Hey There, Tuesday!
Yesterday, when the kiddos were out of school, I was productive but we also snuggled on the couch and had the easiest, lazy morning. I know my days are super limited for how much longer some of my kiddos are interested in snuggling on the couch with me, so I take full advantage! It was absolutely perfect and the best way to start my week. Hope your week is off to a great start as well!
It’s Tuesday Talk over here on the blog. That day every month where Fancy Ashley and I team up to chat about anything and everything!
If you missed our link-up in January, you should check it out. I re-introduced myself for everyone who’s new to the space. WELCOME! And feel free to go learn a little more about me. 🙂
Okay, in this world full of Pinterest moms, over the top children’s birthday parties, and life in general through an Instagram filter sometimes it’s hard for us as women, wives, and moms not to feel a little overwhelmed. We CANNOT do it all! But sometimes it feels like we should be. Right?
Today, I wanna talk to you about those things you let go as a wife or mom. I’m talking about the things we’d really like to control but we can’t keep dinner on the table, laundry semi-caught up, homework finished, and all the things…so what are the things we “let go”.
I have two major things on my list {and a handful of others-I’m not Super Woman} to share…
*Laundry Put Away-
I’m great at doing the laundry. I can wash and dry it like a BOSS, but I suffer where most of us suffer…the putting the laundry away. For the last several years, the three big kiddos have been responsible for putting their own clean laundry away…putting things in drawers, hanging up clothes, etc. I should brag on Ebby Lee right here…she’s AMAZING at this chore! But the boys are another story…their closet looks like an episode of hoarders and it used to really bother me. To the point of, I’d periodically go to their room and clean it out for them, but that wasn’t helping one bit. I realized they knew I’d take care of it so they tried hard to earn that “hoarder” title so that mom would come up and clean it. Now…I let their closet go. I periodically ask before sports’ games if they know where their jersey is or baseball pants and as shocking as it is…they ALWAYS know where their uniforms are. So…I don’t care how messy their closet is. I LET IT GO and feel so much better about it!
{We are in the middle of a little room switch up so when the boys each have their own closet, I think it’ll help or it’ll create TWO hoarder closets…I’m not sure. Only time will tell.}
*Go To School Like That
This is the first school year where I’ve really given up the reins on what the big kiddos wear. Always before we’d choose clothes together or I’d just do it myself to ensure they matched. I will occasionally tell a kiddo they can’t wear a red shirt with red shorts {that’s my only stipulation} but if you want to wear shorts and be REALLY cold at recess? Go for it! If you want to wear those socks with those pants? Go for it! If you want to wear something that really doesn’t match? Be my guest. I realized they could really care less what they look like when I’m choosing their clothes-they were taking no ownership in it and the only person it was bothering was me! Now they choose and it’s creating more responsible people.
#hopefully
#andsometimeskiddosthatreallydontmatch
#andsometimeskiddosthatreallydontmatch
What about YOU?? What is something you’ve LET GO over the years in order to make your life a little easier and in the long run raise more responsible humans? My whole intent for this post was for us to share, encourage each other {no one can do it all}, and learn from each other in the process.
Thanks so much for reading today, friends!
XO
Oh thank goodness for this post! I thought i was the only one. My issue is hair. My girls swear they know what looks cool and I can not possibly know. So if you wanna go looking a “hot mess” more power to you little ladies lol. It saves me from a high blood pressure so early. :-)!!
I loved this post! I too have issues with putting laundry away. SERIOUS issues. So I tried to think of some things that I've learned to "let it go" with…and I've come up empty handed. Seems as if I need to loosen up.
I remember when Carter was about 3, I left town for a college friend's wedding. Chris sent me a picture of Carter (he had dressed him). and he had on a pair of olive green shorts with a Kelly green shirt. I was like WHAT IN THE WORLD? And Chris was like, "What? They're both green." Um, no sir. Not allowed.
This is awesome. Having one kiddo who is older, I kind of feel like I’m must be a professional at letting it go by now. Elsa would be so proud! Hahaha! If I had to pick one: homemade Pinterest valentines. My world is a better place with store bought valentines.
