“My kids don’t need new clothes, my kids need me to do laundry.”
I try to come at life with contentment as the goal. The “I already have enough” kind of attitude. When walking through a store with new things and sale things at the ready, it’s very easy to go, “Oh I need…” When you have kids, that is compounded by how many kids you have. Not that there aren’t real times of shopping and especially clothes shopping needed for growing kids, but as a whole, if they have clean clothes, they have enough clothes. They go through them so quickly, it makes sense to have fewer because before you know it they’ve outgrown 20 outfits and you’re now on the hook for 20 more!
“Dishes… Laundry”
I also live by this mantra in the mornings especially. Yes, every day I do laundry and at least once empty, refill, and run the dishwasher. As long as dishes and laundry are done the day has been productive. Actually this is one of the things I’m trying to train myself to give up on Sabbath days, which for me is Fridays. I haven’t gone cold turkey yet, but I’m getting closer to taking a day off each week from dishes and laundry.
“Mary before Martha”
This is a phrase of my mom’s. It’s a Bible reference to the two sisters who were close to Jesus. Martha gets super mad that Mary is leaving her to do all the work, but Jesus praises Mary who is sitting at the feet of Jesus listening. Mary before Martha is my mom’s way of saying sit and do your devotions first thing in the day. Listen at the feet of Jesus, then get up and do the chores because someone really does have to do those chores, but first be Mary.
How about you? What phrases run through your head most days?
manageable mess 