s/o What DON'T you do that makes your life run more smoothly?

[HS Mom in NC]

The thread about organization tips  http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/584886-whats-the-most-useful-organizational-tip-you-can-give-for-home-schooling/    made me think of how it's just as important to avoid or opt out of things that drag down a homeschool lifestyle.

 

Things I don't do anymore:

 

Buy clothes that need dry cleaning.

Buy clothes that need ironing.  (The exception is my husband's clothes he wears when he's consulting on site.)

Buy items that can't go in the dishwasher.

 

Keep clothes that don't currently fit.

 

Keep items that aren't useful.

Keep sentimental items that don't fit in my cedar chest.
 

I'll probably think of more later. 

 

What about you?  What don't you do and how has it made your life better?

 

Edited January 22, 2016 by Homeschool Mom in AZ

[Rosie_0801]

My first thought when I saw your thread title was 'care about everything.' I never did care about *everything* but there are a few things that were worth learning not to care about and not to feel guilty I don't.

[AmandaVT]

While we were reading one of the selections in WWE today, DS asked me what "ironing" was. :-) I began buying DH the no-iron shirts from LL Bean and Lands End a few years ago and we have been an iron free house since DS was a baby. It's so nice.

 

I don't stress if the house isn't perfectly clean. 

 

I don't pick up the phone unless I'm in the mood to chat. My ringer is never on on my cell phone and I turn the home phone ringer off during school time here. It's so freeing. I used to feel the need to pick up the phone even if someone was calling at an inconvenient time. I don't anymore.

[Slache]

Everything in the OP, subscribe to ANY emails, drive, answer the phone, watch TV when the kids are up.

[Junie]

Only immediate family members (my household) know my cell number.

 

Like others above, no ironing.

 

No TV -- only videos, so I don't have to monitor what the dc turn on.

 

No birthday parties -- I tried, but it just doesn't work for our family.

 

Not taking dc for checkups at their birthday.  All of the well checkups are in the same month (so I don't have to remember who got theirs and who didn't)

 

Flu shots at the well checkups so I don't have to schedule twice as many appointments.

 

I only buy children's tylenol (generic) that everyone can take -- I don't have to worry about the littlest taking medicine made for 9 year olds.

 

I don't check every snack that my kids are given.  I taught my children about their food allergies, so they are responsible for checking snacks when they're out.  (No anaphylaxis reactions involved in their allergies, so it's not life threatening if they make a mistake.)

 

Shoe are not worn in the house.  They are put in a basket by the front door.  We almost never have lost shoes.

 

 

[Garga]

Don't clean very often. We just don't. Things get a bit cluttered and we dust/vaccuum every 2-3 weeks and...it's fine. I never, ever wash the curtains and I've never, ever dusted the ceilings or the chandeliers. Once, maybe twice, a year I move furniture and vaccuum under it. And I honestly don't care about that hidden dust. It doesn't bother me in the slightest. We do keep up with the dishes every day, though. And the litter boxes. Those are cleaned twice a day and fully dumped and replaced every week and a half. We might have dust and clutter but not filth.

 

Don't cook breakfast or lunch for the kids--they do that themselves. They're old enough now. This won't work if your kids are tiny.

 

Don't answer any phones during school unless it's dh and he rarely calls during school time.

 

Don't schedule many activities. Fortunately my entire family is about equal to each other on the introvert scale, so we're all pretty happy with a very light schedule of commitments outside the home.

 

I don't stop anyone from petting a cat at any time during the day. Middle of the lesson and you want to pet a cat? Fine with me. It keeps the boys happier and calmer about their lessons if they know they can have a cat break whenever they need one. :). The cats are atrociously spoiled around here. We follow them around tucking blankets around them while they sleep. All day long, sleeping cat = tuck a blanket around him.

 

We don't use electronics from Mon - Fri (well, the boys don't. I do.). I do let the boys watch TV at set times, but no games. Their behavior changed dramatically for the better when I stopped the electronics during the school week. It took about 3 weeks for them to get used to the idea without fussing alot about it, but it was worth the temporary fuss.

