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The Systems That Keep Our Homeschool Running After 10 Years · Making Everyday Magic: The Podcast

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Okay.
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Before we enter the first day of school shenanigans,
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I have to tell you what helps our school run so well.
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Because I do get that question a lot, a lot, a lot, a lot.
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And it is systems, you know, you didn't want to hear it, but true story.
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I'll get back to making Everyday Magic. My name is Shanna.
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If you are new here where a home schooling family of four.
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We have entered our 10th year of schooling and today I want to share with you
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some of the systems that help us find success year after year,
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day after day, in our home and in our homeschool.
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Before we go any further,
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please scroll down, hit the big red subscribe button,
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turn on the bell for notifications and give this video a thumbs up.
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As always,
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you can find me right on down
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in the comments or over on Instagram at Making Everyday Magic.
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Like I said, today we're talking systems.
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Why, Shawna?
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Why are we talking systems?
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Without our systems we would fail.
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It is a very big deal to me that we stay consistent.
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How do you stay consistent?
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You use a system.
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Myself, personally,
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I like systems and it's not a schedule.
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A schedule is like time bound.
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A routine is something that you do over and over.
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But for me, the systems are what make or break it.
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And every year I show you and I tell you about the exact same systems that we have.
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So we have a morning routine, which is our morning system.
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I have my own,
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my kids have theirs, and we're going to talk about all of these systems today.
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We have a system for meal planning and grocery getting.
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We have a system for laundry.
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We have a system for chores, which is actually just getting a revamp
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in our home.
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We have a planning system which this year changed and went digital.
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We have a calendar systems because we need to know what everybody's
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doing everywhere, because everybody's doing a lot of stuff.
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It's so much stuff.
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Why am I sharing all of this with you?
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Because again, we are starting a new home school year, which means
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we are throwing our school system back into our system routine.
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We have been off on summer, the kids have barely been doing chores.
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Nobody's doing anything like they're supposed to.
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So this video will serve two purposes.
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The first
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being that we are articulating our systems again, and I am sharing them with you.
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And that's lovely.
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And it's wonderful because it helps my homeschool soundtrack and my home.
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And number two, good enough into the system
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because we need a swift kick in the pants to get back into these systems.
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Before we do launch into another homeschool year
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and all of the extracurriculars start back up.
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So it is very important to me and we are on solid and good footing.
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I will run you down each one of our systems.
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I do have individual videos probably here on every system that we have,
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but without further ado, let's pop over
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and we're just going to run through them. Why?
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Because they help my home run.
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If you want to see anything else
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a little more in depth, if you have any more questions,
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let me know and I will circle back and maybe
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do something a little more specific on that.
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I will probably share with you.
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Like our school systems as we're getting into our school year.
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So that won't be in this one too much.
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But I can tell you what we do normally do,
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even though this year will probably be quite different, but we'll see.
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Yes, I did make quite a bit of graphics for this video
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because it helped me organize my brain and they're cute and I enjoyed doing it.
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So get ready and buckle up for the graphics.
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For the systems, I have included very many photos,
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graphics, the whole kit and caboodle and I will explain them as we go along.
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But here we are.
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Look at my super cute graphic.
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Okay, something that I
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think is pivotal to any system and genuinely anything that I do
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as a person, as a parent or as a family member is focusing on the main points
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and the keys to success for our systems, for our routines, for our everyday home
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life is that first and foremost, we treat our family as a team.
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Everyone's then everyone matters.
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Everyone has a role to play.
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We are also incredibly consistent.
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Consistency is crucial because if it gets done,
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it is more important than if it doesn't get done.
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And then communication.
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We keep open communication
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because that is a very clear goal for us as far as our family goes.
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Family is our first priority.
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We make sure that everyone is on the same team
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with the same goals, and we do that by being consistent.
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We do that by communicating, by stressing everyone's place and every bit.
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And for us it is very nice.
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We feel like our family operates and functions very well.
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Everyone enjoys their role here as far as we know,
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and we take that rule very seriously because it is important to not only feel
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like you are part of a team, but to also remember
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that you are in service to the team for the greater good.
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And one way that we do that, one way that I love doing that,
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and I'm so happy to have it back on the wall is our quote corner.
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So the girls put these up and they do such a good job.
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Dad and I were working on a bigger project outside and I just told them what to do,
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and they got them up in their street and they're so good.
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I would like to offset the color behind these a bit to make it pop
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a bit more, kind of like it used to have in our old house with the yellow,
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but I just having a quote on the wall, I feel like it's so inspirational.
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It's right, right where we see it.
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Every single person in our family sees it every single day.
