Category: Adulting

How Can You Keep Your Home In The Best Condition Possible?

Post author By Sarah Barkley
Post date January 14, 2021
6 Comments on How Can You Keep Your Home In The Best Condition Possible?

Keeping your home in the best condition possible is important for a number of reasons. The first is that it means you aren’t going to have to spend a fortune and a bunch of time sorting it out later on. This will be helpful if you want to move or if something gets damaged. The second is that it will make your home a much nicer place to live.

While it may seem like a daunting task that you would rather ignore, it is best not to. You’ll be happier that you have a nice home, and it won’t be such a headache later on. Luckily, there are some easy things you can do to keep your home in the best condition possible.

How to Keep Your Home In The Best Condition

Fix What Is Broken

If something is broken, you need to fix it. It might not always be possible to do this right away, but there should be some kind of solution in place. For example, if there has been some flooding or other water damage, a company such as Delta Restoration Services will be able to provide the solution that you need.

Or, it might be something else such as a problem with the roof. You might be able to fix it yourself, or you may need to call a professional depending on the extent of the damage.

The same goes for things such as the washing machine or dishwasher. As long as you have a plan in place, then you’re on the right path to keeping your home in the best condition possible.

Keep It Clean

Another thing that you need to do is to keep your house clean. You never know when you are going to have unexpected house guests, so your home should always be clean.

It might feel like a nightmare in the beginning, but once everything is clean, you will feel better. Make sure you keep up on it to avoid having to spend hours on it again later.

Clean up often, make sure nothing is left lying around, and vacuum or sweep once per day. Of course, there are other things like shampooing the carpets that can be done less frequently.

It’s the little things that are going to make a big difference. When you keep up on the little things, you are doing yourself a huge favor.

Make sure that everyone who lives in the house is helping out, though, and this includes the kids. When only one person does it, this is where the downfall usually happens. One person cannot be responsible for keeping everything clean.

Make Cost-Effective Improvements

Finally, one of the best ways to keep your home in great condition is to improve it in a way that keeps things efficient. Using a Solar Panel Company is a great way to do this. Generating your own energy can help you to run your home at a better cost, and you’re doing your part to be renewable too.

How Can You Keep Your Home In The Best Condition Possible

If you follow these tips, you are sure to keep your home in the best condition possible. By fixing things when they are broken and keeping your home clean, you are sure to have a home that you love. If you have already done these things and are looking for decor options, check out this blog post for home decor lovers.

What are some of the ways you make sure that your home is in the best condition possible? Tell me in the comments!

Tags adulting, Home, How to, Self Care

Adulting Decor For the Home Home How To

6 Easy Tips for a Happy, Healthy Home You Will Love

Post author By Sarah Barkley
Post date January 13, 2021

We all want to create a comfortable and relaxing home for our families, whether it’s interior design hacks or eco-friendly changes. There are many ways to create a happy, healthy home, to enhance both physical health and mental well-being. All of these tips are simple and inexpensive changes that you can use to improve your lifestyle.

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***This post contains affiliate links. It costs you nothing extra, but I may receive a small commission.***

Tips for a Happy, Healthy Home

1 . Cleanse the Air

To create a happy, healthy home, the first thing you should do is improve the quality of your air. First, keep your home well ventilated, opening doors and windows often.

Next, invest in an air purifier or Air Scrubber, which can remove harmful toxins and allergens from the air. There are many different types of air purifiers out there, which is why it’s best to check out a few reviews, such as this Bissell review.

Alternatively, house plants can also cleanse the air inside, removing chemicals such as trichloroethylene and benzene.

2. Remove Excess Clutter

A little clutter never hurt anyone, but an overwhelming amount of clutter can contribute to feelings of stress. This makes it difficult for you to relax at home.

To banish the clutter from your life, go through your items, and keep only things that you actually need or love. To embrace the minimalist lifestyle, these resources may come in handy:

The Life-Changing Magic Of Tidying Up: Here is a best-selling book, written by minimalist lifestyle guru, Marie Kondo. You’ll learn plenty of tips to improve your home and your life.
The Art Of Decluttering: With a few hints from this podcast, you’ll create a clutter-free minimalist home in no time at all.

3. Recycle Food Waste

To create a healthy and environmentally friendly home, try recycling your food waste by creating a compost pile. When you recycle your food waste, you’ll be contributing less waste to landfill sites.

Any efforts you make to go green can help you to create a healthier home for you and your family. Whether you shop second-hand or use water-conserving devices, every little bit helps.

