Winter Routines in my Tiny House in the Mountains

Now that winter is beginning to settle in and as we prepare to welcome a new year, I've been reflecting on some of the routines that I have carried throughout this year. Some of these things are simple habits that help life flow more smoothly in our 300 square foot home, as well as just some habits that I enjoy and will be continuing to carry on to into this Join me this week as I accomplish some of these tasks around our home. One of the things that remains very constant, no matter the season, is we have to eat, of course, and most of our meals we eat from scratch made at home. And so I thought I would share some of the cozy winter meals that I have been meal prepping lately. I have been making a lot of roasted vegetables lately to add to bowls or just to have as a side for a meal, but lately I've been adding it to pies. I've also been on a big pie kick, I think, because of this cozy winter weather. But this week I made a beef pot pie and I made it really simply just by adding a bunch of those roasted vegetables that I had already meal prepped to a ground beef gravy and then filled a couple of pie crusts that I had prepped ahead of time. This pot pie was very warming and delicious, and it was very simple to come together with those roasted vegetables. So I will definitely be making this one again. I love recipes like this that contain all of those main food groups and are packed with protein, so I can just grab it and go. With the turn of a new season, I really feel a call to just do a refresh on the house, doing a deep clean and focusing on things that I don't normally touch on in my day-to-day cleaning or even weekly cleaning. So today I am washing our couch covers and just tackling some of those deeper cleaning things around the home, washing the walls, organizing the cupboards, and decluttering and cleaning my closet. Every season it feels really good to give my closet a refresh. So today I'm just going through and sorting through my clothes, making piles of things to get rid of things that I don't wear anymore or haven't used in this past season. And especially living in a tiny home, I feel like this is kind of essential. Anytime I bring anything new in, I like to exchange it and get rid of something. So sometimes that doesn't always look like doing that in the moment, but I like to do it pretty seasonally. So with this new year coming up, I want to clean out my closet. As I've brought new things in, I want to create space and just trim it down, help it feel very functional and only have things in here that I'm currently using. So that's kind of my system. Another thing that I do is I always leave out clothes for every season. So up here I have like my tank tops, dresses, t-shirts, things for summer, spring, winter, fall. That way I see everything that I have and I don't collect more. Those are a couple of my systems, things that I've done living in a tiny house and things I did before that. It's just kind of how I like to do it. It feels much more organized in here. I made a pile of things to get rid of. I have some new things that I kind of have been collecting at the thrift store in the last couple of weeks. So I really wanted to kind of make space for those things. And there was also a lot of things that I just wasn't using anymore or didn't fit anymore that it was time to move on. So I thought I'd do a little haul of my thrift finds as well. This was a 100% cotton tank top from Eddie Bauer. I've talked about it before, but I have been replacing most of my tops with natural fibers. So looking for cotton pieces or linen. I've also been wanting to replace some of my shorter and cropped shirts with longer ones. So I found this cotton long sleeve, a couple other just basics. Got this knitted white vest and this linen top. I also found this jean vest. And these are some of the sweaters that I recently found. This white knit sweater and also this black cotton cardigan. And then just a couple pairs of pants. I thrifted these green ones a little while ago and also a pair of wide leg jeans and some black leggings. This was a white skirt that I found. It was new with a tag, but it's not my size. So I'm gonna have to figure out how I can sew this and make my size. I think it'll work. I've done this before with skirts. And as long as it's bigger than your size, I feel like it's an easy way to just trim it down. You can sew a seam, cut it. G for free also sent some of their athletic wear, which is perfect timing because as much as I love natural fibers and wear them a lot, I still will wear synthetic things when I'm out and about exercising because you just got to do it. You got to have quick dry stuff. So I got a couple of their tops. This one is just a white basic. It's like a cropped athletic top, but it's not, it doesn't like crop crop. It just kind of sits natural at the waistline, which is nice. And it has long arms, which I really like. So this is just a great basic staple for hiking. I also got this athletic long sleeve zip up. It is a really nice lightweight material. And I also got their leggings. These are a wide leg pair of their leggings and they are very comfortable. They have a pair of pockets and I like that they're pretty loose fitting. So they're very comfy and I've been wearing these a lot. Thank you to G for free for gifting these. I will leave