September & Simplification

Happy September and welcome to my favorite month of the year! This month is all about transitions and changes and the shifting of what was and is to come.

I get motivated, like many of you do, around more cozy baking and deeper cooking (bye bye salads and smoothies… hello roasted veggies and soups!)

The month also brings about a layer of activity that is like no other with my boys in sports, and activities and school stuff happening what feels like every evening so keeping things simple is my mantra right now. Therefore, my theme for this month is SIMPLIFICATION! I have five things that hold my life together and help me simplify my life. And here they are in no particular order.

1. Weekly meeting with Steve – without this simple 45 minutes together, I would be a wreck all week.  We have a thousand wheels in motion in this season of our life with both he and I working FT, kids in school and sports, animals, house, garden, cars, life, etc… we need this and I can’t recommend it enough.  There are a lot of different ways to do this but I encourage you to keep it simple!  Here’s a bit more from one of my favorite bloggers on what I consider to be the most important meeting of the week!  How to Hold a Weekly Marriage Meeting (And Why It Matters) (camillestyles.com)

2. Meal planning on Sundays – simple and to the point.  I don’t do anything fancy – I have a small white board, I write down the nights we’ll all be home and figure out dinner for that night as well as the nights we’ll all be out.  It’s easy simple and saves SO MUCH TIME AND STRESS!

3. Weekly Radar list and daily list making – this helps with long range planning for getaways as well as what is right in front of me this week and for today.  I make a list every Sunday for the week ahead and then each evening I have a list for the following day to follow/execute on.

4. Morning quiet time – just 30 minutes to read, write, reflect and stretch (in no particular order).

5. Batching Tasks – this means I try to do similar things at the same time – for example batch cooking, laundry, gardening, housework, watering plants, shopping, exercise, office work, planning time, etc.. jumping from one thing to the next is like opening 50 tabs on your computer (only it’s in your brain) and it absolutely wrecks my focus.  So by “batching” these things (and this can only happen when I stay consistent with #’s 1 and 2 above) I can get it done and not feel pulled in 100 directions.