4. Create a Vegetable Garden

Growing your own vegetables can help you live a healthier lifestyle. You’ll learn new skills and get nutritious food. Plus, gardening is very therapeutic.

To help you learn how to create a lovely vegetable garden, try using apps like Veggie Garden Planner, or Garden Plan Pro.

5. Banish the Chemicals

To make your home a little bit healthier, take a look at the products you use, and banish the chemicals from your life. Choose non-toxic eco candles, or replace conventional cleaning products with eco-friendly cleaners.

You should also pay attention to the products you use on your skin. Many of them contain chemicals, which should be avoided.

When choosing your cosmetics products, use apps like ‘Think Dirty’, to help you make healthier and greener choices.

6. Decorate to Boost Well-being

When you’re decorating your home, try to make changes that will boost your well-being. Choose artwork that depicts the natural world, helping to create a calm atmosphere.

When painting your rooms, choose calming colors such as muted greens or rustic greys. Hang up photographs of your family and friends, and choose soft furniture for maximum comfort.

Taking these steps to ensure a happy, healthy home for your family will make all the difference. Even if you can’t implement all of the ideas, trying a few of them will help immensely.

What are some of the ways you create a happy, healthy home for your family? Tell me about it in the comments!

Tags Home, home decor, How to, simple home decor

Adulting For the Home Home How To

2021 Designs That Will Complete Your Kitchen And Home

Post author By Sarah Barkley
Post date January 9, 2021
2 Comments on 2021 Designs That Will Complete Your Kitchen And Home

2021 designs for the kitchen, 2021 designs for the home, 2021 designs, home design 2021

Upgrading your home often takes time and money. You could troll through pages of inspirational content but sometimes, you just can’t find what is going to be right for you. There are ways you can figure out which 2021 designs to adapt to your kitchen and home, however.

With a custom home builder, you can make decisions that do fit you perfectly. Let’s say you are looking to upgrade your kitchen to modern appliances and give it a general fresh feel. It’s important to know the types of tones and styles that you like the most. It may be hard to pick exactly, but here are some ideas to get you started.

2021 Designs To Adapt To Your Kitchen And Home

A Work Triangle

In the kitchen, it is important to have a work triangle – refrigerator, sink, stove. Comfort and accessibility between the elements will create comfort at work. Drawer for pots under the stove, our spice rack close and available, cutting knives and the like.

Make sure that all the things you use will be arranged in a convenient and accessible way within easy reach. The lighting should also be arranged in a functional way. Continuous lighting about one foot from the end of the cabinet line will make it so that when you open the drawers, you will see exactly what they contain.

Plan According to Your Exact Needs

Just before starting kitchen design, it is most important to understand your needs. Consider whether you cook a lot or a little. Is life lived in the kitchen or is it used for food only? What are the needs in terms of storage, characterization of the seating, and other important things? Figuring these things out ahead of time will give you a space that will meet all your needs.

Make it an Exciting Experience

Today, design and cooking are a social experience in themselves. You likely don’t want to be in an enclosed space, so the kitchen design changes and it is part of the whole house. It should be open and appealing to everyone, and also allow everyone to enjoy the cooking experience. So, design the kitchen in an open and inviting way.

2021 Designs are Taking Hold For the Home

In recent years, the concept of ‘power wall‘ has become a very strong trend (literally) in the field of interior design. This means investing in one prominent and central wall leads to the creation of a special atmosphere in the space. But this trend, it seems, will give way in 2021 to something more fluid, more integrated, and more inclusive.

In 2021, you will see more and more uniformly painted spaces, and not just one prominent wall. Life in Corona times has left us at home and pushed some of us into harmony.

One of the most prominent trends that was born in the pre-Corona period, but intensified greatly thanks to it, is a return to nature. This includes an understanding of the importance of using natural and recycled materials, alongside a growing discussion on sustainable design. A sustainable design is a simple design, accessible to all and not very sophisticated.

This trend has evolved from raw materials, which have been perfected over the years into combinations that fit the everyday lifestyle. Green and eco-friendly materials that are simple and unsophisticated such as straw, which started out in rugs and baskets, now go into elements on walls and textiles. These elements are found in the natural plaster, recycled wood cladding, and more. It is these materials that bring us home and comfort us.

Has Covid Shaped Our New Design Trends?

Another trend that will be seen in the 2021 designs is the use of calm and peaceful shades. This has a direct connection to the Corona Virus Pandemic, and to the mood and optimism we so desperately need at this time.