Edited January 22, 2016 by Garga

[pehp]

I don't watch TV, don't answer the phone most of the time (unless it's my husband, father, sister), don't wait until my house is perfect to do something creative, don't stay up until 2 am anymore (!), don't engage in a lot of spontaneous social activities, and don't leave the house every day (am careful w/ my errands, in other words).  I also don't organize my children's days--I leave that up to them (in terms of what they'll do w/ their free time).  And I don't feel guilty about taking a day off!

[Critterfixer]

I don't watch TV. We have movie night on Wednesday.

We don't run into to town. If we have anything in town to do, it has to wait until Thursday, when we go in to town for Library Day. 

I don't go grocery shopping. DH does that on Sunday morning. I make up the list, he does the shopping and I do school with the boys while he's taking care of the grocery run. 

[Sahamamama]

... avoid or opt out of things that drag down a homeschool lifestyle.

 

No television (cable/satellite). Neither my husband nor I have ever had a TV in our entire adult lives. We do have a screen/DVD/Amazon Prime set-up, so we do watch an occasional movie. But no TV.

 

No homeschool co-ops. All-day-out-of-the-house would never work for us, and I really don't want to work with and/or supervise and/or babysit and/or teach other people's children. I said it.

 

I do not plan as we go. That would drive me nuts. Instead, I plan ahead of time, purchase ahead of time, study ahead of time, prep ahead of time, and then feel as put together as I'm ever going to get. ;)

 

I don't do any household task that the kids can do. They can collect trash and laundry, so they do. They can sweep the floors and (in the basement) run the vacuum, so they do. They can dust some of the furniture and shelves, they can fold & put away about 80% of the laundry, set the table, clear & wipe the table, help with meal prep, unload the dishwasher (mostly), keep their play room & bedrooms neat, clean a bathroom (mostly), take care of their rabbits (I change the bedding with their help). Whatever they can do, they do. If we're making a salad, they can peel the carrots, shred & wash the lettuce, and spin the whole thing. If we're making a stew, they can peel some veggies, wash some things, and run downstairs to get canned tomatoes. They can each bake bread in the bread machine, bake cornbread from scratch, and help with other kitchen work. If we all pull together, the work goes quickly and they learn important life skills.

 

I do not answer the phone during school time. Instead, I keep the phone in my teacher's pencil box (LOL), glance at it when a call comes in, and just usually hit "off" or let it go to the machine. We only answer the phone for my husband and my parents, and not always even for them. If we are in the middle of a lesson, they can leave a message and we can call them back!

 

Also, I'd like to ask, "What's an iron?"

Edited January 22, 2016 by Sahamamama

[Critterfixer]

I didn't iron when I had the time to iron. Life is too short for ironing.

[mamiof5]

Iron? What's that? Or drycleaning... foreign terms for me :)

[Tsuga]

I don't blow dry my hair or use any hair products other than shampoo and conditioner.

 

I don't have voicemail. If you call me and I'm not there, I'll know you called and you can always text or e-mail. I don't waste their time leaving voice mails and I don't waste my time listening to it. I wish I could record a message: "I don't take voicemails, but I call back every missed call eventually. If this is urgent, call me at work or send me a text. Ciao!" Unfortunately they won't let me do that without setting up a box for people to record themselves on. Oh, well.

 

(Incidentally, one thing about this that was awesome was that during the divorce, he already knew I didn't have VM and so he couldn't leave nasty messages, but he also wasn't offended. Less evidence but also, less stress!)

[In2why]

I don't do crafts. If we have to cut, paste, color, or put it together we skip it.

I don't do co-ops anymore and only do special group field trips preferring to set up our own trips that fit our interests.

I don't buy everything that looks interesting for school anymore. I know what works and no longer chase the new and shiny.

I couldn't tell you where our iron is or even if I still have one. I have a cell phone but rarely know where it is either.

