Simplifying my life!

Recently I have posted about the events of 2010 and what an impact I allowed them to have over my sanity and overall happiness. In the last few weeks I have given much thought to my life and how I feel like I have lost control of everything.

The other day as I woke up I laid in bed thinking of all the “things” I have to do. My mental to-do list looked something like this":

1. Get three boys up, get them dressed, fed and to school on time without forgetting any notebooks or homework.

2. Start a load of laundry and fold a load of laundry.

3. Unload the dishwasher & load it again. Vacuum and dust the house. Clean  three bathrooms

4. Read Chapter 2 of my Psychology, post a group discussion and complete the short response essay due.

5. Dye yarn and skein other yarn. Work on business website.

6. Post listings for Ebay.

7. Pick kids up from school, start dinner, help with homework, try and fold the load of laundry……

You get the picture. I have so much to do and only so many hours in the day to do it. Oh, and somewhere in that schedule I forgot about working out which is one of the first things that gets pushed aside. Well guess what? No more!

Last night I put my foot down and told my husband that I am not taking the CNA  class next month. I am already taking Psychology which has a ton of reading and my Intermediate Algebra class starts 2/22 and I am going to need all my free time to even pass that class.  To explain why I had to put my foot down to Jason is that over the past two years he has been my “parent” so to speak helping me through the whole process of understanding what classes I need to finish my pre-requisites to get into the nursing program and without realizing it has at times pushed me to my limit of what I can handle. I am already doing all of the above plus I work part time nights. 

What I am trying to say is while I laid in bed that morning thinking of the to-do list, I shut down. Instead of getting geared up for the day I shut down. I was so overwhelmed that I didn’t
complete a single thing that day and it was at that moment that I realized that I have been doing this to myself for a very long time.

Today I sat down and added Windows Calendar to my laptop and organized my kids, work, school and workout schedule and it felt good!  Tuesday I am joining Weight Watchers and I am going to try and schedule it so I can attend a local knit night in town on Thursdays. My kids wont die if I am not here 24/7, my house won’t fall apart and in the end everyone will benefit because this will make me a happier less stressed out mom.

Over the past week I deleted all my emails and have been unsubscribing to all the emails I receive that I don’t even look at.  I changed my Netflix account so instead of paying to get DVDs I never watch, I am only paying so I can watch Netflix on my laptop.  I have gone through and deleted a number of accounts online like Twitter, and other Mom or knitting groups I belong to that I no longer have time or interest to be part of.  I changed my settings on FB so that nothing gets sent to my email or cell phone.  

I have also started giving the boys chores. It’s about time that they learn some responsibilities. They are responsible for making their own beds and cleaning their rooms. Bringing dirty clothes to the laundry room and putting away their own clothes. They also have to load their own dishes in the dishwasher and take the trash out of the bathrooms.  They also have been setting the dinner table and sweeping the wood floor after meals. It may seem like a lot but its good for them and good for me.

I am taking baby steps at simplifying my life but it’s a start and it feels good!

Quote of the Day:
If you want to be miserable, think about yourself, about what you want, what you like, what respect people ought to pay you and what people think of you.
--Charles Kingsley