My girls completely dress themselves too! It's made for some very interesting combinations, but I love it! I've let laundry go too! I used to have the hardest time folding it until I started doing this trick…fold directly from the dryer! And DO NOT fold PJ's or workout clothes! I pull out all the PJ's or my workout clothes first and put them in the bottom of the basket since I don't fold them. Who cares? Then I pull out all the rest and fold directly on top of the washer and dryer. Stack the folded items on top of the PJ's and put the basket at the bottom of the stairs. The kids do the rest! This summer I'm going to start having my 4th grader fold her own clothes. She knows how to wash and dry them, but the real help is folding them!
I have to tell myself to let go of cleaning. I could clean my house all day long. Just yesterday, I found myself Mr. Cleaning the baseboards in my dining room…until I stopped myself and made myself go back to do something else more productive. My name is Shay and I'm an obsessive "cleaner" and need to let it go.
I’m slowly learning to let go of the cleaning. Our house is clean and we have someone that comes in to help with that but I still obsessively am anal about anything on my floors. Why? So silly. Also, amen on letting the kids dress themselves! My daughter dressed herself Saturday and while she didn’t really match, we went with it because it was a total win!!!!
My oldest loves control! I realized when I let him pick out his cloths everyday, and pick his snack, he felt so much pride and was so more compliant when I chose something for him. I have also let go cleaning on such a rigid schedule. My floors don’t get mopped as often, and I would hate someone to do a white glove test, but I am spending more time playing with my kids. I clean the kitchen every night, and regularly clean the bathrooms, but everything else can wait!
I've let go of clothing too. I started with socks when my oldest was 6 and would only wear mismatched socks. It made laundry and picking out clothes so much easier because there was no more matching. My boys wear shorts every day and have for years. I decided it to let go of that when I started working at their school. If they're cold, they'll figure it out.
Have a super day!
I don't fold my kids laundry. I put it in their drawers in shirt/pants piles but just laid out flat. The amount of times they go through piles to find what they want reassured me I have better things to do with my time! 🙂
YES! These two examples of ‘letting it go’ are two of my favorites. Even though my boys don’t love the chore of putting their clothes away, they really love me not following closely behind them worrying them to death over it not being perfect. We also get the kiddos to make their beds in the morning, and my 6-year old may want to completely cover her super cute comforter with her character blankets every single morning, but she makes her own bed! Happy Tuesday!
Currently it's my teenager's room … she leaves stuff everywhere but is obsessive about making her bed. Seriously, you can't walk around her room but that bed is made. I do put her up clothes because she would let weeks and weeks of clean cloths pile up and often the clothes found their way back to the laundry .. STILL CLEAN! No ma'am! I don't pick up clothes when I do the laundry, I wash what is in baskets so if she doesn't have any clean uniforms for school, she has to wear a wrinkly one from the floor and it's not my problem. Fortunately, my 12 year is a little OCD like his mother and keeps his room nice and tidy at all times. It's called balance! When the kids were much younger, I had to let go of the constant cleaning. I realized I was missing out on their childhoods by cleaning on my days off. For a few years, we had someone come in to deep clean once a month. These days, it's easier to keep our house nice and tidy since we have big kids. Although just yesterday, I threatened the teenager with changing the netflix log on until she moved her shoes from the den to her room. If she wants to live in a dump, fine but the rest of our house will not look like that!
I had to let go of the kids picking out their clothes a while ago, it used to bother me too, but now I realize it's part of them finding out who they are. Sometimes my daughter looks like a homeless princess! But she owns it.
I have had to let my kids pick out their clothes and be ok with it. The only stipulation is church. That was a tough one for me to let go of. I just want them to match and look cute, but I go tired of fighting it every single morning and if they don't care, why should I?
I love reading your blog because you are so real and relatable! And you are a fellow midwesterner, so that's a bonus too. 😉 I have three boys and only one girl. Boys just don't care…you're right, there's absolutely no reason to spend time on their closets or clothes because it's all lost on them anyway! Haha
One tip I learned years ago was to buy all the boys the same socks. After they're clean, they all get thrown into a basket and they each just grab two socks in the morning. Voila! No searching for the matching sock and no folding. Such a time saver!