[Momto4inSoCal]

Clean my house...

Ok sometimes I clean but not nearly as much as I should. I buy paper plates and use them for breakfast/lunch. I no longer make fancy meals, it's pretty much all 30min meal type things. We just don't have the time. I try to remember that I'm home to be with my kids and to homeschool. That is my priority.

[abba12]

I don't vary breakfast or lunch. Breakfast is a healthy cereal with lots of greek yogurt, honey on top and some fresh or frozen fruit, whatever we have this week. The cereal and fruit change, offering some variety, but it's the same, simple, 4 ingredients every morning. Lunch is cut fruit, cut vegetables and a cold protein. One day it might be carrot sticks, bell pepper sticks, grapes and ham, another day it might be lettuce, cherry tomatoes, peaches, plums and beef jerky. Whatever it is, I just fill a plate with whatever I have in the house, and each week when I grocery shop I buy a lunch protein for the week, 4 or 5 types of fruits, and a bunch of vegetables (usually just extra of whatever I need for dinner that week, plus a couple of salad items like cherry tomatoes and sprouts). Not having to think about what I am making, and being able to just grab some things out, cut them, and go, saves me lots of time and energy. 

 

I don't clean. The kids take on as many chores as they are able to do, DH does the minimum needed for daily maintenance beyond what the kids do each evening, and DH does a proper clean on the weekend while I'm working. The trade off is that I'm solely responsible for school planning and food planning/meals. 

 

I am trying not to go on the computer before lunchtime. This is at varying levels of success. 

[Rosyl]

I don't answer the phone.

This year we are not doing a co-op.  I like it.  We replaced it with stuff we wanted to do like field trips and nature hikes that complement our home school. 

I don't match socks. (I sort so each person has their socks that are color coded, but I don't match them)

I don' t leave the house before 1:30 on school days.

New this year:  I refuse to be swayed when someone else tells me how awesome a curriculum is.  what we use is fine and it gets the job done.  I will be content with the choices we have made and if at the end of the year it  REALLY doesn't work then we'll switch.  this one I wish I had adopted 10 years ago.

 

 

Edited January 22, 2016 by Rosyl

[Monica_in_Switzerland]

I don't volunteer and I'm not part of a Coop.  

 

We don't have lots of things.

 

I don't do chore lists (for the kids), any sort of behavior "chart" system, etc.  

[Jackie]

I don't try to adopt organizational structures that don't feel reasonably natural to me. For example, all the electronic homeschool software looks cool, but my phone calendar for appointments and a paper calendar for tracking what we're doing for school is simple and natural for me. Other people's stricter daytime schedules sound tempting, but rolling with a controlled level of chaos is working for us.

[....]

This pertains to our school day:

 

1.  I don't sleep in.  I don't let the kids sleep in anymore, either.  I'm usually up and getting ready around 5am.

 

2.  I don't schedule stuff during the school day if I can help it.

 

3.  I don't answer the phone during school.

 

4.  I don't let them turn on TV, get on the computer or start playing video games until school is over.

 

Wow, I sound mean!

[Tsuga]

This pertains to our school day:

 

1.  I don't sleep in.  I don't let the kids sleep in anymore, either.  I'm usually up and getting ready around 5am.

 

2.  I don't schedule stuff during the school day if I can help it.

 

3.  I don't answer the phone during school.

 

4.  I don't let them turn on TV, get on the computer or start playing video games until school is over.

 

Wow, I sound mean!

 

If you're mean so is every single public and private schooler... I don't answer the phone during work, schedule anything other than emergency doctor's appointments during the school day, and believe me we aren't allowed TV or phone or games at work or school.

 

If that's mean, then I'm a regular Stalin.

[Squawky Acres]

I don't sort or match kid socks.  Last year, I bought around 80 pair of identical white Gap socks on sale that sort of fit all five children.  They get washed and dumped in the "sock drawer" in the mudroom.  When kids need socks, they go to the drawer and grab some that match.  Most of them do as they are the one-size-fits-all Gap socks.  We also have some special socks and wool socks for playing outdoors.  The kids can fish around and find the mate if they need something other than white cotton socks.

