#216: Seasonal Reset For A Rhythmic Home

We tie a bow on the rhythmic home series by zooming out to seasonal flow and the small resets that keep our routines working as life changes. We share how we review what’s working, adjust what’s not, and stay grounded as people so our home supports us instead of controlling us.
• zooming out from microhabits and weekly flow to seasonal rhythms
• asking what’s working, what feels chaotic, and what this season needs
• using last year’s photos and notes to plan without reinventing
• doing a light seasonal reset with closets, toy rotation, and budget check-in
• swapping gear for the weather and making seasonal supplies easy to reach
• setting a home goal, personal goal, and relational goal each season
• choosing stewardship over productivity to build a calm, sustainable home
• giving yourself grace when one closet still overwhelms you

www.daraboxer.com

Transcript

Welcome And Series Finale

Dara Boxer 0:00

Hello everyone, and welcome to the Raw on the Cooked, a weekly podcast that provides simple routines around the home plus raw and honest book reviews. My name is Dara. I'm a Midwestern stay-at-home off to four young kids, and I thrive on simplicity. Hello everyone, and welcome back to another episode. This is the final part of this series on building a rhythmic home. And so over the last few weeks, we've built this together layer by layer. We started with our microhabits, which are our tiny behaviors, and then we built in our daily and weekly flow, which is the structure, and then we talked about managing our home as an inventory of what comes in, what stays, and what we let go of. And today we are zooming out because our home is not static. It changes, it shifts, it evolves just like you do, just like your children do. And when we don't account for that, that's when things start to feel chaotic again. So today we're going to talk about the seasonal flow and learning to live with our rhythms, not in a constant reaction. So the seasonal reset. I would say about every three months or so, I really like to pause and ask a few simple questions. What's working? What is starting to feel chaotic? And what does a season actually require? And I don't like actively stop and sit there and ask myself these questions. It's more like you feel it in your bones when things I I wouldn't say like maybe you don't notice when things are working, because like I feel like when things are working, things are good, things are in flow, like they just work. But when things feel chaotic, you know, like you feel it in your body, like there is resistance somewhere, this something is not working, and you will regularly realize what you need and the particular season you're in requires, right? Like you're gonna know when it's time to like whip out the water table and you know, certain things, right? Um, because again, a home during the school year is very different than a home in the summer. Home with a baby is very different than home with older kids. And so if you're trying to force the same systems into a completely different season of life, like obviously something's gonna break. And so instead of abandoning your systems altogether, you're just gonna simply adjust them. And you're also going to what I think is really helpful when things like that happen. I like to look back and reflect. And I think the easiest way to do this is to look back at my camera role or at my old notes or old journal or old uh notebook entries. Um, so like what did life feel like this time last year? Like, what am I forgetting? What worked, what didn't work, um, and what do I want to carry forward in this season from last year? And so for me, when I look back in my camera role of April of 2025, I see a lot of photos of kids playing in the backyard, kids running around our backyard in diapers, maybe they're just in underpants. Um, I see a lot of homemade lemonade popsicles, I see a lot of grilled nights where I grill chicken and steak and corn and throw it onto like a beautiful spring salad. I see us at baseball games, I see us at T ball games, family hikes, picnics at playgrounds. Like I see a lot of goodness. And so for me, that's going to kind of cue like, okay, it's probably time to start to bring out the backyard toys out of the garage, hose them down. It's going to be the time to check if my propane tank is filled and ready to go for the season. Um, maybe it's time to get the umbrella out again. Um, maybe it's time to get the supplies I need to make these homemade popsicles, right? Like a lot of these things will start to kind of like kick in. Because sometimes it's just easier than reinventing the wheel and like sitting down and thinking about what you have to do. Sometimes it's just easier to like reflect and remember what you did the same time last year. Okay, so from a practical standpoint, uh each season, I'm just going to review like a couple of areas, not everything, just a couple. Um, but for the most part, it's going to be closets, toys, and a budget check-in. And again, this is not about doing everything. It's just staying gently connected to my home. Every three months or so, all of my closets could use like a quick check-in, um, especially the coat closet, like the main closet that I use for purses, bags, um, backpacks, hats, um, sunglasses, like, you know, just like catches everything that comes in and out. So, I mean, this is obvious, right? Because I'm not gonna keep snow boots in my mud room in the summertime, um, right? So I'm gonna swap that out for summer gear. I'm gonna pull out the towels so they're easily accessible for this season, where I know we're gonna be in and out with water tables and the pool. Um, I'm going to refill and make sure that we have enough bubbles and chalk and all those types of equipment, right? Um, I'm also going to check in with my budget, which I'm excited to talk about and keep you guys updated as the year goes on. Um, and I'm definitely going to do a toy rotation because throughout the year I have kids that have birthdays in um in the summertime. I have kids that have birthdays in the winter, and the holidays are also in the wintertime. So I would say every three months or so is a really good time to see like what really hasn't been played with. Um, can I move it around somewhere to a new space? Because again, something as simple as moving um a toy or a set from one room to another can re-spark the love for a toy, or maybe it's time to upcycle it and bring it outside. Um, we have my kids love playing in mud, they love getting things dirty. So once a toy has been um upcycled to the backyard, it is no longer it is no longer welcome in my home. So I'm gonna kind of like do a quick sweep every three months or so and see like what could get upcycled for summertime, what can get upcycled for a bath toy, um, things like that, and what can just be get gotten rid of and donated to another family because we just do not play with it and it's still in decent condition. Um, so again, it's just staying on top of it. And another piece of this is definitely clothing for myself and the children, and I, you know, I I don't I feel like that's like that goes without saying. Um, so another aspect of the long view is to step outside of the home and take a look at ourselves as mothers because we matter too, and I think it's very easy in motherhood for your entire identity to kind of get absorbed into managing the home and the family and the children. So, really, each season I like to think about three things. Like, I like to think about um a home goal, even though I know I just said we have to separate ourselves from the home. Um, I like to think about a personal goal and I like to think about a relational goal, and it just doesn't need to be big, but it could just be like, you know, I want to read these handful of books in this season. Um, it could be to plan and prioritize a monthly date night. Um, and it just sort of like keeps you grounded and as a whole. Um, for me personally, I want to be able to free weight uh 20 pounds by the end of the year. And so I'm gonna like check in on that goal. Like, how am I doing? Um, I actually just stepped up from uh 15 pound free weights to 17.5. So I feel like I'm like starting to get there and move along, right? But if I don't take the time to like check in and see how I'm feeling, how am I doing, right? Like, I don't know, you can just get lost as a person, as just someone that manages a household. Um, and I so I think that we matter too. I like to kind of see where I'm at with my reading goals. Um, I like to see where I'm at with like certain projects that I have. Um, am I still maintaining hobbies? Um, am I like keeping my brain going? Um and also am I connected with God in a way that I want to be? And again, this season of motherhood is so demanding and so time consuming. And again, it's our job, this is like our purpose, but also we still need to ensure that we don't like lose ourselves. So just kind of like thinking about us as people too in this seasonal long view. And um, the foundation underneath everything that we've talked about is that the systems that we create in our home, it's not about productivity, it's more about stewardship, right? And so again, we're not trying to optimize our life, we're just trying to tend to it in the best that we can. And I think that's that's just like a very separate mindset, right? Like, I know, gosh, efficiency and productivity, and it's like there's just so much focus on that. But as long as you're like trying and moving the needle and like showing up and honoring yourself, your body, and the people in your home as well as you can with the resources that you have, I feel like then you're on to something, right? Like, because when you're when you're tending to yourself and God and the people in your home, like and you expect the seasons to change and you expect the growth and you expect things that need adjusting, like that's kind of where you're creating a home, like that feels calm and supportive and quite frankly, sustainable, like for you and where you're at with your journey. And I feel like again, some seasons of life are gonna look so much different than others. So if you feel like you're like behind and you have that one closet, I I we all have that one closet, just do the best you can. I feel like giving yourself grace will go a very long way. So if we zoom all the way out in this entire series, we started with our behaviors, our microhabits that we do every day, and then our structure. We talked about our daily and our weekly flow, and then we talked about our environment in part three, which is where we manage and own the things that come in and out of our home. And now our seasons. And so when you tie all four things together, they work really beautifully. And I feel like that's when you begin to find a home that holds you, right? Like, not the other way around, like you're not like beholden to your home, but like when all of these things kind of like marry each other, you just feel like things are like in flow and working with you rather than against you, and like you're not constantly swinging or sorry, swimming upstream and just like constantly trying to keep up. So, thank you guys so much for being here for this series. It means so much to me. I thought it was so much fun to kind of sit down and figure out like how and what and why, and I really appreciate you. This entire series is dedicated to one of my cousins. I'm not gonna name who, but I know she's listening. This is for you. I love you so much, you're doing amazing, and I love you very, very much. I will see you guys back here on the next episode.