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And I know that it is motivating and wonderful and we enjoy it.
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So that is there any nice having it out in our home?
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A little inspiration now as far as our parenting goes,
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our parenting system is that we have very clear communication.
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We express what we want.
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We also set the expectations.
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So we have found in our parenting
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that we have much greater success with literally everything in parenting.
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If we tell the kids what's going to happen,
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if we tell everybody what's coming, if we sit down together
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and let everybody know what's up in the week ahead.
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I mean, these are the things that really do
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convey consistent messaging and I think help everybody stay on the same team,
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help everybody stay in the same place, make sure everybody's aware of things.
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Every time that we have had some big kind of things go down
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as far as behavior wise, it usually always comes back
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to clear expectations and consistent messaging.
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So that for us is really big.
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This is our command center in our kitchen, and I've blurred out
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any important details because y'all don't need to know my business.
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But I want to show you what we have.
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So it's basically a blank calendar in a frame
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that we use wet erase markers on a,
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a like command center
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piece that you'll see again here in a minute and then a week.
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And for the week, what we do is we put down our standing obligation.
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So like every Wednesday at 1 p.m.
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we're at the library, things like that, so that we don't have to kind of
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rewrite it on every day.
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And this is just a closer look at some of these pieces.
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So like our calendar and we, you know, clear it out,
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start over every month and get set up for the day ahead.
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And this is right in the kitchen. Everybody can see it.
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Everybody knows what's coming.
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It's been really helpful even with like the kids orthodontic stuff.
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I mean just having this on the same page is really huge.
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So we love having it.
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And the same thing with our week, it just gives us a place.
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Everybody can see it,
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everybody knows what's coming and it is giving us that week ahead.
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Now you're going to see in a minute the command center that we started
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most recently.
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And the reason that I did that is like our grocery lists are digital.
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And I wanted another bit downstairs to share kind of inspirational quotes, a
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to do list, things that need to be cleaned, things like this.
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And this is what I designed in Canva and then printed.
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Now everything that you've seen on this wall is printed just with a printer,
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and then put inside a clear glass frame, and then we just wet erase
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right on top of it.
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And it works like super, super well for us.
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It's very visual, it's very tangible, and everybody loves it.
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I failed to mention that in addition to the wall calendars,
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we also have color coded family Google Calendar, because everybody
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needs to be able to see everything all the time.
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The kids don't utilize it as much as my husband and I do,
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but it is very handy to have that color coded communal calendar.
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Now, the most important thing that I think you can do to set yourself up
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for success in
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the morning is to start in the evening, and that is why I put it first.
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The evening routine determines the next day's success.
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And this is what everybody in our house does.
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Dad, make sure that the dishwasher is loaded the way he wants it
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loaded and starts the dishes every night, essentially shutting the kitchen down.
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And I will do the closing chores and just make sure we're on track
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for the next phase plan communicating that to everybody.
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Make sure anything that needs to be prepped for the next day.
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Like if I'm going to cook in the crockpot the next day,
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I just pull it out just to trigger that memory.
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If we are going somewhere, I just remind everybody and dinner preps
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if something needs to come out for the next night,
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I go ahead and pull that out just because that's how it works best.
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The kids are responsible for their closing chores,
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which we'll talk more about in a minute,
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and making sure anything needs to be prepped for the day.
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They set their alarm and then everybody gets to bed at a reasonable time.
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Okay, so that means that our morning routine starts the night before.
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If you want to see any more about these specific routines,
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I probably have a full video here.
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But if there's something that you want to see,
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let me know and I will add that to my list of things to do.
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So our morning routine does start the night before.
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Dad will unload the dishes first thing in the morning, which is huge
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because we've got the dishwasher ready to go.
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I like to get up before the kids.
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We've had this discussion many times.
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I like to have my coffee.
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I like to feel like myself, do something for myself,
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get a little work done, possibly check off a chore, and it feels amazing
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to be able to check a workbox check a house box, check a self box.
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Have a quiet morning.
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For me, this is whether or not the day is accessible.
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Starts at the crack of dawn,
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pre done in the morning and that is just because that's how I work best.
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Now the kids will get up with their alarm.
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These are their obligations for their morning routine.
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They get up with their alarm. They get dressed.
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They get fed and they pack up if they need to.
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Because we've got a lot of days we're out of the house
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and then they're ready for school at nine or before.
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And it's not a big stickler. 9 a.m.
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sometimes it's 915, but I know that they're moving
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and making progress and that is pretty huge.
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So this is our morning routine again.
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I've shared it a ton on this channel if you want to learn more about that.
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But that's how our morning goes now.
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Our school routine.
