New Year, Same -ish

Happy New Year, everybody! I’ve been absent from this space for a while, and I don’t know whether or not you’ve missed me but I’ve missed you. I was suddenly inspired to restart Minimalish blogging while I was sitting on the toilet scrolling through Instagram, as one does. Both boys’ nap schedules coincided today (oh yeah, I have another baby now) and it was a rare moment of uninterrupted peace. 

I found myself thinking finally I can read captions and blogs that I don’t have time for when the babies are awake! Then it hit me. I can create the content I want to see, the way I want to see it. That was my goal with Minimalish all along. This time I want to do it a little more research-based. Sounds smart, doesn’t it?Here’s my research: The average person spends 30 minutes a day in the bathroom. Unless you’re potty training, then you spend your life in the bathroom, but that’s not personal time. The average person also goes 6-7 times a day. But we’re mamas, so we go 5-6 times a day probably. That’s about 5-6 minutes per bathroom break. But once again, we’re mamas so I’m thinking it’s closer to 3 minutes per bathroom break. My super research-based goal is for every blog to be short enough to be read on a bathroom break. At an average reading speed of 225 words per minute, that’s 675 words maximum per blog. 

I also want to create seasonal content to share how homemaking can be made a lot easier when you take care of big projects in the ebb and flow of the year. This part was inspired by the Queen of Clean’s book A Queen for All Seasons by Linda Cobb, where she outlines cleaning projects for each month. It’s a book I got after my grandmother died, so it’s old and some info is outdated but I loved the principles in it. I want to share tips and tricks I’ve picked up over the years, and research some new ideas for us to try together. 

Now let’s be honest. New Year's Resolutions do.not.work. If they did, we’d make them once and be done with it. We don’t flip a switch on January 1 and suddenly become the disciplined, healthy-eating, regular-exercising, always-tidy boss babes we’ve always wanted to be. Life doesn’t work like that. Our brains and our bodies don’t work like that. So let’s just let go of that little illusion right now and give ourselves some grace. As I write this on January 4, I know I already need some grace. And we can celebrate that! Another year of the same old thing, and another year with countless opportunities to improve. As we celebrate another year of the same old -ish, here’s a link to my previous blogs: 

• The 3 Keys to Adequate Minimalism

• The Rule of 1.5: How Much Stuff is Too Much Stuff

• 4 Tips to Taming Your Closet

• The Emotions Behind Decluttering

• Travel Packing Guide - Free PDF

I’m looking forward to chatting at y’all next time, with a few ideas for seasonal household projects for January.