Suburban Homestead Diaries: Using Winter to Improve My Homemaking Skills

Now that I’m a so-called grown up and can largely choose where to live, I sometimes wonder how I’ve somehow managed to land my winter-hating self on a property where winter can last up to 6 months out of the year, where you drive down the hill into town and see yourself descending into The …

Why I Don’t (Usually) Hide From My Daughter That I’m Getting Rid of Her Stuff

Note: This post contains affiliate links. All opinions, as always, are my own. Now that spring has finally decided to grace us with her presence, I am in full-on Spring Cleaning Mode over here. I am re-reading Dana K. White’s How to Manage Your Home Without Losing Your Mind (which I talked about extensively in …

15 Books to Help You Get Your House in Order

One of my greatest struggles in daily life is keeping my physical spaces clean and tidy. As a kid, I basically always had a somewhat messy room. When I was in college, my then-boyfriend happened to get a glimpse of my room, with its piles of clothes everywhere and teetering stacks of books and my …

My New “Absolute Daily Minimum” Chore List

About a month ago, I read a blog post that I’ve been thinking about ever since— Basically, the post was all about why you should create a list of things you will do every single day in order to bring a greater sense of purpose/peace/fulfillment/order to your life. The catch? This list has to be …

How I Made Myself Hate These Daily Chores Less

These are the Chores I Hate (and This is How I Make Myself Hate Them Less)

If you’ve been a blog reader for any length of time, you should know that being tidy + doing household chores like dishes and vacuuming are NOT strengths of mine (and, as I told my (shocked) mother, I legitimately prioritize reading over cleaning, so…there’s that). But, in my quest to become a better homemaker (especially …

Why I’m Doing a Refresh of the 50 Weeks to Organized Project

Really, I could just post these quote-unquote “Before” pictures and call it good on posting today. But I’m nothing if not a little long-winded, so we just can’t have that. A brief summary for those of you who haven’t been reading this blog since 2013: Five years ago, I decided to tackle my clutter habits …

How I Taught Myself to Be Tidy (in 3 Steps!)

Ask any person who has ever lived with me (especially my college roommates and/or my mother), and you will quickly learn that I was not exactly the cleanest person growing up (or throughout my college days). While I’ve always known HOW to tidy up and the importance of BEING tidy, I’ve just always had a …

I Have a Problem Finishing Things + The Book That Changed Everything

First off, I should clarify—I don’t have a problem finishing ALL things. For example, I have no problem finishing books. Or an entire bag of Costco-sized Hershey’s kisses by myself. Or following through on commitments I’ve made to people (usually). No…what I DO have a problem finishing, however, is anything to do with tidiness or …