The Christian Homemaking Podcast: Simply Convivial with Mystie Winckler

Take Sweep & Smile with us now! convivialcircle.comNeed to overcome chaos? Check out this article with a free housecleaning guide: https://www.simplyconvivial.com/clean/No matter how much we clean and organize, it never stays that way. What gives? What are we doing wrong? The only thing we’re doing wrong is thinking it would be otherwise.Entropy is real. Disorder happens. That’s exactly why we have a job, a responsibility, as homemakers, to keep things running. It’s a truth universally acknowledged that a home with many small children will be messy. And, if you ever find a magazine, tv show, or blog that does not acknowledge that reality, run. Run away. They don’t actually have help for you, only marketing facades and wishful thinking. If we’re going to be effective homemakers, we need to be walking in light of truth and reality. Did you assume you’d be a more organized mother and homemaker than you are? Did you think it’d be easier than it turned out to be? I’m right there with you. I hear from women all the time who say that before kids they *were* so organized and they don’t know why they can’t figure it out now with life with kids.I’ll tell ya:  The problem isn’t with the kids or your house. It’s with your mindset and your expectations. Family life is different from project-based work and homemaking is different from a job with a boss and a schedule. Children need attention and response in the moment. Children’s needs cannot be predicted and planned, only addressed as needed. That takes a different skill set. Homemaking requires us to be self-directed, self-managed, and self-motivated - a different skill set than being a good employee. At Simply Convivial continuing education we learn and practice the skill sets this family life at home requires, all while remembering that the people are the point and our work is a calling and service given to us by God. When we practice in this mindset we not only improve our skill, we also find contentment and satisfaction, even when things don’t go our way. Remember to pop on over to https://www.simplyconvivial.com/attitude to get your free attitude adjustment audit and reclaim and renew your mindset.And always remember to Repent. Rejoice. Repeat. Take Sweep & Smile with us now! convivialcircle.com

Take Sweep & Smile with us now! convivialcircle.comDon't miss the ABCs of decluttering workshop: https://www.simplyconvivial.com/2021/the-abcs-of-doable-decluttering-with-free-workshop-replay/What is clutter? If you’re going to declutter, you have to be able to answer that question. It’s harder than it seems, and knowing the difference between clutter and not-clutter might just be the difference between success and failure in your decluttering project. Clutter is stuff that doesn’t belong where it happens to be.Clutter is not only things you don’t want or need.So to declutter means to remove the things that don’t belong. Take Sweep & Smile with us now! convivialcircle.com

Take Sweep & Smile with us now! convivialcircle.comDeclutter Workshop with slide deck download: https://www.simplyconvivial.com/2021/the-abcs-of-doable-decluttering-with-free-workshop-replay/ (no email signup required)How long is it going to take you to declutter?Decluttering can be an overwhelming project. It might feel like there’s no end and no hope in sight. You might be right about that.Declutter in 10 minutes a day and change your perspective on the task of decluttering.Did you assume you’d be a more organized mother and homemaker than you are? Did you think it’d be easier than it turned out to be? I’m right there with you. I hear from women all the time who say that before kids they *were* so organized and they don’t know why they can’t figure it out now with life with kids.I’ll tell ya:  The problem isn’t with the kids or your house. It’s with your mindset and your expectations. Family life is different from project-based work and homemaking is different from a job with a boss and a schedule. Children need attention and response in the moment. Children’s needs cannot be predicted and planned, only addressed as needed. That takes a different skill set. Homemaking requires us to be self-directed, self-managed, and self-motivated - a different skill set than being a good employee. At Simply Convivial continuing education we learn and practice the skill sets this family life at home requires, all while remembering that the people are the point and our work is a calling and service given to us by God. When we practice in this mindset we not only improve our skill, we also find contentment and satisfaction, even when things don’t go our way. Remember to pop on over to https://simplyconvivial.com/attitude to get your free attitude adjustment audit and reclaim and renew your mindset.And always remember to Repent. Rejoice. Repeat. Take Sweep & Smile with us now! convivialcircle.com

Take Sweep & Smile with us now! convivialcircle.comPerfectionism is the most likely  reason that we procrastinate doing a weekly review. Perfectionism trips us up and tricks us into thinking that we will do more and do better - later, not now. In this episode, we learn how to identify perfectionism and defeat it. Take Sweep & Smile with us now! convivialcircle.com

Take Sweep & Smile with us now! convivialcircle.comWe have a lot of options for planners. From paper planners to online apps, there are myriads of resources available to choose from.  Yet even with all of these resources, we often find ourselves overwhelmed by overplanning, overconfident in our abilities to accomplish what "needs" to get done. In this exerpt from a members-only mentoring session, Mystie delves into this problem and explores different answers. Take Sweep & Smile with us now! convivialcircle.com

Take Sweep & Smile with us now! convivialcircle.comHowever, to use this tool to its fullest extent, a few guidelines must be followed. Among them: don't overplan. Seems simple, right? Yet all too often, we pile too much on our plates, thinking that it would be good to start another project, start another book club, etc etc. All these projects simply degrade the usefulness of your calendar. Rather than being a list and schedule of the things you will do, it becomes a wish list of things you want to do. So reevaluate your calendar, cut off the flabby, unnecessary projects that are stressing you out, and, of course, repent, rejoice, repeat. Take Sweep & Smile with us now! convivialcircle.com

Take Sweep & Smile with us now! convivialcircle.comIf you don't have a weekly review in place, all your time setting up a new planner and calendar for the year is wasted. Plans only work if you look at them and keep them current and correct.A weekly review does exactly that. It's a time to make your planner and your planning systems work for you. Be sure that the time you spend getting organized actually helps you stay organized by sticking with it regularly through a weekly review.Look at your lists to make them work! Take Sweep & Smile with us now! convivialcircle.com

Take Sweep & Smile with us now! convivialcircle.comNot only is ready the fifth step of preparing for 2021, it is also an acronym that the members of Simplified Organization Community Coaching will be doing as a deep dive.In this video, Mystie briefly discusses the first, familiar element of the acronym as well as the final, surprising component. Take Sweep & Smile with us now! convivialcircle.com

Take Sweep & Smile with us now! convivialcircle.comIt seems patently obvious: of course you have to buy a new planner. I mean, it's a new year, you at least need a new calendar, right? True, but think about what is connected with that calendar: the entire way you plan out you year, months, and days. What worked and, more importantly, what didn't in 2020? What do you need to fix for 2021?Next reset some of your routines. Now, this doesn't mean going all the way back to the drawing board. Just pick one of your routines that was not ideal and hard to hold to throughout the year and reset it, reevaluating your strategy.And of course, we all need to reset our attitude, no matter what. There's no doubt, 2020 has produced some bad memories, bad habits, and bad attitudes. As we all know, the attitude is the starting point of everything. So evaluate yourself, replace the bad attitude that you find with one grounded in Christ, whose birth we are celebrating this week. Take Sweep & Smile with us now! convivialcircle.com

Take Sweep & Smile with us now! convivialcircle.comOne cannot rejoice if one is weary, exhausted, and cranky. And let's face it, 2020 has probably left us all three. So if we want to have any semblance of a productive 2021, we will need to renew ourselves.And how does that happen? Through the Word, of course. That is the point of this season: to renew ourselves, not necessarily through the copious consumption of candy, but through the memory and reverence of the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Without Him, we will not find true renewal, and we will remain the tired, exhausted, cranky creatures we naturally are.So take a moment and reflect. Review the year, and while doing so, look to Christ to become renewed, ready for another year with which to glorify Him. Take Sweep & Smile with us now! convivialcircle.com