The Great Purge: Spring Cleaning Part 1

Ah, spring cleaning- oh how I love thee… This post is going to be part of a 3 post series that I am going to be doing all about prepping, cleaning, and revitalizing your space and yourself for spring! I have to say, maybe I am weird about this, but I actually do love spring cleaning. I love the idea of purging, stripping everything down, cleaning like crazy and bringing in some small fresh elements. It does wonders not only for your mental health, but also to just help bring in the idea of resetting, refreshing, and restarting.

Over the past couple of months I have really been feeling quite cluttered in our home. Part of it is just due to the sheer amount of boxes that have accumulated in our home, but I also knew that there was just a lot of stuff that we had in our home and just weren’t using. I decided that the time was now to go through our entire home and do a purge.

IMG_0733I went through room by room and cleared out: clothes that didn’t fit or weren’t worn in the past 6-12 months, accessories that weren’t being used, items that just no longer fit with our family, as well as anything that I just didn’t feel would get used again. All of these things will be getting donated. I feel like I got rid of quite a bit (I don’t think the picture really does it justice) and already, even before the cleaning portion, I just feel a lot lighter.

A couple of things to keep in mind if you are getting ready to do “The Great Purge”:

  1. Set a time limit on yourself. A lot of times we can get such a strong desire to just purge and get rid of stuff and jump right in to all of it. This can lead to a very early burnout which then leads to only about a third of it being done. By saying I am going to go through things for this long, or this time to this time, you are able to approach it with a clear start and finish. It isn’t so open ended and it makes the whole home and idea become smaller more manageable tasks. It also helps you from getting that early burnout. I devoted about 45 minutes a day for around a week and found that this was “just” enough time to get through almost an entire space and feel good about what I cleared out. I just wasn’t able to fit more time into our schedules.
  2. Purge space by space. Only tackle what you know you can finish in the time that you have to do it. You don’t want to start a space and not be able to finish it by the end of your time limit.  This will help you keep that clear start and finish. When you look at a space, have a clear objective of what is the worst in that space. For example, I knew that the biggest task in our youngest’s room would be his closest/clothes. For the most part I knew where the items were that were being purged and how easiest to handle that. I set aside a 45 minute window where I pulled all of them out, went through to verify that they were in fact the correct clothes to purge and then packed them away for the donation run.
  3. When it comes to what to purge, it’s completely up to you. Start by determining what level of “purging” you want to do, do you want a thorough get rid of almost all of it or do you just want a light get rid of what isn’t working and then do more later on. Do you fall somewhere in between? This time I around I went for a complete overhaul. I got rid of anything and everything that was not working for our family anymore. If it wasn’t worn or used frequently in the past 6-12 months, it was going. I didn’t realize how much we had really accumulated over time, until I had started doing our purge and after the first space, I decided I was full in with a complete overhaul.

Honestly, when it comes to purging the biggest things to remember is that it is not going to be done in one setting. This will take time and work, but it will end up being so good once it has ended. I feel such a lightness now when I walk throughout our home. I find that we just had a lot of “stuff” that really wasn’t being used and just collected dust wherever it was.

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Plan With Me : April

I’ve always said that I am a paper and pen person. I may overcomplicate the process, but to be honest, my brain works better when I am able to look at things on paper. To be able to not only look at an overview of what the next bit of time looks like for me, but then to break it down into manageable actions really helps me to not feel overwhelmed when I am trying to juggle everything.

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Since we are starting “fresh” with a new quarter, a new season and a new month, I figured I would break it down and share I organize my brain with you! If that interests you, continue on!

So, for my blog and business, I like to look at things on a quarterly basis. I like to list out my goals and priorities, as well as the action steps to complete those. I do this in Moleskine Notebooks (one for business, one for blog) and have a separate sheet of paper that lives in my planner with an overall look at the four quarters in the year. I have one page dedicated to each quarter and I’ll write out (typically in pencil until about a week before the month starts) what blog posts I am thinking of for the month and where they should fall. This helps give me an overview of the entire quarter and if I have an idea of a tips blog post or have found another topic I want to touch on, I can quickly look and see where it will fall into place. I typically have 4 scheduled blog posts a month and the rest are just as they happen.

Screen Shot 2018-03-27 at 5.09.16 PMOnce I have my overview handled, I look at the first month of the quarter. I have switched planners, sort of. I am still in a Day Designer, but I am using their full on planner, rather than the weekly only. As things started to get busier, I found that I needed a little bit more space in my day to day to keep track of everything.

