Maybe my mind repressed this memory, but toddlerhood is so messy. Fun, absolutely. But oh my Goddess, my house sometimes looks like a !@#$%^ crime scene. While I’m all for kids making “memories,” mine are going to learn that they can also make Mama happy by learning to clean up after themselves. I’ll occasionally use commercial cleaning products, but for the most part, I prefer to make my own. Here’s…
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Homemaker
5 Homemaking Creators Worth Learning From
Since personalizing my homemaking routine, homemaking has felt much less like a chore (pun absolutely intended). That’s easy advice to give and much harder to do when you’re juggling children, work, relationships, finances, and the eternal question of what’s for dinner. So where do you actually begin? I can’t tell you which homemaking system will work for your family. But I can introduce you to the people who helped me…
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Your Home Already Has a Rhythm. Here’s How to Read It.
If you struggle to stick to a cleaning schedule, or find that somehow, your cleaning routine falls apart the moment you have a real life problem, I want to assure you, it is not you. I’m willing to bet that whatever resource you are using, it isn’t designed around the way you think, your preferences, your life. I’m willing to make that bet solely on my personal experience. I have…
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30 Days of Gamifying Chores: What Actually Happened
It hasn’t quite been 30 days of gamifying chores in our home, but I wanted to post an update for anyone who might have been following along. The TLDR version Pros Cons Are we going to keep doing it? Yes, but we need to make adjustments The longer version A month ago, I decided to try gamifying our housework. While I know there is magic in the mundane, and I…
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Gamifying the Chores – A Cozy Magic Home Experiment
For the next 30 days, The Cozy Magic HQ will be conducting an experiment. My family and I have agreed to hold a housework competition. Our goal is to see if gamifying chores will: Disclosure: This post/page contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase through these links, I may earn a commission at no additional cost to you What makes me think it might? Going on a slight tangent,…
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From Frazzled Homemaker to Head Innkeeper – The Magic of an Alter-Ego
The Mid-Year Check-In Are you a New Year’s resolution type of person? I know they irritate a lot of people, but I love making them. This year, my resolution was to treat homemaking like a big experiment, and to approach it with curiosity instead of obligation. I didn’t blog about it at the time, but I did make a video sharing the launch of my “Homemaking Lab” (check it out…
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The Low-Stakes Summer: Ditching the Guilt and Finding Our Summer Rhythm
The school year is DONE. How?!? It went by in a flash! And even though I am a stay-at-home-parent, I am not prepared for the summer. I thought I would be, but having a toddler (side note, I can’t believe he isn’t my little baby anymore! He is a parkour loving ray of sunshine) does not make prepping anything easy. I’m lucky to do a full laundry cycle most days…
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Vertical Pumpkin Gardening – Practical, Not Pretty (yet)
You’ve seen what I’m growing in my raised beds this year, but I wanted to try my hand at growing some pumpkins too. And aside from the starter plants, I’m proud to say that I didn’t buy anything new for this project! I’m most proud of trying to use up the wood pile in our back yard. A couple of years ago, the ash tree in our backyard was struck…
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The Alchemy of Scraps – Reusing Food Waste
I wish my concentrated efforts were eliminating food waste in my home, but it’s a work in progress. We are doing baby-led feeding with my little one, so a lot of meal times look like this: But progress is being made. While my fridge contained a lot of food waste, my freezer has been my hero. So much so, I’m seriously considering investing in a larger freezer (not a chest…
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The Alchemist’s Redemption: Turning My Carbon Footprint into Hearth Magic
I learned I’m a Climate Villian 🙁 As April is Earth Month, I thought a fun learning activity to do with my daughter would be to calculate our carbon footprint as a family. Admittedly, I knew it wasn’t going to be great. Since having my second baby 18 months ago, I’ve definitely chosen the easier option for a lot of things (like individual snack packs). But I do general recycling,…
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