Creating a cozy life means cultivating a life of peace, joy, and understanding that brings together purposeful living, simple living, and faithful living. If the cozy life is new to you, start here: Creating a Cozy Life.
Because we aren’t minimalists, we have homes with things in them. Those things have been selected and kept because we believe they serve an important purpose. But we get busy and sometimes we don’t stay on top of certain areas of life. So it’s always a good idea to take stock of what you have from time to time so you are a good steward of what you own.
Today I will be taking stock of two things in my life as part of my ongoing Cozy Life Reset.
Taking Stock in My Home
First, I will begin the annual clothes swap from fall/winter to spring/summer. Now that I have a new washing machine (yay!), I’m not dreading this process. Everything gets freshly washed before it is put away. I know there are multiple items I need new this year. (Caroline and David are not lacking in clothes at all.) I especially need a dress for Caroline’s graduation party so I need to seriously start looking for that.
Second, I will take a long hard look at my pantry because I have slacked off in this area over the past few months. It was often pushed down the to-do list because there were other things more pressing. I wrote about preparedness yesterday before I had even heard about the sizable earthquake in the New Madrid area (see my comments on that post for more details). This confirms to me that I’m supposed to pay attention to this part of my life. If preparedness is new to you, start by looking through these posts: The Prudent & Prepared Homemaker.
Ideas for Taking Stock of Your Home
So those are the two areas where I will be taking stock today. Where do you need to take stock in your cozy home? It could be:
- gardening
- landscaping
- kitchen
- medical
- clothing
- gifts
- party planning
- pantry
Remember that in taking stock of your home, you are loving your family in very real and tangible ways.
Our storage areas need serious attention and consolidation to make room for new activities. I recently found a couple of things in storage that went missing two moves ago! Kitchen gadgets have been taking over the pantry space. We were given several bins of craft supplies that I haven’t been able to work through as quickly as I had hoped.
Our landlord just replaced the washer here with a name-brand mainstream machine…and it certainly does whirl. It somehow manages to stay in place and not quite achieve liftoff, but it shakes its drain hose, which shakes the utility sink, which shakes the hot and cold water pipes…I’m sure that will never be a problem. I went looking for water shutoff valves, and I think it will have to be the main one at the water meter. I can’t see this washer lasting the decades that its predecessor did.