WAHM/D, SAHM/D, Work out of the home or other?
Work out of the home, full time in downtown Calgary!
# of Kids? Ages?
One daughter that is almost 4.5 years old but acts older and constantly reminding me of things I’ve forgotten to buy or do!
If one of your resolutions this year is to get your home in order, you might want to start to declutter as soon as you can at the beginning of the year. There is literally no better time to do this. Your desire to have an orderly home is on the forefront and you will find the energy to accomplish this task. If you still have your Christmas decorations up, this is an even more perfect time. Don’t believe me? Here are three reasons why it is a good time to declutter:
- Since you already have some of your Christmas decorations out, you can take a look at the items that didn’t make the cut and determine whether you don’t like them anymore, they don’t suit your decor style, or if they are broken. If an item meets any of these criteria, get rid of them and don’t just put all the Christmas decorations back in storage.
- You likely got a lot of new items over Christmas as presents, so you can get rid of the old items or ones you like a little less.
- Before you put away the new items, you can take a look at the space and see if there is anything that can be donated or given away (to other family members.)
Once you have the Christmas decorations and new presents taken care of, here are five other areas you might want to consider decluttering for a fresh start:
- Fall or winter clothes – Any clothes that got continually bypassed during the last few months might be an indication they need to be donated. Regardless of the reasons you didn’t wear them in the last 2-3 months, chances are they won’t be worn in the next 2-3 months either.
- Outgrown toys – Any toys that your children will “sometimes” play with can probably be donated. Obviously, keep the sentimental ones. Random ones that you got for free from McDonalds or gets played less than 10 times a year, should go.
- Any papers you have stacked up – Take some time to go through all the paper you have saved/neglected the past couple of months. Recently, I found a package you use to file your taxes manually in a stack of papers my spouse had. I have no idea why he still had this package because we filed our taxes months ago. Take all of your papers out, go through them, and then file or recycle them. You don’t want more paper to accumulate when September rolls around and more paper finds its way into your home.
- Your pantry – If you have a resolution to eat healthier this year, go through your pantry and donate any non-perishable foods to your local food bank. By having the items out of your pantry, you will be able to stick to your resolutions and eat healthier.
- Anything that annoyed you throughout the year – This can include things that no longer serve you, things you never liked, things that were gifted to you, or things constantly in your way. Get rid of the items and create some new space.
It might sound daunting to declutter your home, especially if you’ve never done it before. However, by selecting these areas to declutter first, it will become second nature to you. If you are still struggling, when you look at an item, ask yourself if it serves the “present” you or your current intentions. If it doesn’t, it may serve someone else. Good luck!!
Monica Hui is a working mom in Calgary, Alberta, constantly looking for ways to do things faster and faster so that she can slow down to have pretend picnics with her daughter. Her website, www.wishahmon.com, shares efficiency tips to help moms create an easier, prettier, and efficient mom life. You can follow her on facebook or Instagram, @wishahmon.
Other AM Blogs by Monica Hui
I have a confession. I am obsessed with doing everything efficiently and fast.
Prior to becoming a mom, I thought I had a pretty good handle on things. I felt like I was making good use of my time and getting lots done in the 24 hours I had. Often I would get asked how I have time to get so many things done. I always answer, I just find the time to do it.
After becoming a mom, I felt like I had less than 24 hours each day (which I knew was untrue) to get everything done and to keep a small human being living. I felt like I had a million of things to do in a short amount of time and things were only being partially done due to interruptions and starting tasks after my daughter went to bed. Obviously, this wasn’t sustainable and I needed to make some adjustments. Here are some adjustments I made:
If you are a mom, you’ve been in a situation before where you saw the behaviour of a child or mom and wanted to say something out loud to them. Regardless of whether or not you said something, if it wasn’t a safety concern, I am urging you not to say anything the next time the situation arises.
It took me years to build up an immunity and not to care about what others say or think about me. It wasn’t easy and I have my friend’s mom to thank for this immunity. She once said to me: People that don’t like you will always have something negative to say about you. Since they already don’t like you, why would you waste any time on them and care about what they have to say?
Holidays are often the times when we finally make the time to get together with friends and family. Unfortunately, this is also one of the busiest times of the year. We are trying to make our house comfortable and festive, provide an abundance of food and drinks, and be great hosts to our guests. Sometimes, we might get stressed out about all these details that we forget the original purpose was to “just” get together with our family and friends.
I admit that I was one of those people that wanted everything to be absolutely perfect for my guests, and I drove myself and my spouse crazy trying to achieve this. (My daughter didn’t know of anything different.) Over the years, I have found some stress free alternatives to the traditional ways of having gatherings. Here are my suggestions:
We all have grand illusions on what it is like after a baby comes home. Your baby is content and on a schedule like you read in the books (depending on what book you read), your home is maintained the same way with the addition of a couple of baby related items, and all the extra baby tasks are split evenly between your spouse and yourself. If you already had your baby, you will realize this was all a dream that did not come true. Reality is not at all like this.
Often when talking to friends, the topic of splitting duties come up. Friends usually start to complain about how their spouse is not pulling their weight around the house and they wished their spouse would do more. The last thing I would hear from this conversation was how “unfair” it was.