 

Also, no ironing, no TV, no leaving the house in the morning except for very special field trips.

[HS Mom in NC]

I actually do lots of ironing, but only because I'm a quilter and ironing is essential for constructing intersecting seams.  I just don't own clothes or table linens that need ironing.

 

In a more abstract sense, like Rosie was talking about, I'm changing my expectations of myself and life.  I no longer feel guilty about failing to accurately predict the future.  I consider my situation, think it through the best I can (no impulse decision making for me) and if it doesn't turn out ideally, I don't sweat it anymore. I did the best I could.  When other people voice guilt about similar situations I say to them, "Yeah, predicting the future is hard."  So far it seems to give them a bit of relief.

I don't use place settings that need washing for lunch year round and and for all meals in December through the first week of January.  It's enough to keep up with the pots and pans used for cooking.  I keep biodegradable disposables on hand.  If there are dishes in the sink and the dishwasher is running, we use disposables then too.

I don't cook breakfast for anyone.  We have cereals, yogurt, toast, fruit, smoothie ingredients, eggs and everyone fends for themselves.  Several of us don't eat breakfast at all. 

I don't do outside activities for their own sake.  There has to be a very specific benefit we particularly want and it has to work with being home during our school hours for me to even consider joining. There are rare exceptions made (like art class and PE) but those are close by and we have adapted for a 4 day school week with days an hour or so longer to minimize that.

[lllll]

nm

Edited February 2, 2016 by - 8 95

[Tess in the Burbs]

I totally agree on ironing.  Dh bought me a shirt and i wore it.  It's been in the 'ironing' pile for months LOL.  I may never wear the shirt again hahaha

 

School wise...we don't do co-op.  We talk about it every year, but even my kids don't want to get up early to be somewhere every week.  We did dive into online classes this year and even that is hard...being up and at the computer by 8am several days a week(2 kids with multiple classes).  We are home for school.  We did just add in a theater class on Friday after lunch.  Otherwise we are home for classes online or our own thing.  And we get school done every year.  Almost everyone I know does a co-op or two.  And I often hear them lament about how they never finish anything at home.  They aren't home to ever get any work done.  I told one friend this week perhaps she needs to just pick co-op classes that fulfill what she wants them to learn since in all the time I have known her she hasn't ever been home long enough to finish what she planned.  For us, being home works.  

 

Activity wise I say no to most all of it.  We chose to become a 1 car family.  This helps me say no.  Both kids have a scout group that is 25 miles away.  So that night is only that activity.  No one can sign up for something that is on the same day as anyone else.  So one kid did fencing for a bit.  Then a kid played volleyball.   Right now they have no sports.  We are home most nights.  And while DS was bored last night, usually we play games or watch tv or game or read....and we are together.  it's rare for these ages and I know it.  So I am relishing it as long as we can.  When they want to do something we will.  For now, we are all content not being busy with activities.  

 

Cleaning...I have the short list that has to happen weekly.  I have the list for monthly.  And I have the someone needs money or an extra chore for attitude list.  So my house stays clean and tidy, but maybe not the same clean/tidy as others.  It's more tidy than clean.  No one likes to dust in our house....

 

Feeding the crew.  i have to have a plan.  When I don't plan we end up eating out or eating junk.  If I just have one thing of meat always thawing then we can get fed.  No one has to like the food, but if I have meat we have a meal.  And this is my thing....no one else seems to want to cook or plan, so I have to do it.  And you can tell when I am not in the mood to cook lol.  It's usually a week long going out thing and then we have no money and I get back to planning meals :-)  This is the one area that is all me!

