The Joy Filled Home: Part 1

So what is the difference between a house and a home? Well, think about it. A house is just a building, right? But the home, well, that's what you and I do. Like we bring the energy to the home and that is what we're trying to create here. An environment that's positive, encouraging, joyful, hopeful, relaxing. You may notice that your home kind of has its own energy. But what we're going to do in this brand new coaching series called the Joy Filled Home and is we're gonna find out by using the strategies that we use here inside Mom Master University how to create the joy filled home. So get ready because it's gonna start right now. Welcome to Mom Mastery University. The education every mom should have had but didn't. I'm Hannah Keeley. America's number one mom, coach and class is now in. So welcome to part one of the Joy Filled Home. I'm Hannah Keeley and I'm going to be your coach throughout this entire series. And I am hanging out outside. I was gonna go in my studio and film this today and I was like, it's too beautiful. It's just, you know, there's gonna be different days. We're gonna have stormy days, we're gonna have cold, rainy days, we're gonna have frustrating days. Sometimes it's too hot, sometimes too cold, whatever. But when you have a day like today, I always say, I wish I could bottle up this day and like store it away for later, like for the deep winter or for a rainy day or something. But I want to consider this right here, this entire coaching series as bottling up this day, this energy, the joy that's always available for you. Because no matter what the weather, no matter how big your home is, small it is, no matter what, you can always bring joy to every day. So what we're going to be doing here is we're doing three parts. And the first part, which is what you're watching right now or listening to right now, we're talking about the Joy filled home, right? How to create joy in your home. Now, if you have been inside Mom Master University for any length at all, you're probably already familiar with our crazy calendars. I create a crazy calendar every single month for everyone inside Mom Master University. And one thing we do inside those crazy calendars full of like fun ideas and, and things to make sure you're staying on top of things around the house as well as taking care of yourself and just enjoying your life with your family. But one thing you'll notice we always do is we do a thing called zoning our home. So if you've been with me for a while, you already are probably doing this or at least you know about it, right? Sometimes taking care of your house can feel just so confusing, so overwhelming, you kind of feel like you never really catch up. So one way we combat that is we create a system to fix the problem. So we never try to fix a problem in the problem. That's not what we do here inside mmu. What we do is we remove ourselves from the problem, create a system that will solve the problem and then we insert the system. So, so that's actually what you're doing inside here. Mom Master University. It's not about how to cope with stress and how to manage your life. It's about creating a system which is the coaching inside MMU to take care of yourself right this real estate right here. And then when you show up as a mom, as a woman, as a wife, all the things you do, career, person, whatever, whatever that entails, we, gosh, all the roles that we fill, right? You're going to be able to do it with so much professionalism, such a higher level of emotional health and, and mental aptitude because you're plugged into the system of Mom Master University. So we're doing the same thing around our home and creating that joy filled home is we're going to do this by zoning. So how we zone our homes is there are four homes. I'm sorry, there are four zones. We divide up your home into four zones. Now we're going to, in this part one of the series, we're going to cover each one of those zones. So you'll notice on our crazy calendar we have zone one, zone two, zone three, zone four. And each week we devote an entire week to deep cleaning and decluttering that zone so we can stay on top of things. So next month when it rolls around again, we can tackle it because it's always about maintaining it, right? There's no finish line. It's always just like the process. So we're going to do the same thing with creating joy in our home. So we're going to take this one zone at a time. Now zone one, if you know from zoning our homes inside of you and our crazy calendar is the kitchen, the dining room, the pantry and the laundry. Okay, the kitchen, the dining room, the pantry, the laundry. So let's talk about how to create joy in that zone. Now I'm not talking about the deep cleaning and decluttering. You're already doing that. I'm talking about the joy, the energy, the feeling you have in that zone. So this is. These are the places where we eat, we prepare meals, and where we take care of our clothes, where we, you know, where we wash and dry our clothes. So one thing we have to understand, and this is what I've always been a strong proponent of, is a family that eats together. Stay. Stays together. I really want you to think about that. I remember even when the kids were just tiny, tiny from newborn on, they all knew dinner time was family time. Like, you stop what you're doing, you get to the table even before phones were a thing, right? Yes, I'm really dating myself right there. But even before phones were, as you know, rampant as they are right now, you just stop everything and you come to the table, and that's the time that we kind of stint ourselves, we ground ourselves. So that I consider, like, the dinner table as the decompression place. Like, the family just shows up there and you just decompress. So I want you to think about that because there's four different steps when. When it comes to meal time. And I always did dinner time. Like, breakfast was sporadic. As soon as they