In hindsight (youngest is 13) I feel like toy rotation is oftentimes for mom because we have a hard time getting rid of the toys. Ask me how I know!! 😂
Yup! Truly, growing up, the word 'bored' was banned in our home. For the record, I had GREAT parents. We learned through them how to occupy our time with a large variety of 'tasks.' One being prayer! Even quiet time was an activity granting us time to slow down, contemplate life, watch the birds, etc. ♡
My son, who is 44, remembers going to Grandma and Grandpa's house to visit. They lived on a farm. Chris went to my mom and said, "I'm bored." She said "ok...go out and hoe in the garden for awhile." Chris did that. The next day, he said to my mom, I don't know what to do. But I'm NOT BORED!"
I love watching and listening to you both. First let me say I'm 69 years old so I have no children at home and I was on a roll decluttering and organizing after I retired 4 years ago. (Also I'm not complaining or want anyone to feel sorry for me - far from it) My husband of 45 years has dementia and I am his full time care giver, I've been very fortunate to have had him and still have him in my life all these years. Just in the last 2 years he has gotten worse so I have fallen off my roll (LOL). When I watch you Diana and Dawn it gives me strength and a little push to get back on my roll little by little. So I want to thank you both for all you do for all ages. God Bless you both and your beautiful families. 💕
These videos are great for finding motivation & to remind us to give ourselves a little grace. Caregivers, especially need these reminders. Sometimes, it’s all we can do just to get through the day😅
It would be great if you could find someone that had suggestions for making life simpler when you are doing it all- Single women and the widows. Every seasons of life changes.
I do sometimes find myself buying certain ccontainers. I’m getting a large one for board games but decluttering this weekend toys and games my boys no longer play with. And giving myself a new boundary with toys. Even after decluttering for several years, toys are still a pain point with four boys and lots of family who feel it necessary to give them things consistently like marketing says to. Our new year’s goal is to have a peaceful time with play time for the family!
Alternative to rotating toys: When I was a kid, we had a 'Sunday Box' which held toys and games which only came out on Sunday, which helped to make Sunday feel a special day even when I was tiny.
My mom died 3 weeks ago. Everything is overwhelming and I've been reminded to give myself and others some grace. I'm adopting the small.... slow.... simple lifestyle.
My son in law calls out a "toy jail". After a specific time, he would say, "jail break"! And the kids would laugh and come running. Then they would see again what they liked and didn't like. He is always making ordinary things a game... can make up a game on the spot. He's just a lot of fun!
Regarding chore chart: my children are grown now, but when they were young, I tried so many different methods for keeping track of chores. I finally threw the charts all away, and told my kids to always help with whatever needs to be done every day for the rest of their lives. Chores are part of life and never go away, so you might as well have a constant good cheerful, helpful attitude. There were consequences if they didn’t. I have four happy hard-working daughters raising my nine beautiful grandchildren
Unrelated but wanted to compliment you both on how good your current hairstyles & colors look- very becoming of you both. Love when you two get together!
Hmmm...I teach 125 students, I probably see 100 per day on our rotating schedule, but this helps explain why I don't feel up to spending time with extra friends during the school year.
I went through a divorce in 2022. I was overwhelmed with the instant onboarding of all the responsibilities and tasks that were once shared between my spouse and I. I dubbed 2023 as my year of "no." I did nothing extra, and just held on tight and survived. No extra Christmas parties, no extra outings with coworkers or friends outside of my 5 friends and immediate family. No church trips. Etc. I just straight up told those who asked me "I'm sorry but I have to say no. I just cannot manage it right now." I did catch myself being bored sometimes in those 365 days, but I still didn't budge on the act of doing extra. I took note, though, on the things I looked back on and felt like I had been bumned to miss, and made sure to make room for them in my schedule this year. It did, however, make it much easier to say "no" again this year, to those busy activities that crept in years ago and had no business staying on my calendar. My mind and energy levels have been much freer since unsubscribing to all those busy events!
Bed making, start a load of wash set with a timer to go early am, put in dryer, empty dishwasher. Meal planning, mail management, out laundry all the way away. In between I reward myself. The feeling of having less to manage is so healthy.
My kids are now adults and I so agree with Dawn about changing systems for the seasons. It's so important to constantly be re-evaluating. As far as asking the kids to pick up their things - if we expect the kids to help us with the dishwasher and the laundry and the bathroom tidying, then we need to be willing to help them with picking up toys and putting away clothes and getting their rooms tidy. It needs to be a two way street. Let's all pitch in together to be helpful and kind.