 

Personally I am trying to live with less.  I can't say the others are.  But I try to keep our home clutter free and don't buy lots of needless things.  Like cute spring wreaths for the door.  I want it.  But I don't. I just got some new kitchen stuff and I really want to give away some old stuff.  Dh thinks we should keep it all.  My cabinets are busting.  I see a spring yard sale or big donation coming up ;-)

 

I will say, that I think some people thrive in chaos.  When it's quiet/no activity they are bored.  And sure, we have gone through those phases.  Our family as a whole agrees being less busy works for us.  We are happy with that choice.  And I know it will change in the future...someone will get involved with something again.  For now, we are enjoying our quieter life.  It makes life run smooth.

 

 

[Hobbes]

- I don't sign up for evening activities.

 

- I don't do laundry except on Monday (and a load on Wednesday for rags and towels). I wash, dry and sort on Monday and it's done until the next week, thankyouverymuch.

 

- I don't fold my kids' laundry after about age 5 - they fold and put away. I also don't clean their rooms, make their beds, dust the house, sweep certain areas, or do several other things they can do on a regular basis.

 

- I don't answer the phone much - only at convenient moments. Text is the thing. :)

 

- I don't watch TV. We don't have one. And the kids don't either, saving me endless time spent negotiating screen time. They average about 3 movies a month.

 

- Experiment with menu variety, unless I feel like cooking for recreation (I used to do this more and look forward to more of it again in the future). We have about 10 dinners we love and rotate. Breakfast and lunch rarely vary.

 

- I don't coupon clip or comparison shop for groceries.

 

- And I don't iron. :) Except for sewing purposes, which is rare these days.

[Farrar]

I don't understand how no TV makes life run more smoothly. I guess it frees up time, but so does not reading books or not taking showers or a million other things.

 

I don't organize things much. All my systems involve piles and bins.

 

I don't fold the kids' clothes. What's the point when it's all t-shirts in bins that they'll immediately mess up?

 

I don't worry too much about stuff. I let things go, or, at least, I try.

[Hobbes]

I don't understand how no TV makes life run more smoothly. I guess it frees up time, but so does not reading books or not taking showers or a million other things.

 

I find I am much more likely to get sucked in to more TV watching than I have time for than more showering than I have time for. :) But mainly, it just means I have more available time to do the things I really want/need to prioritize. TV is not a life priority for me, it's just something I do if it's there and regret later.

[Farrar]

I find I am much more likely to get sucked in to more TV watching than I have time for than more showering than I have time for. :) But mainly, it just means I have more available time to do the things I really want/need to prioritize. TV is not a life priority for me, it's just something I do if it's there and regret later.

 

Clearly you don't have the shower addiction I have.  :tongue_smilie: Dh to me the other night: "Are you ever coming out of there?" "NO! It's my quiet happy place!"

[LivingHope]

Things go smoothly for us when

 

I don't do chores during school.

I don't do school during chores.

...I don't multitask well...

 

I don't follow a detailed time schedule but instead follow a routine.

I use my routine trackers in my bullet journal to stay on track.

 

I don't allow bickering.

 

I don't forget to send nice random texts and photos throughout my day to my dh. This helps me to stay happy because I only send positive things.

[My3girls]

Guess I'm the odd one here. We do watch TV, we do music co-op, and we do outside activities. Lol

 

I don't do chores or answer the phone during school time.

I don't do dishes, clean bathrooms, or clean kids rooms. (My kids do.)

I don't iron.

I don't cook during the week.

I don't worry about getting curricula done in a certain number of days.

I don't pre-read my kids books.

I don't make detailed lesson plans.

[mom2att]

I cook as little as possible. And if I could turn that into "never," so much the better.

 

 

[Coco_Clark]

I don't sleep in. 😭

 

I don't have quiet time. I know it works for so many families, but I need to use naps for lessons!!

 

I don't home-make bread/yoghurt/ketchup/mayo/ect anymore, unless it's a special occasion. Something had to give and I've embraced that I actually hate cooking.

 

When I get overwhelmed I don't get on WTM! A several week or several month break can do wonders for grass is greener syndrome.

