There is comfort in the routines of my life right now. I’m grateful for routines that keep family life moving smoothly when my focus is distracted by unexpected things. I was thinking about it yesterday and noticing the small areas that are not smoothed out yet - the habits we’ve been lax in, the jobs around the house we have yet to find a rhythm for. I’m trying to write them down as I notice them because I have a plan:
One new habit a month.
Yep, it’s pretty simple, but we’re all for easy goals here. Each month I’m going to ask myself “What is the one habit that we need to work on this month?” Most likely it will be the one that fixes whatever has been bothering me the most in the previous month. There may be a different habit to work on with different children.
Want some examples? At my house some of the things that bug me include:
- The shoes on the front porch. Go look at the picture at the top of this post. Really, that’s my porch today. With 8 people owning at least 2 pairs of shoes (sandals and tennis shoes), plus husband’s work boots and the occasional dress shoe, we’ve got a ridiculous amount of shoes on our porch. We have nice wire shelves out there to put shoes on but nobody – mommy included – has developed the habit of putting shoes on the shelves. Instead we drop them on the floor and everyone trips over them as we go in and out of the house.
- There is a certain child who never removes his dishes from the table. Ever. As it is not the 9 month old Caleb this boy needs to work on this habit.
- Another child, a girl, rarely remembers to step out into the hall and put her dirty clothes in the basket. She drops them by the bed and it’s as if she doesn’t see them anymore. Sigh.
- My desk! This one is pretty much all me – my desk is the dropping zone for papers, books, notes, and any other random thing I may have in my hand when I pass by on my way to another task. Time to work on my habits!
- Changing the toilet paper rolls when they’re empty. Am I seriously the only person in this house who knows how to do this? I just may be because I’m pretty sure I’ve never specifically showed my children how to do so.
There are more, I’m sure. I haven’t decided 
which one we’ll tackle first, but I am thinking it may be the shoes. I think it’s time I reread the free ebook Smooth and Easy Days from Simply Charlotte Mason to get motivated in our habit changes. I’m going to put it on my Kindle after lunch and start reading. It’s short enough I can read it during quiet time from start to finish and then maybe we’ll have a family counsel about what habit we are going to be working on.
What are some of the things at your house that drive you crazy, but could be fixed with just a simple habit change? I would love to hear your list in the comments!
8 comments:
With me being in and out of the hospital all summer our habits and routines have gone out the window. I was just thinking this weekend (once again in the hosptial bed) that we need to start from scratch with the essentials and then add one new (returning) habit a month as well. Funny how Heavenly Father works on us as the same time sometimes. I look forward to hearing how your habits develop!
This is my first visit to your site and I think I'm hooked! I can't wait to spend some time reading a few of your posts with a good cup of coffee. One of the most stressful habits in our home has to be that our children leave their shoes wherever they plop down in the house. Oddly, they disappear only to create stress when we're trying to head out the door. I think this will be the first habit we tackle :)
Also, I have never seen the free e-book you mentioned, thank you for the link. So excited to have found your blog :)
Thanks!
Susan
I need to do the same--
have you read Laying down Rails??? great book for this.
I broke one of my husband's habits last month. Our laundry room is upstairs right next to our bedroom. Very convenient, however, my husband would drop his dirty clothes on the floor outside the door of the laundry room instead of just opening the door and putting them in the laundry basket. He's done this for so long, and I have multiple times asked him (told him) not to. Finally I told him that if I ever find his dirty clothes on the floor that I would put them in a trash bag and eventually he would be out of clean clothes. Sounds harsh, but it was what he needed to break the habit. I have only had to pick one dirty clothing off the floor since.
One habit I need to work on is filling out my son's job chart. I'm horrible at keeping track of which chores he does and doesn't do, therefore, he doesn't get his 'commission' like he should.
Thanks for sharing the link to the free download. I look forward to reading it and hopefully find some habits around my house that would make all our lives easier.
I need to work on actually developing routines for my family and stick to them. You know me, I'm flaky as can be and my kids are unschooled mostly because of the flakiness. So before I can work on annoying habits (which oh we have soooo many of right now in this family!) I need to get a routine in place and force it to happen. Sometimes, growing up is no fun.... but I think its time to finally do it and quit trying so hard to cling to a life that I gave up 9 years ago when I was pregnant with my oldest child.
I am the only one in my family that can fill the toilet paper. I wonder what will happen when they move out and need to wipe?????
We have the shoes problem, but we fixed it not by making people put their own shoes on the shelf, but by making it a nightly chore. So our house is clean while we sleep and mess y once we wake.
This is an area we have struggled as well. I think we were getting some good basics down right before we moved...now we have to get new ones going while we are living with the grandparents! It is hard not being in our own home and having to learn new boundaries and rules.
I keep a bookshelf that has baskets on it by the door for shoes. When I first began this habit several years ago, each child had a basket and my hubby and I. Now they have to share...and we adults have to keep our shoe clutter down,but I intend on expanding when we get into our new house. This has worked well for us...the shoes still go missing and are on the floor at times...but it is easy for them to go over and toss them in the basket. I even brought the baskets here to my in-laws hoping to keep that habit going at least.
Good luck!
Post a Comment