Pastel pink, for example, transmits a delicate and sensitive optimism. It connects to natural materials and vice versa – wood and iron for example – and together they form a complete and harmonious look. This harmonious look brings with it both softness and innovation.

A narrative of simplicity, serenity and convergence will be expressed in both materiality and color. This is achieved by using basic raw materials (wood, straw, terracotta, bamboo, jute, and rattan), recycled materials, and a great deal of DIY.

One color palette that reflects peace is earth tones such as a sand color, aqua shades with an optimistic and hopeful saturation, and shades of green that will symbolize environmental trends in the world. Add in some bright colors that will stand out even when things seem dreary to symbolize happy optimism.

Using these tips and following the new trends for 2021 designs, you can create a peaceful space that you love. Make your home a place you always enjoy, and a place that helps you forget about your problems.

What are some of your favorite ways to design your space? Are you changing things up for 2021? Let me know in the comments!

Tags Home, home decor, simple home decor

Adulting For the Home Home Life

4 Easy Ways to Make Your House Feel More like a Home

Post author By Sarah Barkley
Post date January 7, 2021

make your house feel more like a home, house feel like a home

As the old saying goes, “there’s no place like home.” In many ways, our homes are the places that we turn to for comfort, rejuvenation, and even inspiration. Our homes are where we spend some of our most cherished moments with the people closest to us, and they are where we refine our sense of who we are. For these reasons alone, you must make your house feel more like a home.

Taking care of your home is so important, and there are many things that can contribute dramatically to making your home feel more like a home. You can make it the kind of place where you enjoy spending time, and where you and your family can thrive.

Perhaps you have just moved into a new home and haven’t quite settled yet. Or, maybe you just aren’t quite happy with how you relate to your existing living space. Either way, taking steps to help make your house feel more like a home is essential.

How to Make Your House Feel More Like a Home

1. Get a Pet

There are many brilliant upsides to getting a pet – especially for families with young kids.

For one thing, getting a pet such as a new Labrador puppy, from a responsible breeder such as https://chocolatelabradorretriever.ca, can immediately fill the home with a rich sense of innocent, jubilant energy, while simultaneously allowing every member of the family to participate in the wonderful aura of enthusiasm that results from this.

For another thing, pets – for many families – symbolise the real solidification of a home. They complete the “white picket fence” dream of what a family home should look and feel like.

In addition to all of this, pets can teach all sorts of valuable lessons to all members of the family, but especially to children. Lessons concerning things like responsibility, to give just one example.

2. Personalize Your Home with Things that have a Personality and a Story

There is certainly a kind of allure connected to the simple and streamlined aesthetic that you will find in many home décor catalogs these days. But, there are setbacks to filling your home with this type of furniture.

The things you fill your home with will dramatically affect how the place feels to you, how you perceive it, and how capable you are of relating to it. If everything in your home was mass produced in a factory, there’s a good chance you will feel alienated from your home.

This is because for a living space to really feel like a home, it has to feel like something that you have a relationship with. Something that has character, personality, and that is personal and relevant to you – rather than just being something broadly utilitarian and pretty.

The more you can ensure that the objects in your home are more than just “objects,” but that they have a story and personality – or, at least, can develop a story and personality over time – the more your house or apartment will come to feel like a home.

3. Get Your Home in Order and Keep it That Way

No matter how great your house may be or how many meaningful items it contains, it will be hard to feel comfortable in your living space if it is messy, and chaotic.

While “comfort” isn’t exactly the same thing as your house feeling like a home, it is at least a significant factor to consider. If you find yourself in this situation, it can be difficult knowing just where to start. You may even struggle with getting the energy and momentum to step forward and begin the process.

Despite those obstacles, the best thing you can do for transforming how your home feels overnight is to dive into the cleaning and organizing process. Make sure that there is a place for everything, and that everything gets put away.

From there, you will be able to see, feel, and appreciate the unique and beautiful features of the place that had been obscured before.

4. Develop Routines to Create a Sense of Happiness and Meaning Each Day

Your home is much more than a place where you simply sleep and eat in between going to work or school.

It’s meant to be a place where you flourish, and where you can get in touch with yourself and appreciate some of the small pleasures of everyday life.

One thing you can do to make your house feel more like a home is to come up with routines that can introduce a sense of happiness and meaning on an everyday basis.

This might mean having a family breakfast each morning at a beautiful dining table, or it may mean sitting on your porch with a cup of coffee before starting the day properly. It could even be as simple as enjoying a good book in your favorite chair.