[Hobbes]

Clearly you don't have the shower addiction I have.  :tongue_smilie: Dh to me the other night: "Are you ever coming out of there?" "NO! It's my quiet happy place!"

Lol, we all have our little weaknesses!  :laugh: If I did that, all my easily dried-out skin would flake off.  :glare:

[EMS83]

Much.   :lol:

 

 

[Sahamamama]

Clearly you don't have the shower addiction I have.  :tongue_smilie: Dh to me the other night: "Are you ever coming out of there?" "NO! It's my quiet happy place!"

 

I have a daughter like this, only she sings in the shower. She sings and sings and completely loses track of time. We now send her up with a timer. Seven minutes and out. :laugh:

[Peaceful Isle]

I don't spend a lot of time thinking up meals. We eat simply.

 

I don't spend a lot of time with makeup, unless it is for church or going out on a date with dh. I like the natural look.

 

I don't go out for music lessons or meetings.  The music teacher comes to our home for lessons, and the charter TF comes to our home for our monthly meetings. Love it. Love my home.

 

Anytime we do go out for the kids activities, it needs to be in the ten minute radius of my home. The boy's sports are 5 minutes away. Art lessons are 8 minutes away.  Church, a couple minutes away. ( except for dd horseback riding lessons. I have outsourced that to my dh to take her, lol)

 

 

 

 

[Sahamamama]

Coming back to add:

 

I don't volunteer. This does raise some eyebrows at times, but I just have to stay focused. I can only do these things -- A, B, and C -- well. If I try to add in other things -- X, Y, and Z -- it will all fall apart. So I say no to volunteering, especially ongoing, weekly commitments. And I run away from people with clipboards.

 

I don't do any "Mom's Morning Out" or "Ladies' Bible Study" types of activities. I'm working at home, teaching my girls. That is what I'm doing with every weekday.

 

I don't do Facebook.

 

I don't blog.

 

I don't garden. I do get pressured to garden (father), but I don't garden. "See those girls? They are my garden. That is where my efforts go."

[...................]

I don't use real cleaners anymore with the exception of the tub and inside the toilet (comet for those)...

 

Meaning I use those disinfecting cleaning wipes for almost every surface in the house

 

(The clean freak me from 15 years ago faints)

 

Also,

We don't wear shoes in our house, we learned this from our Asian, Russian and Indian friends and it is the Best cleaning decision I ever made. We Americans have no idea how much extra work we cause ourselves by wearing shoes inside!!!

[...................]

Oh, I don't think about makeup, instead I keep my makeup bag in the car and put it on at stoplights!!! I pluck my eyebrows every Sunday morning while my husband drives LOL

[Reefgazer]

1.  I don't clean my house.  Seriously...it's so low on the priority list, it's scary.

 

2.  I don't have a Facebook or any social media except this.

 

 

Edited January 23, 2016 by reefgazer

[FriedClams]

In my homeschool world...

 

1. Minimize outside classes to ones that are REALLY worth it. I have always had a no co-op policy and broke it this year. It's been fine, but the class would have been much more challenging at home. We won't do it again until we dual enroll,

 

2. My text messaging is set to mute for everyone except DH and the kids. It's AMAZING. I am no longer distracted by random texts during the day.

 

3. By accident, my phone only downloads email when I tell it to. It's awesome. No more distracting, "Oh. I'll just reply to this real quick..."

 

4. Weekly schedules. I love them. We're much more productive with a written list.

[Another Lynn]

I don't volunteer in our homeschool group.

 

I don't volunteer at church.

 

(Like MANY others I do not fix anyone's lunch or breakfast, never sleep in, never schedule appts before lunch, never buy clothes that require ironing or drycleaning, etc.)

 

I puffy heart love reefgazer for saying she doesn't clean and My3girls for saying she doesn't cook (during the week). 

[Another Lynn]

Oh, also, I don't have anyone using the computer for school.  (It was such a pain when we tried a self-paced thing.)