The ‘time will tell bin’ has legit changed my life. I’m a ‘stacker’ by nature 😂 I’ve learned that ONE plastic filing box under my cabinet, out of sight for all important KEEP paperwork is also my jam. If it doesn’t get in my small time-will-tell bin (which is easy to hide when company is coming), and my KEEP box… it goes in the trash. Time tested…I no longer have ANY paperwork piles ANYWHERE in my home successfully for over TWO YEARS now. IT WORKS!!!! 🎉🎉🎉
Diana, I love your prayers. Thank you for including them in your videos, they're beautiful. You always pray what's in my heart and mind but can't come up with the words to express what's there so thank you for giving my heart a voice.
Decided this last year after having my twins we did ZERO extracurricular activities Kids don't even miss it and they've gotten a lot more sleep not having to get up early to go in or stay out late for practices or such! We'll introduce a couple family activities but no more all around here there unless they ABSOLUTELY love it.
I love this ! We limited activities and our kids are so much better for it. They’re grown and no one is sad that they didn’t have more sports ! We have great memories and traditions and the kids are close.
@devinfarrelly3768 that's nice to know I'm not 'ruining their lives ' lol I'm the oldest of 4 by 6&9yrs (twin sisters) and I remember my parents driving me all over the universe and I felt bad bc I seriously had something every single night and on weekends and they drug the littles out or only my dad would drive me missing family time. I rarely spent time with my family. I also was a step child and I know they signed me up for stuff and did family things w/o me. Which also broke my heart I don't ever want my kiddos to feel that way either... like welp you were in cheer so we went out to dinner or took the littles to see a kid movie etc. So building those family relationships has always been #1. And knowing me not driving them all over creation is ok and not going to ruin their lives lol
I love watching each of you and your channels, but love watching you two together even more. You both compliment each other!! Even though my children are grown I share you with our younger mothers at church that are struggling with the daily grind of managing being a Godly woman,a wife, mother and work a full time job.
I had the rule where my kids could not say they were bored in the summer or they would be assigned a chore BUT I also worked with them before summer came to create their own list of things they could do if they found themselves not knowing what to do with their time. Sometimes it’s really hard to go from a strictly scheduled school week or year to very little or no structure during the summertime.
My nine year old granddaughter just visited for four days. Her favourite activity was making things out of the kitchen roll and string. She is super imaginative and creative. And books from the library. ❤❤❤
Growing up my son always had a toy box and everything had to fit and the lid had to close. The box gave him boundaries and he sorted and deleted his own toys. We only bought “toys” his for his birthday and Christmas and it was limited. As he got older he could buy things with his own money but it was amazing how quickly he became very thoughtful about his spending.
I used to have mail stacked on the counter until it reached about 6 inches high and I could hear it screaming at me. (You’re not using coupons, they’re going to expire, you have bills in here that are probably overdue). I finally have a system that ‘s worked for several years. Every day when the mail comes I go straight to my desk. Use a letter opener and immediately separate in piles. Recycle, shred, coupons and bills. The bills go in a bank bag in numerical order of due date on the outside of the bill, coupons in my coupon box and shred the shred pile and recycle in the recycle can. It only takes 5 minutes and I never have a pile of mail.
This talk was wonderful, and I especially appreciate the prayer at the end. I always feel guilty asking God for help with keeping up with the house; it's the job He gave me, and I feel like it should just come naturally... Thank you so much for including that!!!
My youngest daughter loves to cook, but Doesn’t like to clean up afterwards. When I told her that I was going to pack up the pots and pans when not washed, She started washing them!!! You’re both beautifully smart!!! 🥰
My kids had way too much growing up, but 8pm was pickup time every night. Never argued with me, it was our routine. It worked for us. But now at 17 and 14, they don't want anything.
We organize our kids allowance by spend, give and save too. We use those small coupon filing envelopes so it's all in one place. We even have them decide what they're saving for and put a sticky note in the save spot to remind them the reason they are saving. It has worked so well for us.
I used to think I was failing at chore charts because they would be great for a week or two and then I would try something else. But what I realized is that it’s not failing but it’s actually fun to change it up and do some things different. I do all sorts of incentives for chores and challenges to help learn habits. And I will sort of rotate them. Sometimes the kids will say “momma remember when we did the tickets for good behavior?” And I’ll do that one again for a week. But it’s so fun to do different things.
