2014 goals - Stuff Parents Need

8 Months In: How’s Our “Sanctuary” Looking? (GIVEAWAY!!!)

August 15, 2014 · by Tiffany Merritt · 89 Comments

I am participating in the ZonePerfect Blog It Forward program, and am receiving complimentary products as a thank you for my participation. I am encouraged to provide honest feedback, be it positive, neutral or negative! So just like always, all thoughts and opinions listed here are my own.

Sanctuary: Have We Succeeded?

We are now 8 1/2 months into 2014, getting ready to bid farewell to summer and work our way into the fall. Seems like a good time to do a check in on our goals for the year.

Do you even remember the goals or resolutions you set? I can remember the gist, but even so I had to go back and read my 2014 word for the year post to jog my memory a bit!

So this year was supposed to be all about creating sanctuaries. Not talking about building a religious space, but rather intentionally creating personal space that feels good. That means a lot of different things for us, and I’ll break down how it’s going in each area.

Area #1: Decluttering

MAJOR WIN. We are getting rid of stuff that we don’t use, don’t wear, don’t like, or just don’t have the space for left and right. I take a trunk full of stuff to my favorite thrift store every single month. Our house is still FAR from being clutter-free, but we can feel the difference. The house is more calm and peaceful, even with all those LEGOs and My Little Ponies all over the floor.

Area #2: Organization

Fail/Win: We hired a professional organizer who gave us AWESOME ideas. And then we struggled to actually implement those ideas. If you want my advice about getting really and truly organized, it’s this: set aside the money so that you can pay the professional organizer to do it with you. We just couldn’t swing more than the first session (and doing one session is better than doing no sessions, so don’t misunderstand me! Go for one if that’s all you can afford!), but in hindsight, I wish we had saved a bit more so that we could have had more hand-holding. Focused, ruthless organizing is hard to do and easy to put off for another day.

With that said, we are making progress in this area. It’s just slower than we’d like it to be. Decluttering is a big part of that, as you can’t really organize clutter. We are also slowly but surely making some larger purchases that our home needs to help it be more comfortable, more grown up, and more spacious. This year we bought an outdoor storage shed, a more comfortable couch (total game changer…we all hang out in the living room together much more now that there’s somewhere comfy to sit!), a new bed, a new mattress (we are sleeping better!), a new dresser for our youngest who was outgrowing her old one, and we have a new dining room table and chairs on the horizon. Perhaps those items don’t really fall into the organized category, but I do see them as relevant to helping us find the right homes for things, by having the right containers (even if what they are containing are our selves!).

I still haven’t hired a housekeeper, though it is my goal to have that piece in place by the end of the year. Sometimes it can just be really hard to take that leap, you know?

Area #3 Taking Care of Our Bodies

Still in pre-launch: I’m not calling this a fail by any stretch. But I am going to be honest and say that we are still in pre-launch mode on this one. We HAVE done some really important things that are helping us all, physically, such as replacing many of our medicines with essential oils. I have also developed the habit of having iced water first thing in the morning (it’s what I have to do to earn my first iced coffee, so I’m dedicated to the pursuit!). I’m also all stocked up on ZonePerfect bars (my very favorites being the Perfectly Simple bars…they taste AWESOME and have limited ingredients. I used to be awake for 2-3 hours before having breakfast; that was SO TERRIBLE for my body and for my metabolism! I’m pleased that I have made that change, and I do feel the difference in my energy level early in the morning.

But the trips to the gym still elude me. I do have a plan, though! My girls will both be in school 5 days a week by the end of this month, and I’ll be headed straight from their drop off over to the gym (it’s on my route home…perfect!). It is being incorporated into my work schedule as part of my job. While I won’t get paid for my time in the gym in income, I have realized that the benefits to being in better shape will be worth more than whatever I could have earned in that extra 45 minutes. I’m excited to get started and to invest more in myself, because when mom feels good, everybody wins!

How are your goals for the year coming along? Take a moment to revisit them and see what you can nudge along. It’s never too late to get started!

Win it!: Let me help you get motivated with a little giveaway! One lucky Stuff Parents Need reader will win this fun gift set (pictured above) full of fun items, including some yummy ZonePerfect bars (and I’m totally jealous of that tumbler!)!
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An Update on Creating a “Sanctuary” This Year

May 17, 2014 · by Tiffany Merritt · 6 Comments

Four months ago, almost to the day, I wrote about the word Tim and I chose as our focus for 2014: sanctuary. I talked about how we were seeking refuge from the over-scheduled, hyper-stressed lifestyle that seems to be the norm in America. And I talked about some key things that needed to go (lots of junk in our house) and a few things that needed to be added to our schedules (like working out) in order for stress to no longer have a grip on us.

So, how’s it going? Well, overall I’d say very good. But slow.

De-Cluttering

It actually wasn’t very slow, at first. We hired a professional organizer, just as I said we would, and we had an incredible 4 hour long session with her where we got MANY great ideas about how to change our current habits into ones that would serve us better, about how to get our children used to the idea of order in the home, and about the critical importance of using vertical space in our (quite small) home.

