Learning each and every day

Habits and Impatience

There’s a saying that goes: Old habits die hard. This year I’ve created the habit of paying attention to what new information I am exposed to on a daily basis. Now that I’m not blogging about said new information, I’m finding it hard to turn that switch off in my brain. Over the past few days, I find myself learning things, like another way to peel garlic, and another recipe for stew and, and, and. Every time, I think, “Oh, I need to remember this to put up on the blog.” And then I say, “Self, you aren’t blogging about that anymore!” I’m guessing it’ll be a good month before the “I need to blog about this” switch is disabled. I am hoping, however, that I’ll still remain aware of new information. I wouldn’t say that I necessarily learned more this year than in previous years, I was just much more aware of the learning. This is an important distinction. Being aware of learning means that the chances of the information staying in my head are greatly increased. That is a good thing!

My brain has been all sorts of busy the past few days. Partly because I’m still consciously thinking about learning, but also because I keep seeing all kinds of things around the house that could use organization. I have a problem, I like instant gratification. If I get a bee in my bonnet, I need to deal with it right away. I see so many disorganized things in my life and around my house and I want to fix them RIGHT NOW! That’s really not at all practical for several reasons. 1) Apparently, mayhem and disorganization run rampant around here. 2) Fixing and changing everything at once would be too dramatic and I’m sure my family would balk. 3) Many of the things that need organizing are giant projects that just can’t be done right now. So, I’m making a list of all the things I see around the house and little by little, I’ll get to them this year. Here’s a sneak peek at my list:

making a daily schedule
helping the babes find a good morning and evening routine
paying bills on a schedule
make a menu-planning system
make a cleaning-the-house system
organizing the appliance manuals
spice organization
laundry room organization
filing organization

I’m going to be busy this year! My goal is to have a more organized life, which I think will lead to a happier family life. This isn’t to say that our family life is horrid, it’s just woefully disorganized. Every time we add another member to the family, I notice the disorganization more and more. This is the year that I make a turn-around. Finding ways to take my home-making to the next level is my main goal for the year.

Being a perfectionist and generally organized (I was very organized until I had kids and became a homemaker!), I have lots of ideas to help me create order out of the chaos. But I won’t be doing this alone. I have a friend who is also on a quest to organize her home-making. Her new blog, Home, Made by Carmona is full of beautiful pictures and really great ideas. I would be remiss if I didn’t give her a shoutout and thank her for inspiring me to embark on my own organizational journey. I’m looking forward to the changes, and trying to keep my impatient self at bay. I did abate the impatience by organizing several drawers in my kitchen . .. but that’s for another blog post!