Category: Life

6 Ways to Help Your Kids Be Productive and Happy

Post author By Sarah Barkley
Post date February 25, 2021

Raising children and helping your kids be productive and happy isn’t always an easy job. With technology becoming an ever-present distraction, it is even harder than before. As a parent, you want to do whatever it takes to see your kids accomplish their daily tasks and live a life that matters.

Even so, it takes a good amount of time, energy, and patience to instill the necessary values. If done right, however, your kids could have peak performance for the rest of their lives. As a parent, you play a huge role in your child’s enjoyment, satisfaction, and overall development.

Use the proven tips below to set your kids up for successful and impactful futures.

kids be productive and happy, 6 Ways to Help Your Kids Be Productive and Happy, productive and happy kids, happy kids, productive kids, Help Your Kids Be Productive and Happy — Source

How to Make Your Kids Productive and Happy

1. Make Your Home as Comfortable as Possible

One of the best ways to raise happy kids is by creating a positive environment around them to make them feel loved and respected. Setting the tone for your home can be done by enforcing proper communication channels, using the correct language, and encouraging praise. It is also important to keep the physical space neat and in good shape.

Notably, kids love cute spaces. Having an exclusive spot for them in the house helps them feel wanted and loved. They will love that you cared enough to create a space just for them.

Plus, it gives them the liberty to decorate their space the way they want to. With additional custom-made designs such as the cabin beds at Cuckooland, you can foster creativity and innovation, making your little ones productive.

2. Give Them Daily Tasks and Responsibilities

Getting your kids to take out the garbage, do the dishes, or even mow the lawn shouldn’t be seen as a way of reducing the workload. Instead, it is a way of helping your kids live better lives. By making them follow a specific routine with well-defined tasks, they become responsible and, eventually, champions of respecting authority.

Learn how to be authoritative, but at the same time, not too strict or hard on your kids. Once in a while, give them huge responsibilities such as making dinner or deciding where to hang out. Then, watch how it will slowly cultivate confidence and decisiveness.

3. Inspire Core Values and Good Habits

According to scientific studies, if you want your kids to be dedicated to their studies, or lead straight lives, present yourself as one of the best role models they could have. Core values such as kindness and managing emotions go a long way in shaping their mental health. Make sure these values are instilled in your children by letting them see you practice them, too.

Teaching kids to respect the environment is also essential. Educating your kids on how to save energy and make eco-friendly choices is a great way to encourage them to develop positive values around protecting natural resources. This provides lots of excellent learning opportunities to teach them about renewable energy sources, such as those used by CleanChoice Energy, and to educate them on how renewable energy is generated.

As a caregiver, be sensitive at all times and make decisions from an empathetic point of view. Your kids are more likely to respond to this form of parenting than an authoritarian one. What most parents don’t understand is that kids absorb all their expressions, and those expressions shape and influence their young self-esteem.

4. Make Time for Them, Set Limits, and Be Consistent

Sometimes, it’s not about what your kids do that counts, but about what you do. How many times a week do you spend quality time with them? Are you a consistent parent, or do you always have excuses and reasons in-store?

Being a present parent enhances the productivity of your child by making them aware of parental authority. It also helps with adhering to rules and regulations. Setting limits ensures proper management of time and resources while enforcing discipline.

5. Make Your Happiness a Priority

Energy can be reciprocated and entertained by your kid’s ever-growing mind. Let’s face it – you also have needs, responsibilities, and expectations to meet. It can be hard to be fully present while managing the pressure, but you have to take it easy on yourself.

Getting everything done should not be seen as selfishness but as a means of enjoying quality time with your kids. Taking care of yourself and meeting all your desired expectations gives you a clear and relaxed mind to handle kids.

Mistakes You Should Avoid When Raising Your Kids

While it may appear easy to implement the above tips, it is also easy to make mistakes when raising your kids. Some of them include:

Shaming your children
Imposing micromanagement rules
Failure to give them a solid emotional base
Correcting your kids constantly without giving them room to make mistakes
Encouraging limited play instead of unstructured play

As parents, you should strive to provide the best for your kids. Transforming and molding them might feel like an uphill task and could cause some disagreement or stress, but it helps them grow into young, responsible, and productive individuals.

