My Non-Aesthetically Pleasing Mom Life

Confession, I am not a Pinterest Mom. While I would love to be, and I utilize Pinterest on a regular basis as it is one of my favourite social media platforms, realistically, I am not ever going to be picture perfect. And neither will my house. I do keep a tidy home as often as I can with organization systems in place, but things are not colour coded and aligned, I do not think all white furniture is practical and I am certainly not cutting my kids food into shapes and setting them into displays. While that could be cute and fun for a special occasion, this will never be a daily thing for me.

Lets be real, life is busy, especially with kids. While we would love to do it all and have all the hobbies and the perfect kids and the mess free living space, we would be setting ourselves up for disaster is we attempted this all day everyday. At least not all at once, out of the blue. By implementing small habits and daily tasks, one at a time, slowly but surely, we can develop skills and efficient timelines to incorporate more into our daily schedules. By using our time wisely, over mindlessly scrolling or sitting on the couching snacking and watching tv, which I am guilty of doing all these things.

There are some things that I am self aware of within myself that just simply won’t change. Correction, maybe someday I’ll be different with, but for now, these things work for me, they aren’t harming anyone and I can live my merry life the way it is.

I only decanter items in which the packaging takes up more space. Prepackaged snacks go into a snack baskets where my children can select what they would like during snack time. But this is a mixed basket, each snack does not get it’s own bin, my pantry is far too small for that and I find it to be a waste of space. If I kept all of their snacks in the boxes they came it, there would be even less space than what I am working with now. I do put pasta in storage bins, and loose bulk purchases such as flour, sugar, peanuts, etc. But things like cereal, eggs, chips, juice, none of that is leaving the packaging it came in until it used. While it looks beautiful, it is a waste of time for me at this moment in my life.

I do not keep a perfume collection. I do not have the budget, nor the space to be collecting perfumes. And let’s face the hard truth, most are pretty bad for us and filled with chemicals anyways. While I love to smell nice, I also am not about to expose my kids to intoxicating scents on a regular basis. It always bothers me when someone holds my babies and when they are handed back, they smell like a strong perfume which is now all over their fresh skin and imbedded in their clothing. Instead, I keep a jar of perfume samples I have collected over the years to use for special occasions, such as date nights, and they are much easier to travel with.

My storage spaces are filled to the brim with mismatched boxes. While I would love to have beautiful storage containers with everything neatly stacked on shelving, my current home does not provide the space for that. So we literally have diaper boxes labeled with permanent marker on several sides for easy finding, stacked in strategic Tetris fashion in the spaces we do have for storage. We use what we have and know where everything is, for the most part.

My beauty supplies are all mismatched brands and not in perfect condition. I use my products until they crumble and every last drop is gone. There is usually dust on my tabletop organizers under the items I do not use often. I keep lipsticks that I never use, because what if! I have hair products I continue to use even though I can’t fully tell if they are working or not. I am not a influencer who gets free products, nor do I need all the samples and options because I know what I like, and while experimenting can be fun, my skin can’t handle a lot change and I do not have the time to play around. I have a direct lineup and system in place for my skincare, makeup and hair routines. It has taken me a while to figure out what works, and occasionally I need to change things up because age, postpartum and our environment changes how your body reacts to different products, but I have learned to keep it pretty simple and less is more.

While I certainly create my own madness within my days and love a good schedule and routine, I am not perfect, nor do I ever strive to be. We must take ownership of who we are and what works for us. Constant online comparison can make us go crazy into thinking we need to live a certain way and everything must look a particular way, which is not actually the truth. Be true to yourself and hold yourself accountable in the areas in which you would like to improve. There is nothing wrong with bettering yourself with a healthy approach. The most aesthetically pleasing way is not always the happiest way to live. Love and happiness are the most important traits to uphold. Lets put our lives first and the “ideal” image can fade into the background.

Melanie xoxox