Your home is supposed to be a special place where you can truly let go. You should be able to relax and enjoy the time you spend at home. This means finding a way to make your house feel more like a home is essential.

What are some of your tips for making a house feel more like a home? Do you have any simple daily routines that help you find pleasure in your home each day? Tell me in the comments! I’d love to hear about it.

Tags Adult time, adulting, Home, home decor, Self Care, simple home decor

Adulting Decor For the Home How To Life

5 Easy Ways to Create a Cozy Living Room You Will Love

Post author By Sarah Barkley
Post date December 17, 2020

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There are certain times of the year where you just want a cozy living room to enjoy. The winter is one of those times, but how can you make your living room as cozy and relaxing as possible, with minimal effort? Well, here are some quick tips for making your living room as cozy as possible.

How to Quickly Create a Cozy Living Room

1. Clean Up

No one can be genuinely cozy in a place that needs to be decluttered. Most people tend to clean during the winter and again in the springtime. So if you’ve been putting off your winter clean, it’s time to get it started.

Declutter as much as possible, though you’ll likely do this to make room for a Christmas tree or some sort of festive decorations, anyway. The more you eliminate, the better you will feel as you cuddle up on your couch to read a book or watch your favorite show.

2. Add Texture

Some textures are super comforting during the winter months. Look for textured fleece blankets, chenille sweaters, or warm fluffy socks to keep nearby. If you already have them, it’s time to grab your most comfortable blankets and have them ready on the couch. This is one of the most important things you can do to get that cuddly, cozy feeling in your living room.

Having a soft fluffy rug will also help to keep your living room warm and insulated, as well as add extra texture to the living room too.

***This post contains affiliate links. It costs you nothing extra, but I may receive a small commission.***

3. Consider the Lighting

If you want to create some specific atmospheres, then lighting is the way to do it. One of the best things you can do is to add fairy lights to the space around your living room. Wrapping fairy lights around shelves, around your Christmas tree, or around windows to add a festive twinkle to your living room.

Then, when the sun sets early in the winter months, you can turn the sparkle up. For an extra cozy feeling, you might want to keep the overhead lighting off and let the rest of the twinkling lights work their magic.

4. Make Sure It’s Warm

Part of being cozy is being warm, so make sure your living room is well-heated. If you haven’t had your boiler checked out for a while, now is the perfect time to do it. Many people find themselves in need of a water heater repair just as winter hits.

Plan ahead so that you don’t get stuck in this situation. If you have a fireplace, consider getting that checked out, as well. There is no way to be cozy if you aren’t warm, and you don’t want to get stuck this way in the middle of the night.

Before switching on the radiators in every room in the house, read this handy guide and how you can save money on your heating over autumn and winter.

5. Fragrances

Some fragrances just remind us of the winter. Spiced apple, cinnamon, pumpkin and Christmas cookies are all great scents that can make a room feel extra cozy. If you don’t want to have open flames, then reed diffusers can help bring comforting smells to your living room.

Many fragrance brands have brought out specific holiday-themed fragrances, which means you can recreate that cozy Christmas feeling all year around. You can also opt for a simple plug-in.

So, once you have created a cozy living room, it’s time to get settled in. Put on your favorite comfy clothes, get a cup of coffee, and grab a blanket before hopping on the couch.

I always like to watch Gilmore Girls when I have a chance to get cozy on the couch. What do you like to do when you’re cuddled up on the couch in the winter? Tell me in the comments!

Tags Adult time, adulting, Home, How to

Adulting Free Activities Learning Mental Health

4 Reasons You Should Play Word Games

Post author By Sarah Barkley
Post date December 16, 2020

play word games, word games, benefits of word games, brain exercise, brain work out

The craze for “brain training games” such as word games took the app-based world by storm about a decade ago. It was based on the suggestion that if you played these games enough, they would build your IQ and make you smarter. As it turned out, the science behind that suggestion may have been exaggerated.

While studying in any way will help to boost your knowledge in the short term, long-term gains are not something that any training game can deliver. So, it might be fair to ask, why should you play word games? As you’ll see, there are plenty of reasons to keep an interest, regardless of whether you’re getting a long term boost.

How Word Games Help You

They Help Boost Your Vocabulary

While you’re not going to outsmart Albert Einstein with an hour a day of gaming, there are definite benefits to playing these games. If you play word games often enough, you’ll learn words you didn’t know.

