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My 7 Year Plan & Office Inspiration

by Megan

This has been on my mind for a few months now. I have a 7 year plan. It’s not super detailed, but it is pretty specific, and it’s my absolute favorite daydream. This is going to be a pretty long post, so if you’re here for the pretty pictures of cute offices, feel free to scroll down. In the meantime…

enjoy-the-journey

You know how sometimes you have a big event or trip coming up, and you know it’s going to be this fantastic thing, but half the fun is in the planning and anticipation? That’s kind of where I’m at with my 7 year plan. It’s really exciting to think about and plan for, and I’m sure it will be great when we get there, but I don’t want it to come any faster than 7 years from now!

So why 7 years? Well, if all goes according to plan, 7 years from this August is when my youngest child will begin Kindergarten, and I will no longer have children at home during the day. That is assuming that I am able to have another baby, and that that baby will come when we want!

I love my children, and I’m doing my best to enjoy this stage of life while it lasts. There are pros and cons to every stage of life, and I know that when all of my kids are in school, I will look back and miss the days of having them at home. This year was the first year of having any kids in school, and I already miss the lazy days of having no morning routine.

It has been really cool how having children has basically made my life plan fall into place. Before we had our first, we didn’t know whether we could have children or not, whether they would come when we planned for them to come, and all that. But as we’ve had each of our first three, the rest of our life plan has become clearer and clearer.

I had my first baby at 24, and the original plan was to have kids at 24, 26, 28, and finish up at 30! Well so far they’ve been closer to 2.5 years apart rather than the 2 we planned for, so instead I’ve had kids at 24, 26.5, and 29. We knew we wanted to have #3 at the same time #1 was starting school, and so #3 was born at the end of June, and #1 started school at the end of July! How’s that for good planning?

We have the same plan for #4- have her (yes I said her) when #2 starts Kindergarten, which will be in August of 2016, though I’m hoping to have that baby a little earlier that year, in the spring. That will still be the largest gap between kids (closer to 3 years) because of the fact that my two oldest, though 2.5 years apart, will be 3 years apart in school.

So while I’m not trying to rush things, I still love to daydream about the day when I get up, kiss my husband goodbye as he leaves for work, get all the kids ready for school, do dropoffs, and then come home…to an empty, quiet house!

Thus begins my 7 year plan.

In 7 years it will be 2021. I will be 37. My oldest child will be starting 8th grade (#mindblown), my second will be starting 5th grade, my third will be starting 3rd grade, and (fingers crossed) my youngest will start Kindergarten.

I have worked for the same company (my dad’s) for the past 12 or so years, adding responsibilities and hours as the years have gone by. I currently work part-time, at 20 hours a week, and I have no plans to change that. A lot can happen in 7 years, but I expect to still be working for the same company. It is an absolutely fantastic job. I could not possibly ask for a better situation. Right now I work at my parents’ house, where my dad has his home office, and my mom watches my little ones. In 7 years, I can just work from home, not needing child care.

Then there’s blogging. In my mind, I have this perfect schedule where I come home, Monday through Friday, after dropping off the kids, and I work for my dad’s company in the morning, and I turn to blogging in the afternoon. At 2pm, I close my computer, go pick up the kids, and then it’s family time for the rest of the evening (plus whatever inevitable activities we all have going on)! I may even make dinner on some nights!

Could life get any better than that? Well, that’s not my whole plan.

The house we are in now is nice. It’s big enough for our needs, has a decent backyard, and the location is perfect. But I think that as our kids get older, we are going to need more space. My plan has us moving into a larger home, with four bedrooms or three bedrooms and a den. The bedrooms would be large enough for our two boys and two girls (tee hee) to share, with room for beds, dressers, and desks!

And then, the crowning jewel of my 7 year plan…I would get an office.

Some people dream of owning tropical islands. Some want to travel the world. My husband would like to live on a sailboat.

I want an office.

Just a small space. Preferably with four walls. I would have a desk, a comfy chair, and maybe even a couch! I would have good lighting, and lovely decor. I would have a large window that would spill natural light onto the corner where I’d set up my photo-taking station. It would be my space. My space to work, my space to blog, my space to organize my life.

A lot can happen in 7 years. Who knows what the blogging world will look like then? Who knows where I’ll be or who I’ll have become. But for now it’s fun to daydream and plan.

So to brighten up a very wordy post, how about some office inspiration?

office3
office4

These are all free-license photos from various places, and they are great for inspiration. My ideal office would combine elements from each of them. Next week I’ll do a post about what my ideal office space would look like. Until then, daydream on!

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9 comments

Kate May 22, 2014 - 1:53pm

I don’t think there is anything wrong with having a plan, a daydream, a goal, whichever you like to call it. I always wanted my scrapbook area/office and when #3 was on her way that put it off a bit longer but she’s so worth it. My kitchen island does the trick for now! ;)
But that last picture, white with the beautiful daylight, yep, that it my ideal picture when I think about my future “office”

Reply
Totally Not Daniel May 22, 2014 - 1:58pm

How would you feel about a sailboat… with an office? ;)

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Jackie Coltrain May 22, 2014 - 3:29pm

I’ve been daydreaming lately too about what I’d do with both my kids in school. At this life stage it sounds heavenly!!

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Kim @ HappyPrettyBlog May 22, 2014 - 4:21pm

Sounds like a perfect plan to me! It looks very similar to my own plan for the coming years! Best of luck to you, I’m sure you’ll have no trouble achieving your goals!

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Jessa May 22, 2014 - 5:15pm

I love that plan. We NEED a desk so bad!! I’m hoping in the next couple of months but who knows.

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Kate @ Songs Kate Sang May 22, 2014 - 9:25pm

OH, those are beautiful. An office would be amazing!

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