I created the “Turtle, Frog and Sloth” approach to decluttering and it has spilled into my life mindset… a turtle because it is slow and sometimes only makes progress when it sticks it neck out… a frog because it only goes forward… and a sloth to remind me to have unstructured sloth time… great video Diana and Dawn.
I like how Grace comes through to your listeners. I fly a lot. I think that we look at all kinds of culprits for causing lack of energy without thinking of unnatural speed.
Dr. Phil once said & it really hit me “bored people are boring!” I never let myself feel “bored” 😂 Diana you are giving me the solution!! Not a daily use item? Off &/or put it goes! Thank you both, so motivating and uplifting 🙏🏻😊
Yes kids do not so many toys! I wasn’t able to financially afford much but with my youngest, I bought what helped her with her OT& PT and more room for her to get physically stronger. More space for momma too to be on the floor enjoying her. Boy, once she could walk at 2, she enjoyed the large acre of yard to run and explore .
💯 agree that we’re not all called to volunteer in person at each stage of life. I wasn’t a school volunteer except an occasional chaperone - it’s not my gift, but I found ways that work for me to participate in community, sewing, baking, being a good neighbor, but mostly by focusing on being the best Mom, wife and friend. Zero guilt.
Im an empty nester and I am known for being busy all the time. I belonged to 3 groups of women: Bible study, a sorority and my old group from high school. Yes we are still friends and just turned 60. We travel together and celebrate our birthdays. Anyway, I quit the sorority. Even though the ladies there were lovely. I had very little in common with them. I am helping my daughter lab her wedding also. Boy, that is like a part time job! Every time, I am tempted to say yes to things, I have to remind myself to say no. I have been successful at limiting my commitments but I feel guilty. Listening to you Dawn, is very encouraging and I sure hope that I can one day not feel guilty for saying g no.
Truly, growing up, the word 'bored' was banned in our home. For the record, I had GREAT parents. We learned through them how to occupy our time with a large variety of 'tasks.' And, NOT muti-tasking! One being prayer! Even quiet time was an activity granting us time to slow down, contemplate life & watch the birds, etc. ♡
Wow I’m so behind on watching your videos, THIS is exactly what I needed to hear today! Small, SLOW, Simple ❤️. I love you ladies and I’m so thankful for you both 😊
I am scaling back on my volunteering- when things are no longer a joy, it's time to let next person do it. I found that with making Christmas costumes for the annual Christmas play. When I was younger and had lots of energy and help around the house, costumes were fun. Now it is just me- I can't do it all.
I live near St Cloud and I miss listening to you two in the morning. I know it's been awhile. I'm glad I found your RUclips videos! You are both so practical and encouraging.
Thanks so much for the great tips, and especially for praying at the end. That was such a blessing to me. God bless you both. Thanks so much for what you do, it really helps the people you reach with the videos.
I’m at the toy spot at approximately eight minutes and what I will say is this is so true. I really didn’t rotate toys, but my daughter-in-law started that with her kids and the truth is she doesn’t do it anymore either. It’s too much work and the truth is they have too many things and she can’t deal with them and they’re too small to deal with them right now.
I have very little food inventory now. I love it. I just buy for the week and what ever I don’t use the first week gets put on the menu to use the next week and I rarely have food waste. I take my leftovers for lunch or leftover dinner night too. It’s very efficient.
This is so good!! We stopped rotating toys because they just ended up creeping back into our home. Everything functions so much better with only a few toys!
I found your channel thru Dawn, and of course I to hit the subscribe button after one video! Thank you for doing what you do and for the beautiful prayer at the end. I have a knitting podcast that I also felt drawn to have a bible time and prayer at the end, all of God's blessings for you and your family
How about getting kids to pick up toys… I used to tell my kids that they only have to pick up the things they want to keep. They were able to finish the thought process on their own. Once they saw me grabbing a bag and putting their stuff in the bag… They got busy in a hurry!
On the mail baskets. I put my mail basket right above the counter where I actually would leave the mail. I’ll quick throw out the trash and put all the stuff I need to sort through in the basket. It’s still in my kitchen and not too hidden but better than a pile on my counter. I have to see it there every day and see when it’s full to remember to go through it. It’s working great now. It’s all in one, time will tell bin too. And sometimes I can sort through it when I’m cooking and waiting on my food.
