what we’ve been up to.

Happy March, my friends! I don’t know about you, but I basically went into hibernation this winter, and sort of always looked like Amie in the above photo. I had at least one sick kid for 6 weeks straight. Also: it was cold, and cold weather makes me grouchy and sluggish.

One of my favorite blogs is Under the Sycamore, and I love that Ashley bought her own personal space heater to carry around the house with her. She’s my kinda gal.

But, have no fear! Daylight savings time begins on Sunday and pollen is coating every outdoor surface, which means we’ve almost made it to spring.

Spring and warmer weather put me into project mode. Here’s what I’ve been up to lately:

 

1. Finishing out swim meet season

Our meets last from August until March, which is a long season, but we only do one meet a month. The kids had a Swim-A-Thon fundraiser a couple weeks ago, which includes a pizza party and is always a favorite. Amie’s 8-and-Under State Meet is this weekend. They’ve both improved lots this year and have made so many good friends through their team.

 

2. Cleaning shelves & closets

Spring is my time to purge all.the.closets. I do this couple times a year, usually coinciding with the weather changing and kids outgrowing clothes. It’s still chilly here, so I didn’t put all the winter clothes away, but I started the process of purging things we’ve outgrown/are no longer using, and putting Judah’s old clothes in the attic for the boys to grow into.

I make myself do this so we aren’t overwhelmed by clothes and shoes and toys. I never try to resell at consignment shops or Tot Trade…too much time/work for clothes I typically buy very inexpensively in the first place. Also, I don’t buy my kids many clothes or shoes so we wear our things hard. I give the nicest hand-me-downs to friends and drop everything else at the nearest thrift store.

And so I’ve begun the stock up on clothes for spring and summer. This week I made it to both locations of Once Upon a Child in our town, and will probably go again. I get whatever I can there, then round it all out at Marshalls/TJ Maxx/Target/Old Navy. I was thrilled to find the little guys a bunch of t’shirts and athletic shorts on clearance for $3 and $4 at Marshalls last weekend.

I hope you get hand-me-downs! We did for awhile, but not so much anymore.

I’ve probably mentioned this to you in the past, but my recommendation for small-house living is that even if you get hand-me-downs, sort through and purge those immediately. Just because they’re free does not mean you need to keep them all. Only hang on to what your kids will actually wear (why do they insist on wearing the same favorite two t’shirts and shorts all summer!? Actually, never mind. I do the same thing).

That way your closets or attic aren’t overwhelmed. We are a very minimalist clothes family. That may make some people feel stressed, but it works for us.

Last week I turned on the Lazy Genius Cleans House podcast episode (highly recommend!), and spent an afternoon going to work on my pantry and dining extra pantry/homeschool closet. You guys, they were bad. Of course, once again, I forgot to snap “before” photos, but believe me, both required a good hefty shove to keep piles of junk at bay when the doors were opened. And don’t get me started on how sticky my pantry shelves were.

I threw out all expired ingredients, scrubbed down the shelves, and learned in the process that I do much better with a minimal pantry.

I decided not to renew my Costco membership this year because I always ended up overspending, and stock-piling does not work for me. Our house is too small. I prefer to shop on a weekly basis and just buy items we need for the week. If I can’t easily see everything in my pantry, food goes bad and I have to throw it out. What a waste.

I can’t tell you what a relief it is just to have those two closets cleaned and organized. I want a set of those awesome OXO dry goods storage container but don’t want to spend the money on them. Maybe some day!

 

3. Shopping at Aldi 

While we’re on the subject of pantries and groceries, I recently made the switch to buying groceries at Aldi.

My sister-in-law and a couple other friends have sworn by Aldi for years, but all I can say is, I just wasn’t ready to take the plunge. It felt like way too much. Shopping with four kids in tow, I gladly paid extra money for supermarkets that offered free samples, helped me load my cart, and took my kids and groceries out to the van (Heck, Publix even loaded my kids in the van for me when they were little).

But now, in this season, I’m ready.

Grocery shopping is a bit of a stressor in our house. I’m in a season of identifying my biggest stressors and trying to find ways to fix them if possible. I persistently procrastinated and saved shopping for the weekend, when there feels like a million other things I’d rather be doing, and then like a small child I moped about it to David and the kids. Grocery shopping is one of my least favorite things to do.

But David takes a half-day on Fridays, and so we made a plan. I use Thursday to sit and meal plan for the week and make my list, and then I head to Aldi right after lunch on Friday. By myself! It is luxurious. Now that I have my system, I find shopping there very easy. The only downside is I can never find every item I need, so I still need to run to Trader Joe’s or Publix, but that’s a much simpler/quicker trip to make with kids (and they get their free cookie after all!).

Then, by the time Saturday rolls around, our fridge and pantry are stocked, the dinner plan is posted on the fridge, and it’s one less thing that clutters my mind over the weekend.

If you’re asking, Are the savings worth it? I’ll just say: I went from perpetually, frustratingly spending over my grocery budget to end February $100 in the positive.

I’d say it’s worth it!

 

4. Breaking up with my bullet journal

Are you completely shocked?

