Tag: cleaning

Plan For A Healthy Week

Having a plan is the best way to stay on track with new goals. Planning out your week gives both peace of mind, and an easy to follow guide so that mid week distractions do not derail you from your goals. I tend to journal and write everything down to start with and then go from there. For me it allows for a flow of thought that more often than not clarifies my ideas so that I can tackle them easier. 

To start with I write down tasks immediately when I think of them, it has become a habit. I take out my phone and jot down in my notes app every little thing that comes to me. I think of this as my master list that I can pull from week to week when I am planning my days out. I start with my top priority things, or time sensitive tasks, and then work from there. For example:

  • Oil Change
  • Sign Up For Events
  • Pay Bills

These are all time sensitive things that must be done first, after that I add on the things that I need or want to get done that are not on a timeline necessarily.

I try not to give myself more than two or three tasks per day. For me two or three is manageable, everyone is different. 

After that I go to my journal and write out which tasks I want to get done on what days. This way I know that on Tuesday I am taking the dogs to get their nails trimmed. I do not have to think about when I am going to do that all week, I know when, and I can not be stressed about it or keep it in the back of my brain. 

The next thing I do is stick to my morning and evening routines. These routines do not have to be long or complicated. Make them easy, especially at first. In the morning just spend three minutes brain dumping into a journal, that will bring you so much peace I promise! In the evening spend fifteen minutes doing 5 minute tasks. That can be your routine, and that is a great routine. The more you stick to it, the more it will help and it will get easier. Once it starts to get easier you can add things or switch it up. I would say stick to a simple routine like this for at least six weeks and then you can add something. 

Another thing that will make starting a routine and having a weekly plan easier is knowing what your motivation is. Think about your “Why” and what you want the outcome to be. Are you trying to save time? Do you want to feel more on top of things? Are you trying to reach some big goals and just want structure? Whatever the motivation is, think about it everyday, remind yourself that the extra effort to plan and prep for the week will pay off. Eventually you will feel the mental burden growing smaller and smaller because you are not trying to keep five thousand things in your brain. In my opinion brains are for ideas, and they are not a calendar or a filing cabinet. That is another reason I write everything down. My brain has space to breathe! 

Once you have your list and your motive it’s time to keep the energy moving forward. After each task cross it off, delete it, or check mark it. Doing this makes you feel accomplished and lets your brain know that we totally did the thing! For me, I really get the most motivation after I have had a few wins. Accomplishing something is the best way to ensure you will keep going with it. The more we accomplish, the more motivation we have to continue and to put more effort into it. 

I thought I would include some things that I do every week to help give an idea of where to start if this is your first time setting a weekly schedule. 

Meal Planning and Prepping 

Every week I sit down and meal plan, I get ideas off of pinterest or my cookbooks. Then I go through the kitchen and make a grocery list. I put down things we are out of, things we are almost out of, and things that I need to make meals for that week. When I go grocery shopping I am very serious about sticking to my list, I really try hard not to browse the isles or get things I did not plan on getting. This helps my grocery bill and prevents us from ordering take out all the time. I used to think meal planning was overwhelming but the more I do it the easier it gets. We actually have fun coming up with meal ideas now. 

Then I do my best to prepare the food if necessary. I make my lunches the night before, and most of the time they are leftovers from dinner. I also make large meals that can last multiple nights so that we do not have to cook every single night. 

Workouts

We go to the gym Monday – Thursday, and I always know what workout I will be doing while we are there. I have days where I lift weights and days where I only run or swim. No matter what, I never go to the gym without a plan. Planning my workouts in advance allows for a seamless exercise routine where I can just walk in and start. I do not have to think about what I am doing while I am there or get frustrated and just give up in the middle of a workout. It also helps me keep track of exercises so that my workouts are balanced throughout the week and I can make sure I am hitting all my goals!