finished, the kids finished their chores, they could have breakfast. Lunch was like, I would bake lunch, and then they just grab it and go. And, you know, we would. We're homeschooling, so we'd be all over the place. But dinner was sacred. Dinner was special. Dinner was the whole family take our seats. We're together, we're talking, we're connecting. And when the meal's over, you're excused from the table. I mean, you have to clean up and everything, but you're excused. And then you. You just do this as a family. Now I want you to think about it. What if you could make dinner time sacred? Now, I know everyone's got different calendars, but even if you can't have dinner every night together as a family, could you just have dinner together, like three nights together as a family, and make this a sacred place where you're just connecting, where you stop everything and you're not just there to eat because the meal time's not over when you finish eating the meal times over, after you're finished connecting, Right? And so I want you to think about this. There's really four different steps in any meal you have together as a family. Number one, you have to plan the meals. Number two, you have to prep the meals. Number three, you eat the meals. And number four, you clean up after the meals. Now what if you could take all four of those steps and add joy to it. Okay. That was my goal. Like, as a mom, I remember the things that I would have to do that, like, I found. It's so funny. The other day I was looking through some. An old cedar chest of mine with all these memories, and I found a scrap of paper where I divided. It was the very first chore chart I ever made. And I divided up the chores on all the different days of the week. It was like that was the very first time. I think I just had a few little ones at the time. Very first time I ever did that. Now it's just part of how we do things inside mmu. Right? It's one of our systems. But it's always important, not just how do I manage this, how do I control this? But how can I make this joyful? And I want this to be this question that you start asking yourself around everything you do. Not just how do I stay on top of it, how do I manage it? But how can I make it more joyful? So what do we do here? This in these four steps. Meal planning. That can totally be joyful. Sit down as a family, together around the table. What are your favorite meals? Let's put them on the days of the calendar. If you don't have my monthly meal planner, make sure you get that. That's one of the bonuses you get inside our mom boot camp. But make sure you get a hold of that monthly meal planner. I have all the meals. I have the system of planning it everything, so you don't have to worry about that. So think about this. Planning meals together as a family, which includes the shopping too. Let them be in charge of like, finding certain things for the meals that they want to prepare. Preparing the meals. Yes. Do this together. Teach them early. I remember teaching my kids how to cut with a. With a knife. And I needed a stool for them to stand up there so they could. They could cut. I just wanted them to learn early, like, basic kitchen skills so they could be part of the whole process of knowing how to prepare the meals and eating together and cleaning up after the meals. What if that could be fun? I. I want you to think about it. Everyone has a role. If you ate, you can clean up. If you're able to bring a fork to your mouth, you can probably wash a dish. Like, I really want you to think about that. So when a lot of times I feel. Feel like moms harder to get the whole family involved and you'd rather just like, you guys go do what you want, I'll clean up the kitchen. Or maybe, you know, you, you plan the meals and prepare, the husband cleans up, or maybe the husband prepares the meals and you clean up, whatever that is. But I want you to think broader about this. Not just how do I get the family involved, but how do I make it fun? How do I make it joyful? So getting everyone to participate in the clean cleanup after the meal is not just helpful for them to learn personal responsibility, but it's going to be easier for you in the long run. So the strategies that will make your life easier in the long run are always hardest to execute in the short run. I'm going to say that again because it's really important. It applies to so much of motherhood. The strategies that will make your life easier, easier in the long run are always harder to execute in the short run. So think about it might be hard to get the kids involved, the whole family involved in the cleanup, but keep at it. Dial in, make the strategy work, because that is going to bless you so much down the road. And I'm telling you as a seasoned mom, okay? I have grandchildren. All my kids are grown, and guess what? They all know how to plan meals, prep meals. They know how to clean up and put away things afterwards. So it's like basically our job as a mom is to work ourselves out of a job, if you think about it, is to help our children to become independent adults. And this is a very important step in doing that. So think about that. So that's the way to make this zone, zone more joyful. But let's include the laundry, too. Okay? I don't want to skip over that. So what if you could make your laundry joyful? It's like, Hannah, you lost me. I get it. But the thing that is really underestimated in motherhood is the power of multi purposing, not multitasking. Because we're not really good multitaskers. Everything. You know enough about the mom brain to know we're not great at multitasking. What we do, we consider multitasking, but our mind is actually switching lanes really quickly. So we're not really good multitaskers. We're good jumping around from thought to thought to thought and thing to thing to thing. You probably noticed that yourself. So I don't want you to think about, how do I multitask this. I want you think about, how do I multi purpose