In the month view, I will write out everything that is planned for that month, whether it is blog posts, videos, appointments, birthdays, days off, whatever it is. This gives me a little bit more of an in depth look at what that specific month holds in our schedules. A lot of times this will change as we go through the month, but it’s good at least have a good starting point.

The final thing I do is plan out the first week of the month. I will mark down the times that I am working as time blocks and then mark in the times that blog posts or videos are going live. I also mark down any appointments that I may have. Once the time is blocked out, I will fill in a couple of the to-do boxes. I have a couple of days that are set aside for specific things for my job, or for cleaning purposes, so I will “auto-fill” those tasks in on the relevant days. The final thing I’ll do is look at my previous week, the new month, and the upcoming week to see if there are any tasks that I have not done, or things that I need to get done. This could be anything from making sure the scheduled blog posts are all uploaded and scheduled, to checking on different supplies in our home.

So, that is my April Plan With Me! I hope that you enjoyed getting a little insight into how I organize my brain to start a new month off. Let me know what you do! Are you an electronic planner type of person? A paper and pen person? Or maybe just a fly by the seat of your pants? Let me know!

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Spring is Right Around the Corner…

4315430272_IMG_0546Seriously. Our first blooms have popped through on the bushes and even though the weather may not be full “spring” beauty and warmth, the first official day of spring is tomorrow! First off, where is this year going? I feel like already the time is just flying by. Second off, spring seems to be a season similar to the new year. An almost “out with the old, in with the new” type of vibe to it.

We start to shed all of the layers of winter, not just in our clothes, but in our homes, our meals, our everyday life. Spring seems to bring a new lightness to everyday. It appears slowly, with a massive Spring Cleaning to start off with. A purge of the old, of what no longer works in the home, of what is no longer needed. Then comes the cleaning of spaces. A whole house and self scrub down you could say. Then, finally, it is in with the new.

Spring is a season of change. If you would have asked me just a few short years ago if I liked it, I would have shrugged my shoulders; “I’m more of a fall type of gal”. While I am still a “fall type of gal”, I have started to see the love of Spring. When the worst of winter starts to fade away, and a glimpse of summer peaks through. I thoroughly enjoy the idea of clearing away and cleaning out our wardrobes, home, and meal ideas. I also LOVE the fact that spring brings the “cool warm” temperatures that allow me to open our windows all day long.

Following along with the start of Spring, you will start to see the scheduled Wednesday blog posts following along with the concept of purge, clean, refresh for the month of April. It is really easy to do the spring overhaul in April as the weather is still finding its way and it really is just a transition month to the full warmth of spring in May. It’s a good time to look at how your year has started off, what you want to change and keep from the first few months, and what you want to do moving forward. I will be doing this myself in our own home, so I’m looking forward to sharing it with you!

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A Weekend of Nothing…A Little Recap

I don’t want to feel like a broken record, so I WON’T talk about how busy this past week was or how I really needed to get away from all the busy and soak up a little bit of life. Instead what I WILL tell you about is our weekend of glorious nothing.

It’s been so long since we just had a weekend of nothing. The only time we left the house was to go get groceries. I think I only got out of my pajamas once (to go get groceries), I didn’t put make up, we ordered in for one of the nights and just overall relaxed.

Of course my husband ended up having to spend a good amount of his Saturday writing a paper for his class, but he did that during nap times and didn’t miss out on too much. I got a large amount of no pressure reading done.

We sat and watched our oldest run in never ending circles, our youngest explore the dog dishes, and quite a few movies. We even fell asleep on the couch for a little bit!

Honestly, I couldn’t think of a more perfect weekend for us. It was just so relaxing, so lovely, and I really enjoyed every minute of it…

Funny enough, Daylight Savings Time couldn’t even bring me down! Sure it made me a little more tired, but par for the course. I just added a little bit more tea to each cup to soak up a bit more caffeine and just took it easy. It didn’t even touch the kids (or their never ending energy).

Next weekend we will be back to our normal of getting out, exploring, and being out of the house more, but this past weekend…such a wonderful thing! It made getting up this Monday morning with a smile on my (and everyone in our home) face so much easier.

How was your weekend? Did you do a lot of running or not so much?

