Reviewing Your Routine: a New Series to Help You Get It Together {again}
I’ll admit that I had a pretty good routine in place. I had my day planned out and I got a lot of stuff done, not to mention plenty of time with the kids too. Then through a series of events my whole routine just went out the window and I have been running around on a hamster wheel ever since.
First it was the holidays that, expectantly, put a wrench in the routine. Then one sickness after another either by me, the kids or the husband has plagued our family non-stop for the last two months. There hasn’t been a week where not one of us hasn’t been sick so far this year. Which means I have been living on survival mode for several weeks.
My energy is drained, my home is out of sorts, my motivation is lacking and I feel like I’ve lost a little bit of the joy in the day to day.
I knew something needed to change. I knew I needed to get back into my daily routines but the thought of creating new ones seemed like such work. In my current season some of my previous routines just wouldn’t work anymore.
But I also knew that what I was currently doing (or rather not doing) wasn’t working either. My days where just running together, one task after another, and I was losing focus on what my priorities where and I how I was managing my time.
I’ve been reading and re-reading several small books over the past two weeks to help me find the motivation to put some new daily routines and disciplines back into my days.
The results? A fresh new perspective and desire to get it together once again. No more excuses, no more exhaustion, no more running around on a hamster wheel.
I’m spending the next few weeks working on re-creating some basic daily routines and tasks, as well as revamping my current chore system, and I’ll be sharing them here with you too in case you’re like me and need some extra motivation and accountability. 😉
So what’s my plan?
Later this week I’m going to be sharing my newly revamped daily checklist as well as my weekly plan.
Next week I’ll share my plan for monthly chores, as well as how my husband and I plan our weeks and why I think you should add praying over your home to your cleaning routine.
And the last week in March I’ll share how to plan out those annual chores (things that don’t need to be done often, but do need to get done), as well a tour of my newly designed Home Management Binder (the one I promised to share with you!), as well as a list of the best Organized Simplicity tips that I (and you) came up with on the Facebook page.
Like the excitement that the first of the year or back to school time brings, I’m sort of excited to be sharing this process with you too. Apparently I do really well when I hold myself accountable by sharing my weaknesses and vulnerabilities with you (hey I’m a real person too!) 🙂
Part of my mission of Creative Home Keeper is to share practical, inspiring and encouraging tips for home life. I hope that this series over the next few weeks inspires and encourages you as I share the processes that I am working through to whip myself back into shape here in my own home.
Oh, and did I forget to mention that there will be more free printables coming too?!?!
And for your reading pleasure, here are a few resources that I have been reading over the past few weeks that have really helped me find my new sense of daily discipline. Some of the links below are affiliate links. You can read my disclosure policy here.
- Manage Your Day-to-Day: Build Your Routine, Find Your Focus, and Sharpen Your Creative Mind by Jocelyn Glei (it’s only $3.99 right now on Kindle)
- 4 Weeks to a More Organized Home – a free eBook by Crystal Paine to go along with her current series. Also her other books Say Goodbye to Survival Mode and 21 Days To A More Disciplined Life are also wonderful resources too.
- Attack Your Day!: Before It Attacks You by Mark and Trapper Woods
- Tell Your Time: How to Manage Your Schedule So You Can Live Free by Amy Lynn Andrews- one of the best books on time management in my opinion.
- Ruth from Living Well Spending Less is hosting a brand new series on How to Create a Cleaning Routine Routine That Works for You. She provides plenty of tips and inspiration, plus some pretty printables too!
- And I find it no coincidence that this post by Modern Mrs. Darcy appeared in my blog feed this morning. Apparently I’m not the only one who has been reading Manage Your Day-to-Day too!
While I’m no fan of cleaning, or even spring cleaning for that matter, I am a fan of having a routine in place that allows me to keep my home clean and well managed with as little effort as possible. So hopefully with my new found and reemerging since of self discipline, I can get back to a place where I am no longer just in survival mode but rather am thriving again.
I’ve been trying to redo my routine as well! I never thought to pray over it though… in all things through prayer… how could I forget this?! Thanks for the lovely reminder. I’m looking forward to your upcoming shares!
Wishing you a lovely day.
xoxo
So great you found this to be a helpful reminder! I’m looking forward to sharing more too 🙂
I’ll keep an eye out for all the upcoming info! I am a terrible housekeeper. My routine is to do a daily sweep to make sure there are no dirty dishes in the living room. I would love to get into a rhythm that helps maintain order!
The other day I was cleaning behind our couch and I found my kid’s missing cereal bowls! I too need to get into a better routine of sweeping through the house because apparently dishes have been collecting in the living room 🙂
Ugh. Routines. Mine is insanely messed up…between having serious insomnia that leads me to end up sleeping during the day instead of at night, and losing my job…I’m a hot mess!!! 🙂 Looking forward to seeing what you’ve come up with!
– Brooke –
I’m so sorry Brooke but don’t be too hard on yourself, I definitely believe that there are seasons when it is OK to let go of the routine and just do what works for you. Hopefully you can get back into a better sleep pattern soon and I hope that my routine will encourage you. 🙂
This is quite timely…..routines are necessary….and they can become obsolete and it is good to review them. Thank you for posting this………..I just signed up to follow you on Google Friends Connect.
Gentle Joy
So glad to have you following along!
Looking forward to this. Just signed up for your newsletter. Visiting from SITS.
Glad I’m not the only one who feels like she needs to get it together, AGAIN. 🙂
I have a hard time with a routine. Between business that’s based on my clients needs and homeschooling and a 2 year old, I just can’t seem to get it together so I am absolutely looking forward to reading how you revamp. I could use some help in this area.
My routine has been lost since December. I have been able to keep my head above the mess so I don’t drown. But I sometimes feel like hiding somewhere that I can’t be found,but we know that this just can’t happen. I have five children ages twelve to twenty. We found out that we had ten days to leave our home a week before Christmas. I found a home that was so much smaller than what I was living in and move in it on December 20. Threw two birthdays for my children. One was a sweet sixteen party and also had Christmas. With Gods grace I pulled it all off but I was dragging emotionally and physically. In January found out my daughter was pregnant . Now I was running around helping her get everything set up. I also was running my father to doctors appointments because is salt and sugar levels were all screwed up. Now remember I told you I had to move from where I was,we’ll. I had my father set up on my land in a trailer in my back yard. He too had to be removed off the property. So on top of trying to get three thousand dollars up to move him we have to find some where to move him. The man that I am renting from helped us put him on the same land as me . He is renting the lot to my dad. So he is still next to me. My daughter and her husband live with him so they can help keep an eye on him. My daughters husband listed his job so we been looking for one while doing all this. He started his new job Monday of this week. We’ll we have his trailer moved. But they are all having to stay with me until everything is put together. It has been six days with nine people in a small home. I am almost going crazy. When you are use to doing things in order and nothing is in order OMG! So routine- what’s that I forgot ? Lol. So reading about it and keeping it refreshed in my head keeps me going. Other things have been adding to my train as the days go by too. My husbands mother had a stroke. And his sister had a car wreck. So when you are a person who had life all together , homeschool and the home,and all that stuff this mess seems like hell. But God has kept me in perfect peace when my mind is set on him. Thanks for letting me share it feels good just to let it all out.
Debra,
First thanks so much for sharing and being vulnerable. You are definitely in a crazy season! But take heart, there is grace and you will find a routine that works for you. Even if it’s just setting a small goal of prioritizing one or two tasks. And you are so right… God will keep us in perfect peace when we are focused on Him. Blessings to you, dear sister is Christ.
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