Simplifying

When I discovered I was pregnant with Avary I went on a mission. Our house was cluttered and my skills/effort at keeping it clean were moderate at best. I knew I had to improve. I knew I had to simplify our lives by removing the clutter and excess "stuff". So began my journey.

In the first few months of my pregnancy I removed 6 bags of stuff I deemed garbage, donated about 4 bags and threw out several large items. Then I began looking for ways to better organize our things we had left that were not stored neatly.

Next, I began forming habits and routines for myself and Trev and the kids that would help keep our home clean and clutter free. I'm happy to report our home has been clean and clutter free now for just over half a year! It has made an amazing difference in our lives having a clean and clutter free home! We are all more relaxed and happier.

That made me think, if I can do it, if I clean out our home (because I never thought I could master having a clean and organized home) and it make's such a huge difference, what other areas could benefit from a big cleaning and organizing?

So I moved on to our eating habits. We were never awful when it came to that department, but when you look at all the little things like snacking and all the pre-packaged things you "have" to use, it really and truly adds up. So I started cooking and baking and cutting out those bad things. We now only eat homemade bread, muffins, cookies, granola bars, granola, waffles, and many other things.

We cut out almost all dairy and Trev has the occasional meat, but the rest of us don't eat it. We have fruit for snacks and I make cookies every few weeks. What a difference it has made! Not only for our health and energy, but also for our grocery bill! It is so much less now! I also get a sense of pride and satisfaction in knowing that I've prepared good healthy food for my family.

This brings me to my latest venture. My big "I can't" project. My weight. If I can become a clean and organized person when it comes to my home, and I can be organized and focused enough to provide healthy wholesome food from scratch, then why can I not put some time and energy into me?! If the rest of my family, and our home is important enough to have my time and effort, shouldn't I be too? What's stopping me from losing the baby weight I gained with our son 5 years a go?

I pondered that and concluded the answer was me. It's easier to keep doing what I'm doing and make excuses then to actually try and change...but wait...that's not true. It wasn't so hard to change my habits when it came to keeping a clean house. It wasn't so hard to change my habits when it came to eating better. It can't really be that hard to lose weight if i put my mind to it, now can it?

I needed a reason though. I wanted to clean out and organize our home so we would have more room when the baby came. I wanted to eat healthier for, well, our health, and I wanted to make more things from scratch to help save money on our grocery bill. So WHY did I want to lose weight. Obviously "Just to look better" wasn't cutting it. It hadn't motivated me enough for the last 5 years. Then my thoughts went to my kids. My babies. They need their mommy to be here, and to be healthy.

Being overweight puts me at risk for so many more health concerns/conditions. Is a bag of chips really worth precious years with my kids? When I looked at it that way the answer was simple. No. NEVER! I want to be here with them for many many many more years. Years in which I'm healthy enough to be active in their lives.

Avary was born and I was off! Our better eating habits came into play and were very helpful. Now came the hard part. Will power. Not buying that bag of chips my body told me I wanted on our usual "snack night". Not having a portion that I knew was too big. Not snacking all day. You know what? All that has been much easier then before thanks to my new reason, my children.

To date I am down 22 lbs (10 of that was what I had gained from this last pregnancy). I have 17 more lbs to go and I will have reached my goal! I need to tighten up my stomach a little, but I am feeling great and actually enjoying getting dressed in the morning!

Everything I am accomplishing, the clean house, the better eating, losing weight, it's all making me feel very empowered and showing me that I really can do anything, I really can be the person I want to be. I just have to put my mind to it and stop making lame excuses. If I fall of the wagon occasionally, and don't have the best day with eating, or cleaning or don't lose a pound for a several days, that's ok. A minor set back is fine as long as I don't let it become a habit.

All these new habits are making our life a lot more simple. A lot happier. They are proving to benefit us in so many ways! It's so amazing how cutting out all the unnecessary junk that clutters up our life we can become less stressed, happier and healthier! You know what? All these changes are proving to be pretty easy, it's all about the right attitude and having a will to change!