this? So if I have to fold the laundry, what else could I incorporate in that to make it more joyful? So there were several things that I did. That would be my time where I would, like, you know, listen to a favorite podcast or an audiobook as the. When the kids were little, what I would do often is we have story time. So I would put my two youngest girls, Claire and Kenna. They would sit on the bed while I folded the laundry, and I would just make up stories and tell them these, like, fantasy stories about Princess Clearchus and Princess Kinnickus and all their adventures. So they remember that time of being, like, being with me and memories created and me focusing their attention and building up their imagination, and I was folding laundry the whole time. So think about how can I couple this activity with something more joyful? So let's move on to zone two right now. And zone two is the living room, the office, and the playroom. Now, it could be you don't have an office, you don't have a playroom, you don't have a living room, but you do have a place where you do most of the living and playing and computer work or. Or paperwork, that kind of thing. So what are those places in your home where you do the living and the office work in the place playing. That is your zone, too. So how do we bring joy to this zone? I want to ask you a question. When did we forget how to play? Did you forget how to play? Because a lot. I see a lot of moms who have forgotten how to play. Now, if you think about it, what is play? Like, have you seen, like, you know, those moms and. And they take kids to the park, and then they're sitting on the bench and they're, like, scrolling on their phones. That's not playing. Okay? I want you to think about when a child is playing, what are they doing? Really think about that. Because the truth is, they are just using imagination and manipulation. That's it. Imagination and manipulation. They're imagining their characters. They're acting things out, and they're manipulating things. They're manipulating the swing set, the monkey bars, their Legos, like, whatever that is. Barbie dolls. So it's imagination, manipulation. Now, I want to ask you, why is this not a part of your life all the time? Why? When did you stop imagining and manipulating? Now, I'm not talking about manipulating as controlling people. Manipulation is. It comes from the word mandy, which means hand, and it basically means manipulating your environment. Right now I want you to think about it in psalms and. And Deuteronomy says, everything we put our hand to will prosper. I have actually had that one tattoo on my hand. Is the word everything. It is everything we put our hand to or prosper. So I want you to think about it. What can you put your imagination to today? And what can you put your hand to today? Because that's playing even your paying bills. Like, something as boring, monotonous, and unexciting as paying bills. What if you could see yourself as managing your kingdom, right? You're the queen managing her kingdom. And the bills, you're, like, paying them for all of the hires you have brought into your empire, right? You're paying the electric bill, but that's actually the. The person who is doing all the electricity and all of the beautiful carriage lights that are lining the drive to go to your castle. I know I'm making all this up, but what if we're actually always making this stuff up? Think about it. When did you stop playing? When did you stop using your imagination? When did you stop playing? When did you, Like, I see a ceiling fan. It's like, I've got to throw a sock in that ceiling fan and see it spin around and see where it lands. What if you started thinking why not? Instead of why? It's funny. My husband, I were going down the road the other day and I said, why don't we. Blah, blah is something crazy. Like, why don't we just, like, park here and run out and, like, do something here? He's like, why would we do that? I said, the question is not why. It's why not would we do that? So you can see two very different people and how beautifully they mesh. So I want to bring out a little more of that. Why not in you? Why not? Why not stop at a random park and. And see what's up? Why not when you see a food truck stop, try it out, something different, something weird. Why not? If you have the hose, why not spray the kids? So I'm just asking you to start going into this living and playing with your gifts of imagination and manipulation. Start to imagine what's possible. Start to play more. Do you have paint sitting around for the kids? When's the last time you painted? Think about about it. Like, there's toys and. And it's not just for kids only. What if you could play with them as well? Think about it. When's the last time you took this incredible bubble bath and actually, like, brought in a rubber ducky to just float around with you? But I want you to think about this and start to bring more of that joy into the living environments, okay? Because you never, like. Like, growing up doesn't mean we stop playing. So what if. What if we could still be children at heart and add that joy and add that sense of play to our home? Okay, so let's move on. We're going to move on to zone three right now, which is the bathrooms and the bedrooms and the closets. How do we add joy to that? We're going to start with the bath because I just said, when is the last time you had luxurious bubble bath with a rubber ducky floating around? But I want you to think, what if you could make this so much fun? I remember one time, I think it was Kelsey and Katie, my two oldest girls. They were having a bubble bath, and I brought in two slices of chocolate cake for them to have the bubble bath. They were so surprised. I was like, here, you can eat bubble bath. I mean, you can. You can eat chocolate cake in the bubble bath. They remember that as one of the best bubble baths ever because I just surprised them with it. And yes, it's messy, but they're