Help Your Kids Be Productive and Happy

Implement these tips, and you will be sure to play your part in helping your kids be productive and happy. With some concentrated effort and discipline, you can make it happen. Would you add anything to this list?

Tags big kids, family, Life, little kid, Parenting, tips, toddlers

Adulting Finances For the Home How To Life

4 Easy Ways to Use Less Energy For Lower Household Bills

Post author By Sarah Barkley
Post date February 25, 2021

save money, household bills, save money on bills, finances

More of us are aware of our impact on the environment and are making changes to our homes to live a more environmentally-friendly life. To make it even more enticing, being more environmentally-friendly can save you money, too. You can use less energy to lower household bills and do your part for our environment.

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

How to Lower Household Bills

1. Turn Down The Thermostat

You don’t have to be cold, but turning down the thermostat for your furnace or boiler by even a small amount makes a big difference. Lowering the heat by only one degree saves energy and money, and you won’t notice the difference. If you can, try turning it down even further as you become accustomed to a cooler temperature.

There are thermostats you can buy that allows you to schedule times for the heat to be lower, too. Then, if you aren’t home, the heat won’t be up so high.

2. Add Insulation

Proper insulation traps heat inside during the winter and helps keep the house cool during the summer. Find out what insulation is in your walls and attic and see if it could be replaced with something more efficient.

With proper insulation, your heating and air conditioning don’t have to work as hard. Since they don’t have to work as much, it lowers the costs and could save you from calling out 24 Hour AC Repair to an overworked A/C unit.

3. Save Water

Water waste is a serious problem, and using more water than you need will be pushing up your water bill. Saving water is easy with some small changes. These changes include avoiding the following:

leaving the water running when you brush your teeth
overfilling the bath
leaving the shower running when you’re not in it
running the water continually while shaving
long showers
running half loads of laundry

4. Block Out Drafts

Drafts make a house feel cold, so you spend more on heating. Draft excluders can help keep rooms warm. You could also hang a heavy curtain over doors to the outside to keep the heat in.

Seal up cracks in floors, walls, or skirting boards. If you have a chimney but don’t use it, get a chimney excluder. It will help keep even more heat in the house, saving you money on household bills.

Lower Household Bills

These are just a few of the ways to lower household bills. There are many other ways, too! Can you think of any others? Let me know in the comments!

Tags adulting, finances, Home, How to, Life

Adulting How To Life

A Few Basic Things Every Adult Should Know How to Do

Post author By Sarah Barkley
Post date February 22, 2021

There are a few things every adult should know how to do, no matter what. If you want to live a happy, healthy, and successful life, there are some aspects of adulting that are simply not optional.

Living life to its fullest means you have to be self-sufficient and know how to take care of yourself. Since I turned 30 (OMG) a couple of weeks ago, this has been on my mind more than ever.

If you know the things that every adult should know how to do, you are on the right track. Otherwise, make a note of these things and start learning right away.

Things Every Adult Should Know How to Do

1. How to Cook at Least 5 Meals

As an adult, you should be able to feed yourself a healthy diet without any outside help. Sure, eating out may be cheap, but it isn’t always the healthiest option. Plus, if you’re on a budget or you want to ensure the right balance of nutrients in your diet, cooking from scratch is a must.

That means, at a minimum, you should be able to cook five healthy dishes completely from scratch. If you can’t do this, invest in a good cookbook or check out some Youtube cooking tutorials and practice ‘til you’ve got it down.

2. How to DIY

Every adult should know the basics of DIY – things like hanging wallpaper, putting up shelves, and unblocking sinks. Having to hire a professional every time something goes wrong with your home can get pretty expensive.

Not only will it save you money, but when you know how to tackle projects yourself, you can make quick fixes before the problem gets worse. It will also give you something productive to do when you’re bored, which is never a bad thing.

3. How to Handle Disagreements

As a fully grown adult, you should be able to disagree with people without it becoming heated. You should be able to talk to your partner about their annoying habits without it descending into a shouting match. Additionally, you should be able to negotiate with your boss without feeling like you’re going to cry or explode or do something stupid.

