home systems – Living in Plaid

When Ted was 10 months old Michael’s National Guard unit had JRTC, so he was away for a month. It was the first time he was gone longer than a weekend since Ted was born & I was teaching full time (with an hour commute). Needless to say, I didn’t have a lot of extra time on my hands. I was looking for any way to cut back on time consumers as much as possible. One of the big time ‘wasters’ was how long it took to wash, dry, & style my hair.

2 months after starting, my hair was so healthy!

In my search to find ways to minimize the time I spent on my hair, I found Jasmine Rae Hair Co & her hair training method. When I started I was going 2-3 days, 4 if it was a weekend, between hair washes. Jasmine teaches the science behind scalp stimulation, oil distribution, and hair types.

For me, that meant using dry shampoo in my bedtime routine (so that it could really soak in overnight), using a boar bristle brush to move oils down the hair shaft, and adding a day between washes every week. For example, if you are washing every day, do every other day for a week. If you was every other day, do every 3 days, and so on. This gives your scalp time to realize that it doesn’t need to produce as much oil, since you’re not stripping it every day.

2.5 years later, and over a year between trims.

The longest I’ve ever gone was 16 days (April 2020 was a wild time!), but I usually wash once a week. I can push to 10 days if I have an event or something (or if mom life is overwhelming). This has allowed my hair to grow more quickly, healthier, and be easier to maintain. Other things that I’ve done to help this process are: use a silk pillowcase, use a scalp massager in the shower, and invest in high quality hair products. I don’t feel as bad spending $$ on expensive shampoo if I’m only using it once a week.

I am continuously working to simplify our life, so we can spend more time doing the things we love. This is especially important when I’m solo parenting, and time is a luxury. I love finding ways to make life easier, and sharing them with you!

Having spent the better part of the last year & a half as the only adult in the house, I can tell you that it takes about 4.2 seconds for two kids under 4 to destroy everything. While there are some tasks that they can help with (cleaning up the playroom, for example) there are some things that have to be done, or at least facilitated, by the adults. It can easily become overwhelming to juggle all of the daily, weekly, and monthly tasks to keep a house running.

My friend Terena created a Home Systems Planner to keep everything organized. Her planner includes everything from cleaning schedules, routines, meal prep, and beyond. I use the goals sheets, routine sheets, and yearly cleaning sheet to keep myself organized and on top of our daily needs. The biggest hurdles (for me) are keeping up with dishes and laundry. With only me & the boys it doesn’t feel like we have enough to do a whole load every single day, so I end up putting it off, which leads to having it piled up. Oops. So with Terena’s goals sheets I have made it my goal to run & put away a load of each every single day. Some days that means that the dishwasher will run a half a load, which feels wasteful and annoying, but it means that our house is staying in shape and manageable. So I’ll take it.

Another system that makes our lives a million times easier is decluttering. When you have less stuff, it is easier to pick it all up. I know Marie Kondo was all the rage (do people still say that?) a couple of years ago & I still live by many of her principles. Whenever I fold & put away laundry, I ask myself ‘Do I love this? Do I feel good in this?’ If the answer isn’t a resounding ‘Yes!’, it goes in the donate box. The same goes for the boys’ clothes.

When it comes to books & toys I start with ‘Is this broken?’ If not, how often do they play with it? Sometimes it’s a matter of switching it out in our toy rotation, but other times it’s something that they have outgrown, or have multiples of. We talk about our donations, what they are, who they are going to, and why we donate the things we are no longer using. As they get older, and this becomes more familiar, they are going to help be a part of the decision and donate process. Specifically around birthdays and holidays, when we know an influx of new things is coming, it will be important to make room for those things.

Tag: home systems

Hair Training

Home Systems that Help You be a Better Mom