[lots of little ducklings]

For me:

 

-no ironing

 

-no folding (I hang mine; they stuff theirs)

 

-no sock-sorting

 

-no top sheets on the kids' beds (they are still little and want to sleep under their baby blankets anyway, so I wash those 2-3 times a month and do bottom sheets as needed; bed-making is much easier for them, and sheet laundry is much easier for me). 

 

-no laundry or lunches packed for dh -- he survived for 40 years without me, so I figure he's got these covered.  ;) )

 

-no chores for me that the kids are able to do themselves

 

-no hoarding or over-consuming of goods.  A minimalist house is much easier to keep in order. 

 

-no shopping in b+m stores, except where absolutely necessary. Amazon Prime has been soooo worth the $99.  

 

-no outside commitments or volunteering unless their benefit outweighs the effort expended and time lost at home.  At the moment, this means we don't do sports and we don't do co-op activities.  We are involved in clubs one night at church, but this may not last.  The timing is bad so it's been a major drain on our resources this year.  

 

-no tv (except occasional movies) and no devices (ipads, kindles, computers, video games) for the kids.  I know we are missing out on some good educational games and healthy options, but we have too much going on as it is, and I don't want to add screen time to the mix. (Nor do I want to pay for it.)

 

-no detailed daily planning.  I plan each subject and print off supplies over the summer, but during the year all I do is fill in my planner AFTER we've done our work for the day.  It's a record, not a taskmaster.  I am much happier that way.  

 

 

 

 

And most importantly , I'm also getting better at:

 

-no guilt

 

-no comparisons

 

:)

[lots of little ducklings]

I don't cook during the week.

 

 

 

 Do tell how!

 

I finally have an extra upright freezer, but really haven't managed to work out a system for using it yet.  

[73349]

No tablecloths or placemats on the table: it's easier to keep clean.

I go to Target and the mall about once a year each, Walmart once every few years.

I quit clipping coupons. I was not finding enough good ones for it to be worthwhile.

We refuse to travel at Thanksgiving or Christmas. Others are welcome to come to us.

I only wear make-up for special occasions.

I don't try to keep up with any kind of media/entertainment (blog, TV series, etc.). Except the ITT. =)

I only keep 2 pairs of shoes for DS (black and brown), plus boots for bad weather. They have a home just inside the front door.

 

Edited January 23, 2016 by whitehawk

[fourisenough]

1) Print photographs and then keep albums/scrapbooks. I can either live this life and enjoy it or document it- not both at the same time.

 

2) Buy gifts (birthday and Christmas) for anyone other than my kids. It was so liberating when I stopped. Everyone I know has everything they need and most of what they want anyway.

[theelfqueen]

My current answer seems to be MOP.

I keep planning to mop and it keeps falling by the wayside. I sweep and spot clean but thorough mopping keeps getting pushed back.

 

 

I do many of the above listed things too (I've never worn makeup, I avoid overvolunteering, I schedule out-of-the-house needs for the afternoon, I keep all homeschool coop stuff in a single afternoon, etc.)

 

 But I'm finding some of the things in the thread thought provoking.

[J&JMom]

I love how many people dump house cleaning!  And admit it! I go for hygienic in my house. The dishes and laundry are done, but not put away. I assign chores to the kids (which only get done every week or two) for mopping,dusting, and bathrooms. I vacuum.  My windows haven't been cleaned in about a year, lol. I did manage to steam clean my living carpet over Christmas break.  I do love a clean, organized house, but I have embraced that homeschooling is messy. I'd so much rather plan and look over curriculum, or veg on Facebook than clean - and I'm okay with that. 

[fairfarmhand]

I don't wait for the house to be clean before I invite people over.

 

I don't volunteer for stuff unless I am passionate about it.

 

I don't worry about what dysfunctional people think of me. Once I figure out that they are...off....I just do what I am going to do.

 

I don't feel guilt for the myriad ways I may be messing up my kids. I'm doing the best I can. One day they will realize that mommy did what she could for them.