So many adults never learn how to do this, and at best they end up ruining relationships, at worst they find themselves talking with an attorney about the code for manslaughter or up on trial for a serious offense. That probably won’t happen to you, but being unable to calmly discuss issues and mediate a rational discussion can and will make your life worse.

4. How to Change a Tire

You should stay off the road if you don’t know how to change a tire. You never know when it will happen or if someone will be available to help you. Avoid being stranded by learning how to change a tire on your own.

This is a basic that will help get you out of tough situations on the road. Plus, it will save you a bunch of money since you can avoid calling a professional for help.

5. How to do Your Taxes

If you’re an adult and you don’t know how to do your taxes, you’re in a tough spot. The IRS takes a very dim review on incorrect tax returns and they will come down hard on you.

You must get it together and understand what is required of you. These days there are various software packages to make the process simpler, but you’ll still need to learn the basics.

Basic Things Every Adult Should Know How to Do

How many of the basic things every adult should know how to do can you do alone? I couldn’t change a tire until recently, and I was so relieved to learn! Let me know in the comments which ones you know how to do.

Tags adulting, How to, Life

Adulting For the Home Home How To Life

5 Easy Ways To Get Your Home Back In Order

Post author By Sarah Barkley
Post date February 13, 2021
6 Comments on 5 Easy Ways To Get Your Home Back In Order

For one reason or another, you may find that your home doesn’t stay looking the way that you should. Sometimes, life takes over and things get messy. Your home can start to get cluttered and, before you know it, it’s out of hand and you don’t know how to get your home back in order.

Other times, you may have had a get together or event at your home that caused a mess. You may be lost on where to start with getting your home back in order, then, too.

Either way, both instances can be stressful. To help alleviate your stress, use these tips to get your home back in order.

How To Get Your Home Back In Order

1. Purge the Entire House

To start with, get rid of anything you don’t need or want anymore. If you know that you’ve accumulated a lot of things over the years, clutter clearing can be essential.

This might be the starting point that you can work from. Once you’ve cleared the rooms out, it should feel so much more organized. Then, you can choose to work on some of the bigger jobs.

2. Get The Carpets Cleaned

Another thing that you might want to think about doing is getting the carpets cleaned. Carpets can get really messy and grubby over the months and years, and a good clean will help them. It might be a good idea to hire a professional to do this for you every so often.

3. Freshen Up The Paint

Freshening up the paint is an easy way to get your home back in order. Your rooms will seem brighter and cleaner after a coat of pain. You could even consider painting the outside of your home, too.

4. Call In The Experts

From here, you could think about getting experts in to help you. Sometimes, you’re just not going to get things to the standard that you’d like. This is why there are professionals in the field, so utilize them when you need to.

From smoke damage restoration to water damage to AC Repair Services, it’s better to ask them for help. That way, your home can be put back to the standard it once was. Plus, you can rest assured that the job was done correctly.

5. Do Something Drastic

If you know that you’re fed up with the way your home looks and you want to be able to make some changes, it’s time to get started. You could change up the rooms, rip out different fittings, or consider a complete redo of the house. It can be a lot of work, but if you know you want to make it happen, it can be just what you need to get your home back in order.

Do you ever feel like your home is out of control no matter what you do? I speak from experience when I say it can be overwhelming! Try one of two (or all) of the tips discussed here and see if they help to get your home back in order.

Which ones will you be trying? Let me know in the comments!

Tags Home, How to, Organization

Adulting How To Life

3 Ways To Be A Better & More Competent Caregiver

Post author By Sarah Barkley
Post date February 11, 2021
1 Comment on 3 Ways To Be A Better & More Competent Caregiver

Caring for a family member or someone close to you can be a tough ask. It not only asks you to reorient your schedule but to cope with some difficult circumstances. You will feel like there is always more to do, and more things to learn and understand. Even so, you likely want to become a better & more competent caregiver to your loved one.

Be a Better & More Competent Caregiver — Source

There are many who act as daily caregivers for someone close to them. It’s a tough job, and it takes time. Most personal caregivers don’t have much training in this field either, making it even more difficult.

