This week on the homestead looked nothing like the plan; and that’s real life. Here’s what I focused on and what I learned along the way.
What I Did
This month I’ve really been focused on getting some more systems built up. I’ve actually done well with that at school last spring and this year. The students and many adults know our daily routine (although I still post it on the board), and I usually have the lessons planned out at least a month in advance including the links (with wiggle room for all the stuff that comes up). My pet care systems are so well developed that you can ask the dog and he knows exactly when 5:30 am are (he could replace the alarm) and when it’s 5pm (he is positive that it is dinner time).
But my own tasks at home…well, that is January’s focus. You may have seen my Skool page where I’m inviting others to join me in rebuilding our foundations and habits. Week 1, was Minimum Clean house – sure pristine might be nice, but it’s unattainable. So how can I get the routine of a load of laundry during the week so it’s not all piled up on the weekend? Maybe it’s not wash/dry/fold all in a single day… Or other daily habits.
Second week of January goal is prepping & freezing one extra thing. For two years now I’ve been pretty successful at prepping meals for my lunches. Most of the time I get at least one meal a week cooked in advance to add to the queue so I don’t even need to eat the same thing twice in a week, it’s just grab and go for the main meal, and then prepping a snack to grab and go on the weekends. Cool. Now let’s prep more dinners. Actually, I’m good at prepping the proteins immediately after shopping, it’s the sides to improve.
What Worked / Didn’t
Yeah, so it didn’t all work.
The belt on the washer is going so I need to manually move it between cycles, which is much harder to keep up with on a weeknight. But the concept of washing/drying in one day and folding another is really doable. I’ll keep working on it.
My big goal with the freezer prepping isn’t to have a bunch of whole meals ready (although one or two of those is nice too) but a bunch of mix and match sides to add and match my mood. Over my Christmas break from school, I prepped and froze biscuits, rolls, garlic breadsticks, and pizza dough ready to bake (notice a theme there)? Oh yes, and cookies too. Now I’m trying to make some better sides, but double prep them so I can freeze a meal’s worth and serve the other. This is not going as well as I hoped. I think I need to change this double side prep to the weekend. I can make one meal to portion and freeze for my lunches and make a side for the week (and freezer). It’s a work in progress and that’s ok.
One Tip
I actually asked ChatGPT for advice on simple, small steps I can take to create an easier, more productive routine. That was what suggested letting go a little and not worrying about washing/drying/folding all at once. It also helped me set a routine for when to write blog posts, vs writing in the book, vs writing for Skool, vs…
Try it. The more specific you are in your prompt/question, the better the advice it will give. It’s not perfect, but it’s like a non-judgmental friend to chat over coffee with and brainstorm.
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