I am so excited to get home from this vacation and get started on my “new life”. I have been reading a lot of blogs and doing a lot of personal reflection, and planning during this vacation. In doing so I have come up with a lot of ideas about how I want to change the way I have been doing things. Some of these ideas I have already shared such as wanting to de-junk and simplify my home and wanting to make sure my family eats more real and healthy foods.  But I have also come up with a few other changes I would like to make when I get back home and create a new routine. I am hoping that since it has been so long since we have been home that creating a new routine will be easier because I am not stuck in my old one anymore. I have had a nice long break and want to get started on a positive not. It is like my new blank slate.

So in a nutshell this is my plan…

1. Less stuff= cleaner house with less clutter (I also plan on implementing family work time as discussed in headgate)

I want to really really de-clutter my home. I hope to achieve an almost minimalist atmosphere which will make cleaning SOOOO much easier. I used to follow the lazy organizer but she recently decided to discontinue her blog so now I have begun to use zenhabits and mnmlist for inspiration and motivation instead. I also want to have my kids start taking part in the care of our home and make “chores” a normal part of our daily routine. The e-book headgate really outlines how I want to do this perfectly. I think it will be a wonderful change and create a much more organized and peaceful atmosphere for my family.

2. Real food= healthier meals

I have already written an entire blog post about how I want to incorporate more “real foods” into my families diet. But I just want mu family to eat healthier so that they can be healthier. I hope that by buying only the healthiest foods we will be eating only the healthiest foods.

3. Be a nicer mom

I have recently noticed that I have been exceptionally tired and cranky lately. I also realzed that I have stopped taking my vitamins, fish oil, and st. Johns wort. All of which would probably improve my mood. So as soon as I get back from vacation I plan on re-introducing these supplements in hopes of taming my temper. I also want to make a stronger effort to be more calm and patient with my children. Specifically I want to stop yelling and implement the ideas of love and logic.

4. Maybe start using herbs and essential oils to help relieve stress

I have been reading a lot about herbal teas and essential oils and their therapeutic and medicinal uses. I have become somewhat excited about the prospects of using these to decrease the prevalence of illness, stress, headaches, and PMS through the use of essential oils. I plan on doing a little more research and possible investing in a few different essential oils to use as remedies in my home.

5. Save money by buying less stuff and couponing by using hip2save.com

Several of my friends back in New York have recently begun couponing. They have enlightened me on the huge savings and potential money to be made through their methods and have introduced me to the website hip2save. It is very exciting but also seems very complicated and they have urged me to get an organizational system in place before really getting into it. So I have begun by clipping coupons and I plan on using a 5 star zip up 3-ring binder along with plastic baseball card organizers and dividers to create an organizational system for my coupons. If I can do as well as my friend I can potentially leave the store with a basket full of stuff  for FREE and end up making money through rebates. So needless to say that is pretty exciting!

6. Create more learning experiences for Mercury

As many of you already know, I plan on homeschooling my children (at least through middle-school).I have already been teaching Mercury things here and there throughout his whole life (as any good mother does) but I plan on implementing a more organized and planned system come September.  He has been doing wonderful since he got his ear tubes a week before our vacation. His speech has improved drastically in the last month and he has even stated answering questions and speaking in sentences that others can understand. I am really excited to begin an organized program of learning for him and take advantage of this peak in interest. Although most of it will be learning through play and just involve talking about what we are doing. They will be planned play activities designed to bring up new words and ideas. Anyways now I am kind of off on a tangent. But yes I do plan on homeschooling for a myriad of reasons and  yes my child will have plenty social interaction so please don’t ask about that. I will probably write an entire post on that topic at some point. But right now I am talking about the exciting changes about to take place for my family.

7.Be more physically active

I have noticed an increase in my waistline and a decrease in my energy level. So I am hoping that exercise will help with both of these problems. I think we will do a combination of going to the gym, waling, exercise videos (including P90X and Tammy Lee’s I want that body). Hopefully we will be able to lose some weight, get back in shape, and increase our energy levels.

And last but definitely not least.

8. Bring the spirit more abundantly into my home.

As a family we have been waning in our spirituality. We have not been reading our scriptures or praying as regularly as we used to. We have not been regular in our Family Home Evening and I have not been as diligent in teaching my children about the Gospel as I had always hoped to be. So part of this new life plan must include at the very least daily scripture study, family prayer, and teaching moment for the kids as well as a weekly Family Home Evening where we can teach the children a lesson about the Gospel. I would also like to play hymns daily as background music during family work time or the children’s quiet time. I am hoping these changes will also increase the level of happiness and peace in our home.

I think it is a beautiful plan and will lead to a lot of happiness and peace for my family. I hope that it will not be too much at once. I am planning on doing it a little at a time. But I am very excited about all of these changes and hope that I will succeed in incorporating each of them into our lives. I will let you know how things go 🙂