From little things big things grow

Recently I posted about being overwhelmed and stuck in a whirlwind of negativity and judgement upon myself.  It made me reevaluate my expectations. I need to make some changes. 

I know I won’t maintain big changes, it’s unrealistic to think that I can, so instead of setting myself up for failure and feeding the procrastination monster so much that nothing changes, I am going to be kind to myself and allow small changes. 

Here are a few goals in mind;

• Read more.  Reading is a great outlet to relax and take time for myself.  So whether it be a book, a magazine or a blog, I want to allocate some time each week to read.
• Learn.  I love to learn, but for now I’m going to learn about a passion not for employment opportunities or because I have to.  So each week I want to find time to learn about something of interest, something topical.   This will give me subjects to read!!!  For now it will be around parenting, blogging, writing, photography, craft. 
• Increased family time.  Aim to improve household systems to provide more harmony and more family time. 
•  More creative time.  Growing up I treasured the times spent with my gran doing craft, it gave me great joy.  I still like to dabble and it is something I want to share with my littlelion.  For now I am really enjoying writing so my aim is to write 100 words a day.  This might be blog, an entry into littlelion's book or just random nattering’s. 
•  Lose some weight.  I need to get more active!  It’s not so much of a vanity concern (although it will definitely make me feel better about myself) but becoming more of a health concern.

Simple organisation system to create harmony

In my perfect world my home would be neat and tidy at all times.  But with a busy toddler, a husband that does not share my organisation gene and a time poor mama it's not realised as much as I would like it to be.  

Some evenings it feels like every surface disappears under books, hats, toddler shoes, toys, paperwork, keys, phones, sippy cups, bits and pieces from our various hobbies etc etc.  It was doing my head in!!  

So I needed to introduce a new system that worked for us all. 

I simply purchased 3 boxes, I made sure they matched our decor nicely.  Each member of our family was allocated a box and they were placed in a high traffic area of our home.  I just used different washi tape to identify which box belonged to each person.  

During the course of the day if I come across anything that was left lying around I would simply place it in the relevant box.  For example if my husband left a magazine on the couch I would place this in his box.  

Not only does it make me happy because I can see surfaces free of clutter but it has become a 'go to' area.  When we come inside from playing in the park for example, I will place littlelion's hat and sunglasses in there and then when we go outside next we know exactly where they are.  No more turning toys upside down looking for things when we are rushing out the door.  

At the end of the day we simply walk around with our respective box and place all the items away.  It makes it easier for me to make one trip into littlelion's room in the evening and put his collection of clothing, books and shoes away.  

My husband and I agree that we can use our boxes to store any items we are working on during the week.  But every Sunday it must to be cleared out ready for the week ahead.  

This simple system has provided so much harmony to our family.  Whilst I purchased my boxes you could have some fun making some or revamping some old boxes with new fabric.  

Let me know if my system helps you at all or what organisation system you could not function without in your household.