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Creating a morning routine

March 23, 2020 by tidybrownwren

You’re awake? Oh, good.

If you didn’t have to hit the ground running today, you’re probably still in your pajamas. That was OK for yesterday, but not for today.

Today is a new start and it’s going to be better than yesterday!

This is the day that we are going to create a morning routine. But, before we create one, I want to talk about why. Because, when you realize the importance of a morning routine, you are more apt to be motivated to keep it.

First, it is really important to think of a morning routine as an Act of Service for the family. The routine takes out all of the guessing and wondering about what to do. The routine takes care of the “what” so that the “who” can be focused on. Wouldn’t you rather focus on people than on stuff? An act of service is focused on giving instead of taking. When we all give an act of service to our family, it shows we love them.

Also, the routine becomes the boss. When a particular child drags their feet and can’t think of what to do next, simply point to the routine (tip: post it in a spot where everyone can see it) and it does the encouraging. If your voice doesn’t work until after the second cup of coffee, this part is golden!

Second, look at a morning routine as an Act of Gratefulness for our many blessings. Most of us have more than enough in our homes to sustain us. We want to be good stewards of what God has given us. Most of us are in good health. We want to be good stewards of our bodies. With a morning routine, we can put away belongings with thankfulness and take care of our bodies with gratefulness.

Third, a morning routine is an Act of Renewal. A time to start fresh. A new day and new opportunities for growth. If yesterday was a bummer of a day, today is a chance to do better.

So, how exactly, does a morning routine work?

Start with a list of things that must be done: getting dressed, eating, Bible reading, taking medicine, shower, brushing teeth, feeding pets, etc..

Next, add in some things you would like to see done: making the bed, meal prep for the day, housework, yard work, pay bills, water plants, etc.

Look at your lists, and assign tasks to family members. Every family’s routine will look different.

Parents can add their extra jobs as well, so children can see that everyone works together.

A morning routine is not meant to be a drill sergeant. It is meant to make your life easier and simpler. It is meant to take the focus off of “doing” and put the focus on “being” together. When simple household tasks are done, the family can live better together and enjoy their home.

Give the morning routine a try and let me know what you think. It may take some time to tweak and will certainly need to be flexible as schedules and seasons change, but I think it will get you unstuck if you’re in a rut.

Organizing your collection of cloth napkins

February 10, 2020 by tidybrownwren

I must confess about an addiction I have – I’m addicted to cloth napkins. It started out simple enough. We got a set of 4 cloth napkins as part of a wedding present. They are white with a yellow and green lemon pattern and we still have them. I felt very grown-up using them.

Fast forward almost 39 years and I have amassed such a collection that I could serve dinner to 166 people and use cloth (not paper) napkins. Well, I’d need more plates, but I think that would be fun!

Following my own organizing rules, I decided to tackle my collection. First I took stock of what I had. If I had napkins stored in different areas of the house, I would have collected them together. Since I had them all in the sideboard of our dining area, that part was already done. I sorted all of the napkins by color and made piles for each color. Patterned napkins were sorted by the main color.

Here is an example of what the drawers looked like before. They weren’t bad but they weren’t easily accessible and simplified like Rule #3 dictates.

My favorite napkins are the black and white check – followed by the solid red.

I went through each pile and pulled out any torn or stained napkins and those that didn’t have enough matching ones to fit our needs. Some were tossed and some were donated.

With the remaining napkins, I folded them 3 times – in half, in half again, then in half again. What I was left with were napkins that fit perfectly in my sideboard drawers and could lean up against each other.

I made sure that the napkins had plenty of room between them so I could pull out what I needed without pulling everything out at the same time.

I coordinated the colors that I use most together. I like to mix and match the napkins for a fun tablescape. I have a bunch of paper cocktail napkins that I like to use for dessert get-togethers or when serving snacks outside on the deck or back by the firepit.