Every time you find a new word, you can look it up in a dictionary. Then, through building your vocabulary, you can gain knowledge of things you never would have before. Plus, if you’re learning another language, playing word games in that language can be a great way of picking up new words.

Word Games are a Form of Brain Exercise

The idea of a “brain gym” perhaps oversold what word games could deliver. However, it should not be ignored that playing these games is better for your brain than not playing them. For one thing, they exercise your brain and strengthen your cognitive performance. Plus, they can help with brain concerns later in life, too.

As we learn more about brain concerns such as dementia, any boost we can get is welcome. Even if you cheat a little by searching for Wordscapes answers, you are still processing information neurologically, which is kind of like giving your brain a light cardio workout.

They can Offer Social Opportunities

Many modern word games come with a social element. They allow you to test your wordiness against someone else who may be halfway across the room, or halfway across the world.

The competitive element can help you to raise your game, while the chat element is a way of socializing. It can even give you a little bit of a boost on the geography front if the person you’re chatting with lives somewhere else, which is additional exercise for the brain.

Word Games are Relaxing and Stress-Busting

While your brain is getting a workout, the improvements you see each time you play the game are an excellent way to boost endorphin production. That’s very beneficial for fighting stress, something we can all do with from time to time.

While this doesn’t mean you’re building a brain that can take on Nobel Prize winners, the overall mental health and cognitive benefits that you’ll derive from playing word games are more than reason enough to give them a try.

Word games are, quite simply, a lot of fun to play. The additional benefits you can get from playing them means it’s an even better idea to pick them up and play from time to time.

Tags adulting, learning

Adulting Home How To Life Parenting

Easy Stress-Busting Tips Every Work From Home Mom Needs Now

Post author By Sarah Barkley
Post date December 13, 2020
2 Comments on Easy Stress-Busting Tips Every Work From Home Mom Needs Now

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Being a work from home mom may sound like the ideal solution to earn money while raising your kids. However, as any work from home mom will tell you, it is not always as idyllic as it sounds.

While working from home does allow you to enjoy flexibility in your day, it can leave you feeling like you are trying to do everything at once. You may feel as though you are not giving either your home life or work life your full attention. This can leave you feeling stressed out and emotional.

To make working from home efficient for you and your family, you need to find a way to ease the stress and strike a better balance in your life. If you are wondering how you can enjoy the benefits of working from home while minimizing stress, you should find these tips helpful.

How a Work From Home Mom Can Make It Work

Perfect Your Workspace

Perfecting your workspace is an essential ingredient for working from home successfully. If your work setup is not suited to your needs, you will feel uncomfortable, and it will be impossible to be productive.

If you can, try to create an area of your home that is dedicated to work, so that you can give your job your full attention.

This space should be as quiet as possible and away from the constant interruptions of your kids. If that isn’t possible, simply make sure your workspace is efficiently setup and allows you to develop a nice work flow.

Use headphones to minimize the sounds around you, or learn to tune them out when necessary. Plus, make sure your kids don’t mess with your setup or touch any of your work supplies.

Take Regular Breaks

While it may seem like a good idea to just plow through your work and get everything done as fast as you can, this is not necessarily going to make you more productive. Failing to take regular breaks can make you less productive rather than more. So, you may find that you are putting in lots of hours but not making as much progress as you would like to.

When you take a break, you are allowing yourself to clear your mind and then return to your task with a fresh outlook. This can be hugely beneficial, especially on more taxing tasks.

Plus, by taking regular breaks, you will find comfort knowing your kids don’t need anything right then. This will help you focus on your work rather than wondering what your kids are doing or if they need help.

Minimize Distractions

When you work from home, distractions are everywhere. It is so tempting to get sucked into chores when you are supposed to be working. When you have kids at home with you during the day, it can be even harder to resist this temptation. If you have five loads of laundry waiting to be washed, dried, and ironed, you may be tempted to crack on with this before you get started on your work.

However, once you start on your chores, you may find it difficult to slip back into a ‘work mindset’ and focus on your job. Wherever possible, try to ignore the laundry basket calling to you and, instead, use your work time just for work.

This will likely mean setting up your work from home space in an area where you can’t see the chores that need to be done. Then, you won’t think about them as often which will make them easier to ignore.

Don’t Be Afraid to Use Childcare

Being distracted when you are trying to concentrate is hugely frustrating. Even simple tasks can take ages to complete when you are repeatedly distracted.

With little ones at home, the chances of being distracted when trying to work are pretty high. You may find yourself struggling to get any work completed at all while the little ones are running around asking for snacks.

