Plan Simple with Mia Moran

We are in such a strange time — home as families trying to get all the things done and not burnout. Learn how Mia is planning her weeks during the "Coronaseason" to include time for work, homeschooling, healthy meals, movement, self-care, and even some downtime!

Listen into this episode with a piece of paper and a pen to make your plan.

Download planning sheets at www.plansimple.com/coronavirus.

It is such a strange time. We are being asked to stay home, to be ok with uncertainty, and keep a safe distance from each other. Events and activities that we have been preparing for or waiting for are cancelled. The same goes for our kiddos.

It is hard to experience, much less explain.

We feel disappointed. A moment later disappointment almost feels selfish.

None of it feels comfortable. It is easy to slip into fear—and easy to pass the fear onto our kids.

And all this said, I am determined to see the opportunity in what feels like a huge obstacle.

No one will be the same after this experience, so why not be better? 

I am planning week by week and creating the momentum in my heart for this to last longer than the 3 weeks (now 8) school is currently cancelled. 

On a normal week, I work from home while my three kids are at school and my husband is at the office. Now we are all home. Nothing is normal. If you are not already in this situation, it may just be a matter of time.

I want to take you through making a plan for the next few weeks, and maybe beyond.

Planning resources for this unusual time can be found by clicking on the bar on top of plansimple.com.

The simpler my life got outside of my closet, the more apparent it was that there was a problem in the closet. –Courtney Carver

On this episode of the Plan Simple Meals Podcast, I’m really excited to talk with Courtney Carver, the author of Soulful Simplicity. After getting diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2006, Courtney started experimenting, first with food and diet, than in reducing stress. The common thread she found in the changes she was making—simplicity. 

It may not seem like simplifying your closet, changing what you eat, and reducing debt have a lot in common, but Courtney talks about changes in all these areas. She realized that so many things that simply felt like adulting, could be easier, different. Simplifying in all these areas and more reduced stress. 

One of the things we dive into is clutter, and how decluttering can become it’s own stressful thing. Either it’s something that keeps showing up again and again on your to-do list and never getting done, or you do it and then clutter builds up again. Courtney remembers the five minutes of feeling good when everything was decluttered and in its place before it all fell apart. Then she made a change. She decided to really get rid of stuff and only keep what she really wanted in her house and, the important part, she resisted bringing in new things. 

We talk about: 

• How the more stuff you bring into your house, the more you want to bring stuff in 
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• Understanding why you are shopping to help you resist bringing in things you don’t need (and really don’t want)
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• The 333 challenge to simplify your wardrobe
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• The feeling of space and lightness that comes with releasing clothes that don’t fit you, clothes other people that you don’t love, other clothes you don’t wear for whatever reason—and how this winnowing makes decisions easier
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• Noticing the stories we’re telling ourselves and how they keep us hanging onto or buying stuff
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• Holding onto or letting go of books
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BIO

Courtney Carver writes things. She wrote a book called Soulful Simplicity and the simplicity blog, bemorewithless.com. She shares things that make her laugh and cry on Instagram (@bemorewithless). She doesn't know her Myers Briggs Type but she knows she's an introvert because she needs to be free from humans several times a day (cats and dogs are always welcome). Aside from her seasonal wardrobe, she doesn't count her things.

Carver doesn't have an impressive degree, awards, or a big, fancy home full of stuff. Instead, she selectively surrounds herself with her favorite things and people she loves. She does work she truly cares about, goes on adventures (in the world or in her own backyard) and likes chai lattes with almond milk while reading or writing.

Her new book, Project 333, The Minimalist Fashion Challenge That Proves Less Really is So Much More will help you create a capsule wardrobe and a beautiful life.

LINKS

• Bemorewithless.com
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• Soulful Simplicity
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• Project 333 book
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• Project 333 challenge 
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• KonMari Method
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Doable Changes from this episode:

• NOTICE YOUR STORIES. As you get dressed or flip through your closet, notice the stories you tell yourself. I can’t get rid of that, my mom made it. I might need that suit for an interview. These jeans will fit me again. It’s good to have choices in shoes. What if you changed the story? And notice what you are drawn to, what you wear again and again. Ask: What if I wore these things for the next three months?
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• TAKE THE 333 CHALLENGE. Choose 33 items to wear for the next 3 months. Include clothes, shoes, jewelry, and accessories, but you don’t have to count things like underwear, sleepwear or loungewear, or athletic or yoga clothes (if actually worn for that purpose). (For more tips on choosing, see Courtney’s blog and Project 333 challenge or book linked above.) Don’t get rid of your other clothes just yet. Just pack them away for 3 months. See how it feels.
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• RESIST BRINGING THINGS IN. Decluttering is great, but so often we cycle through decluttering only to bring in more clutter. Challenge yourself not to bring in new things for the next week, ten days, month … whatever period you want to work with. When you find yourself filling up a cart in Target when you just ran in for detergent or about to mindlessly click the buy button on Amazon, stop. Ask yourself, why you are buying—what do you really need at the moment. Remind yourself why you want to resist bringing things in. 
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Week 5. What part of your vision can you tackle in the next 90 days? As moms, the rug is always being pulled from under us when we plan for a year. We are more likely to get into perfection paralysis and stay out of action with the concept of a resolution. Very often I hear stories of people getting done in 3 months what they thought they would get done in a year when they focus on 90 days. 

Instagram @plansimple.co 

Refer to the 90-Day Goal Planning Sheet that you can download at plansimple.com/simplify2020.

On this episode of the Plan Simple Meals Podcast, I’m really excited to talk with Kate Varness, a professional organizer about our stuff and the internal stuff that goes with it. Kate started her organizing work when she had three kids under 5. 

