The Beginning

Well, here I am.  Jumping into a trying a new way of life and dragging my family along with me.  Go ahead and call me crazy - but wouldn't you agree that if something doesn't feel like it's working, that it's time to try something else?  That's all I'm doing.  Trying something new.  It might work and it might not, but either way, I know I'll learn something along the way.  Maybe all I'll take away from this is a few new organization tips or a couple time saving dinner prep techniques.  But even then, I'll consider this whole thing worth it.  Nothing exciting happens from sitting on my rear and assuming that things won't get any better.

Admittedly the biggest part of this challenge is going to be sticking with it, so I'm setting up a time frame.  Nothing as big as a full year and nothing so wimpy as a measly 30 days - I am committing to doing this until the clock indicates the very first second of 2012.  That should give me just enough time to see if what I'm doing is making any difference.  Sure, it might not be a huge difference by then, but it will be long enough to figure out if we're all just miserable.

I invite you to commit to the simplicity challenge with me - as little or as much as you feel comfortable with.  Here are my three beginning goals so you can follow along:

1) Begin our new sleep schedule.  Our five year old begins morning kindergarten in one week and we HAVE to be there at the same time every weekday.  Kids in bed at 8pm, lights off by 9pm.  Adults in bed by 10:30pm, lights off by 11pm.  Adults awake at 6am, kids awake at 6:30am.  We are not morning people, so this is a huge deal and probably the biggest lifestyle change I think we'll end up making.  I don't expect this schedule to change at all.

2) Create and stick with daily, weekly, and monthly housework plans.  This one will probably take some tweaking as I figure out what works, what doesn't, and how often things should realistically be done.  As OCD as I feel sometimes, I will realize that we have small children and a perfect house is not going to happen.  Our home will be lived in, but not filthy.

3) Create weekly meal plans and complete a few batch meals to keep in the freezer each month.  My goal is to attempt a monthly grocery budget (not including household items like detergent, shampoo, toilet paper, etc) of $300 for our family of four.  That might not be realistic, but I'm going to try my very best.

As we ease into these top three goals, more will be added, like purging closets, limiting our belongings, and figuring out new organization systems to make housework faster and easier.  You get the idea.

So you are welcome along this journey with us or just feel free to sit back and laugh/cry/shake your head as we try to figure this out.  I'm sure it will provide at least a little entertainment.