion blender then it’s NO-dish 😂 just blend in the cup your serving in. In my house we use 16oz wide mouth canning jars with a whole punched in the lid for stainless steel straw. No spill for the kiddies too; but can’t say I haven’t shaken myself a Moscow mule or two in one as well😁
*Juicing! No prep, you can typically throw whole fruits n veggies right into juicer and then dismantle juicer straight into dishwasher.
3) post your simplified menu of one dish base meals for all your family to reference so there isn’t ever a “what’s for dinner again?” It’s just merely, “oooh can we have that tonight?” Who said moms kitchen wasn’t a Restaraunt 😂 and if anything happens to mom your fam will be more likely to jump in and make a meal if they have a point of reference, or a menu to choose from. Even if you only have littler kids your husband or even hired help will be able to jump on board and help you out if your down.
HASH is a perfect example of a simplified meal!
My hash is a base of potatoes and eggs fried in a cast iron skillet. Simple. Potatoes & eggs. One dish- just the cast iron skillet which most the time doesn’t even need washing.
Yesterday for breakfast we had Yukon gold potatoes and added a mix of green onions spinach and aged shredded cheddar. Occasionally I incorporate sweet sausage for both breakfast and dinner options.
Tonight for dinner I did sweet potatoes, onions, spinach, tomatoes topped with fried eggs vs scrambled and avocado. Cast iron cinnamon buns for desert.
So same base, two different meals, two completely different ways. Both simple and I used and cleaned only one cast iron skillet today.
Egg muffins are another! Whisk eggs in a bowl and pour into muffin pan, and top with assorted toppings:bacon strip or sausage crumble, cheese and let the kids choose a veggie to top their with from a broccoli flowerette to a cherry tomato, asparagus spring or what have you on hand. They tend to eat more readily when they have chosen it themselves just demand they choose one. Again, ONE PAN to wash!
Another area to simplify and manage your time with is
Cleaning
Cleaning is already such a heavy chore, complicating it further with multiple cleaners, tools and supplies only makes you procrastinate further AND it makes your family hesitate to help you out. Simplifying your cleaning supplies to just a few multitasking natural alternatives to make cleaning an easier task you can do in a jif.
Check out what’s in my green cleaning caddy blog for more options but simply
- an ECloth
- Dr. bronners Castile soap
An ECloth and just water with a little soap added is an easy cleaner especially if the cloth is hung locally, as in right where you need it. Inside bathroom or kitchen cabinets from a commando hook is one I recommend regularly. If you wipe down the toilet of course retire to the laundry and I like to put inside a mesh bag or wet Bach so as not to contaminate the rest of your laundry or get it wet or smelly. If you have a pretty amber or clear glass bottle with your fav mixed cleaner it keep out on the counter or on a shelf in the bathroom so as often as your in these spaces you can keep you can touching them up.
- vinegar and some essential oiles for disinfecting.
Keep one DIY cleaner in each bathroom and kitchen with coordinating cloths and you will be able to keep on top of cleanings as you have a few moments to spare vs having to make a cleaning day of it.
*Keep a cleaning log so the next time you go to browse Facebook or sit n stare at a wall, reference all your” wish you would do” list and knock down just one thing. Check them off as things get accomplished and give yourself a deadline, like say, by Saturday to accomplish it, or set a timer for 15-30min and done. This makes cleaning less of a “to do” and more of a way of life, plus with a deadline or set time there is a light at the end of tunnel and you won’t feel apprehensive about it claiming ALL your time.
Laundry
Ugh, laundry. I don’t know why but this has always been my most detested chore.
So if you find yourself in my position where laundry seems to take over, two easy solutions drastically simplify it.
Minimize your wardrobes & bedding!
If your hesitant to minimize your wardrobes, consider this first. We ALL, even our kids have their favorite pieces which we are likely to just keep recycling. Our kids fish through their wardrobe in search of the few pieces they love and toss the rest to the floors, bed or wherever else they can. Kids are so creative like that:) Have you ever noticed repeatedly washing something you NEVER see them wear?! Yup. This is why!
We have the same “go to” outfits, the one we feel most comfortable in or that perk us up in a dingy moment. The rest just sits.
Just get rid of the excess! There is only so much we can wear and even less that we actually like and feel good in.
Next, easily integrate laundry into every day VS making it A DAY by cutting out the folding.
I have NO time for laundry so it needs to be like breathing in my house. I detest laundry baskets sitting around waiting to be washed or put away. I will never sit on the floor amidst mounds folding and watching tv!
Instead I do a load daily, running the washer right after dinner & showers, adding the last towels from baths or napkins from dinner, switch it to dryer before going to bed, and empty dryer after morning coffee. This keeps my washer empty during the day for everyone to toss in what needs washing and have it back by the next morning vs throwing it in a laundry basket to sit and accumulate.
The key though is what to do once it exits the dryer! DO NOT fill a laundry basket and leave it! Here is where simplified wardrobes and bedding assists. Just one small load is easy to tackle. Large and multiple loads get left. So pull each piece from the dryer and sort it into a pile by person or category: towels, sheets, Joey, mom etc. I do this either right on top of the washer/dryer ( I have NO fancy laundry room or folding table😫). I tell the owners to go get their piles to put away themselves and they either hang or toss into a rope basket assigned to tops/bottoms/pj’s/underwear etc.
NO FOLDING. NO PUTTING AWAY. 😃👊
Thats what makes laundry more manageable for me. I don’t even feel like I do it anymore.
There are so many areas we can simplify and create order in, but these are just a few of the BIG monsters you can tackle and feel the weight lifted immediately:)
So the next time you sit n stare at a wall or go to check Facebook, knock down at least ONE bowling pin from one of these end games. You will be surprised how quickly you FREE UP YOUR TIME by being in control of your free time.
“Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening my ax.”
Abraham Lincoln
Take the time to simplify your approach and save time in the execution.
Her House 