The Christian Homemaking Podcast: Simply Convivial with Mystie Winckler

Take Sweep & Smile with us now! convivialcircle.comTo get more done at home you need to keep your to do list short. It will help you focus on priorities and feel success, day by day, at home. Every stay at home mom needs a to do list, but we have to do it right if we’re going to experience productivity.These tips will help you get organized at home as you focus on a daily top 3 to do list for optimal sahm productivity. I’ve been a stay at home mom for 16 years – let me share what I’ve learned about how to get more done at home.Keeping a short to do list forces you to do two things.First, we are forced to recognize that we cannot do all that we want to do. We likely will do more than 3 things, but having to choose three forces us to choose what’s most important, write it out, and put our attention there, where it matters most.Second, a list of three is attainable. It’s not overwhelming, and so it’s easier to actually get started. When the list doesn’t look impossible, we’re able to get over ourselves, choose self-control, and just get started.A small space for a to do list reminds us that our time and our energy are limited. We need to be careful to choose what we focus on in a day, because our ability to focus is limited.Making a to do list is something we will get better at with practice. So start today and build the skill of making a prioritized list and following through. Grow in organization. You’re practicing, learning, and growing in the skill of being organized. Take Sweep & Smile with us now! convivialcircle.com

Take Sweep & Smile with us now! convivialcircle.comA brain dump – which means write things down – is the best way to declutter your mind. Clear your mind so you get get organized more effectively.Whether you use a brain dump journal or just a cheap spiral notebook, a brain dump strategy will clear your mind and prepare you for organization at home. It’s the first step to declutter your mind so you can declutter your life. If you want to know how to get organized, start with a brain dump.Write things down. All the things.The first step for getting organized isn’t to buy containers or a label maker. The first step is to declutter your head.We start every project and start getting organized by writing down everything in our heads. All those swirling thoughts and big ideas need to be written down on paper. When we write things down on paper instead of keeping them in our head, we can see them and think about them better.When we write things down, we see first why we felt so crazy. We’re trying to keep track of and trying to work for too many things. When we see them on paper, we’re able to more clearly and deliberately choose where to place our attention. It gives us more objectivity as we think about what we ought to do next. Take Sweep & Smile with us now! convivialcircle.com

Take Sweep & Smile with us now! convivialcircle.comWant to get organized at home? I have 5 essential practices you need to be organized – this is tip #1 and it’s all about your attitude and mindset in being organized and getting organized – and even staying organized.Declutter your home by decluttering and organizing your mind first. When we try to organize and declutter, we usually start with the stuff, but we need to start with ourselves. These organization tips will get you ready to organize your life and be happy.When we are trying to get organized, we need to start off by clarifying what our definition of organization is. Because if we get our definition of what organization is from Pinterest or the magazines, we will think that it means having life go our way.When we think that being organized means that our life will go our way, we are bound to be disappointed and bound to fail. Newsflash: Life will not go our way.Being organized does not mean life goes your way and it doesn’t mean you have matching containers in all your closets. Being organized means that you are prepared and exercising self-control, not control of others or the situation.Organization is simply shorthand for managing life’s resources to the best of our abilities. It isn’t a magic bullet that changes everything. It’s not a goal to be checked off once reached. It’s not a status to arrive at, after which we can do as we please.Organization is on-going, just like laundry, dishes, and sweeping. It is a set of actions we must continually, consistently take. Organization is a state-of-mind as well as a state-of-home. There is no end-point goal, but there are always baby steps and further developments to make.So how does one get from a state of chaos to a state of organization? How can we actually organize life when it feels like a jumbled mess? By taking it one day at a time, one step at a time.There is no sudden overhaul to make or popular bandwagon to join or new leaf to turn over.There is learning to take the right next action – and then taking it – each hour of every day.There is only one kind of control we must have to be organized: self-control.We might not control our homes or our lives, but we should be controlling ourselves.If you want to organize your life, you need to start with your self, not your stuff. Being organized is a set of practices and mindsets, not a status to achieve. Take Sweep & Smile with us now! convivialcircle.com

Take Sweep & Smile with us now! convivialcircle.comWho doesn’t want a life that is smooth and easy? Years ago, when I had only quite small children and I had immersed myself in books on educational theory, I latched onto an oft-quoted bit of wisdom from Charlotte Mason:"The mother who takes pains to endow her children with good habits secures for herself smooth and easy days."She’s right, of course, but also wrong. Take Sweep & Smile with us now! convivialcircle.com

Take Sweep & Smile with us now! convivialcircle.comTo blaze a trail or to lay down the rails is to intentionally decide and built the habits that we know will make our lives more effective. It will not make life easier – building the habits is hard work and paying attention and doing what’s called for in the moment requires attention and effort – but once intentional logistics become habit, then it takes less energy to maintain your equilibrium and consistency. Take Sweep & Smile with us now! convivialcircle.com

Take Sweep & Smile with us now! convivialcircle.comSo, last week felt like a rough, terrible week. However, the school checklists got done, the house hadn’t really fallen apart, and we’d had no major disasters. Really, it was a typical week. Why did it feel so bad?This week has felt pretty good. Even though I am definitely not getting to everything I think should be (like exercising), still most of the school was done and the house hasn’t fallen apart. Take Sweep & Smile with us now! convivialcircle.com

Take Sweep & Smile with us now! convivialcircle.comMy bedroom was a wreck. Again.I might make my bed consistently, but I just can’t keep my room clean. Maybe I should not sigh so much at the children’s bedrooms.Usually, when faced with this situation, I set aside a morning or an afternoon and dig in. I take care of everything and get the room back in order.Then, inevitably, begins the slide all over again.But this time was different. Take Sweep & Smile with us now! convivialcircle.com

Take Sweep & Smile with us now! convivialcircle.comAlthough the hope of a fresh new year often expresses itself in new planners, pretty markers, and a renewed resolve, the reality of life lived with and for others often undermines our planner-related ambitions. Take Sweep & Smile with us now! convivialcircle.com

Take Sweep & Smile with us now! convivialcircle.comOver the years I’ve read numerous parenting books, mostly focused on the early years – those years where you feel like you’re going crazy and really, really want to do it all Right. Once you get a teen or two, it’s easy to drift into tired mode and say, “Well, whatever. I tried.” Sometimes you can pull off formula parenting with toddlers, but teens won’t let you – and that’s a good thing. Take Sweep & Smile with us now! convivialcircle.com

Take Sweep & Smile with us now! convivialcircle.comCharacter is one of those words we toss around often. Too often, we do so without a clear understanding of what it is.We say we care about character, perhaps even homeschool for the purpose of shaping our children’s character, but what exactly does that mean and how exactly do we go about such a task? Take Sweep & Smile with us now! convivialcircle.com