Time for change

My husband is broadly in agreement with how things work around here. He likes that I get the best price for things and that our food is home made, affordable & nutritious. He likes that we are comfortable and that we don’t waste.

What he doesn’t like is ever being told that he can’t have what he wants. I understand why. He was orphaned and doesn’t remember his parents that well. He also didn’t have toys or even a bike as a kid, before he lost his parents. Now he wants toys (now the toys are drills and saws at least!) So he has a sense of deprivation that he carries with him from his early years plus he can’t remember what it is like to be told no. He also comes from a city, so chicken keeping & vegetable growing are a mystery to him. He was really surprised by the way that so many English people have a vegetable garden.

Over the years he has improved tremendously. Our children are as lacking in the desire for material possessions as I am and it has rubbed off on him too, mostly. He has had his car for 4 years and is happy with it. He says he will keep it until it dies of old age. He likes to have a modern TV. After some time I gave in and bought one. No-one watches TV in this house so that was a big waste of money. I think he realises this now and we don’t have such a direct problem again.

So from next Sunday for 13 weeks he is away travelling and visiting family and friends. I am taking the opportunity to overhaul the house and the household and to start us on some new positive habits. Hopefully he will come back f=refreshed and thrilled with the efficiency of his home, happy to fit in with our weird ideas! (Okay, that’s the plan.)

So we have 4 weeks from when he goes until we have our own holiday. Then 16 days of holiday. Afterwards we have almost 7 weeks until he returns.

It is my plan to use the first 4 weeks to really sort the place out here. A BIG BIG spring clean & de-clutter. Also a time to make plans for the household. When we come home from holiday then it is time to put our plans into action. My first thing on the list is an hour on Sunday morning to ensure that all post and other paperwork is kept up to date. I also want to make up on diary system on the computer which I can print out on A3 to stick up in the kitchen every month or week. I need never be surprised by parents evening again or forget to flea treat the cats. It could incorporate the meal plans & shopping list. The possibilities are endless. If we can show such things are impacting on our lives in a good way then I think we can win him over.