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Our school routine varies year to year as far as what is literally happening,
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the individual things. But this is how it usually goes.
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School. Everybody's ready to start at 9 a.m..
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Okay, we start our week with mom and me Mondays.
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Meaning mom heavy stuff is is front loaded into the week.
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On Mondays we do four day weeks so that we have time to fudge
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and do fun stuff and whatever else we want to happen in there, or catch up
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if that's what's needed.
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Both kids, we usually start with group work,
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so if there's something that they're watching together
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like a crash course or whatever, they will usually do that
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first thing in the morning together and then they will alternate time.
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With working with me, I usually ask who wants to go first?
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And the other one will start with independent work,
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or if one's up and ready before the other one,
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they'll go ahead and start their independent work.
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Because they like to be moving alone.
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They like to be done.
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And I have found in our home,
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especially in our homeschool, that this fosters independence.
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And then at the end of our school day, they are responsible for cleaning up
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their specific school stuff and getting it put back on the shelf.
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Now, I know it's not going to continue to look like my pretty fresh
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start cabinet, but I can pretend that it will, right?
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Okay, so here's the big one chores.
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These are our philosophy surrounding chores.
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We actually had everybody sit down and choose what they wanted to do.
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So we made a master list of things that needed to be done,
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and we just let people claim them because I recognize
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I hate unloading a dishwasher, but like, my husband doesn't mind it.
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And so he takes that and I will avoid doing it.
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And so I thought it was really important to kind of stress that that is that way
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for everybody.
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Everybody has something they would rather do or something they would rather not do.
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And I think it's really important to lean into that for success,
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because people have different things that they favor and different things
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that they don't want to do.
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So why would I be battling uphill if there's something that one kid
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would rather do over the other kid?
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Our girls do earn allowance based on completing their chores.
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I don't remember what it is, but it's like ten bucks or something.
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And then this year we are digitally tracking
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via their homeschool grade book student planners, and we try to stay flexible.
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There are times when they're just busy.
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My kids have very busy lives.
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I'm not asking for perfection, but if you want to get paid,
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it needs to get done.
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We are huge fans of you are responsible for your mess
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if you make the message your job to clean it up.
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So if you use the dishes, it's your job to get them in the dishwasher,
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things like that.
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We also are not perfectionists.
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Okay, yes, we want it done well, yes, we want it done right.
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But I would rather that it got done because perfection is the enemy of done.
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And so we do not stickler on that, but we do teach and train.
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Now these are our new chore systems.
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So I did go ahead and write them on our board here so that everybody can visually
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see them and clue in on that because it is new
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and these are different to us starting this year.
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We haven't even actually started this yet, but it's on our list of things to do.
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Now, in the past, you guys know that I have themed our tour charts to our kids
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and printed them and hung laminated them and hung them inside their school cabinet.
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But that's just not something we have anymore.
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Plus, we are now tracking digitally.
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So in the past I have loved.
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It's one of my absolute favorite things
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is to theme things for my kids interest and to make that happen for them.
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And these are the printed ones, the last ones that we had for this,
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I think these were actually even in our last house, but I love it.
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It's a passion project of mine to make little graphics and printables.
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It just entertains me so much.
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But digital this year I'll let you know how it goes.
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I forgot to show anything for laundry, but our laundry system
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is that all of the laundry gets done on Thursdays.
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That's just the day of the week we happen to be home, and it's easiest.
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And as our clothes come off, we actually have a system in our laundry room
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where they are sorted into four different bins
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and whether that is lights, darks don't dries and whites.
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And so they sort as they come off of the body.
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And then on laundry day, we just grab them and start going through them.
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And I will rotate the laundry around.
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So get it in, get it into the dryer.
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And then I lay it out on our bed and everybody's individual piles.
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And then we come together in the evening sometime to do the laundry
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as we have time all together now, what is one of the largest pain points?
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And I think most families laundry
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and meals for meals.
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I got really frustrated trying
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to think about what needed to be done, what we're going to eat.
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It's just for me, it's very exhausting, that kind of mental effort
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of always thinking about it.
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And so I printed a blank calendar I went through,
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and I thought of kind of general themes that we could stick with.
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And I just laid it out because I was tired of repeats,
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and I was tired of eating the same thing,
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like every week, or always defaulting to the same thing.
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It really stressed me out.
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So I made this for a week cycle rotation.
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Now you can see
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I have different themes across the top, but I am very reasonable at most.
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We will cook five times a week because we do leftovers.
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We're in, we're out, we're whatever.
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Okay, so at most we cook five times a week.
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Now some of these meals will make a lot of leftovers and some of them won't.