in the bath. Why not? What better place to eat chocolate cake than already inside the bath? So I want you to think, when is the last time you made your bathroom a place of joy? When is the last time you set time apart to have a luxurious bubble bath? Bring in a piece of chocolate cake and a cup of tea and set out your. Set out your place. Or pull up a chair to the side of the bathtub. You don't need one of those fancy, like, bathtub tables. You don't need that. Pull up a chair, put it right there. Light a candle, like, have some amazing. Maybe some fresh fruit in there, some beautiful bath oils, but spoil yourself a little bit. Why not? Why not enjoy this? I remember one time when Blair and I were on vacation in Mexico and I had booked a massage, and they said, well, you come one hour early for hydrotherapy. What is hydro? I had no idea. Like, what is hydrotherapy? And I showed up in an hour before the massage. It was amazing. They put me. They put me in the. I. They said, okay, first take a shower and use these, like, amazing, like, bath oils and. And soaps and all that kind of stuff. Then they put me in a steam bath. Then they put me in this, like, heat sauna. Then I went into this hot tub. Then I did a cold plunge. By the time the hydrotherapy was over, I was just like a limp dish rag just laying on the massage table. Right. So what if you added more hydrotherapy to your bath? Why not bring some joy in there? That way it. I don't know. It's worth a shot. Okay, so bedrooms. Think about this. How do we bring joy into our bedrooms? And of course, you know, your mind can go anywhere with this, but I'm thinking about, just as a family, more joy in your bedroom. So I remember reading this post one time about dopamine decor, and it fascinated me because the person they interviewed said, all my life, I always wanted to make everything colorful. And then I noticed that when people grow up, all that changes. But I still wanted to make everything colorful and fun. And the idea. I want you to think of this idea of playing house. I don't know if you ever played house with you were little, but playing house means using. Using your imagination to create your environment. So what if you decided to add more of your personality in your decorating in your bedroom? Is it one color scheme? Is it limited? So I know some people just love neutrals. Some people just do black and white. Some people are like, I'll have a splash of color here and there. But what if you decided not to be so serious? What if you decide to add something a little whimsical, a little more fun? What if you decided to play house again? So I want you, when you have a moment, look up dopamine decor. Look up, like, playful home interiors. Why not? It's just paint. It's just a wall, is just a piece of furniture. What if you decided, I can add my own personality to this, and I can make it a fun place to be? Okay, so now let's wrap up with zone four. Zone four is the garage or wherever you park your car. And outside. Now, it does not matter how large or how small your outdoor environment is. You can bring an element of joy to that. I remember when Blair and I lived, basically. Basically, it was like subsidized housing. It was a tiny little town home, and it was all we could afford. It was, like, dirt cheap. And it was obvious it was dirt cheap basically, in the hood. And. But you know what? I. It doesn't matter. Matter. It doesn't matter if it's a townhouse that's hooked up to a apartment complex in the hood. It doesn't matter if it's a mansion on a lake. You can make that a joyful, beautiful, enriching place to live. So I remember when we lived there. There was. You walked out the front door, and there's a little tiny stoop. Like, not even probably, like 4ft by 4ft. And then you walk downstairs and went to the car. But I would try to make that beautiful. Like, I would Put a string of lights on there. I would like add a little plant in the corner, but, or maybe a wreath on the door, something beautiful. Because I wanted that beauty to extend beyond the walls of where I lived. So I want you to think about this like the outdoors is so necessary for your own joy. And I, I really want you to think about that because I think a lot of times the reason moms deal with a lot of the anxiety, a lot of the depression, a lot of the overwhelm and the mental fatigue that we deal with often can be lessened with some time outside. Because I just believe every mom needs some time every single day in a place with no walls and no ceiling. Because so much of our life we feel limited. So it's important that we give ourselves exposure to what's unlimited. So always making them like just imperative that every day I'm going to at least get outside for a little bit. Even if it's just 30 minutes, some time outdoors, even if it's inclement weather, I'm going to get outside where there's space and I can feel more open. So I want you to think about this. What if you, you decided to make that bring some personality, some joy into your garage or where you park your car. Make sure it's clean, make sure it's neat, make sure it feels good. So when you park your car, when you come home, you know, this is me, this is my home. This is my beautiful, joy filled palace and I can breathe. Also make sure you're extending that beyond the walls of your home into the outdoors. What is the way that you can make your home not just more beautiful, but more joyful? So we're going to be doing that in the extended work. So make sure it doesn't stop here. Make sure you get inside Mom Master University and do the extra extended work. That's where we really take action and that's where we see results. So I'll see you inside Mommy Mastery University. So what about you, Mama? Are you ready to enroll in the only school that will not only change your life, but also your legacy? Go to Mom Mastery University where we dive deep into the biblical principles that give ordinary moms extraordinary results. Get enrolled today.