Full time work vs. a well kept home

I have always yearned to be a stay at home mum. To look after my children and husband. To keep a tidy welcoming home that smells of home cooked meals and snacks. It's something that I always thought I wouldn't be able do while also working full time. I mean so far we don't have children and I put so much of my life into my job as a teacher. My heart, soul and a lot time, almost all of my time, go into being the best teacher I can be. In the past when I have felt like I wasn't keeping up at home, I just thought oh well, I'll do it better when I'm not working...but I'm beginning to think it is all in the planning.

My inspiration has come in a few forms, slowly over time and culminating this week. During our garage sale on the weekend, Lisa, Becc and I were discussing the virtues of a pot luck type food swap between a small group of us to help ease the pressure of working and running a household. We decided that it would be great to each cook up a big batch of something, divide it up to freeze and swap with each other. I think also the process of clearing out ready for the garage sale has given me a bit of motivation to gradually spruce up the house and find ways of keeping it clean, tidy and us well fed with minimal fuss.

Looking back it probably all really started with my Great Garden Makeover, and I'm now getting started one small project at a time, inside the house. This week I tackled the kitchen benches. I brought out a small shelf and re-organised everything on the kitchen bench. Since doing that on Monday night, I have not let it stay dirty or untidy for long because I'm just so pleased with how it is looking. I also packaged up and froze the spaghetti rather than relying on it for the rest of the week and lunches. I now have all those containers in the freezer ready for days when I don't feel like cooking.

Yesterday and today after school I got straight into the kitchen and cooked up lovely meals. I think really that all that's changed is my mindset. Yes, I have so much to catch up on to get the house in order, and a lot of thinking to do around planning ahead with food and shopping so that I am less wasteful, however I really feel like I'm making a good start. I am excited to harvest and preserve my own produce, small as the harvest may be, and I was thinking only today that I need to be setting more seeds to plant in a few weeks so that I have a continuous supply of lettuce and beets.

My cucumbers and zucchini are still alive despite our frosts this week. Being in the green house is really giving them a fighting chance. I'll be super excited if I can actually harvest anything from them.