When Less Is More

As a busy mom, I am always trying to find ways to simplify my life.

Less dishes?  Tell me how!

Less Laundry?  I'll do it!

I wanted to share with you a few things that I have done to simplify my day-to-day.

Bottles and Sippy Cups

After learning the hard way and having a sink like this:

I vowed to never to do it like this again!  I learned my lesson.

Now, whether I am pumping or using formula, I never have more than 3 bottles...EVER!  I have to admit, I was little skeptical of my own idea but it made my life SO much easier.  Not only did I not have a sink full of bottles but it FORCED me to clean them almost immediately which meant that I usually did one or two other dishes while I was standing there.  It really helped with not letting the dishes get out of control.

So, once the kiddos got to the sippy cup stage, I refused to have this:

For some personalities, that works.  For me...O.V.E.R W.H.E.L.M.I.N.G.

So, each of my kids has 2-3 sippy cups.  One is for water and then the other one is for juice or milk.  There is no specific designation, I just always have a water cup going and they get a cup of juice with breakfast and usually a cup of milk at some point throughout the day.  At the end of the day, its super easy to round up the cups and pop them into the dishwasher.  Works for me!

Dishes and the Dishwasher

Dishes, oh, dishes.  You can ask my mother and she will tell you that I HATE doing dishes.  My father-in-law, whether he knows it or not, always has this special way of doing the dishes when he visits.  There is no better gift.  I don't know what it is about it, I just HATE them! 

Anyways, given that they are necessary, I have had to learn to love accept them.  What I have discovered is that even if I don't do the dishes all throughout the day, I DO NOT sit down at night until they are done.  Period.  My kitchen has to be done before I sit down to read, watch TV, go to bed, etc.  For me, there is nothing worse than waking up to work.

As of now, I only have three kids (yes, yes, I'll cover the whole 'how many do you want' question another time)  so, generally, I only have to run the dishwasher once a day.  I have struggled to find the 'perfect' time to run it and have finally decided that starting it right before I go upstairs for the night is the best.  This way, I can load it all throughout the day, unload it in the morning, and then start all over.  My bottles, sippy cups, bowls, and spoons are always ready in the morning for breakfast. 

Clothes

If you haven't read it already, here is my clothing system.  In short, at the beginning of each season/size, each child gets:

8 daily outifts

6 PJs

1 Extra Pair of Jeans

2 Church Outfits

Any seasonal pieces necessary

Seriously, a lifesaver on the laundry front but also on the organizing and shopping front!

Without a doubt in the world, I have found that less is WAY more when it comes to most kid things.  The more I have, the more chaos there is.  So, simplify, simplify, simplify is the name of my game.  Sometimes it requires more immediate discipline on my part but in the long run, it makes my life so much better.  And lets face it, there's some truth the saying, 'If mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy'.