Welcome to the June edition of the Simply Living Blog Carnival - Around the House cohosted by Mandy at Living Peacefully with Children, Laura at Authentic Parenting, Jennifer at True Confessions of a Real Mommy, and Joella at Fine and Fair. This month, we write about what we do to keep the little things from overwhelming us. Please check out the links to posts by our other participants at the end of this post.We were on a waiting list for 9 months before we moved into our two-story home. We would like to have waited for a flat, but were advised that the wait for them is much longer. So... we settled. We have 3 bedrooms upstairs. We decided, however, to keep our closet downstairs. It started because of our weird schedules. My husband leaves for work around 3 o'clock in the morning. This does not lend itself well to picking clothes.
So we actually put both our clothes (and Spencer's) in the downstairs closet. Its a good size closet and it just seemed easier than going upstairs to change, too. Eventually we moved Sasha's clothes down here. Inevitably, we'd find ourselves downstairs mid-day, needing to dress her to go out... but not wanting to climb the stairs to fetch an outfit.
Maybe it is strange to use a big coat closet as a family closet, but you know what? It works for us. Our master bedroom closet is used for storage of things we don't use very often (like holiday decorations).
This makes laundry so much easier! The dirty laundry gets cleaned downstairs. How much clean laundry do you tote back up your stairs? For me its only bath towels and family cloth! Yes, I have a dirty clothes hamper downstairs... I can stash it in a closet or on the washer when I have company here.
Since then, I've taken it another step. I often have to wear Spencer while preparing Sasha for bed. Worse yet, sometimes I have to leave him alone (asleep) downstairs while I take her up to bed. It makes me nervous. Spencer is pretty quiet when he wakes.
When Sasha got a new toothbrush from the dentist, I got an idea! I now keep a toothbrush and floss on the kitchen windowsill. Her hairbrush is also downstairs in a plastic jar full of headbands and "hair doodies." (I always brush and braid her hair before bed.) So now, I do almost all of Sasha's bedtime routine before we ever go up the stairs! It is so simple, why didn't I think of it sooner?
- Go potty - yep, have one downstairs.
- Brush teeth - see recent post.
- Brush hair - the back of the couch is the perfect height!
Then we go up, pick a snuggle for the night, talk about dreams, tuck in and start relaxation CD. It all seems like it gets less battle, too! Living simply for the win!
How have you taken unusual measures to simplify your life?
- Embracing the Schedule - Jennifer at True Confessions of a Real Mommy writes about how her family learned to keep on top of household life by creating a family calendar.
- Simply: Car Free - On the one-year anniversary of selling her car, Lyndsay from ourfeministplayschool, reflects on her family's decision to go car-free in urban downtown Toronto.
- The Importance of Finding Your Housecleaning Rhythm - Jennifer at Hybrid Rasta Mama outlines how she keeps her housecleaning under control with a daily rhythm. Even her 4 year old gets in on it!
- Keeping It Simple At Home - At Living Peacefully with Children, Mandy shares some tips for keeping the clutter and cleaning at bay.
- Cleaning? - In her post, sustainablemum outlines how keeping clutter to a minimum makes for an easy life when trying to keep her house clean and tidy.
- Simply Downstairs - Jorje of Momma Jorje has found a way to simplify laundry AND bedtime... all with one simple move.
- In Shares, not Chores: Helping your Kids Help You Without Coercion Laura from Authentic Parenting tells us how she gets work done with two little kids and without coercion.
