When I drafted this post in 2020, I was not yet pregnant and we were in the beginning of lockdown. Since then, I’ve had a baby, closed the in-person organizing portion of Method31, and moved towards homemaking full-time. As a result, I’ve had a chance to implement these habits, then forget about them, and try to add them back to my days. You can probably relate… New habits are hard and that’s okay!
I wouldn’t go as far as calling these next few items resolutions, as I’m only resolved to making continuous daily effort in areas I can control. Rather, these are a few of the things I’m curious about or am currently working on in an effort to bring a little more luxury into my life and routines.
I should point out that luxury isn’t always what you can spend the most money on. For me, a luxury is something that enriches an everyday event, task, or experience. When that happens, I’m able to savor the moment and be more mindful of my surroundings, the passing of time, and can feel just a bit more grounded when my nature tends towards anxiety, distractibility, and daydreaming.
Anyway, here are the habits I was thinking about back in 2020 with updated commentary after having a baby.
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1. Investing in more than just the skin on my face by using a moisturizing body lotion or even taking it a step further and indulging in a luxurious body oil. Postpartum thoughts: wow… I never thought about how important this would be for my growing belly or how hard I would find keeping this up once baby arrived. Once, I took the time to moisturize after my shower, wrapped in my favorite towel while baby awaited his turn for bath time in our portable bassinet. It was sublime.
2. Writing out more of my thoughts on lifestyle rather than merely focusing on physical organizing. Postpartum thoughts: This actually became super hard for me during lockdown in 2020. I don’t handle change well and had just taken a very positive turn in all of my endeavors right before March 2020. As a result, I shut down on all creative fronts after a while and didn’t really pick any of my hobbies back up apart from decorating. Here I am again a year later trying to reestablish this part of my day because sharing what I’ve learned with you all online is a huge luxury even when it doesn’t feel that way sometimes. When it does feel like a chore, however, I usually just pull away for a bit.
3. Taking time to care for my clothes, including stain removal, mending, and ironing. Postpartum thoughts: this never really stopped but I’m still trying to figure a few things out like mending jersey cotton. I hate jersey cotton… Anyway, here’s my favorite stain stick which has saved us from coffee spills and diaper blowouts alike.
It works wonders and helps you prolong the life of your clothing. It even gets out those awful yellow breastmilk poo stains. Ironing on the other hand has been tossed aside for now until baby has a more predictable nap schedule. Although, I occasionally get a chance to iron a pillowcase or two. I’ve also gotten a lot better at ladder/invisible stitch (as far as mending goes).
4. Charging based on my value rather than my time. Postpartum thoughts: Let me be real here – I did end up increasing my hourly rate in 2020 as a result of this idea but also due to the impact of lockdown on our budget. For right now though, I’m only available to past clients who need quick questions answered like “Keep or toss?” or “What bins should I get for this spot?” I’ll be opening up one virtual spot a week soon, though… Maybe 🙂 Follow findyourmethod on Instagram for updates on my schedule.
In the meantime, I’m thinking of more ways to add a little luxury to my day… So far, baby wearing takes the cake. I love my boba wrap and have been able to get back to tidying because of it.
I also enjoyed diving back into the content from Shannon Ables of The Simply Luxurious Life blog and Simple Sophisticate podcast.
Hopefully you’ve found some ways to add little luxuries back into your day through the ebbs and flows of the different variants of COVID-19. If you have, let me know in the comments. Thanks for reading.
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