Simplify Your Life: Step 6 Set Up Routines

**This post may contain affiliate links which help to support our blog and our family.

This post is part of a multi-section post in honor of National Simplify Your Life week which is the first week of August. The original post wasn’t as short and simple as I had wanted it to be so I decided to break it down into a few shorter posts.

6. Set Up Routines

This goes without saying for us here and maybe I should have included it in Step 5 but I  felt it deserved its own post. Simple routines for morning, afternoon, and evenings have been the key to making life so much easier and simpler for us. Everyone knows what to expect and what is expected of them and when.

We also have a routine for bill paying, laundry, and our homeschool. The important to remember is that you probably don’t need all of these. Focus on what you need to accomplish and set up a routine. Work on that one routine to simplify it and make it as efficient as possible. This make take a little time but it is so worth it.

Having a hard time getting everyone out the door in the morning? Maybe you should make a routine for the night before. It could include everyone placing their bookbags, briefcases, bags, and things they need at the door or other designated location. Many times our lives are stressful and chaotic because we don’t put a lot of thought into our plans but routines can change that.

Check out Make Over Your Mornings LIVE for some great ideas!

You can read more about all of our routines here. Remember that you need to base your routines around your life and not based on other’s. Routines have been proven to help make people more successful! Check out these books here and here for more ideas!

You can also check out Make Over Your Evenings for more tips on evening routines.

Meal Planning

Part of your routines can include Meal Planning.

This is an absolute necessity in our house. Meal planning is really not as difficult as it may seem and it can be done in so many different ways. There are several posts and article written about meal planning that you can find by searching with Google. There are services and courses you can sign up for too.

You can also check for books on the topic at your local library. A couple of my favorite books are ‘Complete 30 days meal plan: Meal planning ideas including weight loss resources and weight loss recipes‘ and ‘Meal Planning on a Budget: Save Money on Groceries, Master Meal Prep, & Reduce Food Waste to Reach Financial Freedom’. I also like this little meal planning pad I found on Amazon, it looks so simple!

Are you tired of spending too much on groceries? Check out Grocery University to learn everything you need to know about making the best of your grocery budget.

Not only can meal planning make your life simpler it can also save you money! You can read more about how we meal plan here and check out some of our previous meal plans here.

Click here to continue to Step 7.

Start your  FREE account with the  Wealthy Affiliate program.

Simplify Your Life: Step 3 Learn To Say ‘NO’ Without Feeling Guilty

**This post may contain affiliate links which help to support our blog and our family.

This post is part of a multi-section post in honor of National Simplify Your Life week which is the first week of August. The original post wasn’t as short and simple as I had wanted it to be so I decided to break it down into a few shorter posts.

3. Learn to say ‘NO’ without feeling guilty

I am so guilty of this! Right now I am sitting here with two laptops open, a huge TO-Do list, and a pile of notes that I’m taking care of. Not to mention that I have five kids running around who also need my attention, laundry to finish, and there will be lunch and dinner to make at some point. Many of these items on my To-Do list are not personal items for myself but things I’ve told others I’d help them with.

Why do I let myself do that? I am just a genuinely helpful person and I don’t seem to be able to say ‘NO’ when others ask for my help. This is something I really need to work on if I am ever going to have any time for myself and my family.

So many times we let ourselves get overwhelmed by making too many commitments. Sometimes we really just need to relax and enjoy life. It’s hard, I know, to say ‘NO’ but we really need to learn to do it more. Once we learn how to say ‘NO’ to the things that aren’t that important we will have more time to say ‘YES” to those things that are important. Check out this book, ‘How to Say No Without Feeling Guilty: And Say Yes to More Time, and What Matters Most to You‘, for tips.

While you are practicing saying ‘NO’ start saying ‘NO’ to multitasking too.

Are you tired of feeling overwhelmed? Check out 3 Strategies to Stop Feeling So Overwhelmed (FREE Webinar).

Stop Multitasking?

Wait, what? Yes, I know that might seem impossible. I am always multitasking as are most Mommas. The problem is that many times we start things and don’t finish them.

I have so many half finished projects laying around the house. Granted quite a few of them don’t belong to me but they are the result of multitasking.

When we are focusing on so many things we aren’t as focused on the task on hand. We need to focus on the stuff that really matters and work on it until completed before moving on to the next task. You will find that life is much simpler when we stop sweating the small stuff.

Check out these books here and here to find out how to get more done.

Be sure to check out the other post in this series for more simple ways to simplify your life.

 

Click here to go to Step 4.

Start your  FREE account with the  Wealthy Affiliate program.

May 2017 Club Updates: Clay Allemanders

Club updates from the Clay Allemanders in Middleburg. Shane is the caller and Ken is the co-caller.

Greetings from Clay Allemanders!

We have some exciting new news.  Clay Allemanders will be moving to a new Home Dance Hall. 

Our first Dance in the New Hall will be next Monday, May 22.

The Location: Middleburg United Methodist Church Family Center Building,
                               Address: 3925 Main Street Middleburg.


Directions are very easy:  Come down Blanding Blvd. until you see the Wells Fargo Bank on the left side of Blanding. Make a left turn on Palmetto Road, just before passing the Bank.  There is a traffic light there.  Go on down Palmetto until you t-bone to the intersection of Main Street.  Make a right turn.  Look on your left, you will spot the Middleburg United Methodist Church.  The first building to the complex is the Family Life Center.  That’s our new Hall!  It is the largest building, set back off the Street with parking directly in front.  Park there, and come on in the main door.

Many of you may remember this Hall from the recent past. NEFSARDA, along with Clay Allemanders and several other Clubs sponsored a very successful Fifth Saturday Dance there.  We love our new Hall… as it has a very large dance floor, great acoustics, nice stage, full size kitchen, easy parking in a wonderful old historic neighborhood (the original downtown Middleburg)

We are excited to grow our Club as we now are moving ahead with our new callers, Shane Perez, and co-caller, Shane’s Dad, Ken Perez…..And now….our new greatly improved Home Dance Hall!

There will be more Fun Events being scheduled for the summer in our new Hall, but…. we will be DARK, May 29th, Memorial Day.  Stay-Tune for more “invite” announcements on fun dances coming up in June and July!

Please know you are all invited to come visit and dance with us this next Monday, May 22  as we celebrate our First Dance in the Middleburg United Methodist Church Hall. Our Classes are in progress and run from 7PM to 8PM.  Our Club Dance commences at 8 PM and goes through to 9:30 PM.

— Bill Dion

Making Our Homeschool Schedule

**Please note this post does contain affiliate links to which I may, possibly, earn a small commission from if you click on and purchase an item. For full disclosure click here.

I don’t know about everyone else but keeping up with 6 kids and their school work can be stressful at times. They are on different levels ranging from Pre-K to High School and sometimes I just get confused as to who is where and what needs to be finished. I wanted to keep up with our school work and grades for my own records and I needed a system. The scholarship that my 14 year old has also required a portfolio to be kept and I had no idea where to start.

Continue reading “Making Our Homeschool Schedule” →

Getting Routines Started 101

‘Your first obligation as a parent is to not bring chaos into your kids’ lives.’

OK, I should’ve written this before I started on the other posts about routines. I didn’t realize until I was writing another post, how complicated and daunting routines can seem. Truth be told we all have some kind of routine already. Continue reading “Getting Routines Started 101” →