Simple Journey Ministries Presents

Keep It Together Girl!

Ready for the New Year?

Every year at the turn of the New Year there are dozens of articles everywhere discussing the New Year’s resolutions. I have long since dispensed with New Year’s resolutions, but I have set year long goals. Along with resolutions comes 2-3 weeks of waning efforts to accomplish the resolutions, which are completely abandoned before the month of January is over. Homeschoolers often repeat this sentiment in the spring when they begin to plan for the next school year. There is something about starting from a clean slate that is invigorating and inspiring to us. But then something happens over the few weeks that set us up for failure. Why is that? What happens over those few weeks? One issue I noticed for myself was that I never included God in these plans; it was always what I was going to do or accomplish. Over the years I found a few other crucial elements that clued me into why these resolutions fade so quickly, as well as what I truly wanted to accomplish.

The most important element missing was that I never had a plan. I knew what I wanted to accomplish, but had no mapped out way to get there. Then there was the fact that I always focused on “me” issues. These were issues that I wanted to accomplish for myself. There is nothing wrong, with this in and of itself, but when we aren’t asking God for direction and allowing Him to do the work in us, we will fall every time. This also leads to my own past motivation as to why I wanted to accomplish these things. So, I have changed my new year completely!

Knowing that home organization is a key issue to help my family run smoothly throughout the year, I take time every January to make a household organizational plan that spans the entire year. I designate one goal to accomplish each month that will help me keep my home running in an efficient manner in one of three ways; organizational overhaul, organizational tweaking, or organizational maintenance. I also look at whether I will accomplish a large task that is homestead wide or area specific to one room. Then I make a short list (5 or less tasks) of what I want to accomplish in that month; the more complex and time consuming the tasks, the fewer tasks on the list. This helps me keep an organizational flow going on throughout my home all year long, without overwhelming myself. In addition, by setting up a plan that includes different monthly tasks, I get to start over each month helping me to recapture that initial surge and inspiration every month, which most only have at the beginning of the New Year or school season. If you work through this process prayerfully, you will develop a plan that is exactly what you need for YOUR family and homestead.

These are my thoughts.