When my kids were a little older, if I had to pick something of theirs up they had to buy it back from me, either with money or doing something for me. Worked beautifully!
In the chapter on the discipline of the mind, in ‘Discipline: The Glad Surrender,’ Elisabeth Elliot wrote, “A simple and orderly life represents a clean and orderly mind.” That’s what “tidy space, tidy mind” reminded me of! 🥰
YES having a committed day and time for paperwork and mail if a game changer!!! My current mailing system is labeled zipper bags that are a little larger than legal paper. I have an incoming, shred, recycle, file, and 3 folder one. My three folder has that many pockets. The first one is to deal with this week. The second one is next week. The third one is for this month. When I open things, I sort to what makes sense in my brain and how much I can afford that week. If it's a pay mortgage week, electric will get paid next week. It's also helped me not feel so overwhelmed with every piece of paper that needs attention.
I am pregnant and usually have pretty bad morning sickness, so a lot of things have fallen to the wayside. I am trying to give myself grace and remember it is a season and in planning for systems and revamping things once I come out of this funk, I am really trying to think about what has worked in the past vs. what hasn’t. I tend to try to do too much initially (happened with homeschool, trying to make tons of food from scratch, buying more groceries than is realistic, etc.) and then I get overwhelmed and can’t keep it up. Constantly reminding myself that simple is better. One system that is really working for me is chores for my oldest (10). She gets an allowance that corresponds with her age, but she can also lose it. She has a “big” chore associated with each weekday (cleaning her room, giving the dog a bath, washing her clothes, etc.) and then we ask for help with other small things when needed. She is into the routine of her big chores that I don’t have to nag her anymore, and she just knows she has to do them each day before she can see her friend who lives down the street from us.
We have a large catch all bin for receipts bills etc by the mud room door. I go though it every few months. We also have a key cabinet with mail storage that my husband keeps unpaid bills in. I think it helps that is right by the door where mail comes in. Most things don’t make it to the kitchen!
When I was growing up, you never said the word boring around my mother. She would always be able to find you more chores to do!!!!!
❤❤❤❤❤
In hindsight (youngest is 13) I feel like toy rotation is oftentimes for mom because we have a hard time getting rid of the toys. Ask me how I know!! 😂
Yup! Truly, growing up, the word 'bored' was banned in our home. For the record, I had GREAT parents. We learned through them how to occupy our time with a large variety of 'tasks.' One being prayer! Even quiet time was an activity granting us time to slow down, contemplate life, watch the birds, etc. ♡
My mom, too! I became a voracious reader. :D
My son, who is 44, remembers going to Grandma and Grandpa's house to visit. They lived on a farm. Chris went to my mom and said, "I'm bored." She said "ok...go out and hoe in the garden for awhile." Chris did that. The next day, he said to my mom, I don't know what to do. But I'm NOT BORED!"
I love watching and listening to you both. First let me say I'm 69 years old so I have no children at home and I was on a roll decluttering and organizing after I retired 4 years ago. (Also I'm not complaining or want anyone to feel sorry for me - far from it) My husband of 45 years has dementia and I am his full time care giver, I've been very fortunate to have had him and still have him in my life all these years. Just in the last 2 years he has gotten worse so I have fallen off my roll (LOL). When I watch you Diana and Dawn it gives me strength and a little push to get back on my roll little by little. So I want to thank you both for all you do for all ages. God Bless you both and your beautiful families. 💕
Bless you and your husband 🙏
These videos are great for finding motivation & to remind us to give ourselves a little grace. Caregivers, especially need these reminders. Sometimes, it’s all we can do just to get through the day😅
It would be great if you could find someone that had suggestions for making life simpler when you are doing it all- Single women and the widows. Every seasons of life changes.
Every time I think I need a new storage container I remember it's not a container problem it's an
inventory problem❤
Yes, indeed! ♡
Or in other words too many things!!
I do sometimes find myself buying certain ccontainers. I’m getting a large one for board games but decluttering this weekend toys and games my boys no longer play with. And giving myself a new boundary with toys. Even after decluttering for several years, toys are still a pain point with four boys and lots of family who feel it necessary to give them things consistently like marketing says to. Our new year’s goal is to have a peaceful time with play time for the family!
I have 8 children. My chore chart is “ hey, I need you to do this today before you do anything else”! It works perfectly every time!!
Alternative to rotating toys: When I was a kid, we had a 'Sunday Box' which held toys and games which only came out on Sunday, which helped to make Sunday feel a special day even when I was tiny.