A lot of the people Kate works with are in a period of life transition. Often times a change has happened, and they haven’t quite caught up in their life. They need to figure out the skills they need, the stuff they need, and the help they need for their present situation. 

I noted that sometimes when I'm feeling overwhelmed, I declutter something and that opens up space to have ideas. But Kate wrote that sometimes we actually can't let go and declutter some of the things in our physical space if we don't have an idea of where we're going. We have trouble letting go of stuff that is tied to identity if that identity is changing because we don’t have a new idea to fill it. 

We talk about: 

• Tuning into and honoring your own desires (do I like this? Do I not like this?)
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• Brainstorming a list of things you want to do or ever wanted to try
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• Getting past the idea that your value as a human is based on what you do or how much money you make
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• Getting out of your comfort zone and the space for change it creates
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• When decluttering start with what’s easy—find 15 things to trash or donate each day, work through the things you are pretty sure about and then move on to the things you are more ambivalent about
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• Learning to receive and believe you are worthy
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BIO

Kate is an author, speaker, coach, professional organizer, and the founder of Green Light Organizing and Coaching who loves helping women live their best life. She’s a Certified Professional Organizer specializing in Chronic Disorganization (CPO-CD) and a Certified Organizer Coach (COC). Kate understands that organizing and life solutions need to be practical and family-friendly. It’s not about a pristine, perfect house, but about mindset shifts and gaining momentum that goes beyond an organized house. 

LINKS

• Greenlightorganizing.com
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• Kate’s book Who Am I Now?
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Doable Changes from this episode:

• TUNE INTO YOUR DESIRES. If you are taking care of others, it can be easy to lose sight of what you really want. As you go through your day, ask yourself: Do I like this? Do I want to do this? Start by noticing. Then try saying yes to something that you want. How does it feel?
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• GET OUT OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE. Challenge yourself to do one new thing every day for a week. Wear a temporary tattoo, burst into song in the grocery store … whatever it is. The goal is to move out of your comfort zone and notice what happens to the way you think.
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• CHECK YOUR ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE. What’s the worst-case scenario? If you are feeling stuck about letting go of something or making a decision, ask what the worst-case scenario is? Think about how you could handle that. Does it change how you feel about letting go or your decision? 
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“If you don't know where you are going, you'll end up someplace else.” ― Yogi Berra

It is officially week 4 of the 30 weeks and 30 doable changes challenge. Download planning packet at plansimple.com/simplify2020

Each week I am suggesting a doable change that relates to planning your best, most well life. Each week, I am doing the change alongside you. Each week, I will have a short episode that goes along with the change.

Week 4. Plan your week. Last week, we focused on a big brain dump to get the clutter out of our heads and onto paper. This week, focus on writing down the things that really matter as you think through the week ahead. Having a paper planner may seem redundant, but there is magic in writing down your goals. So schedule it all: your food, lifestyle, and work in one place. So often we schedule work, doctor’s appointments, and kids activities, but we leave out the fun date nights, one-on-one time with our kids, and self-care time. Include the doable change you are focusing on. Plan for all of it on the same calendar! 

Refer to the Week-at-a-Glance Sheet in the planning packet that you can download at plansimple.com/simplify2020

It just sucks the whole joy out of life if you’re having to permanently be doing things all the time to keep your body small. – Nicola Salmon

On this episode of the Plan Simple Meals Podcast, I’m really excited to talk with Nicola Salmon, a fat-positive fertility coach about weight and health. So often we equate thinner bodies or lower weight with health, which can have a terrible impact on people, especially women. 

Nicola was diagnosed with PCOS and was told early in life that she wouldn’t be able to have kids. The protocol was to lose weight, which put her into a yoyo of dieting and weight loss and gain. After a traumatic experience, she turned to acupuncture. As she did so, she made other tweaks in her life. It turned out she got pregnant more easily than expected and wondered if other people had a similar experience—and how she could help. 

We talk about how healthcare professionals can be misinformed and harmful when it comes to women’s weight and health, whether it is pregnancy-related or life in general. More importantly, we talk about practical steps you can take to make healthcare visits less triggering—things like not getting weighed unless there is a specific need to know your weight, asking about other options besides focusing on weight loss.

We talk about: 

• The racial background of fat shaming
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• The importance of health-promoting behaviors vs. weight loss
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• Diversity and accessibility issues related to weight 
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• The problem with BMI
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• Teaching kids to embrace difference in bodies and about consent for their own bodies
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• Being kind and gentle to yourself and being in the body you are in
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BIO

Nicola is a fat-positive and feminist fertility coach and author of “Fat and Fertile”. She advocates for change in how fat people are treated whilst accessing help with their fertility. Nicola supports fat people who want to get pregnant using her unique FAT+ve fertility framework to find their own version of health without diets, advocate for their bodies, relearn how to trust their body and believe in their ability to get pregnant in their current body.

LINKS

• Instagram @fatpositivefertility
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• nicolasalmon.co.uk
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Doable Changes from this episode:

• STOP WEIGHING YOURSELF. Weighing yourself has no real benefit and can set you up. If you are in the habit of weighing yourself, see what happens if you stop.
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• ADVOCATE FOR YOURSELF. Take a different approach with your healthcare provider. Tell them you don’t want to be weighed (unless there is a specific reason, for example getting anaesthesia). If they simply tell you to work on weight loss, ask for other treatment options. What would they recommend to other patients? Push for the treatment that feels right to you.
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• HELP KIDS EMBRACE BODY DIFFERENCE. Talk about body diversity. Model how you want your kids to engage with people of all body shapes and sizes. Stop criticizing your own body or talking about what you want to change. Talk about what your body can do instead of what it looks like.
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