Simple Living

It's that time of year.  The time to set new intentions, exercise regimes, healthy eating meal plans, and ideals of simplifying life.  I must say, I am a sucker for dreaming of simplicity.  Those perfectly manicured magazine photos get me every time.  Wouldn't it be nice to have just the right amount of "stuff" and everything in its place all the time?


Unfortunately, I'm going to have to wait at least 20 more years until that is a remote possibility.  So, for the meantime, I am "learning" to embrace the stuff in our lives.  Sometimes I look at our full 2400 square foot house and wonder why and how we have so much stuff.  Sometimes it drives me crazy.  Sometimes I go madly through the rooms purging what I can.  And sometimes I look around, and think about how we actually do use almost every thing that we own.  And how I work hard to let it all have a home, where it can reside.  And how this is a season where we just need to own a lot of stuff, but that the stuff does not have to define us.

Currently, I run a household of 6 people.  Two littles, two teenagers, and two adults.  That amount of people logistically "needs" a lot of stuff.  Each age needs their own shoes, coats, clothes, toys, dishes, and even sometimes food.  A lot of my house maintenance (read: free time) has become making sure everything is stocked up and put in the rightful place, or else the house would become pure mayhem.  It seriously is a full-time job!

I spend a large portion of my day cleaning up, putting things away, organizing cupboards, making lists of what is missing, shopping for what we need, and putting those things away.  That doesn't even include the weekly cleaning chores either.

I enjoy my job and the work I do as a counsellor, but in this season of life, the time I spend providing for my family and running a house brings me, by far, much more joy.   Sure, putting away our purchases from a Costco shop is a two-person job between carrying in loads of stuff, and wrangling littles so that they don't jump all over the bread loaves or break into the applesauce... But I do feel like the small jobs I do are my way of providing for my family and making sure that everyone's needs are met.  Finding more efficient and creative ways of doing it brings me pleasure (hence why I can justify time spent on Pinterest).

As I continue on in this blog, I hope to share more of my organization tactics and best-practices I have found to work in our home (you can find some I've already posted under the Home Grown tab at the top).  Hey, it's another way I can justify spending time on Pinterest to find the prettiest way to fold towels in the linen closet...

So share with me your thoughts, your questions, your best practices on keeping a semi-organized, functioning family home.  I'd love to hear!