Great idea!
Love this! I kind of treat games this way.
Even busy bags for the younger set- going to someones house who do not have children or quiet things for in church.
I just love how you close in prayer with such love and empathy. ❤ you and Dawn ooze the goodness and joy of the Lord!
Yes! I love the way that Dawn closes her videos by saying I love you.
My mom died 3 weeks ago. Everything is overwhelming and I've been reminded to give myself and others some grace. I'm adopting the small.... slow.... simple lifestyle.
(((Hugs)))
I’m so sorry about your Mum.
Also so sorry for the loss of your Mum. I lost mine 2 years ago. Sending you a big hug.
Sorry for your loss ❤
♡
My son in law calls out a "toy jail". After a specific time, he would say, "jail break"! And the kids would laugh and come running. Then they would see again what they liked and didn't like. He is always making ordinary things a game... can make up a game on the spot. He's just a lot of fun!
Regarding chore chart: my children are grown now, but when they were young, I tried so many different methods for keeping track of chores. I finally threw the charts all away, and told my kids to always help with whatever needs to be done every day for the rest of their lives. Chores are part of life and never go away, so you might as well have a constant good cheerful, helpful attitude. There were consequences if they didn’t. I have four happy hard-working daughters raising my nine beautiful grandchildren
I am a 76 year old widow with a very slow life. Yet I just love your videos. Thank you for such varied content. I just love stopping in to visit.
Unrelated but wanted to compliment you both on how good your current hairstyles & colors look- very becoming of you both. Love when you two get together!
A peaceful fall in Australian English would mean you calmly fell over lol
Happy autumn 🍁❤
Hmmm...I teach 125 students, I probably see 100 per day on our rotating schedule, but this helps explain why I don't feel up to spending time with extra friends during the school year.
“Clean house clean mind” love it!
Thank you for that precious prayer over us! What a blessing - I receive it in Jesus’ name!
🙏
I went through a divorce in 2022. I was overwhelmed with the instant onboarding of all the responsibilities and tasks that were once shared between my spouse and I. I dubbed 2023 as my year of "no." I did nothing extra, and just held on tight and survived. No extra Christmas parties, no extra outings with coworkers or friends outside of my 5 friends and immediate family. No church trips. Etc. I just straight up told those who asked me "I'm sorry but I have to say no. I just cannot manage it right now." I did catch myself being bored sometimes in those 365 days, but I still didn't budge on the act of doing extra. I took note, though, on the things I looked back on and felt like I had been bumned to miss, and made sure to make room for them in my schedule this year. It did, however, make it much easier to say "no" again this year, to those busy activities that crept in years ago and had no business staying on my calendar.
My mind and energy levels have been much freer since unsubscribing to all those busy events!
Bed making, start a load of wash set with a timer to go early am, put in dryer, empty dishwasher. Meal planning, mail management, out laundry all the way away. In between I reward myself. The feeling of having less to manage is so healthy.
My kids are now adults and I so agree with Dawn about changing systems for the seasons. It's so important to constantly be re-evaluating. As far as asking the kids to pick up their things - if we expect the kids to help us with the dishwasher and the laundry and the bathroom tidying, then we need to be willing to help them with picking up toys and putting away clothes and getting their rooms tidy. It needs to be a two way street. Let's all pitch in together to be helpful and kind.
The ‘time will tell bin’ has legit changed my life. I’m a ‘stacker’ by nature 😂 I’ve learned that ONE plastic filing box under my cabinet, out of sight for all important KEEP paperwork is also my jam. If it doesn’t get in my small time-will-tell bin (which is easy to hide when company is coming), and my KEEP box… it goes in the trash. Time tested…I no longer have ANY paperwork piles ANYWHERE in my home successfully for over TWO YEARS now. IT WORKS!!!! 🎉🎉🎉
I love that system! "Keep" 📥 &
"time will tell"📦📂 ⏳️
And throw
away! 🗑 🚮 🚛
So "goodbye" 👋🏻🙋♀️🙋🏼♀️ to "I can't decide!"🤔🙇♀️🙇🏼♀️ pile! 🌬🍙
Slow and simple. A perfect start to what can become a busy season.
Diana, I love your prayers. Thank you for including them in your videos, they're beautiful. You always pray what's in my heart and mind but can't come up with the words to express what's there so thank you for giving my heart a voice.
