Hi there. How are you? I hope you've had a wonderful holiday season with your loved ones.
Welcome to the first blog on LuluCherryJewelry. I hope to bring busy, grateful, and slightly overwhelmed mamas like myself, some positivity, encouragement, and light.
2022 was a little bit of a wild ride, particularly the end of the year. We moved in to our new home two weeks before Christmas, which left me just two weeks to cram in a few holiday activities with our boys. Needless to say, I was completely exhausted by the time 2023 rolled around.
However, it was the good kind of exhaustion. I am extremely grateful to be out of rent, to have a yard for our boys to roam, and to finally begin to create some order in our home again.
On that note, I'd like to share some of the things I will be focusing on to do just that.
My goal is to leave the following five things BEHIND in 2023:
- Overwhelm from homemaking
- Unnecessary screen time for my children
- Clutter and disorganization
- Neglecting spiritual health
- Neglecting physical health
And to bring the following five things INTO the new year:
- Create a sustainable daily to-do list
- Equip myself with a go-to list of activities for my children
- Declutter and reevaluate our belongings regularly and incorporate toy rotation
- Prioritize daily Bible study
- Make a habit of daily exercise
If you're in the same boat, mama, keep reading for some motivation on how to execute each goal.
For a simpler way to maintain order in your home, assign one major chore for each day of the week (bathrooms - Monday, washing floors - Tuesday, etc.). To keep things from piling up, do a quick speed clean just to put things into their proper place throughout the day - setting a ten minute timer is SO helpful. Assign your little ones the task of putting away toys thoughout the day.
For go-to kids activities, these are my favorites thus far:
- Puzzles
- Coloring printables (they LOVE having a page printed for them for some reason). This is a great one as you're preparing dinner
- Sending them outdoors as MUCH as possible
- Quiet play time, each on his own bed (they share a room)
- Read a book to little brother
- Usually I rotate an indoor activity with an outdoor adventure throughout the day
To declutter, I usually go by the rule of "if I haven't used it within the last year, get rid of it". For clothing, I have a donation bag in my closet that I put in clothes that I find myself avoiding. I did a massive toy declutter before our move, so for now, our toys are under control and seperated into two bins (I plan on adding at least one more bin to decrease the amount of they have at once). I also keep all sets (magnatiles, logs, legos) in seperate containers and rotate those out as well so they don't have too many sets at one time.
For my spiritual health, the simplest way for me to prioritize it, is to do my Bible study time first thing in the morning, just as I would my workouts. We also do Bible reading from a children's Bible each evening before bed time. My issue is slowing down to just SIT and READ the Bible.
Honestly, I absolutely love fitness and health. It's been a passion of mine since I was a teenager. After having my first child, I was very consistent for years and it was a huge help to me, being a new mom. However, after our big move across the country and feeling displaced, things kept coming up, and I kept putting exercise off. And I've been feeling it. Personally, my favorite workouts are HIIT, so the goal is to do three workouts per week, and one deeper stretching routine on top of that. It's great for your body, mind, and at the end of each workout I'm filled with overwhelming gratitude to our Lord that he has blessed us with strong, healthy bodies.
There you go, I hope you've found the inspiration you were looking for. I think all of us mamas are in the same boat. Trying to take care of ourselves, our families, our homes, and doing our best to stay positive and joyful. I believe bringing some order into our homes is the first step forward.
What are some of the ways you've been resetting for the new year?
Thanks so much for being here.
xo, Olga