Making Your Home a Haven Challenge: Day 2
Wow, I'm so impressed and blessed and inspired by all your posts and comments and all the things you all are accomplishing in your homes! I especially love how each of you are tailoring this challenge to what is best for your home and your family and your unique situation.Today's challenge:
1) Refresh your spirit (5 minutes)
Like yesterday, brew a cup of tea, coffee, or cocoa, and sit down for a few moments of quiet with the Lord. I encourage you to take some time to pray over your day - bringing the activities planned before Him and asking Him to go before you and bless your endeavors for His glory.
STOP: Have you done your morning routine yet? If not, stop here and start with that. When you've finished it, come back here for your next assignment. :)
2) Take Time to Plan (5 minutes)
Do you have a plan for today? A few minutes of strategic planning before you begin your day can not only help you to be much more productive, but it can also save you a lot of time.
If you have not done so, make a short to-do list for today of things you need to do or would like to accomplish. If you are married, I encourage you to ask your husband if there is anything you can do for him today. If he mentions anything, make that your top priority to accomplish today.
Keep your list it to ten items or less. Number the items in order of importance and tackle the first one. Don't move on to #2 on your list until #1 is completely finished.
Post your list on your blog and cross things off as you finish them! Let's help keep each other accountable. Remember, though, to see your list as a guideline, not a slave master. The list is just meant to help you not be aimless. If other things come up which are more important, be cheerful and flexible.
3) Do Something! (10 minutes)
Since we tackled our entryways yesterday, we're moving on to our living rooms today. Light a candle, put on your apron, turn on some uplifting music, and then set the timer for ten minutes and get busy cleaning your living room! Start by putting throwing out trash, putting away misplaced items, and straightening up things. If you have time, do a quick dust and vacuum of the room.
I'll post what I did for this challenge along with pictures in a separate entry later today.
Graphic from Art.com
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Would you like to join us in this "Making Your Home a Haven" Challenge? Just do one or more of the challenges listed above or something else related to "making your home a haven" and post about it on your blog. Come back here and leave your link below so that we can be inspired!
posted by Crystal Paine at 6:00 AM
28 Comments:
I cannot wait to start tomorrow. I really want to thank you for this idea! It made my day today (monday) so much better. I can't wait for Tuesday!
Crystal,
On my blog you asked how early I get up. If it's my turn to sleep in, it's around 7:45 a.m. If I'm getting up with the kids it can be anywhere from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 a.m. but averages around 7.
I could NOT get up around 5 like you do and I doubt I would be able to focus at that time of day. Arising early doesn't work in our house since the kiddoes always hear the alarm clock and wake up too. There isn't a way around that so I try to sleep as long as I can!
I get a lot done often because I HAVE to. If I don't get laundry done right away, others in our building fill up the one washer after work in the afternoon, evening, and on the weekends. Nothing like pressure to make one hop to it! There are 20 people, 9 of which are children, sharing one regular-sized washer and one dryer! Needless to say, I can't wait until we have a home of our own and a washer and dryer of our own! But, laundry and water are free and the machine is a very nice brand, so I can't complain and I keep up with the cloth diapers fine. It's just a given that I can't do laundry on Saturdays unless I get up really early!
I come nowhere NEAR accomplishing what you do with a home business and ministry website and money saving blog even if it seems that I get a lot done in the mornings. I also recently weaned my one year old. Having a nursing baby makes an enormous impact on how a mother will spend her time throughout the day. It gets so much easier with two kids when the infant gets to be about one. They play together very well and I don't have to worry so much about baby being fragile.
I started doing the index card system this spring and it really helped me spring into action. The authors of "Sidetracked Home Executives" recommended doing as much as you possibly can in the morning and tackling the hardest chores. This stuck with me since it is so true that in the afternoon I want to sit down and do something less active while the kids nap, and all too soon dinner preparations need doing and then the day is over leaving you with an unfinished list. So tackling it relentlessly in the morning has helped me!
Mrs. Jo
www.thekingsmissus.blogspot.com
Today is a bust one for me!
1. Get up do devotions, have coffee
(showered last night to save time this morning)
2. Check email
3. Get dressed, makeup,hair,etc get kids up and dressed.
4. Leave for MOPS meeting (kids are eating in van on the way)
5. After meeting back home for lunch and school time.
6. Kids clean their rooms, I finish up school records for day.
7. finish decorating the trees. Put boxes back int attic
8. eat dinner and clean up dishes
9. RELAX with dh and kids (work on my knitting)
I did my living room yesterday in order to get the Christmas decorations up! Tomorrow we will do school and then take my grandma (the kids' gr grandma) Christmas shopping and baking supply shopping (I do the baking for her she's 90, and she buys the supplies...a win win for both of us!)