I love small, slow, simple
Decided this last year after having my twins we did ZERO extracurricular activities
Kids don't even miss it and they've gotten a lot more sleep not having to get up early to go in or stay out late for practices or such!
We'll introduce a couple family activities but no more all around here there unless they ABSOLUTELY love it.
I love this ! We limited activities and our kids are so much better for it. They’re grown and no one is sad that they didn’t have more sports ! We have great memories and traditions and the kids are close.
@devinfarrelly3768 that's nice to know I'm not 'ruining their lives ' lol I'm the oldest of 4 by 6&9yrs (twin sisters) and I remember my parents driving me all over the universe and I felt bad bc I seriously had something every single night and on weekends and they drug the littles out or only my dad would drive me missing family time.
I rarely spent time with my family. I also was a step child and I know they signed me up for stuff and did family things w/o me. Which also broke my heart I don't ever want my kiddos to feel that way either... like welp you were in cheer so we went out to dinner or took the littles to see a kid movie etc.
So building those family relationships has always been #1. And knowing me not driving them all over creation is ok and not going to ruin their lives lol
I love watching each of you and your channels, but love watching you two together even more. You both compliment each other!! Even though my children are grown I share you with our younger mothers at church that are struggling with the daily grind of managing being a Godly woman,a wife, mother and work a full time job.
Hi Windy, how's your day going with you?
I had the rule where my kids could not say they were bored in the summer or they would be assigned a chore BUT I also worked with them before summer came to create their own list of things they could do if they found themselves not knowing what to do with their time. Sometimes it’s really hard to go from a strictly scheduled school week or year to very little or no structure during the summertime.
Diana, I LOVE how you have a visual time of prayer to the Lord after all of your videos! They bring Joy & Calm to my heart....! :)
...and Peace!! ;)
My nine year old granddaughter just visited for four days. Her favourite activity was making things out of the kitchen roll and string. She is super imaginative and creative. And books from the library. ❤❤❤
I just love you sisters. Love your godly approach.
Growing up my son always had a toy box and everything had to fit and the lid had to close. The box gave him boundaries and he sorted and deleted his own toys. We only bought “toys” his for his birthday and Christmas and it was limited. As he got older he could buy things with his own money but it was amazing how quickly he became very thoughtful about his spending.
I would love more collaborations with your sister! ❤ loved watching this video.
I am loving the hundred, and fifty people saying. It makes so much sense. Both of you are helping so many women! ❤
😂 it's like brain storming session. All the ideas. You are on a roll! 💡
This is the first Diana video I've seen. The two of you warm my MN heart and I love that you close in prayer.
I’ve found that if I take the Highway, I feel way more dysregulated. Now, If I can reasonably take another slower route, I do.
I used to have mail stacked on the counter until it reached about 6 inches high and I could hear it screaming at me. (You’re not using coupons, they’re going to expire, you have bills in here that are probably overdue). I finally have a system that ‘s worked for several years. Every day when the mail comes I go straight to my desk. Use a letter opener and immediately separate in piles. Recycle, shred, coupons and bills. The bills go in a bank bag in numerical order of due date on the outside of the bill, coupons in my coupon box and shred the shred pile and recycle in the recycle can. It only takes 5 minutes and I never have a pile of mail.
I do the same except I pay my bills and put them back in the mail same day.
What a great feeling of relief ! I also have mastered my mail monster and it’s the biggest source of relief of anxiety.
@@jeannieplett878 I should do that too!!
@@devinfarrelly3768 It sure is!! I wish I knew all this stuff when I was Dawn & Diana’s age.
This talk was wonderful, and I especially appreciate the prayer at the end. I always feel guilty asking God for help with keeping up with the house; it's the job He gave me, and I feel like it should just come naturally... Thank you so much for including that!!!
My youngest daughter loves to cook, but Doesn’t like to clean up afterwards. When I told her that I was going to pack up the pots and pans when not washed, She started washing them!!! You’re both beautifully smart!!! 🥰
My kids had way too much growing up, but 8pm was pickup time every night. Never argued with me, it was our routine. It worked for us. But now at 17 and 14, they don't want anything.
We organize our kids allowance by spend, give and save too. We use those small coupon filing envelopes so it's all in one place. We even have them decide what they're saving for and put a sticky note in the save spot to remind them the reason they are saving. It has worked so well for us.