Just before and just after her visit, Tim and I were ON FIRE about getting stuff out of our house. Looking over our tax donation forms for the year, I count 11 trips that I have made to the thrift store, each time with a trunk full of items that we realized we would be happy to live without…even happier than we were to live with. 🙂 After ridding yourself of 11 trunk loads of stuff from a house that is just shy of 1400 square feet, I can tell you that we most definitely feel a little less burdened with stuff. And I don’t miss a thing (not even the ironing board…totally got rid of that visual reminder that I hate ironing!).

But we aren’t out of the woods, yet. We still need to find homes for the things that remain, and that has been a slower process. It takes time to really think through where something should live, and time is something we are still short on. But we are at least able to start thinking about these things because we’ve removed the distractions.

And by the way, if you are also trying to declutter and don’t want the process to take a year, you should check out fellow blogger Becky Mansfield’s fantastic ebook called Freed from Clutter that will walk you through how to free up space in your home by letting go of clutter in just 30 days.

Healthier Living

The other element of sanctuary had to do with creating time and space for healthy decisions for our bodies (yoga classes, outdoor activities, and eating food that is good for our bodies, and not just our taste buds). I’m happy to report that thanks to having helpful resources on hand like my essential oils for weight loss and breakfasts I can easily make for myself at 4 am (shout out, ZonePerfect bars!), I’m down 13 pounds! I have cleared a good bit of clutter in a very physical way, I suppose!

But getting myself to the gym for those yoga classes has been slower going. But I’m feeling so much more motivated since my eating choices have helped me have some successes. It won’t be easy to get back into shape, friends, I have no illusions of that. But I know it will at least be easier with some of that weight already off, and I’m so proud of my progress so far.

How are your goals for 2014 going so far? Don’t give up on them if they are going slow, friends! Sometimes the hardest work is the first few steps. And sometimes you have to be ok with pacing yourself after beginning the race with a mad dash, like I did. Either way, I promise you can find your groove if you just don’t give up!

Our Word for 2014: Sanctuary

January 14, 2014 · by Tiffany Merritt · 2 Comments

For the past 2 years, Tim and I have switched from having a list of New Year’s Resolutions to having a word that captures our goals and dreams. The first year we did it, we chose the word rooted. Last year we went with awakening. We have actually found that we are far more successful at achieving our goals when we have a word to guide us and a theme, for lack of a better word, than simply a list.

So we put our heads together and talked about the itches we really needed to scratch in 2014. At first, they didn’t seem to jive.

I wanted to work on getting our house clutter-free and getting back into a workout routine so I could be healthier. Tim wanted to figure out how to manage his stress better (he started a new position at his job this year, and the stress level pretty much tripled over night for him).

But after going back and forth about the issues that went deeper than a clean kitchen and attending yoga classes, we found our word, indeed.

Sanctuary

photo credit: mudpig via photopin cc

Tim and I realized that at the heart of it all, we are both craving space and time that is calm, quiet, contemplative and that just feels good. We are both seeking some sanctuary in our lives, and this year, we are going to make space for it.

ZonePerfect challenged me to write a letter to my future self that encourages me to stay on track and that highlights some of the specific steps I plan to take to reach my goals. Just as I have enjoyed reading my previous entries about our words for the year, I smile at the thought of me reading this, likely right around this time next year. So let’s do it!

Dear “Zen Master” Tiffany of 2015,

Look at you. Having the time to read. I bet you are sipping on iced coffee, munching on a ZonePerfect bar, and feeling great because you’ve already worked out today AND the house is looking good. High five, sister! I’m so glad we purged the home of all the clutter and developed new systems and habits aimed at bringing peace and happiness to the home.

I bet that Tim is less stressed these days, isn’t he? And tell me, what is it like for the girls to know where all of their toys live and to actually play with them all because they aren’t overwhelmed with options?

I’m very curious to hear if the professional organizer we hired was a game changer. Clearly I thought she would be, and opted to invest in her expertise. Over here on this side of 2014, I still feel very nervous. I feel like there’s a reason our house is so disorganized, and that’s because getting rid of stuff, in the quantity that we need to, is going to be emotionally draining. And finding new systems that actually work will be overwhelming, too. That’s why I’m hiring help!

My hope is that by truly getting the house under control and learning how to keep it that way, you and Tim have freed up time to work on your physical temples, creating more of a sanctuary there. You LOVE Zumba, and there’s no reason that you shouldn’t be back at it weekly by now. And with a little luck, you are making the yoga classes, too. Is Tim still waking up early so he can have time for meditation? He’s like a shiny, new and improved version of himself when he gets that quiet time, so I hope so!

What about breakfast? At the start of 2014 you were struggling to actually eat breakfast (a problem you have NEVER had before) because your work day starts so dang early (between 3:30 and 4:30 am). I’m just now getting back into the habit of reaching for a ZonePerfect bar instead of only drinking coffee, which I know is terrible for your body as its first fuel. I hope I have successfully changed this bad habit I was developing and now have healthy breakfast choices. And I hope I’m much less often starting the day at 3:30, too!

Thinking about what the start of 2015 might look like is really motivating. I know I have a long way to go to get there, but when I think about 2015 Tiffany and how she could feel, I think the pain is definitely worth the gain!

What are you working on for 2014? I’d love to hear about your word for the year, or any goals you have set for yourself. And if you have ever hired a professional organizer, PLEASE tell me about that experience! I’m excited, but definitely nervous, too!