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At the beginning of the month, I make a giant pot of sauce.
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You guys red sauce.
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You guys know
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it goes for for two spaghetti and two
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lasagna is that is the only thing in this meal that gets repeated.
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And I do rotate in other meals.
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If there's something that I'm like, oh, that looks so fun.
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It looks so great, let me add that in.
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And then there's a few things that I have put in for if I'm not feeling
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something like, oh, it's too hot for soup, we'll add something else in.
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And those meals are meatball soup, popcorn chicken and mac and cheese,
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or we'll do like a buffalo chicken.
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So good sheet pan enchiladas, breakfast for dinner, pizza nights.
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And again we are sticking with,
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you know, leftovers and food out and things like that.
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My family's big leftover family, so anything I can make in a double batch,
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I totally do.
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And I do try to cut those corners when I can.
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So, for example, if I'm making sauce at the beginning
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of the month, it covers for meals with leftovers for each one.
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If I'm making meatloaf, I will double batch it up
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and throw one uncooked full thing in the freezer.
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And each each thing makes too low.
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So it's like four loaves with two in the freezer.
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These are the things that I personally love.
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It makes my life so much easier.
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Now once I figured out this plan guys, I went one step further in the crazy
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train and I went into my Microsoft to do list
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because my husband and I will share to do list for various things.
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And I made five grocery lists.
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Five grocery lists.
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We have the running grocery list for like, we need milk, that kind of thing.
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We need peanut butter, things like that.
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But I went through and mapped out the dinners for every single week.
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I thought about every single little thing that we might need to make those dinners
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for week one completely possible, and I put them on a list.
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So dinners, week one, dinners week two, dinners week three, and dinners week four.
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And then I go stand in my pantry every week when we're going to go
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grocery shopping and I check off what I already have.
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Okay, so there's a lot of things like I'm not buying taco seasoning that often,
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I buy it at a big box store and it just doesn't come up that that much.
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But every week I go clear all these check
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marks and I put them back at the top, and then I stand in my pantry
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and I check it off and it is automated and it is done.
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And then my husband, before we go to the grocery store, my sweet, sweet
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has been will go in and organize the things that we need
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by which sure, we're going to and the layout of the store.
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And so yes, I do physically go into the grocery store.
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I don't mind it.
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It's actually kind of fun.
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My husband and I will go on our own,
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but it's also really easy if we're just doing a grocery pickup.
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Okay, so this does allow for flexibility.
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It does allow for leftovers
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because like my husband takes leftovers for lunch,
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he would rather do anything but eat a sandwich.
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Same thing with my oldest child.
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And it's so easy.
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And so we'll have leftovers and and we never go hungry.
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And usually what happens by the end of this four weeks,
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to be completely honest with you, is that there is a fifth week of eating
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whatever we still have in there, because there's things
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that didn't get cooked for one reason or another.
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There are things that we still have so many leftovers, like whatever it is,
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and we'll just we'll eke out another week if possible, just to clear the freezer
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out, because we only have the one now, which is weird, but it's okay.
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So this is just dinners.
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And then we have running lunches and running
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running
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breakfasts, which the kids are responsible for their own breakfast and lunch.
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Unless it's like a weekend when we're doing like a big, a big,
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you know, breakfast or something.
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But this works really, really well for me.
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I have basically and the same thing with all of my assistants
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guys, I automate them and then I forget them.
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And it's freaking glorious because having to touch something
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all the time really makes me want to hurt people a lot.
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So this is gold, guys.
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I hope you found any of that helpful, entertaining, or informative.
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If you did, please scroll down
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the big red subscribe button and turn on that bell for notifications
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and give this video a thumbs up while you are down there.
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You can find me down in the comments or over Instagram
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at Making Everyday Magic now.
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I would love to hear from you!
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What system do you feel like you struggle with the most?
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Or which system have you nailed down to where it is just autopilot?
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Because I think that for me is why I love system so much, is
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when I can just check out I have got it in place, it runs well, it runs smooth.
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Anybody in my home can pick it up because they know how it goes.
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That for me is like the true marker of success when it just happens.
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And that is glorious because there's so much stuff that we have to make happen.
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If I had to stop and think
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and devote energy to making it all happen all the time in the same, well,
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no, no, no, no, I honestly think my favorite system
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is probably our current meal planning grocery system because it's working
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very well and I love it very much, and it makes it a lot easier.
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So that is kind of it also prevents a lot of like
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boredom and repeat on the meals, but that's a whole other thing.
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Anyways, guys, I hope that you will share with us your successful systems
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or your pain point systems, and together we can keep making everyday magic.