Debby McCuiston, the “Queen of Clutter-Free”, does a segment for us each Sunday on simplifying our lives, getting rid of “clutter”, and focusing on what’s important. We look forward to her words of wisdom each week & hope you enjoy it too! Take it away Debby….

Since most families are counting down until school starts and everything we seem to be doing from this point forward will be revolved around getting ready for the big day, it seems fitting to address our crazy schedules from now until next summer.

The first thing you need to do is to take a few minutes to remember how busy you were last school year and how it made you and your family feel.

Next you need to make a decision to have another year like the last or are you ready to downsize and carve out some more time for your family. This will require some compromise and maybe even some tears will fall but once the deed of setting priorities is done someone will need to be the “enforcer”.

Most of the time mom becomes the “enforcer” and keeper of the calendar, which is why we are the ones totally stressed out from the beginning to the end of any given week. Trying to keep up with who needs to be where and what they need, is it clean and are all the proper papers signed on time really can tax your brain power.

Before you begin to get stressed to the max just by thinking about working on your calendar, take a deep breath and call a family meeting. Have everyone talk about what they want for this year as it applies to your family, school and extracurricular activities.  Is your goal as a family to spend more time together or squeeze in as much busyness as possible, and are you all willing to compromise on some things for the good of the family.

The first step is to set priorities for your family, school and church. Then you need to see boundaries that will protect your priorities.

Make a list of all the things you and your family are involved in and put them in order of most important to least important.  Pencil these all on the calendar and step back and see where you have become overloaded. You may want to assign different colors to each family member and then it is easier to see which activities are requiring the most time and energy. This may be the time you have to weed out the items that are not in line with the list of priorities you have set for your family.

I know some families that are so busy from sun up until bed time but have very little time to talk and catch up on what is going on with school grades, or to check in on their spiritual walk or what kids are influencing their lives.  You would be surprised how much kids want their parents to care about what is going on in their lives. If you can’t find the time to show you care, they will find a way to get your attention.

If you are running so much from ball field to ball field and never have time to set and enjoy the game you are too busy.

If you are running from meeting to meeting and never feeling like you have completed a task to your best ability for these groups you are too busy.

If you cannot take the time to set down as a family a few nights a week and eat together and have a “fact finding” conversation it’s time to reevaluate what is important.

The main thing the Lord has been speaking to my heart for the last several months is about the time I am spending in activities verses the time I am investing in the lives of those around me. [Read more...]