My Raisin Family

 Hey Everyone, I don't get my in-laws individual presents for Christmas. I know that sounds like I am a bad person, but in all honesty, they love it! There is a good reason for this: because they are so content with what they have. They don't need a lot and what they do want, they just go out and buy. So instead I get them what they normally would buy for themselves.  So here is what we got them! This year, we got them a nice basket and filled it with goodies that we know they like. One of those being their favourite tea that they can't get where they live. We grabbed them a tin of shortbread biccies, a couple of packs of Lindt Chocolates, a couple of scratchies, their favourite coffee sachets (hazlenut and cappuccino), and we cannot forget their dog and cat so we got them a toy each. I also made them a car decal sticker that says Dachshund On Board because they are always bringing their sweet little pup with them when they come to visit. I wrapped it all up with cellophane...

Hey Everyone! As a busy mum of 4, I am pretty much on the go all day. So I just thought, maybe, I would share what one day is like for me. Before I get out of bed in the morning, I like to read one chapter in Proverbs. Proverbs is such a good way of making sure I am reading God's Word daily because it has 31 chapters - a chapter for each day of the month. This way, while I am going through my morning routine, I have something godly running through my brain instead of the chaos of whatever I have on that day.  Next up is coffee... after making sure my teenage son is up and getting ready for the day. I am super lucky because my Mum also lives with us and she gets up a little bit before me and has my coffee ready and waiting for me! While I drink my coffee, the news is generally on in the background. Because my kids are all older, pretty much all I have to do is make sure they are waking up when they are supposed to. Although, one of my children needs a bit more support in getting rea...

Hey Everyone! I don't know about you, but as a Stay At Home Mum (SAHM) and Carer to my now adult daughter, I was starting to ask one question... How am I supposed to make a difference in my world for God? A few weeks ago, I had that question answered pretty quickly after I started asking.  The short answer: Just be me! It came as I was doing my daily Bible reading (I am following the reading plan in the back of my She Reads Truth bible). I was reading Colossians chapter 4 at the time. Verse 5 and 6 (which are now highlighted) say: Act wisely toward outsiders, making the most of the time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you should answer each person. Just for a little background, when I am doing my daily bible reading, I have with me one of my older bibles I had from when I was a teenager which is an NIV Study Bible. This bible has notes in the margins that are from various commentaries and offers context and links to other parts of t...

 Hey Everyone! Today's area I spent a little time decluttering is one of the cubes in my homeschool shelf. This cube storage holds all of our homeschool books, puzzles, games and manipulatives and it tends to get cluttered very quickly. In a house full of ADHD, any area with a flat surface gets filled with stuff and this shelf system is no exception.  Here is the before photo: As you can see, there is just a bunch of random things in there. Craft things my older kiddo has painted that she no longer wanted, whiteboard cleaner and a ribbon from a gift we got for Christmas. So here is the after shot: Much better! To be honest, I am not even sure I will keep these models and the game as we have not used them for a fair while. And I could use the space to put some things for my nieces when they come over. We have a set of markers and colouring books for each of them as well as some puzzles and games. So it might be nice for those things to have a space.  What have you been dec...

 Hey Everyone! Yesterday I posted a declutter challenge both here and on the old IG, and today I have completed my task for the day! As I homeschool our youngest daughter, we have one of those rolling carts with the drawers and it gets VERY cluttered on top. So I spent 10 minutes clearing down the top. It isn't perfect, but it holds all of the stationary we need during the homeschool day. Decluttering the drawers are being saved for another day... I kind of spaced a bit and forgot to take a Before photo so here is a pic of the During stage: I use a lot of glue sticks, however, I had no idea I had so many... I think I found at least 4! And in the back compartment, there were so many old whiteboard markers and pencils that just got lost among all the bigger stuff in there.  So here is the final product: Like I said, not perfect, but at least we can find everything we need quickly. How are you going with the challenge? Thanks for reading!  J xxx

Hey Everyone! Some may know that about a year and a half ago, we moved our family of 7 into a much smaller house. A lot of decluttering happened at that point, and then again at the beginning of this year we cleaned out the garage which had been choc full of boxes. This was only meant to be a temporary house while we looked for a bigger house that suits our needs more. This has not happened and we are pretty happy with where we are now.  However, once again we have found ourselves dealing with a bunch of clutter. I don't exactly feel like my best self when there is a lot of clutter around me which makes it hard to keep things clean and tidy.  So here is my idea: Decluttering one area every weekday and posting it on here, not only to keep me accountable, but also for you to follow along at home! I don't particularly want to have a set area to delutter every day as this will not go well with my ADHD, so the plan is to pick one SMALL area per day. This could be one drawer in the ...