keep it simple

Well….it’s been a week since I posted anything and I even skipped Mid Century Monday. This usually happens when I find a good book!  I spent a little birthday money I’ve been hoarding and picked out Emily Ley’s A Simplified Life. I am only a few chapters in but I can already tell I’m going to love it so I wanted to share a little!

We have cleaned out a few t-shirt drawers and it feels great, as always, to throw away! I lean towards minimalism anyway, so it’s right up my alley!
But this book has me thinking about way more than purging clutter. It asks what things are a struggle for me right now.

My immediate answer is laundry, although it seems silly that laundry should be so hard with only 2 small kids and their tiny laundry and all the time I have after their early bed times. Still, I’ve said it once and I’ll say
it again– I want a laundry lady!! But, not really. Because Dave Ramsey.

Anyway, other than laundry, a struggle for me right now is family dinner. I often come down with a case of mom guilt when I think about how much time I spend working compared to how much time I see my kids. The numbers are sad and there is just no point tallying up the hours.

What the book has helped me realize so far is that I can maximize the hours I DO have with the kids and with the family all together and make those the best most enjoyable hours of my week. The theory is this will occur when you live simply.

I can get on board with this. My New Years resolution was, after all, “to simplify.” But in reality I sorted some baby clothes January 2nd then called it a day. I am ready to take her book to heart and try again!

I’d like to have a family dinner where we talk about our day and enjoy each other. Sam is becoming such a little conversationalist and keeps us laughing. And ideally Tom will soon abandon this shrieking stage….

Here are the things that make it hard for us to rock family dinner with a 3 year old and 18 month old:

1. They like to eat as close to 5pm as possible. How in the world does a working family have dinner ready at 5pm? I have a goal of just breaking them of this and pushing it to 6:00.

2. They like to eat hot dogs and chicken nuggets. This is SO hard for me because it works. We fall into the trap of feeding them what they will eat and then sitting down for our adult meal around 7:45 after they are asleep. Plus if we work out at night we prefer to work out before we eat, so again we feed the kids, then load up for the gym, then eat later on ourselves. Family dinner is lost in the shuffle…

3. They are demanding. The youngest isn’t proficient at feeding himself. They drop food a lot. They ask for refills often. Honestly trying to eat alongside them is a recipe for a cold dinner for yourself.

Now, I don’t exactly know what Emily Ley would have me do because I’m not finished with her book yet. But she has already inspired me and I do have a plan!

I cleaned out the pantry. I stuck a sheet on the fridge that simply lists what’s for dinner each night. This will remind me in the morning if I need to throw anything in the crock pot or do any prep!

And I have decided not to be hard on myself if Travis and I eat something spicy or a grilled chicken salad while the kids eat mac n cheese alongside us. In fact that is exactly what we did last night! It really isn’t about what we eat anyway–it’s about the 3 year old telling you his favorite part of the day 🙂

Also, since there is no laundry lady in sight, I made myself a little laundry routine (don’t knock it til you try it!) where I’ll only need to do 2 loads a day, 2 days a week. This seems super manageable and I know it’s not any less laundry than I do now…I just figure if I do laundry because it’s laundry day and not because the hamper is overflowing it will help me feel more “with it.”

That’s my excuse for not blogging lately…it’s not a full review but I had to share because it’s been a fun read so far. I’ll definitely keep you posted on A Simplified Life, I think you’ll want to read it!