Made by Mom – Simplifying My Life to Make Every Day Richer

By Contributor Aleisha Bonin 

As a first-time mom-to-be, I’m certain that the next few years will teach me so many things I didn’t know I didn’t know! At the same time, I have been working hard to prepare myself as much as possible for the juggling act that is to come as I add to my long list of “occupations” my newest – and most prestigious – title of Mom. To this end, there are a couple of things that I feel confident I am getting right.

For starters, I have over the last five years been working toward creating a fulfilling and sustainable career for myself as a home-based entrepreneur. I built my natural cosmetics business from the ground up, and I now manufacture all of my products from my home “lab” and complete all of my business operations from my new home office, which is right next door to the nursery we are currently preparing.

I knew that I wanted to have children, and I also knew that I wanted to be able to spend as much time at home with them as possible, especially during their young, formative years. Knowing that my business creates all-natural products not only makes me feel good as a producer of goods for others’ consumption, but it also makes me feel comfortable having my children in or near my workplace on a day-to-day basis. I know that this is not every parent’s dream, but for me, it is perfect.

While I am not naïve, and do certainly realise that working from home with a little one will bring about innumerable challenges and inconveniences for me, I also know that being my own boss will mean that I can have complete control over my ability to surmount them.

The second thing I feel pretty confident I am “nailing” is making life as easy as possible for myself and for my family by simplifying and planning for the everyday tasks and routines so that we may enjoy life’s finer moments more often together.

This area has been a little trickier, because it required a significant amount of pre-planning, preparation and perseverance – the Three P’s of Productive Parenting as I see them. For a multitude of reasons, I have been endeavouring to reduce or eliminate altogether as many unnecessary ingredients or materials in the products we consume – whether in our foods, our personal care items, or our household products. This has also brought me to appreciate the elegance and improved quality of things which are made from as few ingredients as possible, and which are made by me.

I would like to share with you now, in my new series “Made by Mom” some of the recipes which I have discovered, created or otherwise experimented with which have helped me to prepare my home and my life for the next few years as we grow into a family. Some of these recipes have made my life easier by ensuring that we have prepared (but healthy) food on-hand so that we can spend more time talking together over dinner than grocery shopping or labouring over the stovetop, while some of them simply have made my home a safer living environment. Some of these recipes simply bring me pleasure by their process itself – kneading dough can be a wonderfully meditative process!

I hope that by sharing these discoveries with you, you might be inspired to further simplify your lives and have more time to share with your own families. Furthermore, many of these ideas can be wonderful bonding opportunities for you and your little ones, and can help them grow to become skilled, conscientious individuals, just like you!

In my next post, I will be sharing with you my own homemade pasta traditions – so dust off that pasta machine that you’ve probably never used, and get ready to indulge in one of my favourite simple pleasures!