On January 1st, I outlined My Goals for 2019, which are actually much simpler than in years past. In fact, I was able to reduce my resolutions into a simple acronym (H.U.N.T.E.R.–my name) and, really, it’s more of a mission statement. It has also become the mission statement for Huntress At Home!
In order to apply each goal more comprehensively, I decided to focus on one each month for the next six months and then repeat them for the last six months.
Today I wanted to share with you some ways I am applying my first goal in the month of January.
Goal #1: Harbor a warm and peaceful home for friends and family.
There are many tasks involved in homemaking and being a stay-at-home mom. One of the first things that comes to mind for anyone is the cleaning and general housekeeping involved.
But there is so much more to homemaking than just “cleaning.” It’s creating an inviting space. A place your children want to play, a warm atmosphere for your husband to come home to, and a place that friends feel welcome. In order to create that space, you must BE that space. In other words, “If mom ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy.”
Are you a warm and inviting person? Does your home reflect it? That’s precisely what I’m working on with my first goal for 2019. And here are a few ways I want to practice that (one in each area of my life) as I focus on harboring that warmth in the month of January:
Work in the mornings and evenings to avoid interference with family life. (Career)
I don’t have a formal job, but I do work on this blog between diapering babies and vacuuming. Even though I have many tasks to juggle, I’ve learned to relax my expectations a lot. I don’t want my children to grow up remembering me with a phone in front of my face or constantly distracted with some sort of work. I want to be in the floor playing with them, teaching them, and studying their personalities.
That’s why I’m working on designating morning and evening hours for writing and chores–so I can focus on being in the dirt with them as much as possible during the day.
Related: Dear Moms, Study Your Kids
Clean up the house before my husband comes home from work. (Marriage)
Since having kids, I’ve learned how important it is to give my husband the gift of coming home to a clean house whenever possible. It speaks volumes to him when I take the time (even just 5 minutes) to tidy things up before he walks through the door. With this one action, I’m able to alleviate a lot of undue stress for him–and who doesn’t want to do that for a hardworking husband?
Related: Making Marriage A Little Bit Better
Be open to the children’s explorations and invite them to be a part of every home activity. (Children)
I used to struggle through my daily to do list and chores because I was trying my best to do them in spite of the children. But in recent months I’ve discovered that my toddler in particular doesn’t care whether it’s playtime, chores, or anything else; he just wants to be involved. And it’s my goal to invite him into my mundane undertakings rather than fighting to accomplish things in spite of him.
I want my kids to grow up with warm recollections of folding laundry or making homemade salsa with their mom–not being pushed aside while she was busy.
Schedule a block of time for friends to drop in. (Friendships)
I was briefly part of a moms group this past summer, which ended all too quickly after only 6 weeks. Since then, I’ve often thought about how much I wish there were more people I could count on to let me drop in whenever we need an unplanned playdate or are having a bad day.
Months have gone by now and it has finally hit me that maybe I need to be that person.
I remember reading a Lisa TerKeurst study once in which she talked about how her home is open every Monday night for anyone who wants to have dinner with her family. I want to do something similar, but for the moms in my church!
Implement and stick to cleaning routines, including zone cleaning, weekly cleaning, and daily tidying. (Home)
This may seem like I’m stating the obvious, but part of creating a warm and inviting space is keeping a clean space… which isn’t the easiest thing to do with kids.
I think it’s important to strike a balance. As I mentioned above, I want my kids to feel like a part of my every day activities around the house–I don’t want to expect perfection. But I do want to keep a relatively consistent cleaning routine to help keep things from getting so messy that people (family or friends) can’t feel comfortable.
Related: Keeping A Clean Home With Kids
Balance healthy eating habits with fun by cooking seasonally appropriate treats. (Health)
As a nutritionist, I am ALL about eating a healthy and well-balanced diet. But I am also about creating fun traditions surrounding food. I believe in bending the rules and want to incorporate that into the way I cook for my family. Therefore, I want to keep our food from getting too stiff by taking the time to cook some of my husband’s favorite meals and treats for the kids that celebrate the season.
Budget for financial peace. (Finances)
You may wonder what money has to do with creating a warm and inviting home life, but, really, it can be a huge factor in making or breaking the peace in your home.
That’s why I want to stay on top of the budget I started in Excel this past year; so that money doesn’t become a point of contention between my husband and I, thereby disrupting the harmony of the house.
Enjoy activities my family enjoys. (Leisure)
I want to be more open to enjoying the things my husband and my boys enjoy rather than trying to slip away to do the things that I want to do at every opportunity.
Essentially, this is about me wanting to be present with my family, whether we are doing something I naturally enjoy or not. And making the effort to engage in activities I don’t prefer, knowing that the time I spend along side them doing the things they love is not wasted time.
Pray for my family and friends daily. (Faith)
I have prayed for my boys and my husband from day one, though admittedly not very regularly. But how am I supposed to harbor a warm home for them if I’m not FIRST laying their needs and my hopes for them at God’s feet? This is something I want to make a daily practice.
And the same goes for my friends. I often pray for them as I think of them, however, I find that praying “as I think about it” is a bad habit. It’s a very poor and unintentional use of the most powerful tool we’ve been given. I want to honor not only my friends, but my prayer life by making a systematic and organized habit of praying for individual requests.
Related: A Look In My War Book
Keep up my appearance. (Personal)
Finally, I want to harbor a warm and peaceful home for my friends and family by keeping myself from looking too undone. I think there’s a healthy amount of honesty that needs to be exercised when it comes to getting dressed in the morning. But I think there’s also a healthy amount of self-respect and respect for your family to consider when preparing for your day.
In other words, there’s no reason to curl your hair and wear a blazer every day just to stay home, but you also should try to aim higher than loafing around in sweatpants all day (don’t worry, I’m completely guilty of this, too). I believe our children and our husbands deserve better than that. And I want to honor them in this very simple way: by at least putting on an outfit I would be proud to leave the house in and maybe even fill my eyebrows in to make my face look not so haggard.
Enter: the capsule wardrobe! I’ve created them before (you can check out My 2016 Winter Capsule Wardrobe), but I am really getting back into it this year.
These are the ways I want to focus this month on harboring a warm and peaceful home for my loved ones. Have you thought about how you do this for your family? What are some simple things you can do to make your home a more inviting space? What are the things you need to address within yourself to become a more inviting person?
Follow me on Instagram @huntressathome and join me in my journey towards a more simple, minimal, intentional life.
These are wonderful suggestions! Allowing the kids to be involved in what I’m doing during the day has been something I’ve been working on recently with my two little ones. I’ve had to set aside my desire for perfection in many ways for this to happen. I have to remind myself pretty much every single time that it is more important for them to be involved than for the cucumbers to be sliced evenly, haha! Still working on it!
It definitely made things easier for me when I stopped focusing on quantity, slowed down and enjoyed quality time with the babes by letting them help. 🙂