How and why to create a family purpose statement

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How and why to create a family purpose statement

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A family purpose statement is a simple saying or phrase that embodies who you are as a family, that describes your values and your passions. It helps you make decisions like what sort of home you live in, how you spend your time and just who you are as a family. The most important components of a well-working family purpose statement are that it is simple, so that it's easy to remember and you're not trying to cover all the bases of life. It's timeless, so that it's true, whether your kids are 2 or 20, and it is general, so you're not really talking about all the nitty-gritty details of how you spend your days. It's more these big picture umbrella ideas of what you care the most about. So whether it's being good stewards of the earth, or community and hospitality, you use these big phrases so that when you make decisions about how you spend your time or your money, you can remember who you are, and then make those daily decisions. I have a friend whose purpose statement emphasizes the environment and the outdoors, because they care a lot about the natural world, and that affected what sort of home they live in, so they cared a lot more about finding a home with a good back yard over a house with a lot of square footage. They also entertain outside a lot, and so when company comes over they have the room to do that. It also helps them decide where they go on vacation and spend their family time. They would prefer going hiking and camping as opposed to some other sorts of places and so having that in their purpose statement really helps them hone down who they are and how they make their daily decisions.

Watch Video: How and why to create a family purpose statement by Tsh Oxenreider, ...

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Tsh Oxenreider

Author & Blogger, SimpleMom.net

Tsh Oxenreider is the full-time blogger behind Simple Mom and the founder and creative director of Simple Living Media, a blog network dedicated to helping people live intentionally (while throwing perfection out the window). She thinks a library card, a Netflix subscription, and a passport are some of the greatest parenting tools in the universe. She’s a wife to Kyle, mama to Tate, Reed, and Finn, and is the author of Organized Simplicity and One Bite at a Time: 52 Bites for Making Life Simpler. She is currently working on her next book. Tsh and her nomadic family currently live in Bend, Oregon, but several dots around the globe have also been called home (her 7-year-old has been on 60 airplanes and counting). Together, they love to travel, read books, go camping, and make homemade pizza for Friday Family Movie Night.

Tsh writes about living simply and intentionally at Simple Mom, which was named one of the Top 100 Mom Blogs of 2012. She was also number 2 in the top 50 Twitter Moms of 2011, was named one of the Top 100 Mom Blogs of 2011, her blog was nominated for Best New Blog of 2008, and has been mentioned on Apartment Therapy, HGTV, Better Homes and Gardens, Food Network, CNBC, CNN, NPR, Parents Magazine, and more. She speaks frequently about blogging, writing, living intentionally, and motherhood in between changing diapers and hitting the 'publish' button. She is also an advocate for Compassion International, serving as one of their bloggers, and is a regular contributor at (in)courage. Tsh also records a podcast with Homefries called The Simple Mom Podcast, which during one week ranked second under NPR’s This American Life in most listened-to podcasts.

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