Finding Peace Through Routines

I had planned to write this post earlier, but I’ve been a bit busier than expected. It’s better late than never, right? We have had a lot going on, but I haven’t stressed. I have had an unusual sense of CALM and PEACE that I haven’t felt in a long time, so I really want to share what works for our family.

I read something earlier today about stress, worry, and anxiety coming from feeling like we don’t have control over the future… guess what? No one has control over the future… we have to trust in GOD and surrender those feelings to HIM. When we do this, we will become rooted in HIM, and HE will give us PEACE.

Now, this doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t plan for the future, or neglect our responsibilities, but we should release the stress of them to GOD. We can rest in the assurance that HE is in control, and HE will do what is best for us. We need to make sure that we are taking care of all that HE has BLESSED us with, and do our best to model HIS love to our families and all of those around us.

The Proverbs 31 woman shows us some of the ways that she modeled this attitude. We can strive to be more like her in our lives. I am working on a study for this!

First thing, I want to remind you that everyone’s home and family are different, so what works for me or someone else may not work for you. However, if you take some of what works for me and tweak it for your family, I truly believe you will find a bit of peace in your routines.

A long time ago, I made a file card system to help keep our chores organized. I then expanded that to include other areas of our lives to keep me from forgetting important events. It also helps me to think about things beforehand so I can better prepare for them. Am I always prepared for things that happen unexpectedly? No, but I can usually pull something together pretty quickly to accommodate changes because of the routines that we already have in place.

Household Routines File Set Up: OVERVIEW

As I said, household chores were a BIG challenge for me at one time in my life. Part of that was that someone I was with insisted that a spotless house needed to be my TOP PRIORITY… things have since changed for the better, and we are not around this person anymore. This system came about as an effort to find a balance between a clean house, a garden, and my kids. It was very successful at helping us get the things completed as they needed to be, and I no longer had to fight any LAUNDRY MONSTERS.

The next biggest challenge I faced was the ‘What’s for Dinner?’ dilemna. Thankfully, that question was included in the daily routines that I had created with our previous system, but I needed to work on it a bit. I started meal planning, which helped me develop a better grocery shopping routine. Previously, I had just gone to the grocery store with no real plan, and shopped for my usuals and then just tried to make them last through the month. If something unexpected came up, I didn’t have a plan for it.

I had a tight budget, and I worked 40+ hours a week. I found a few recipes that were quick to make and budget-friendly. I also asked the kids what their favorite breakfasts and meals were. We made a weekly breakfast routine that we still use today… over 20 years later! Then I tried to rotate their favorite meals through the month to keep things a little interesting. I would write the meals on note cards and just rotate them through my card system.

When we moved to Florida, we kept most of those same routines in place, and then we added some new ones when we had some additions to our family. I started using the Cozi calendar, and I found that I could add meals to the calendar along with the recipes in the notes section. I could put the meals on repeat, and pretty soon my whole yearly menu was planned out! They now have a meal planning feature.

This made life so much easier, and all I had to do was check my calendar via phone or laptop, create a grocery list, and go shopping. I could even check recipes while I was at the store because I had them right there with me on my phone. I can’t even describe what a difference this made in my life!

When I learned that the FlyLady had an extension for the Cozi app, I was so excited. I added that as well, and we started using our file system less. It eventually got put away, as I was using my phone or laptop to check in. I also had a family binder set up with a lot of the same information so that anyone could jump in and help out when I had to be away for anything.

7 Easy Steps to Simplify Your Life

My older kiddos were starting to move out, and they started asking for recipes and such. That is when I started my first blog. It was so nice to be able to put things in a spot where they could get to them whenever they needed them… the blog has been such a blessing to our family in so many ways.

When we started homeschooling, these same routines helped us to set up our homeschool routine with ease. It was just something new to work into the schedule, and the transition was smooth for the most part.

These routines have kept our family running pretty smoothly, even during some pretty challenging times. When our youngest child was diagnosed with AML, my oldest daughter came to help out here at home. I stayed at the hospital while Shyanne received her chemo, my husband and kids stayed at home, where Ana helped to take care of everyone. I was able to place grocery orders to be picked up or delivered, as we already had our menus in place. If she needed a recipe, she could look on the blog… we have since started a recipe binder for our most-used recipes.

I was able to put together homeschool packets on the few days that we were home between rounds. Ana could bring the work to me to check when she would come to visit us in the hospital. She would also pick up our dirty laundry from the hospital and bring it home to wash… it was just a new routine that was added. I tried to keep our routine in the hospital as close to our home routine as I could. This made life much easier for everyone during that challenging time.

When she was finished with treatments, we had to transition back to our home routine. Thankfully, we still had our binder and card file system to fall back on. It was bumpy for a little bit, but we made it through. We haven’t quite gotten back to where we were before all of that happened, but we are working to make each day a little better.

More recently, we have added our Perpetual Meal Plans to our routines, and, boy, have they made a difference! We rotate our meals through the seasons so that nobody gets bored and everybody gets to have at least one or two of their favorite meals each month. We also added in some special birthday meals for each family member, and some fun holidays to keep life interesting. We are also adding in meals for Biblical Feasts … if we don’t do the planning, then it won’t happen.

Having things written and planned out really does make a difference. If we have too many ‘special days‘ at once, we will choose one or two to celebrate, and leave the others off. The days of the dreaded ‘What’s for Dinner? dilemna’, still happen every once in a while, but they are fewer than before.

These are just some of the ways that our daily routines keep the PEACE in our home. We do have some nightly routines as well that help get us ready for the next day, because it’s hard to feel PEACE when you can’t find homework or shoes when you are trying not to be late to work or school. I know, I’ve been there!

Don’t stress, don’t worry, you can make small changes a day at a time to get to where you need to be. Check out this post to get started with your routines: