Simple Living: Staying Home More

When it comes to this idea of living a simpler life, we all have our different ways of implementing it. One of the biggest things for us in this house, is just simply staying home more, rather than going out. I will admit that in my earlier years, I could not fathom just 'staying home'. I felt like had to go out, do something, be something. I don't really know why, but I do know that it led to an empty feeling, whenever the high of my activities wore off, and I had to go home at the end of the day.

And now I love nothing more than not having to go anywhere, all day. For days on end preferably! The added reason now is that I want my son to have time and space to explore his home, which can only truly happen when we are at home. I used to think I had to take him out and about to entertain him, show him the world and give him experiences. I've pretty much had a 180 turnaround on that, thankfully. Now I'm guarded about our outings, and unless it's absolutely necessary or truly not-to-be-missed, we probably won't go. 

It's not the case that we just stay home and get bored and do nothing. Far from it. We stay home, and nurture ourselves and our home here. We tend to the garden, and the washing, and bake cakes and muffins and tea. We make all our meals from scratch, and cooking time is important to us. When I'm working in the kitchen, I pull my son's high chair from it's place at the table, and bring it to where had can sit at the same height as our island bench, where he can help and watch and play and eat raisins as I chop and beat and mix. I hold him to watch as we stir the pot cooking in the stove, and we check how things are going in the oven.

Waking up in the morning, knowing that we don't have to leave the house all day, save for taking the dogs for a stroll, is a wonderful feeling. Our day is divided into stages, with rhythms and routines and anchors of meal times and sleep times. There is always time for play. Sometimes there is time for another cup of tea, but not often. There is time to sit and read a story. There is time to fold the nappies and store them in their place at the change table, ready for next use. I feel that in being home more, we are truly making our house into our home. Even when I feel restless here, the show must go on and the connection to home deepens and grows.

Plus we are less scattered, we are more centred, we use less petrol, we spend less money, we have more time together, we eat better, we eat more slowly. We have fewer trips to the supermarket, we make do with what we have on hand. I am thankful for finding this path, from the girl who couldn't sit still to the mother who welcomes slow days at home. I was very much reminded to 'stay home more' back in January when I took an e-course with the warm and beautiful Lisa of Celebrate the Rhythm of Life. A timely reminder that what we really need in our days, is to be found within the home, not without. 

Are you a stay at home type? I'm not just talking about parenting, even when I was in the world of the working week, I had a difficult time staying home on the weekend. How times have changed for me.

The cake pictured above is a lemon tea cake, the recipe can be found here. William helped me make the whole thing, but wasn't too interested in eating it. I guess it was too lemony for him. All the more for me.