I used to think I was failing at chore charts because they would be great for a week or two and then I would try something else. But what I realized is that it’s not failing but it’s actually fun to change it up and do some things different. I do all sorts of incentives for chores and challenges to help learn habits. And I will sort of rotate them. Sometimes the kids will say “momma remember when we did the tickets for good behavior?” And I’ll do that one again for a week. But it’s so fun to do different things.
That’s so smart !!
I created the “Turtle, Frog and Sloth” approach to decluttering and it has spilled into my life mindset… a turtle because it is slow and sometimes only makes progress when it sticks it neck out… a frog because it only goes forward… and a sloth to remind me to have unstructured sloth time… great video Diana and Dawn.
Thank you both so much! Always encouraging!!!:)
I like how Grace comes through to your listeners. I fly a lot. I think that we look at all kinds of culprits for causing lack of energy without thinking of unnatural speed.
Such good advice. I was especially blessed by your prayer at the end. Thank you.
I needed every word of this episode.
Dr. Phil once said & it really hit me “bored people are boring!” I never let myself feel “bored” 😂 Diana you are giving me the solution!! Not a daily use item? Off &/or put it goes! Thank you both, so motivating and uplifting 🙏🏻😊
Yes kids do not so many toys!
I wasn’t able to financially afford much but with my youngest, I bought what helped her with her OT& PT and more room for her to get physically stronger. More space for momma too to be on the floor enjoying her. Boy, once she could walk at 2, she enjoyed the large acre of yard to run and explore .
💯 agree that we’re not all called to volunteer in person at each stage of life. I wasn’t a school volunteer except an occasional chaperone - it’s not my gift, but I found ways that work for me to participate in community, sewing, baking, being a good neighbor, but mostly by focusing on being the best Mom, wife and friend. Zero guilt.
Wow thank you for these tips...especially the prayer. It was so cool to hear you praying. Thank you so much. Blessings for you all 🎉
I am forever grateful to Dawn for teaching me how to manage papers .... mahalo
I needed this soooo much! Thank you for the prayer…how good! Jesus walked everywhere HE went. Definitely definitely needed this today…thank you!
Im an empty nester and I am known for being busy all the time. I belonged to 3 groups of women: Bible study, a sorority and my old group from high school. Yes we are still friends and just turned 60. We travel together and celebrate our birthdays. Anyway, I quit the sorority. Even though the ladies there were lovely. I had very little in common with them. I am helping my daughter lab her wedding also. Boy, that is like a part time job! Every time, I am tempted to say yes to things, I have to remind myself to say no. I have been successful at limiting my commitments but I feel guilty. Listening to you Dawn, is very encouraging and I sure hope that I can one day not feel guilty for saying g no.
Hi Ana, how's your day going with you?
Truly, growing up, the word 'bored' was banned in our home. For the record, I had GREAT parents. We learned through them how to occupy our time with a large variety of 'tasks.' And, NOT muti-tasking! One being prayer! Even quiet time was an activity granting us time to slow down, contemplate life & watch the birds, etc. ♡
Wow how wonderful to end in prayer, I loved that. My soul felt refreshed. I also loved the sign! I wanna put that up!
wow, i needed that closing prayer today. thank you!
Wow I’m so behind on watching your videos, THIS is exactly what I needed to hear today! Small, SLOW, Simple ❤️. I love you ladies and I’m so thankful for you both 😊
Love the ‘no phone zone’ sign 👍
Thank you soooo much.
I am scaling back on my volunteering- when things are no longer a joy, it's time to let next person do it. I found that with making Christmas costumes for the annual Christmas play. When I was younger and had lots of energy and help around the house, costumes were fun. Now it is just me- I can't do it all.
I live near St Cloud and I miss listening to you two in the morning. I know it's been awhile. I'm glad I found your RUclips videos! You are both so practical and encouraging.
Boy i needed to hear this today for myself! Have slipped in my declutteri g process lately
Amen 🙏 love you my beautiful sisters in Christ! ❤
Great video, as I declutter life is getting more simple. I crave slow and simple, thank you.
Both of you look lovely. Your current styles are very fresh and flattering.
Thx for praying! 😊
I so enjoyed this video! Lots of good ideas & laughter!
Thanks so much for the great tips, and especially for praying at the end. That was such a blessing to me. God bless you both. Thanks so much for what you do, it really helps the people you reach with the videos.
Love this video! ❤
Cute top Dawn! Love you both!