I want to start letting go of homework more. I want them to be responsible without needing me to remind them. I think we should be proud of ourselves as moms for letting go of these things (while checking to make sure they are doing what you expect here and there). We want to raise productive, responsible adults.
what an awesome post… letting go is soo hard!!! but this year I decided we were NOT gonna have chaotic mornings and ticked off kids and parents before school… so I've let the girls pick out their own clothes & pack their lunches at night without me standing over them. It's made our mornings so much easier & I don't know if we have had a mad kid or parent this entire school year!!! A lot of days one of them comes out looking a hot mess but I am like you know what if she's comfortable and doesn't care that her shirt doesn't match her pants or shorts or her socks are totally different then why should I… kids do not have to be picture perfect all of the time.. now her twin sister will be dressed matched and put together all of the time & will give me that look like are you serious?? you letting her walk out like that?? yes ma'am I sure am. 🙂
Can you talk more about he rooms switch up? Are the boys getting their own rooms? are Ebby lee and Britt still going to share?
In our house starting at age 7, you do your own laundry from washing to putting away. We use color guard sheets so they don’t have to separate but other then that they do it all on their own. That said, if I see the basket filling onto the floor that day is your laundry day and you do nothing else until it is done. What have I let go? I don’t pester my youngest to make her bed. She hates school and we are working on making it to school without meltdowns or getting sick. So for me to add one more step is just not a priority and quite honestly she likes her door clothes so I don’t have to see it!!! My girls swim and even though I know my oldest could pack her swim bag, we are in such a rush to eat dinner at 4:15/4:30, get some homework done, and make it to swimming that I just have it ready for her ( my youngest only goes 2x a week and doesn’t need all the equipment). Setting the table. My girls do a good amount of chores but for some reason setting the table just drives them crazy and most days they are walking in from the bus to dinner. I just decide I a done, everyone fend for yourself. I mean they do laundry, trash, the pets, clean the bathroom, etc.Apparently, setting the table is where they go crazy??
Just this morning my 13 yo son was looking for a certain shirt and I told him where it was and that I had folded it because I ran out of hangers. His response was "oh good I actually prefer my clothes in this basket instead of hanging up. LOL I mean why have I wasted the last 13 years trying to make his closet nice and easy accessible to clothes?
Kelly Henderson – YES, my teenagers room – everything you said! She is supposed to put her clean clothes away but will also go weeks without doing it. Then she won't know what is clean/dirty, etc. I let it go as long as I can and then I end up going in and putting clean clothes up. I need to learn to let it go completely but it's SO hard. I can't count how many times she has legitimately
"lost" things but they are in that room somewhere. Ugh! This too shall pass. And we will miss it 🙂
I too let my kids pick out their own clothes except for church. And they have to wear pants if it is below 50 for a high that day. I have two boys and I wrote the names on their valentine because I didn’t have time to make them do it. They don’t care and either do I 🤷🏼♀️
Linking with others is always good!
Hi! It looks very fun to have a small talk.Thanks for sharing.
Very nice. I need to learn to be zen about laundry. Thanks for helping me to learn. Thanks for hosting and I hope that you have a wonderful week.
i think once I had kid #3 and my bigs were so involved with sports it was a sink or swim situation. I learned to shut doors and ignore the crazy. Twice a year I would go do a clean out. It also helped that when I had someone cleaning the house they new if they didn't pick up their rooms the housekeeper would skip it and they would be responsible for cleaning. I honestly cannot believe how much I've let go of and sometimes forget until someone pops in for a visit and I realize I have no idea what that side of the house looks like.
Ohhh, I LOVE this topic. I am constantly thinking about this in this season of life. Motherhood has taught me so much about loosening my tight grip on how everything is supposed to be, and letting things flow a bit more, whether that be how clean the house is on any given day to what's for dinner to cancelled plans.
Even on days, I’m super productive, I still feel like there is more to be done. There always is. Laundry is tough for me too! I don’t really mind what my boys drawers look like but I cringe at the sight of their closets or when their dirty clothes are laying outside their hamper. It’s like they tried to throw them in but missed and then just left it there. Sigh! Atleast your boys know where the uniforms are. I have designated spots for those items but they don’t get put there. Like rarely! I’m a wanna be clean freak soooo I do offer a good amount of grace until I just can’t anymore, lol! So basically I’ve told you nothing that I’ve let go of. I basically let the boys pick out their clothes each day. As long as it’s not dirty or doesn’t have holes, I’m good with it.