ˈhabət/
noun
1. a settled or regular tendency or practice, especially one that is hard to give up.
“this can develop into a bad habit”
Synonyms: custom, practice, routine, wont, pattern, convention, way, norm, tradition, matter of course, rule, usage
Everybody will have many many habits. For example, jumping into the shower around the same time every morning. This is something you will do without thinking & just comes ‘naturally’. It’s not a decision we’ve made or used any control doing.
My top tips on how to create new habits that will make for a much more productive lifestyle are –
Nobody wants a hectic morning filled with rushing around getting ready for the day ahead. Are you the type of person that has to get breakfast, make lunch, chose an outfit, get the kids ready including their clothes, find a missing shoe & your ever hiding car keys?
I swear by doing things the night before; Set out clothes ready to wear making sure it’s ready to wear. Make lunch ready for the next day so you can just take it out of the fridge. Set breakfast on the table. Buy a dish to put by the front door to put your keys in.
If you leave all the laundry, washing up & cleaning for the weekend it’ll build up so much that it will take up your entire time off. By doing little bits throughout the week you’ll find it stays at a good level so never takes a chunk out of your weekend. Spend 15 minutes a day ‘power cleaning’. My husband laughs at me for this every evening but I will literally run around for 10 minutes picking up stray toys, putting a load of washing in the tumble drier, plumping the cushions etc until it’s at a satisfactory level. I don’t care what it gets like during the day as my 10 minutes a couple of times a day get it back to looking pristine.
3. Make life easy:
Convenience is something that will make a habit so much easier to enforce; if you can decrease the amount of time, effort or decision making involved in everyday tasks then they’ll become much easier. An example of this is putting your running shoes next to your bed so that in the morning it becomes mindless to put them on & go for a run.
4. Have a motto:
My motto is definitely “Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.” – William Morris. I swear by this & it helps me every single day from wondering whether to buy something in the middle of The Range to looking through my cupboards in the hunt for something.
5. Make time for yourself:
Habits aren’t just about doing chores around the house. Make sure you implement fun things for you at the same time to balance things out. Carve out some regular space in your day to do something you love; for me, it’s that hour or so ‘me’ time I get every Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday whilst Elsa’s at nursery & Rory’s napping. I spend some time doing housework & everything that needs to be done then dedicate an hour to doing something I love. Some days its curling up on the sofa watching trashy daytime TV, other times it’s having a soak in the bath. I’ve now noticed that if I miss this because I get carried away doing the more mundane things, I definitely get more miserable.
Do things the second you think of them. Need to list that bike on Gumtree? Go take a photo & do it right now. Get in to the habit of doing this & you’ll find you get SO much done. It will stop you from feeling snowed under, or feeling much at all as you’ll do it automatically rather than ending up with a list as long as your arm.7. Keep it up:
On average, a habit takes 21 days to form. It may seem tedious keeping up with these things but after a while it’ll be second nature.What household habits have been most effective for you?
Love, Charlotte x
definitely inspired me to keep on top of things in 2016. on that note i'm off to sort my washing! thank you!
Such a great post! I spread out my housework a lot more now than I used to when I first started back at work after maternity leave. Back then I didn't do hardly anything on the days I worked!
I try to get an hour of me time in whilst Ben's at Nursery too, so nice to actually relax!
Such an inspirational post, thank you.
Anna – http://annasreflection.blogspot.co.uk
I love this, I also spend maybe a total of 10-15 minutes a day 'getting shit done' and its surprising how much you can get done whizzing around! Quick tidy, put a wash on, put that annoying pile of stuff away, and whilst dinners cooking I make sure breakfast/lunch are sorted for the next morning. I'd much rather do that each day than let it all pile up on me for the weekend 🙂 x
Thanks for the ideas! Got a hand held dyson for Christmas from my mother in law which I was sadly very excited by! I find the food thing the biggest challenge and doing a meal plan seems to be the best way to keep on top of it. I try to do it and the weekend but always on the lookout for healthy, family friendly recipe inspiration as it's the thinking of what to cook I find the hardest xx
Handheld dysons are pretty much the best invention in the world. I use mine about 20x a day & couldn't be without it now! I'm so with you on the meal plan although know that's my biggest failure so have writen it out & done my aldi shop based on it….plus looking up lots of recipes online to use with my new slow cooker x
Totally with you on that! It's amazing what doing things as/when can save in the long run…it feels like all I do is tidy up but little & often definitely saves in the long run x
It's so important to remember 'me time' – although I always find myself pottering around doing jobs still. It's hard establishing a routine with work/childcare/cooking/housework but I feel like i'm getting there x
Good on you – get it done whilst it's fresh on your mind! x