Kandis
- Jul 7, 2021
- 4 min read

Me @ 36: Get Yo Life

Thirty-six! We out here! I think I feel THE most different out of the 14 years I’ve been doing these morning birthday reflections.

For starters, I’m typing this at 4:56am because I haven’t been pumping regularly and need to get an extra pump in so Dex & I can hang without the boys later today. Let’s just pause here and talk about nursing a child for one second…this is WORK! I’ve officially made it twice as long as I did with our first son and honestly, I am at the end of my grace period and I know it.

I’m going to push through these last two months to hit a year, but only a fellow mamas would know and the pressure and planning that goes into literally EVERYTHING when you are nursing.

Every “yes,” comes with a clause…”if there’s enough milk.” And for those who are not as regimented (like me), keeping a stashed supply just gets harder and harder as your baby grows.

Which brings me to the topic I’d like to say has marked my 35th year of life…

Simplifying.

Thirty-five was the year I made some drastic life decisions to help de-stress and simplify my life and I am absolutely LOVING it!

I now consider myself a moderate minimalist.

I have paired everything in our house down by about 60% and I’ve cleaned and organized literally every drawer, closet, cabinet…whether it’s visible or hidden, it’s been touched.

I even simplified the number of plates and silverware that are accessible to us on a daily basis because who wants to spend their time cleaning a kitchen?

The kitchen and our laundry system were the most drastic changes and since simplifying those areas, our kitchen and laundry have not piled up in a single day. And both can be completed in less than 30 minutes tops!

Now THIS is living! I was in the middle of a 3-day laundry marathon when my mom texted me a video that sent me into overdrive on our full house de-clutter/organization spree.

I watched a video my mom sent me and looked at our laundry and thought, “this cannot happen again.” And so the changes began!

I don’t want to bore you with the details of what all I’ve done, but aside from de-cluttering, here are a couple things I did that made major differences:

Laundry

Simplified our wardrobes (well, Dex’s isn’t simplified but we at least let go of all the things that didn’t fit him right)
I got rid of all storage containers holding clothes for the past/future and made everything fit in the boys’s closet – so they now have a 5 year closet with clothes ranging from Newborn to size 5

The biggest game changers:

I swapped out our dirty clothes hampers for significantly smaller containers
I got rid of all our laundry baskets

Kitchen

I only left out 2 plates, 2 bowls, 2 small plates, 2 cups, for me & Dex + 2 bowls and 2 plates for the boys
I only left out 2 knives, 3 forks, and 3 spoons
All extra silverware and plates/bowls/cups etc. are stored up high and out of convenient reach, only to be brought down when we have guests
Got rid of the 25 mugs we were just staring at in the cabinet everyday – only kept the ones we use which turned out to be 5

I’ll post links to all the videos that helped jump start these systems. You will have to mix it with what works for you. Some of the processes were not as thorough as I’d like (for example, the laundry system lady doesn’t like to fold. I like to have folded and organized drawers so I added that into my system); and some of the tips were a bit too much for me (like making sure all the pants on hangers are facing a certain way to create clean lines).

The laundry lady doesn’t have dirty clothes hampers at all, I prefer having dirty clothes hampers.

Basically, you’ll see and know what you like and don’t and can adjust your systems accordingly.

Lastly and perhaps the biggest thing I simplified this past year was…

My Hair!

THIS! Has been one of my absolute favorite decisions (once I got past the awkward spots). I started loc’ing my hair last July, a couple months before our 2nd son was born, because I didn’t expect to have the time or energy to keep my hair looking decent once I had two kids under 2, so I opted for a low-maintenance hair life, at least until my kids are school-aged and then we’ll reassess.

Thankfully my cousin is a loctician so I didn’t have to do much research to get started. If you’re in DFW and need some loc help/love, I’ll put her info at the bottom of this post as well!

Anywho, as you can read, I’m pretty excited about having less to manage.

The more stuff we have whether it’s dishes, clothes, or hair…the more time it takes to manage it!

I decided I wanted to spend less of my time managing things and more of my time enjoying life.

As for 36, I’m planning to do a lot more of the same, keeping it simple, enjoying my family, growing in faith, growing my business, but I’m hoping to add a couple more things to the mix…more time with friends and travel.

I miss our people and the world!

Anyway, this may be the longest birthday post I’ve written, clearly I’m excited about these changes! Lol

Hoping I inspire some of you to do the same! Let me know if you have any questions!

And thank you for taking the time to sit “with me” and read my words on my birthday. You da best! Now, go get yo life back!

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