Using childcare may seem to go against the reasons why you chose to take a work from home job. However, there will be times when using a preschool daycare provider is a necessity. This doesn’t mean you have to use the service often, but it will be nice to know that you have the option.

Having a childcare provider on standby for when you need them is a wise idea. You can turn to this option for those times when you need to attend an important Zoom call or if you have a deadline fast approaching. There is nothing wrong with seeking childcare help when you need it.

Of course, with Covid-19 changing things constantly, it is important that you select a daycare that is staying open during these challenging times. If your children are grade-school age, many daycares are helping students complete their virtual school work, too.

Set Up a Work Space For Your Kids

If you find that your kids want to be right next to you all day, then make that work for you. Teach them how to be quiet while you are working, and teach them to work, too. Set up a space close to you that they can use as their dedicated work space.

Include a surface big enough for activities, a comfortable chair, and any supplies they may need. This includes pencils, crayons, markers, paper, etc. I did this for my daughter, and I included this awesome Lego desk organizer. She was so excited to build her own, and she uses it nearly every day as I work.

They will love sitting next to you as they work, and you can teach them some good habits along the way. With virtual learning being the norm right now, this can be a great option.

This post contains affiliate links. It costs you nothing extra, but I may receive a small commission.

Stick to Regular Hours

When working from home, it can be hard to create a separation between being an employee and being a mom. With no physical barrier between your working life and your home life, you can unintentionally merge the two. You might find yourself working at all times of the day and night to keep on top of things.

Creating the separation between your career and your personal life is essential, however. It is much easier to achieve if you stick to regular working hours. Setting a boundary and working only until a specific time means that once your time is up, you can stop thinking about work and focus on your family.

Learn to Switch Off

Switching off is something that many people find hard to do. It is essential, however, if you want to reduce the stress of being a work from home mom. Giving each aspect of your life your full attention and focusing on one task at a time is the best way to do this. It should help your stress levels to drop dramatically.

This doesn’t mean to only learn to switch off “work mode”, either. During important work times, you have to learn to switch off “home mode” or “parenting mode”, too. If you find that you can’t do this with your kids in the house, this is when you should highly consider childcare a couple of times a week.

Finding the work/home life balance is incredibly hard for parents. Now that being a work from home mom is becoming more normal, it is even more difficult. It is SO hard for moms to switch off “home mode” or “parenting mode”, even when their job is incredibly important to them.

Keep in mind that being a work from home mom won’t become easier overnight. As you work on these tips, it will take time to find the routine that works for you.

These tips for work at home moms will help, however, and they will get you started on a stress-free situation. Are you a work from home mom, and when did you become one? If you have any additional tips to add, leave a comment and let me know!

Tags adulting, Making money online, Parenting, work from home

Adulting How To Learning Life

Standing Up For Yourself In Life Is An Important Skill

Post author By Sarah Barkley
Post date December 8, 2020
2 Comments on Standing Up For Yourself In Life Is An Important Skill

standing up for yourself, stand up for yourself, important life lessons, self care, self-care

There are many life lessons we are taught as we grow up, such as standing up for yourself. Sometimes these life lessons are learned through direct tuition and mentorship, and some through life experience.

Of course, some lessons don’t immediately stick, and it might take several failures or obstacles for us to truly get the point. Also, it’s no great failing in a human being to make mistakes – we all do, and we all do until our old age.

That being said, sometimes life lessons are worth considering, especially if they seem universal and you have yet to fully practice them. Not everyone learns how to stand up for themselves in life, because not everyone has a strong character from the offset.

Even those with meek dispositions can benefit from learning how to defend themselves, however. Thanks to the way modern society is set up, we don’t have to play by barbarian rules to do so.

But how can you exercise your self-defense in life, in a range of different areas? In this guide, you will get a primer on how to behave this way in three different life scenarios. This advice could help you if going through a difficult patch.

How to Work on Standing Up For Yourself

Know Your Legal Rights

Knowing your legal rights is the first step in the process, and it’s surely one of the most important steps. It’s important to know if you’re acting within legal guidelines in many respects.

For instance, knowing consumer law can help you more accurately complain if your consumer rights are being abused. It may help you assign a personal injury lawyer to a case if neglected at work. If ever in doubt, be sure to research online what possible precedents you can use in your favor.

There’s No Need To ‘Accept’

Remember that in life, there’s no need to give in to someone unless you have previously accepted their authority (such as in a work setting), or unless they have the law on their side. This can be important to know if someone oversteps and expects you to be okay with that.