What an inspiring idea. I see lots of ladies are rising to the challenge. I can't do this right now but I'm going to collect the challenges and tackle them when I have more time, maybe one day a week?
Just received your e-letter and found out about your challenge. Your sweet spirit and encouragement made me want to join in...the accountability is good. I've done Flylady and try to keep to some of her ideas. This will be a great reminder.
I think the Lord is trying to encourage me in some of these areas. Laine from Laine's Letters mentioned in her letter yesterday about getting up early for her quiet time, putting on worship music and lighting some candles to start her day. I did this this morning and then jumped on the computer and found your challenge.
Thank you!
have a great day, Crystal! Thank you for this challenge, I need it!
Hi Crystal,
I am not sure what's wrong, but I tried to leave my blog's address on your blog today, and it left my name twice and actually doesn't take you to my blog.
Sorry, I am definitely not very good at this sort of thing.
Thanks,
Rebekah
Crystal,
How did you know that my living room needed a little attention? ;o)
I'm excited to start this series today. I can already see how much of a blessing it'll be!
Rebekah: You had a space in between http:// and www which is why the link wasn't working. I fixed it for you. :)
Mrs. Jo: Thanks for the thorough response. It's always helpful and inspiring to hear how other young moms with littles organize their day and accomplish a lot! I can't imagine having to share a washer and dryer like that. I'm really spoiled to have our own. Sometimes it's easy to take things like that for granted - especially when you have throw up incidents like we did a few days ago and have tons and tons of dirty laundry as a result!
Thanks so much for starting this, Crystal! I'm sorry I missed yesterday, but glad I'm getting on the bandwagon now...
Thanks Crystal!
I really enjoy reading your blog. I also am enjoying this challenge. Well off to get started....
Rebekah
Crystal,
I've been reading your blog for a while, just haven't commented. This is my first week home alone with my 2 girls and our little condo definitely needs attention. This will be good help to keep me productive when I'm not nursing or catching up on sleep while the girls nap. I've posted on my blog (http://www.gedeons.com), and hope that some of my friends will join me in the challenge. :)
Thanks for this challenge Crystal...it's working great at my house!! More details later!
Christy
Thank you so much for the challnge and encouragement via your blog. I needed this!
Crystal, you are such an inspiration. Thank you for these posts on making home a haven. :)
I had de-cluttered the living room yesterday, so today in 10 minutes I concentrated on more detailed cleaning. In just that time I was able to vacuum, dust, and clean the ceiling fan. Yay! I love these challenges and will be anticpating what you will have us do tomorrow. I'm anxious to see your before and after pictures as well.
as i am on bed rest for a bad back my day was easy. got up. said prayers. showered. took my husband to work. picked up my babysitting child. took my son to mass. came home and taught my son while i finished trimming 12 quilt blocks. corrected papers, paid bills, and wrote letters. lunch and put elizabeth down for a nap. picked up husband prayed with family in car on the way home. supper is cooking now while we wait for elizabeth to be picked up and matthew does his chores. i am resting and checking my mail. will say rest of days prayers and go to bed. thanks for the challenge though because it is giving me a reason to be more structured ann k
What a great idea. I found this on another blog and could not wait to get started. I may miss some days, because I work outside the home, but I will make those days by doubling the next days. This is so wonderful.
I just wanted to say that I added my blog (first time I've done that...kinda fun, kinda weird :) to both days because I put them in one blog post. I ran out of computer time yesterday!
Okay, so today didn't go as well as planned, but I'm looking forward to tomorrow still!
Finally! Living room is clean! Dinner is simmering and my post is up. And now, in the final moments before my husband comes home, I figure I'll play some Christmas carols with little V.
Well I can't even tell you how blessed I am again today! You're right inline with what the Lord is teaching me. Looking forward to tommorrow's challenge.
Finished! I hope the link shows up this time. :)
Had lots of fun, it is amazing what can be done in just 10 short minutes. :)
http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Lilyofthevalley4/
I'm enjoying this so much and look forward each morning to see what's next! Thanks so much for this.
Crystal,
I have been thinking about trying to get myself back on a "schedule" of sorts and this was just the boost that I needed to get started! I can't tell you how you have energized and encouraged me!
Thank you!
~Ashley
Thanks for doing this Crystal - it is definitely motivating me and that's a good thing since this is such a busy week for me. Otherwise I think I'd just come home from work and crash on the couch without accomplishing anything.
This is so fun! My husband is appreciating this too ;)
All you ladies are so inspiring :D
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