5 Little-Known Ways to Relax

Ugh! Life can be overwhelming & stressful. Add in responsibilities... job, wife, mother, dishes, food... and it can be too much sometimes.

Everyone has heard of meditation, hot showers, petting zoos and more to relax. Today I'd like to share 5 Little-Known Ways to Relax. They work for me, and I know they will work for you too.

Tips for the Sick Stay-At-Home Mama

It was the last week of December... I was looking forward to the New Year. I love how the New Year feels like a fresh start and can often be all you need to create a new, healthy habit. I had some super plans... yoga, zoo visits, hanging out with new friends, even a weekend trip.

And then it hit me. I was sick. With a cold.

So I canceled my weekend plans. And put off the yoga. I thought I felt better, but it hit me again. And again and again. Ugh! It was the cold that would never end (in fact, the doc said I had bronchitis).

Suddenly, my whole life felt like it was on hold so I could get better. But wait... not my whole life. I'm a mom. Everyone knows... moms do not get a day off. Especially, a stay-at-home mom with a kiddo too young for school. Damn.

Honey-Do Printable

I'll admit... my hubby needs a little prodding to get stuff done around the house. And I'll admit... I forget what all he needs to do sometimes.
So I made this printable list for both of us. It's good for me so I can write stuff down as they come to me and it's good for him so he knows what I need and roughly when I need it. I'll still have to push him a little to actually look at the list (and not ignore it... ha!) but at least we have the springboard for getting tasks done around the house.

I've put a link on my DOWNLOADS page for this printable. It's a PDF and it prints with two lists per sheet.

ENJOY!

Confessions of a Stay-At-Home Wife

Well... this is it. This is my new life.
I don't work outside the home. I am now a stay-at-home wife.

And that new role is very strange and difficult for me to get used to living. Prior to the wedding, I used the excuse of the "wedding coming up" to not get into a routine. And last week, I used the excuse of needing to "rest" after our trip to Nebraska for the wedding. But, I can't make excuses any longer. This is my new life... I have to get the hang of it.

So today I spent a good deal of time researching and brainstorming to finally develop a schedule for myself.

In my research, I came across so many great posts from women who were in the same situation and I felt some relief when I learned that they, also, had trouble settling into their new role (especially since I've worked my whole life so far).
If you think about it, when you work for a living (outside the home) you are working on someone else's schedule. You're suppose to show up at a certain time and accomplish certain tasks throughout the day before leaving at a certain time. The next day you do it again.
I got used to that.
Now, I can wake up whenever I want and do whatever I want. It's so easy to go crazy and, in the end, not get a damn thing done. I'm a smart girl... I could see how this much freedom can cause trouble!

So, I've created myself a system to follow. I'll be honest, I have no idea if it will work. Trying it for a while will help and I can always adjust and reformat this system to better fit.

First, I reviewed why I am staying home/what my purpose is in staying home. Then I made goals. Lastly, I worked out the details (mapping out my available time). I figured this out using this blog post from Pursuing Titus 2.

After realizing what I needed to do, I created a few ways to organize my days. I made myself a daily agenda (with checklists) to fill out everyday. I found SO MUCH inspiration for this checklist on Pinterest & other great sites.
I included a morning, afternoon and before bed checklist, menu planner, appointment reminder, exercise log and water intake log. A lot of this is necessary to remind me to do certain things in order to achieve my personal goals (having a clean house, taking care of myself inside & out and saving money).

And I updated a cleaning checklist (the older one was used when I worked full-time... now I do all the cleaning myself) to coordinate with my daily agenda.
Lastly, I made some goals for creating bags and accessories for my Etsy shop... which I'd like to open back up by the end of this week.

So, all in all, I think I'm ready to take this new life on. Again, I'll just see how my new tools work for me and make adjustments as needed. 

DOWNLOAD a PDF version of my daily agenda by clicking on the DOWLOADS tab.

LOVE MY DAILY AGENDA but want a customized one?
E-mail me and we'll work out all the details, including cost.

Time to Write Again

I know... I'm a slacker... but things got weird there, for a while.

But I'm back. And I'd like to blog more. I think about it all the time and usually come up with good ideas for posts.

So, here I am promising to post more.

See you soon.