I’m at the toy spot at approximately eight minutes and what I will say is this is so true. I really didn’t rotate toys, but my daughter-in-law started that with her kids and the truth is she doesn’t do it anymore either. It’s too much work and the truth is they have too many things and she can’t deal with them and they’re too small to deal with them right now.
Love your shirt Diana!
such a beautiful prayer. thank you so much.
I have very little food inventory now. I love it. I just buy for the week and what ever I don’t use the first week gets put on the menu to use the next week and I rarely have food waste. I take my leftovers for lunch or leftover dinner night too. It’s very efficient.
It would still be wise to have shelf stable pantry foods in case of an emergency.
This was so fun and helpful! Thank you ladies❤
thank you for the beautiful prayer
This is so good!! We stopped rotating toys because they just ended up creeping back into our home. Everything functions so much better with only a few toys!
I found your channel thru Dawn, and of course I to hit the subscribe button after one video! Thank you for doing what you do and for the beautiful prayer at the end. I have a knitting podcast that I also felt drawn to have a bible time and prayer at the end, all of God's blessings for you and your family
How about getting kids to pick up toys… I used to tell my kids that they only have to pick up the things they want to keep. They were able to finish the thought process on their own. Once they saw me grabbing a bag and putting their stuff in the bag… They got busy in a hurry!
I rotate the educational toys and keep out building toys and pretend play toys all the time.
Love you ladies and the wisdom you bring.🥰 💜✝️
Love your videos together. And, you both look extra fabulous today (loving your hair Diana)!
On the mail baskets. I put my mail basket right above the counter where I actually would leave the mail. I’ll quick throw out the trash and put all the stuff I need to sort through in the basket. It’s still in my kitchen and not too hidden but better than a pile on my counter. I have to see it there every day and see when it’s full to remember to go through it. It’s working great now. It’s all in one, time will tell bin too. And sometimes I can sort through it when I’m cooking and waiting on my food.
Can really get behind eventually not doing toy rotation but I really do love it for younger kids!
I loveeee that sign i will be using it 4 sure
So helpful. Thank you very much. ❤
Beautiful prayer..
Your hair is so pretty 😍
When my kids were a little older, if I had to pick something of theirs up they had to buy it back from me, either with money or doing something for me. Worked beautifully!
Love this….thank you so much ❤
In the chapter on the discipline of the mind, in ‘Discipline: The Glad Surrender,’ Elisabeth Elliot wrote, “A simple and orderly life represents a clean and orderly mind.” That’s what “tidy space, tidy mind” reminded me of! 🥰
So true!
YES having a committed day and time for paperwork and mail if a game changer!!! My current mailing system is labeled zipper bags that are a little larger than legal paper. I have an incoming, shred, recycle, file, and 3 folder one. My three folder has that many pockets. The first one is to deal with this week. The second one is next week. The third one is for this month. When I open things, I sort to what makes sense in my brain and how much I can afford that week. If it's a pay mortgage week, electric will get paid next week. It's also helped me not feel so overwhelmed with every piece of paper that needs attention.
Dawn, love your top. It's so cute❤ love you both
Great tips
I am pregnant and usually have pretty bad morning sickness, so a lot of things have fallen to the wayside. I am trying to give myself grace and remember it is a season and in planning for systems and revamping things once I come out of this funk, I am really trying to think about what has worked in the past vs. what hasn’t. I tend to try to do too much initially (happened with homeschool, trying to make tons of food from scratch, buying more groceries than is realistic, etc.) and then I get overwhelmed and can’t keep it up. Constantly reminding myself that simple is better.
One system that is really working for me is chores for my oldest (10). She gets an allowance that corresponds with her age, but she can also lose it. She has a “big” chore associated with each weekday (cleaning her room, giving the dog a bath, washing her clothes, etc.) and then we ask for help with other small things when needed. She is into the routine of her big chores that I don’t have to nag her anymore, and she just knows she has to do them each day before she can see her friend who lives down the street from us.
Congratulations on your new baby coming! 💖💙
You both look so exceptionally pretty today!! 🙋♀️🥰💕‼️
Love your shirt, Diana!
Im not religious but I love your prayer at the end.
We have a large catch all bin for receipts bills etc by the mud room door. I go though it every few months. We also have a key cabinet with mail storage that my husband keeps unpaid bills in. I think it helps that is right by the door where mail comes in. Most things don’t make it to the kitchen!
I love you two. Thank you!💜
I have the same desk and i love it!😊