Personal caregivers do what they believe is right, try their hardest every day, and spend time trying to become a better & more competent caregiver. For this reason, they unlock quality of life for those they care about and are seen as an absolute blessing.

Unfortunately, this doesn’t take away from how difficult the job can be in the first place. For this reason, it’s important that caregivers don’t force themselves to carry the entire world on their shoulders, enlisting help where necessary, and using methods to try and become a better & more competent caregiver.

If you’re reading this post, you’re no doubt much more caring and effective than you’re giving yourself credit for. These tips can help you even further.

How to Become a Better & More Competent Caregiver

1. Use Government Programs To Help You

Listing yourself as a caregiver can often help you unlock access to a range of supplementary programs to make your life easier. This might involve a ‘meals on wheels’ delivery service to make cooking and cleanup much easier.

There are also many excellent support programs (such as one-off payments for heating the home in winter) that you can look into. Speak to your local government about what support options you have – they could make your life much easier.

2. Use The Professionals

It’s fine to admit that a caregiving job may not be totally in your hands anymore. Or, may need to spend more time on other areas of your life. This is where services that offer in-home and professional care for seniors could be effective.

Having a qualified professional take over your most pressing duties and keep up with a daily standard of care that is hard to find elsewhere while still keeping you involved in the process could be a real lifesaver. Many caregivers find they can live a real life outside of caregiving with this kind of aid to support them.

3. Use Covid-Protective Measures

Caregiving has become even more difficult in the midst of the Covid pandemic. Being unable to head out as often, the limited socialization, and the worry of getting sick has been on our minds for almost a year now. However, it’s important to somewhat automate these Covid concessions to make them easier to deal with.

Keeping masks, gloves, disinfectant and antibacterial spray can help you and the person you care for stay safe and healthy. It’s best to not take any chances.

Being a caregiver is hard work, but you can make it a little easier on yourself. You don’t have to sacrifice the standard of care you give, either. Use these tips to become a better & more competent caregiver. Sometimes understanding and using your resources is all it takes.

Do you have any other tips to add to this? Let me know in the comments!

Tags adulting, How to, Life, love

Adulting Finances For the Home How To Life

5 Of The Best Ways You Can Save Money On Household Bills

Post author By Sarah Barkley
Post date February 5, 2021
2 Comments on 5 Of The Best Ways You Can Save Money On Household Bills

Household bills can quickly add up, and you may feel like there is no way to reduce the financial burden. We tend to let the payments leave our accounts each month without a second thought because the bills must be paid. While it is true that the bills must be paid, there are ways you can save money on household bills each month.

How to Save Money On Household Bills

1. Meal Planning

Groceries are a big household expense each month (or week). Sometimes, if we don’t spend time thinking about it beforehand, we can spend more than we need to. This is where meal planning can save you a fortune.

It’s all about investing a little time into planning your week. You have to think about the ingredients you already have and which meals you can make out of them, and then writing a list for the rest.

That is the key point. The list is what helps you spend just what you need to. Doing this each week could save you a small fortune over the course of a year.

*Click here for a FREE meal plan printable.*

2. Making Your Home More Energy Efficient

Energy bills can be astronomical at certain times of the year. Check your house and consider if it is energy efficient or if it is costing you extra money each month.

Check out things like insulation and whether your windows are energy efficient. This is when you may want to update your windows with replacement vinyl windows to help you keep heat in.

Even updating some older appliances could help save you some money. This is because, in theory, having an eco-friendly home should reduce the amount of energy you use.

3. Considering an Eco-friendly Life

You could take the whole eco-friendly thing one step further and try to reduce your outings. This might mean setting up a vegetable patch and growing your own food. Or, it could mean trying to generate your own water supply.

If it’s something you want further information on, then seek out some advice. Other things to consider would be saving your rainwater, generating a supply for things like watering your garden.

4. Switching Suppliers

We all know there are good deals out there, but some people have the impression that switching suppliers takes time, effort, and could even cost more.

But, there are websites to compare deals that can help you out. They compare all the suppliers and work out the cost based on your usage. Do this often to make sure you are not overspending.