You may encounter this situation if someone takes your table reservations without asking, gives you less than what you paid for, or simply wishes to treat you harshly. This can be important to know, because when you don’t immediately feel as though you have to accept this treatment, you can actively defend against it.

Don’t Set A Precedent

The worst thing you can do is allow for a precedent to be set. It might be that someone in your office made a comment to humiliate you, and instead of addressing it, you smiled and took it.

This means that next time, it will happen again. It doesn’t mean you have to cause conflict with people every single time they do something you don’t like. Causing conflict each time may only cause more difficulty.

Sometimes, however, shutting things down as soon as they appear can show people you’re not that kind of person and that you won’t tolerate that type of behavior.

It is clear that standing up for yourself is an important life skill. If you don’t do it, people will walk all over you and treat you badly. They’ll say hurtful things, inconvenience you, and take advantage of you.

Use these tips to get ahead of the problem. Standing up for yourself will change your life for the better.

Tags adulting, learning, Life, Parenting, Self Care

Adulting For the Home How To Organization

Organization Tips You Can Learn From The Home Edit

Post author By Sarah Barkley
Post date December 5, 2020

the home edit, tips to learn from the home edit, home organization

If you have already watched The Home Edit, chances are you have made some changes within your home. There are some incredible organization tips that you can get from watching this show. The color-coordinated plastic containers that are carefully labeled, for example, can make your life much more organized.

You can test these organization tips on your messy drawer, a cupboard, or even your closet. Any room or area of your home could benefit from these organization tips.

Organization Tips Based On The Home Edit

Follow The Home Edit on Instagram

The first tip is to follow The Home Edit on Instagram, as this can be a constant source of inspiration for you. They post often and the images are so meticulous that it will make you want to get up and start organizing.

It Will Get Messier Before It Gets Better

One thing to remember is that you are most likely going to make a big mess before you have everything organized. It is essential that you don’t get overwhelmed by the chaos and that you push through this part of the organization process.

You should take everything out of your cupboard, your messy drawer, or your wardrobe first. This will give you insight into what you have, what you use, and any junk you are storing.

As it does get quite messy, you might choose to do multiple projects at once. For example, you might want to replace your kitchen windows as you reorganize the entire room. When everything is going back into your new cupboards or along your new window sills, it can feel more organized and more beautiful almost immediately. The new windows will add an extreme change that will help you enjoy your newly organized space.

You can click here to read more about Pinehurst Windows. In the meantime, you can also check out Pinterest for some great kitchen cupboard design ideas. Find ideas that you can do relatively quickly from home and on a budget.

Declutter

As you move through the process, it is a good idea to declutter as you go. If you see things that you don’t use or need, this is the perfect opportunity to sort them into piles to get rid of.

Have a pile of things that are in good working order and can be donated or sold. Plus, you should have a pile of things that are more likely to go into the trash.

It is essential to approach this with recycling, reusing, and selling mentality. Where something can be recycled, you must try to do so.

Always Use Containers

Plastic container sales have increased incredibly during 2020. And most likely will continue to do so. These are the easiest way to sort things into easy to reach categories. For example, if you are cleaning out your food cupboard, you can label a clear plastic box with the word tins and place tins inside it.

You can take this one step further and separate your tins into categories too. You can have soup cans, vegetable cans, and sauce cans. Buy as many containers as you need, plus a few extra, just in case.

You can use this method for any room in the house. I have done it with the kids’ toys and noticed a huge difference immediately. When everything has a home, it tends to get put away more often than before.

Set Up Stations

If you drink a lot of coffee, it makes sense to have an area set up just for coffee. Make sure you set this station up somewhere easily accessible since you will use it often.

Put all things you will need (or will potentially need) for making and preparing coffee at the station in bins. This will make the things you need easy to find, and you will be more likely to use them this way.

Stations also work wonders for specific periods during the year. For example, during the month of December, you might create a hot chocolate station and have everything you need to make delicious hot chocolate placed in a basket. In the fall you might choose to add some pumpkin spice syrup or other delicious things to your drinks, and this can all be placed in an easy to find container.

This also works for things like Easter, snack nights, game nights, or crafting. Whatever you feel needs to be organized, get a container for it.

Label Everything

Labels will be the saviors of your organization. They will allow you to quickly find what you need. Plus, even better, it will be easier to put things away since everyone will know where it belongs.

When you label something and always put it back in the same space, it makes it quick and straightforward to grab things. There will be no searching around or opening 10 different boxes.