I am. I love my bullet journal, I mean I love it.

But a couple weeks ago I had an intervention from a friend, who spent weeks trying to nail down a date to hang out with David and me, and I just couldn’t pull myself together to schedule it. Also, I have to admit a terrible thing: in 2017 I completely forgot not one, but two $90 medical appointments, even though they were in my bullet journal, which I was charged for. Gulp.

David was very forgiving because it was during a crazy season of life, but that is just no good.

We sat at the capital eating pizza with friends recently. Between us, we had 8 children and 4 very talkative adults, and it was joyful but nonstop noise and interruptions. I turned to David and said, “This is what it feels like in my head. All.the.time.” Sometimes I just want to cry because I want to finish a sentence without an interruption and because I just can’t keep track of our schedule.

And so, I needed the intervention.

My friend said, “Julie. You have got to start using Google Calendar.”

But I fought it tooth and nail. “Noooooo! I hate phones. I don’t want one more reason to stare at a screen. I’m a romantic. I’m a writer. I want my bullet journal, darn it!”

Finally the drama subsided and I listened to her.

I learned, as I have in other areas of life, that it is possible to adore a system and still not have it work for you. I love the idea of my bullet journal. But it just stopped working for me. Maybe not forever. But for now.

So downloaded the Google calendar app. With my beloved $20 Leuchtturm1917 notebook sitting forlornly open next to me, I spent a Sunday afternoon entering every date I could find into Google calendar. I marveled over the fact that I could color code events. I can even put the week’s dinner plan in there!

I added swim practices and church and birthdays and tapped “Recurring” and watching as everything appeared, like magic, for months and months, before my very eyes. I can ask for text reminders for doctor’s appointments!

Two weeks later, I’m a full convert.

You know what was the hardest thing about my bullet journal? It was always messy. All those tiny boxes for entering a very full life’s worth of scheduling, and then having to cross things out and losing more space. Mess makes me feel stressed.

Guess what? My Google calendar is never messy! I open it in the morning, and it smiles up at me, neat and orderly. It makes my day feel neat and orderly.

Now, I still use my trusty bullet journal for lists and sermon notes and book club ideas. It stays in my purse because when I’m talking with someone I prefer to write things down on paper rather than my phone. But you better believe that when it’s finished I won’t spend 20 bucks on the next notebook.

Someone else just introduced me to the wonder that is Evernote, and I’ll admit that even more and more of my lists are going there. Evernote is fun, you guys! And free.

I have a whole notebook in the app for various shopping lists (complete with my kids’ current sizes), and you know what I love? Each of my kids has an Evernote notebook for photos/titles of their LEGO creations, and one for their art work. They can scroll through the things they’ve made whenever they want and clutter is reduced. Magic.

If you have any fun hints for either Google Calendar or Evernote, please share!

 

5. Relaunching book club

If you’ve read the blog for awhile, you may remember our Book & Tea Club. We spent a fun couple of years together, but I ended up having to take a break due to my anxiety issues, which was a huge disappointment. The rest of the group decided to take last year off too.

My friend Jessica and I were ready to relaunch this year, with a few changes: we now meet on a weeknight instead of Saturday afternoon. We’ll meet in a coffee shop which means no one has to host or make food! And instead of every other month, the whole group voted to meet monthly. As much as we loved the idea of a book club complete with tea and fancy homemade treats, once again we came across a system that stopped working for us. Our new plan streamlines everything so we’re all free to just show up and chat.

We had a great first gathering. The majority of the group didn’t like the first novel, and you know what we realized? Sometimes a controversial book makes for much more lively discussion! People brought book suggestions and afterward Jessica and I finalized the reading list for this year. It’s mostly fiction, with a YA novel, a couple of nonfiction books and memoirs thrown in. And two classics.

Few things make me happier than gathering with friends to talk about books!

 

6. Planning a face lift Gabe and Noah’s room

Can you believe that next month is our three-year anniversary with Gabe and Noah?

To celebrate, I want to give their bedroom a little update. Quite frankly, their room looks pretty grubby these days, and it’s only accentuated by the fact that the entire rest of the family got bedroom makeovers last year.

The boys’ room was freshly painted and decorated when we brought them home, but it was also decorated with a crib and toddler bed. That’s another thing I can’t believe! They were that little! It took a beating those first couple of years, and still sometimes does, because how can I put this? They are rough. They got Judah and Amie’s bunk beds, but there have been whole lengths of time we’ve removed most of the furniture and toys because things got routinely destroyed.

But they’re 6 1/2 and 5 now, and have come such a long way. It’s time for a big-boy room. No more robots on the walls or toddler duvet covers.

My father-in-law is going to help me give it a fresh coat of paint and we’ll keep the furniture they have, despite the infamous pen scribbles and dings (it all adds character, right?). That’s why I like unfinished IKEA pine. It’s very forgiving. I’ve got my eye on a second dresser, some wall art, and they’ll be good to go. I love a bedroom project.

What are your projects this spring?

Noah at the dentist’s office: “Mom, I felt like wearing blue today.”