To ’simplify’ seems to be our personal family mantra at the moment. And really, it’s the reason for the whole list of core family values, because without it, we’d be crowding out our lives with all manner of things that vy for our attention.

For me to live simply means that I keep my own shortlist of responsibilities and goals. This way I’m fulfilling my current responsibilities (and no more), as well as keeping on track for achieving my goals. This obviously looks different for my husband, but these are my key areas for this year:

  • time with God: I am slowly building a rhythm back into my life with my quiet times, as well as reading.
  • serving my family: I’m working on cherishing my husband (I’ll post more on that next week), and playing & teaching my little boy
  • gaining health: My body has taken a number of months to recover from the pre-ecclampsia I developed during my pregnancy, and I have a number of kilos to lose. This is an area I have often (always?) neglected over the past ten years, so I am changing my habits and now making it a focus so I can achieve better health to love and serve my family with.
  • making my home: Our new space is smaller and more functional, so I am working on efficiently managing our home so the work is done, but the focus is on having more fun as a family! I have a few goals here, like menu-planning for a month, and finding a laundry habit that works for me.

I realised a couple months ago that simplifying was on the menu when my blog-reading habits started to change, and I couldn’t get enough of reading decluttering, menu-planning, simple home organisation tips! Here’s a shortlist of the posts that have impacted me the most on this topic:

Goodbye clutter, I won’t miss you @SmallNotebook
Your Family, on a mission @SimpleMom (the inspiration for this series)
Avoiding burnout @BiblicalWomanhood