a link to these pieces in the description below in case you want to check out any of these pieces. Something else that I like to do every once in a while, whenever I run low on stock is make my own dishwashing powder. This is a really simple recipe I have been using for a couple of years. It's just made with baking soda, citric acid, and washing soda. I'm just finishing out the night by doing a couple of other tours around the home that I've kind of been putting off. And I'm beginning with repotting some of my plants that desperately need to grow their roots. So these ones have been looking a little unhealthy and I need to get them a new home. A big part of my routine, whether it's in winter or summer or any other season is always getting some exercise. I love being outdoors and doing outdoor activities, whether it's skiing or hiking, things like that. I typically try and incorporate even in the winter. There's a lot of trails around our house that I'll still go hiking on in the winter. And then of course, skiing is a big hobby of ours. So we do that a lot throughout the week, whenever there's snow. Something else that really helps with this routine is having a treadmill. And I have had my treadmill from ESOL for months now, and I have used it so much, sometimes every day of the week. This one is from ESOL Fitness. And a big thank you to ESOL for sponsoring today's video. I have partnered with them in the past and obviously I love their treadmill. I've used it over and over again. And so it is a big part of my routine and it's something that I store in our shed. So I know I have it in the house right now, but it lives in the shed and that's where I go. It's kind of like my little gym up here on the mountain. This one is foldable and collapsible, so it stores away. It's perfect for small spaces. You can sync the app to it so you can stream workouts or you can follow your own plan and watch something while you're working out. I really love the convenience and flexibility of having a treadmill up here. So a big thanks to ESOL for partnering with me again in today's video, and I'll leave a link to the treadmill in the description below. Something that I started this year that really became a monthly routine and something that I look forward to so much every month is a type of bullet journaling that I started. I decided that living in a tiny house, there is no way I can keep all of my journals. I love to write, but I just don't have the space to store it. So I wanted to find a way to look back and reflect on kind of key moments and what I was processing and prayers that were answered, things that I was praying about and processing with God, and kind of be able to look back and see the full story. And I cannot say how encouraging this has been for me. I genuinely look forward to this so much because I am always so uplifted by seeing kind of the ups and downs of life and the processing, but also the answered prayers and kind of seeing how God was moving behind the scenes through it all. And so this has genuinely become one of my favorite habits and routines that I look forward to. And I just go through my journal, my like monthly journal that has all of my to-dos. I do it all in one book. So my daily list, along with my prayers and just processing all goes in the same journal. And then once a month, I kind of go through, skim through, pull the bullet points and transfer it into this monthly bullet journal so that eventually I can just throw away the other journal. And this honestly has been one of my favorite routines. So I will definitely be carrying this into the new year. And I also love doing this with a friend because you get like double the encouragement. I feel like hearing what the other person was going through and seeing their ups and downs and prayers answered and processing. And it's just a really fun way to connect. Today, I am making hand-dipped beeswax candles. I did just do this recently, but with the Christmas season, I ended up giving away some of these to some friends this Christmas. We didn't do gifts with our family this year. Instead, we just got together and did experiences, which was lovely. But I did give away a good chunk of my stock of beeswax candles. And especially with the winter season, the earlier mornings, the darker mornings, darker evenings, I do burn through a lot of candles. So I feel like I can never have enough of these. I feel like it's just a very calming, meditative activity. As we move into this new year, there are definitely so many more routines or habits that I am going to continue to carry on to into this year. But one of the main things that I've been focusing on and really enjoying is just very tactical things, doing things with my hands, allowing myself to be just very present, whether that is baking a fun little treat. Today, I made these date candies and I stuffed them with peanut butter. And I just opened up the dates, pitted them, put peanut butter. I did chunky peanut butter and then did melted chocolate with coconut oil on top and put them in the freezer. Sea salt flakes. So delicious and just simple. So things like that or watercolor, art, games, puzzles, finding just ways to slow down the mind and be present. I also want to continue making our tiny house more of a home and cozy cottage. So more home projects to come and that all will be coming in the next episode.