5. Reduce Luxuries

Things like TV packages and the highest speed internet can be costly over time. If you aren’t using what you are paying for, then reduce those packages.

Reducing the packages might mean reducing the download amount on your internet or getting rid of channels on your TV package. If you don’t use it, you won’t miss it. You will enjoy the extra money in your pocket, though.

These changes could make a huge difference and help save money on household bills. You work hard for your money, and you should save as much as you can. What are some ways that you have learned to save money on household bills? Tell me about it in the comments!

Tags adulting, finances, Home, How to

Adulting Life

7 Smart Things You Can Do Right Now To Plan For Retirement

Post author By Sarah Barkley
Post date January 31, 2021

Financial security in your retirement will need some advance planning, and you’re never too young to start planning. If you prepare in advance for your retirement you can better manage your finances to make your money last as long as possible and plan ahead in case of illness or another incapacity.

1. Start saving as early as you can

The earlier you start saving for retirement, the more money you can save. Even saving just a small amount every month can be enough.

Put aside a small amount and stick to it. It’s never too early to start saving. If you start now, you can spread out the cost of setting up your retirement fund.

2. Pay into your employer’s pension plan

If your workplace has a pension plan, pay into it so they will make contributions, too. You might pay less tax on your contributions, and over time, this can help you to save a lot more. Ask your HR department about any 401k plans they have that you may be able to join too.

3. Don’t spend your retirement savings

Don’t touch your retirement savings unless it’s an emergency. Once you’ve started saving, don’t be tempted to use any of the money for something else, unless you truly have no other option.

If you dip into your retirement fund, you’ll have less to live on later. If you struggle to leave your savings where they are, a financial advisor can help you to manage your funds better.

4. Take advantage of different kinds of retirement accounts

If possible, increase your contributions to the maximum allowed in your 401k, IRA, or other retirement plans. Try to get enough into your 401k to qualify for any contribution matching your employer will make. The more you can pay in, the more they’ll pay in, giving you more retirement savings.

5. Consolidate your accounts when the time is right

As you get older, you could consolidate accounts to make it less complicated to manage them. Combine any IRAs of the same type with one institution. Find any old 401k you have with former employers.

Organizing your money into fewer places will make it easier to track how much you have and where your money is.

6. Shrink your debt

Pay more into your mortgage payments now if you can afford to. Aim to pay it off before you retire, giving you one less thing to pay for. Then, if you decide to downsize when you retire, perhaps to one of the over 55 patio homes that so many people are enjoying, you will be able to put the entire sale of your home toward something that suits you, without having another mortgage.

Avoid running up new debts on credit and instead, try to pay cash for any big purchases you make. No new debt means your retirement income doesn’t need to be spent on interest payments or paying down debt.

7. Set aside some money for your future care

If you’re worried about how your children will afford your care, set aside some funds. Think of medical bills, funeral costs, or nursing home bills. Emergency funds for paying unexpected health care emergencies or moving to a retirement home are also a smart idea.

7 Smart Things You Can Do Right Now To Plan For Retirement

Recap: Plan for retirement

If you plan for retirement now, it will make your life much easier in the long run. You won’t have to worry about finances, and you won’t have to spend your later years working.

What are some of the ways that you are planning for retirement? Let me know in the comments!

Tags adulting, finances, Life, Plans

Adulting How To Life Mental Health

10 Simple Ways To Find More Happiness in Life

Post author By Sarah Barkley
Post date January 28, 2021

It’s always going to be important for you to prioritize your own happiness. Now, that might be a strange thing for you to be thinking about or even imagine. Yet, it’s still very much true, because finding happiness in life is essential.

If you know that you want to live a good life, you’ll want to make sure that you are happy. Being happy and living a good life is often easier said than done. You may find that you must make much more of an effort for that to happen.

Sometimes, you may just go about your life without really realizing that you’re doing it. If you do this, you are living on autopilot. That can cause you to miss out on everyday moments that can make you happy. Not only that, but you may find that you’re also focusing too heavily on things that are stressing you out.

One of the ways to do it is to ensure that you’re actively looking to find more happiness for your family. By being in their company and making time to enjoy happiness, you’ll start to encourage more ways to feel good in yourself.