Chores

I am a little more relaxed on my chore planning, I do not have certain days for specific chores. What I do is use a timer and set it for twenty minutes. It is difficult for me to stay on task for longer than that most of the time and I also get restless so this helps! For twenty minutes I will clean whatever I can, then when the timer goes off I do something else that I want to do for the next twenty minutes. It does take longer this way but I get through my chore list. So if that week I have “clean my car” “wash the couch blankets” and “replant the Philodendron” on my chore list, then I can do as much of that as I can for twenty minutes and then have a little break. It keeps my brain interested because I am switching tasks every now and then. So after twenty minutes of cleaning I go and read, or play video games, or play with my dogs for twenty minutes. It works very well for me!

I have become very fond of my routines and weekly planning methods. I continue to update and refine them to be more productive and easier for me as life changes. I think the biggest part is just the willingness to put the time in upfront so that your week can go smoother. I truly hope that this helps in your weekly planning and meeting any goals you are working towards. 

Health, Happiness, Plants.

Mindfully De-cluttering Your Space

Last summer I started my de-cluttering journey and I have learned a lot about the process. At first I was just trying to get rid of obvious trash and broken items. Over a year later here I am still downsizing and purging even more!

The big difference between now and then, is that now I understand the mental peace that truly comes with having less clutter surrounding you. I have changed my shopping habits as well as my rules for what is actually granted access into my home.

Prior to starting this process I would not give much thought to where in my home the things I bought would go. I would just impulsively buy items that I thought I would like to have, and then they would get put somewhere they ultimately did not belong. Quickly it seemed that shelves, desks, cabinets, and even under the bed storage was filling up. When we decided to move, it seemed like the perfect time to address the ever growing amount of things in our home.

I started with items that were broken, or stuff we had that never got used. Some examples are picture frames, a waffle maker, clothing that was beyond repair, and a lot of dog toys that had been chewed to bits.

After we got past all of that stuff, we started to notice a difference in how our home felt, and we were motivated! We went room by room and started to discuss every item we had. We looked at every piece of clothing, every cup in the cabinets, and every pen in the drawers, and after that we kept going!

By this point it was very apparent that a lot of things had been removed from the home. Some shelves were completely empty, and we even got rid of a lot of our furniture. Little bins and rolling organizers were no longer needed because we had purged all of the contents in them. This felt very liberating and gave us a lot of serenity, but we still had not actively made the decision to be more mindful, we had just made the decision to get rid of things.

After we had moved and got more settled, we talked about how nice it felt to have less to take care of. We had to clean and dust less, less of our things ended up broken or misplaced. We had more room to move around and enjoy our home. This is when we talked about our relationship to our possessions.

Looking back, I could not even tell you all of the things we got rid of, I truly do not remember most of the items we chose to give away, or had to put in the trash. We realized that if we chose to keep something in our home, it should be for good reason. Going forward we started asking questions. Does this item mean something to me? Do I use it often or at all? Does it serve a purpose or is it something that just takes up space?

Now I would not say that I am a minimalist necessarily. I do have some things that I keep as memorabilia, I do Sometimes get souvenirs when vacationing, and I do still have things that I keep because I just like them. I do think more mindfully about the impact of those items now, and I understand that if I buy something, it means that it will take up space in my home, and I will have to take care of it.

Almost all of my possessions now are very meaningful to me, I know where they are, and where they came from. I find myself buying a lot less at the store or online because I am happy with the things I have. I have learned to repair things that break, and how to better maintain them. When I make a purchase I think about it for a while before I buy, I tend not to impulse buy much anymore.

This whole experience has allowed me to be more grateful for what I have, and taught me that my house full of stuff was not making me happy, it was making me stressed.

I now avoid free goody bags at festivals, and SWAG at events or businesses. I love the peacefulness of a home that has cleared surfaces and drawers that are not filled to the brim.

I would like to end this by saying that when all of this started we were not hoarders, and our home was not dirty or unable to be walked through. It looked like any other home, we were living in a two bedroom apartment that had a detached garage. It was not until we had to pack up all of our things that we truly started understanding how much we really had. It was way more stuff than what we think two people need.

If you are interested by the idea of downsizing, or maybe even just doing a little purge, I would suggest starting by asking yourself what you think you could be happy without. For us it turns out we do not need much to be happy, and our home has never felt so peaceful.