We use only cloth napkins for everyday meals. Unlike 1-time-use paper napkins, cloth napkins can be used several times before needing to be washed. We use different napkin rings to differentiate each person’s individual napkin. Mine is the chicken. Hubs’ is the duck. When the grandlittles visit for a week or so, they get to pick their own napkin ring to use. I store them in a drawer until needed.

So, did I follow all of the Organizing rules?

Purge – yes, I got rid of all of the napkins that I would not use in the future.
Designate – yes, I organized a home for every set of napkins.
Simplify – yes, I created a new folding system for the sets, making it easier to pull out what I need.
Label – no. There was no need to label. All of the sets are in the same place they’ve always been – just neater.
Maintain – to be determined! This system should be easy to maintain. I can put the washed napkins back easily and see what I have at a glance.

Let me know, in the comments, if you use cloth napkins and/or napkin rings. Which ones are your favorites and how do you store them?

Helpful clothing organization tips for the color blind

February 6, 2020 by tidybrownwren

I never understood color blindness until I met my husband. Sometimes it makes me sad that he can’t fully appreciate the nuances of colors and the way they change in a sunrise or sunset.

Hubs is considered red/green color blind but it also affects other colors for him. Adding to that problem is the fact that he gets dressed at O-dark-hundred and the lighting isn’t great in our bedroom. He couldn’t tell black from navy or green from gray.

Last year, before my surgery, I decided to set up a system for him to be able to tell his pants apart since I would be incapacitated for a while. Every pair of pants looked either black or gray to him.

I grabbed some tags from my craft studio and put them over his pants hangers, labeling each color of pants for him with a marker. We had previously tried marking the inside waistband or tag of his pants with the color, but it meant that he had to hang the pants back up if they ended up not being the ones he wanted.

Rule #3 of household organizing is to make it easy to get things and put them away without any extra steps.

This system has worked well for him. He can match almost any of his shirts to the pants because he knows the colors of his shirts according to their patterns. If he couldn’t, I would have hung his shirts with tags stating which pants they could go with. Time-consuming? Yes, but it would have helped him a lot and made mornings go smoother.

The only other area that caused problems was his sock drawer. Black looked brown. Brown looked green. Green looked. . . , well you get the picture.

I grabbed my labeler and made some quick labels. I added them to the drawer fronts, just inside the top of the drawer. Then I took some old shoe boxes and lined them up. I usually label alphabetically from left to right but this time, because the black and dark blue socks are so close in color, I put brown/green in the middle to separate them in case there was some spillover. This also helps me to put his socks away because, as a short person, I can’t actually see down into his top drawer! I can, however, easily place socks in the proper boxes because I know the order of the colors.

Then, in order to help my husband keep his good clothing separated from his grubby clothing, I labeled his drawers to keep things straight.

What is the grubby clothing system in our home? Well, good jeans, pants, shorts, shirts, sweatshirts, etc. can be worn to church, work, and out with the wife. Grubby clothing can be worn to Home Depot or the Automotive shop if unattended by wife, while working in the yard, working on the car, climbing under the house, etc. There are a few grubby items that cannot be worn even to Home Depot and must be inspected before leaving the premises – you never know when you will run into someone from church or one of my clients.

Updated outdoor space without spending any money

September 3, 2019 by tidybrownwren

There was this little area on our back deck that had been neglected far too long. It was dark and empty and had absolutely no personality. We didn’t spend any time there and it really was a shame.

So, one day I decided to look around the house and find some things to “make do” until I could work on it.

Here’s what it used to look like:

Yup, just a neglected little area underneath an upper deck behind our garage.

We had an old garden storage bin that we weren’t using any more. After giving it a good scrubbing, I used Krylon Paint for Plastic that I had on hand from another project.

The paint covered really well and gave that storage bin new life. I knew it would make the perfect coffee table in front of the swing.

As a bonus, I can store the cushions and pillows from the swing in it when the forecast calls for rain.

I grabbed a few outdoor pillows from the shelf in the garage. I found a lantern from the screened porch, a plant from the greenhouse, and an old cutting board from my shop to finish off the arrangement.

This neglected area has now become one of our favorite places to spend time together. And not spending any money was a bonus.

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