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The 5 W’s of A Cuppa Cosy

I wanted to take a quick moment today and touch base with myself, with you, and just lay out who I am (which most of you probably already know), what A Cuppa Cosy is/what I want to do, where, when, and most importantly WHY.

So…

Speier Family in Alexandria, VA

Who: If you’ve been around for al little while you know who I am. If you’re new, hi! I’m Mia, a wife, mom, homemaker, business owner, and employee. I am a lover of all things cosy, an avid reader, a serious tea drinker and a semi adventurer. There are a few things I am passionate about (aside from my family) and those things are: mental and physical health, travel and being 100% in every aspect of your life. I don’t mince words, I wont BS you, and will always be 100% authentic.

What: This is a place for me to share my life, my stories, my everyday to help you not feel so alone. A feeling of meeting up with a good friend a chatting over a cup of tea/coffee. Someone that you feel like you are right in the trenches of life with in a place where not everything is perfectly curated with all the sunshine and daisies. A place that is true to every aspect of life, the good and the bad. I want to create a community of women and moms who are just experiencing life together.

Where: Well, I’ve got this blog which will feature 2 posts a week, along with a Facebook Page (HERE) and Instagram Page (HERE) for everyday day glimpses. I will also have a Facebook Group for the community and all of us to share day to day, but that is currently in development. Like & Follow the blog and social media and check back for updates on the Facebook Group!

When: Blog Posts will be posted on Mondays and Wednesdays- Mondays being more of a recap/spontaneous style, Wednesdays being more of a tip or learning post.

Why: I see a lot of either end of the spectrum- the perfectly coiffed, always perfect, ready to go mom and family OR the over the top hot mess, don’t care mom. I have not seen a place where there is a middle ground. Where there is a place that is both good and bad and in a way that is completely real and authentic. I didn’t see a view of just a real woman who is going through real life- with all of it’s ups and downs.

I want to help women and moms by sharing my story/life and giving them a real community to share, learn, and uplift so they can be their best selves in their own lives (all while being as cosy as possible 🙂 ).

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Coming Back from “Hot Mess-Ville”

It was a rough week. To be brutally honest, I had one of those weeks where by the end of it, you are just grateful to have gotten yourself, your husband, and your children through the week unscathed. I don’t even know if I could tell you what happened to set the week off, or how we got to such a rough spot, all I know was that somewhere along the way I had boarded the express train to Hot Mess-ville.

Normally I can still keep my head up if it is just one person in our family having a rough week. I can up the care that that person receives and adjust everything else as needed. But when everyone is just in that rough spot, it makes it ten times harder.

Let’s see…

Our oldest was just having an “off” week. There isn’t anything going on with him aside from an exacerbation of the normal 2 year old problems. It seemed like everything was magnified and even the littlest things became a major temper tantrum. We did a lot of bedroom cool downs, mom/dad snuggles, and just lay and cries with him. The combination of him being such a stubborn independent child, with a very full, strong willed personality makes for some good and some bad situations. We are still trying to learn what works best for him and how to teach him.

Our youngest was having a nice amount of his own issues as well. He’s getting those two top teeth and he is an angry teether (our oldest was quite mild with teething until his canines and molars). We had a lot of fussing, A LOT of snuggling, but not a lot of day time napping. I know I shouldn’t complain because he is an excellent night time sleeper, but daytime naps play such an integral role for both of the children and when they are cut back in time or don’t happen it makes for a tough rest of the day.

On top of that, both boys are going through growth spurts. It seemed like I was trying to feed double our household. I know this is going to be a situation we frequently encounter as they are boys and will continue to consume more food than I thought possible (our oldest had 2.5 pancakes for breakfast one morning?!) for the rest of their lives. At times it seemed that we would never get a reprieve from the crying.

With all of that going on, I was dealing with a come and go migraine all week long and was overall just feeling all out of sorts. I felt like I wasn’t accomplishing anything when it came to day to day tasks (although I was) and there were a couple moments over the week that I just ended up “throwing in the towel”. My husband was trying to sort out what his new assignment and responsibilities would be.

Somehow though, we’ve all made it through the week and it’s time to put this bad one behind us as we step into a new week. Things seem to already be looking up as I am writing this as we’ve got the grocery shopping done for the week (cheaper than last week!) and I have a bit of free time to just relax before getting dinner ready. I fully plan on enjoying my cup of tea and getting a little reading done while the kids (actually) nap! Ah such bliss after a rough week.

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