If you’re not sure about different ways that you can do this, you’ve come to the right place. You’ll find that of the different ways you can really start to feel happier, these ten are really going to add some value to your life. So take a look and see if you can apply them to your life this week.

How To Find More Happiness in Life

1. Slow Down

To start with, you’re going to want to slow down a little bit. If you want to be happier, slowing down can help you to enjoy your life a little more. You start to see and appreciate the little things, and it’s going to have a benefit on your health, too.

2. Be More Present

Next up, you’re going to want to think about being a bit more present. You may find that slowing down will help you, but bringing yourself into the present can make a difference to your health and happiness. It keeps your mind still and allows you to feel more joy.

3. Spend More Time With Loved Ones

Human interaction is just so important. Spending time with people that you love and care about can make you feel good.

It’s a simple pleasure that has such a strong effect on the mind and body. So why not think about spending more time with your loved ones for a quick happiness boost.

4. Expand Your Family

From here, you may find that you actually want to be able to expand your family a little, too. This could work in two ways. You could consider getting a new puppy to bring more happiness into family life.

Don’t worry about it being hard work because things like www.puppytrainedright.com can be a great support for you here. You may even find that you want to grow your family and have more children too, so there’s that to think about as well.

5. Work Towards A Goal

Sometimes, you need to focus on something specific. If you want to feel happier in yourself, you may find that you would want to consider the idea of setting a goal for yourself.

This could be work-related, health-related, or even something entirely different. The idea here is that it keeps you focused and brings happiness into your life.

6. Do Things You Love

It’s also important to do things that you love to help you feel happy, too. Whether that’s baking or reading or gardening – whatever it is, make sure that you save some time for it so that you have that little source of joy in your life.

7. Be More Creative

You might also want to think about what you can do to try and be more creative. It might be that you want to be able to do things that bring you joy and creative activities can do that.

If you’re not the most creative person, you may find that you can do things like drawing, coloring, writing, painting, or even some kind of sewing craft that makes you feel happier while you do it.

8. Get Outside

You are also going to find that it’s going to really help you if you can get outside a bit more. There are so many benefits to you being outside more and enjoying nature.

Even if you don’t really consider yourself someone that loves to be outdoors, the benefits will really help your health and happiness. So, think about spending a bit more time outside. Even just going for a walk can really make a difference to how you feel about yourself.

9. Look For Little Wins

It’s also nice for you to think about how you can look for different wins on an everyday basis. Sometimes, we let ourselves just get way too worked up and worry about the negatives. When actually, there are often little victories that we can celebrate daily.

So, why not think about things you can do to feel better about yourself and bring some happiness in your life. It could just be the moments that have made you smile in the day.

10. Focus On The Positives

Finally, you’re going to want to ensure that you can think about all of the different positives in your life. No matter who you are and what sort of things are getting you down, there will always be positives.

From breathing fresh air, having loved ones in your life, and having a roof over your head, there are positives. Sometimes there are ideas much bigger than that, sometimes much smaller. But by focusing on the positives and the things you’re grateful for, you may find that it helps you find more happiness in life.

What are some of the ways that you find more happiness in life? Leave a comment and let me know!

Tags adulting, How to, Life, mental health

Adulting For the Home How To Life

4 Practical Ways to Prepare Your Home for Extreme Weather

Post author By Sarah Barkley
Post date January 27, 2021

During extreme weather, the elements can threaten our homes and put us at risk of damage. In many cases, protecting your home against natural disasters and the elements can be simple. However, many Americans are all too aware that extreme weather conditions can be devastating, and the damage can be immeasurable.

So how can you protect your home against the elements and survive the wrath of Mother Nature when it hits?

Extreme Weather, prepare for extreme weather, protect your home, prepare your home — Source

How to Prepare Your Home for Extreme Weather

1. Get Insurance or Check Your Current Policy

One of the best ways to protect yourself is to make sure your home and all your possessions are insured. Make sure to read the small print and know exactly what is covered and go over the limitations.

You should take pictures regularly of what you own and back it up. Keeping records is the best way to show the insurance company what you own and what has been damaged.

