My word for 2014 - Simplify

Happy New Year! 

I was introduced to the idea of finding a word for 2014 by this wonderful post from Dorky Mum. You choose a word which you want to inspire you in the next year.

I don't really like to make New Year's Resolutions, instead I like to plan things that I want to achieve throughout the year. I've been making good use of my Day Zero Project list and I'm intending to continue my progress through the next year. I'll be working on an update of my progress shortly. But the word that I have chosen for 2014 is SIMPLIFY.

We are lucky enough to live in a good sized house with plenty of storage, and so it is tempting to keep things just in case, as they are easily tucked away. But I find lots of stuff around me overwhelming, not to mention difficult to clean around, so I aim to start the year by de-cluttering. We still have quite a lot of baby equipment that we are not planning to need again, and it is surprising just how much space that can take up. We need to look at selling it, or passing it on to others that can use it. I also need to get better at simplifying the children's toys, they have so many but there are plenty which are often forgotten about. I need to become better at rotating them, and also encouraging them to play with them in new ways.

I also need to get on top of the housework. I bought an app for my phone a little while ago which is excellent. It's based around the FlyLady system, so you have a series of small tasks to complete every day, which you can set as morning/evening routines, then each week you have a focus zone which is an area of the house that you deep clean and declutter. The app is completely customisable, only costs a couple of £ and I'd fully recommend it - it's called Home Routines. But of course it's all very well having the app installed and all set up to match me and my house, I need to actually use it! I prefer the little and often approach to housework, and it is getting easier to manage the housework around the children. If I can keep the house tidy and decluttered then it will be easier to keep clean.

Most importantly, I need to spend less time in front of my phone. I'm afraid that I'm checking social media far too frequently. I'm not going to give it up, because it is through social media that I maintain connections to other like minded people and I have gained a lot of support from that. As a stay at home Mum I can often find myself quite isolated. But it's easy to catch up every now and then, I don't need to be continuously checking my phone and I don't want my children to remember me with a phone barrier between us.

So that's just a few of the things that I'm hoping to think about over the next year as I keep the word simplify in mind. I'd love to hear what your word would be for 2014!