Group Similar items

In the case of a messy drawer, you should try and sort similar things. If your messy drawer is mostly filled with utensils but has some ‘other’ items in it, then try to eliminate the ‘other’ items. Keep only utensils in that drawer.

The same goes for any other items, too. By grouping similar items together and eliminating other items, your home will be significiantly more organized. This means there is always a single logical place for you to find what you need.

Make it Functional

Although it is essential to have a space that you find beautiful, ensuring that everything in a specific area is logical can be more critical.

You might want to have all your shelves looking lovely, but they still should have the items you need to use regularly.

But for example, if you spend a lot of time in the kitchen, it always pays to make sure that your kitchen is well organized. This can make cooking an absolute pleasure.

Don’t worry if some areas just look more aesthetically pleasing than others. The whole point of the exercise is to make sure that everything is just well organized. With organization, the aesthetics will quickly and surely follow.

The Home Edit is one of my favorite TV shows. I learn so many organization tips from them, and I am continually inspired to re-organize my home. As I do one room at a time (hey, I have kids, I can’t do it all at once LOL), I notice an immediate difference. I hope these tips work just as well for you as they have for me! If you have any other tips, leave a comment and let me know!

Tags adulting, Home, How to, Organization

Adulting For the Home How To Parenting

5 Tips To Keep Your Home Clean With Young Children

Post author By Sarah Barkley
Post date December 2, 2020

keep your home clean, clean home, keep home clean with kids

Keeping your home clean can be a lot more challenging when you have young children. Your way of life can completely change when you are responsible for someone other than yourself. Cleaning the home can often be a struggle or something that ends up further down the list. However, it’s still important that you’re taking good care of your home. Luckily, there are ways to keep your home clean with young children.

How to Keep Your Home Clean With Young Children

1. Take Advantage Of Storage

Storage is a very important thing to have in your home when you have children. You buy so much for them in terms of toys and clothes that you need to make sure you have plenty of space to store them.

Look at what storage you have available at the moment and what you might need to ensure you have everything in a place of its own. A few toys strewn over the floor can make your home feel like a mess. It’s good to stay on top of the mess by having a few toy boxes or baskets that are placed throughout the home.

Storage can also be found in places that you wouldn’t normally think to look at. This includes furniture that has storage as part of its features.

Sofas with an under storage area, for example, can be very useful. Hidden storage is going to help make your home appear a lot more spacious, too. Plus, when it’s out of sight, it’s out of mind.

2. Teach Your Children To Clean Up

It might not really seem possible when they’re young, but children can absorb information like nobody’s business. Because of this, the early years are useful to take advantage of.

When it comes to cleaning, you can incorporate cleaning into your children’s education and learning. This can be done through games and activities, which will offer positive encouragement.

As much as they need to have fun, it’s good to teach them these life lessons because it’s something they’re going to need as they get older. Just like you do with baking, you’re teaching your child something new, so make cleaning a fun activity.

Eventually, they’ll likely do this on their own. When they begin to do this, it definitely makes life a little easier. They have to be taught first, however

3. Declutter Where Necessary

Decluttering your home is important because the last thing you want is to feel like you’re living in a permanent mess. That’s not a nice way to feel about your home, and it’s something that can easily be fixed if you know where to start.

Decluttering can be a good way to rid your home of all that excess stuff that you really don’t need. It’s worth going around your home every so often to clear out anything and everything that isn’t used.

This is something that you can time to do on a monthly, seasonally, or annual basis, depending on the amount of clutter and the time you have available. As long as you’re doing it, though, that’s all that matters. Every little bit will make a huge difference.

4. Treat Your Home To A Professional Hand

Even when you think you can do a good job, some jobs are worth hiring professionals. One example is cleaning out your gutters, and another can be carpet cleaning. Both are important to keep your home clean. Plus, the gutters can be helpful in making sure the foundations of your home remain solid.

For carpet cleaning, getting it professionally done might be needed when you have young children who are spilling food and drink on the floor. Carpets can be a pain to clean, and for the most part, it’s better to have wooden flooring. However, if it can’t be avoided, get a professional to give your home a little treat every now and then. It’ll provide you with clean carpets but also a fresh smelling floor too.

5. Clean As You Go

It’s good to clean as you go because, with young children, they can often leave a trail of destruction on a daily basis. Try to keep things clean by cleaning as you go, rather than letting it build up and become a massive mess to deal with.

While your life drastically changes when you have kids, this is one thing you can control. You can keep a tidy house with these tips to keep your home clean with young children