2. Familiarize Yourself With Repair Companies

Knowing a reliable repair company will be the best way to help you get back on track after a natural disaster. Part of the issue is negotiating between contractors and insurance companies, and this task can often seem worse than what you are facing.

However, finding a company that can help you with Water Damage Restoration or repairs after wind or water damage who will be able to work with the insurance company can help you start to find your way again in the aftermath of a damaging event.

3. Prepare For Anything

Many counties and states have guides on preparing for geological events that frequently affect the local area. These guides range from hurricanes to earthquakes and extreme heat levels to rising water from flooding.

Visiting your local government’s website will give you information on how to prepare your home for different weather conditions. It will give you an insight into how frequently this type of extreme weather can occur, too.

Knowing when to expect extreme weather conditions and how best to protect yourself and your home will help you put plans in place. Don’t forget to keep local weather alerts on your smartphone to be kept up to date with any new and sudden weather changes.

4. Emergency Supplies

Keeping your home well-stocked with supplies can give you a head start if the worst-case scenario happens. Stocking up on bottled water, canned foods or long-life food supplies that can be eaten as they are will give you something to fall back. While it isn’t likely, you don’t want to be without if food and water supplies are disrupted.

A shovel for snow or in the aftermath of high winds can be useful. De-icer for cold temperatures is also useful, as well as spare batteries, a generator, and torches to help you to see. Consider packing a survival kit including blankets, waterproof outerwear, first aid kit, socks, shoes, torch, and tools that you can easily access.

You never know when extreme weather may cause issues for you. In the event of a disaster, being prepared can help you manage those initial few hours after an extreme weather event or help others who may not have been so lucky.

Is there anything you would add to this list? Tell me about it in the comments!

Tags adulting, Home, How to

Adulting Family Activities Life Parenting

5 Simple Morning Rituals For Your Family to Make Your Day Better

Post author By Sarah Barkley
Post date January 27, 2021

family, family routine, morning rituals, morning routine, morning

Waking yourself up can sometimes feel like more of an effort than getting your children up for school. We all have those mornings where we would rather stay lying in bed than getting up and being productive. To get out of a bad habit and ensure your family has a bright and mindful morning routine, introduce these simple morning rituals.

Morning Rituals For Families

Wake Up Earlier

That’s right, as crazy as it sounds, waking up earlier is a great morning ritual to begin. Setting the alarm just 15 minutes earlier than your usual time can help you be more productive. Plus, it gives you more time to get yourself and your family ready for the day.

Wake up your children, your pets, and your partner if you rise first. You may want to make sure your pets are fed before starting the day, so getting that out of the way with yummy Pet-Ness treats will allow you to focus on the rest of the family.

Open The Curtains

You will want to wake up before the children to ensure you can start their day off positively. As soon as you wake, take advantage of the morning light by opening the bedroom curtains.

Getting light first thing in the morning will energize the brain and improve your mood. It can feel intense at first if you are used to leaving the curtains closed, but you soon add it to your routine when you feel the benefits.

Get Fresh Air

A lack of fresh air overnight, while you are sleeping, is a common energy stealer. Waking up and stepping outside for some air as soon as possible will fight off the tired feeling and wake you up.

You could take your children out to play while you drink your coffee to make the most of your morning family time. Not only will you all be getting fresh air first thing in the morning, but you will also make lasting memories.

Eat Together

It can be easy to fall out of the habit of eating breakfast together. Cooking a quick batch of pancakes or eggs with toast and sitting around the table will make mealtimes more regular and special. Eating breakfast will also increase your kids’ energy and help them have a productive start to the day.

Share Plans

While eating breakfast together, share your schedule and ask everyone around the table what they are looking forward to that day. Sharing positive thoughts and ideas can help boost everyone’s mood for the entire day. Talking over breakfast is a great opportunity to share any concerns or exciting news, too.

Integrating these morning rituals into your family’s routine can help everyone fight fatigue, be more productive, and communicate together before the day begins.

You don’t have to do them all right away. It might be easier to do one at a time as you ease into a new routine.

Does your family have any morning routines that you already do each day? Tell me about them in the comments!

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