Organization

Okay, time to write a little about how I intend to become more organized this year.

First, let me sort out the different areas I would like to become more organized. Then I think what I'll do is focus on one at a time until I've mastered it (or at least am doing well enough to satisfy myself for the time being).

Here they are, in random order:

1) Cleaning the home
2) Meal preparation
3) Morning stuff (diaper changes, getting everyone dressed, etc.)
4) Keeping myself looking (and smelling) nice
5) Clothing
6) Getting rid of extra stuff

Okay. So I'm gonna say that the most important thing here for me is going to be meal preparation. That frantic last-minute stuff when everyone's hungry and the fridge is empty just doesn't work well for me. Too stressful. So I think what I'm going to try for this is to be more persistent about preparing a meal list every week and making at least one or two meals ahead of time in case something unexpected happens and I don't have time to cook the meal I had planned to.

And grocery shopping, which kind of ties in here... I've been trying for the last month to do my grocery shopping only once every two weeks, but to be honest, it's just not working well for me. For one thing, I really enjoy going to the grocery store, so doing it a little more often is fun for me, not a hassle. (As long as I plan to do it when Wes can watch one of the kids.) For another thing, I'm not organized enough yet to be able to figure out exactly how much stuff I need to get to last us two weeks, and then I end up spending all my budgeted grocery money only to find out after one week has gone by that we're already out of something and I need to go back and re-stock on an item or two. So for now at least, I'm gonna go back to weekly.

Once I master this, I think the next thing I'm going to work on is a morning routine. Not one of those routines where everything has to happen just so or I'll go crazy. Just something to sort of help me get everyone going in the morning, you know? Like maybe having clothes already picked out for the girls, and possibly even getting up early to fix breakfast before Kaira and Rachel wake up. Maybe. We'll see.

As far as keeping myself looking and smelling good, lol, I really need to make a point of taking my showers/baths in the evening after the girls are asleep. It's WAY easier than trying to do it while they're awake, or hoping that they'll both nap at the same time so I can do it in the middle of the day - that's just too unpredictable. And maybe I can figure out a way to fix my hair that's both easy and attractive. Something that doesn't take more than a minute or two in the morning, and looks good all day.

Cleaning the home - I put stuff off, so I'm thinking of having like a weekly list. Certain days I'll vacuum, certain days I'll plan to do laundry, dust, etc. And I also want to try to do a better job of keeping drawers neat and stuff organized. But I tend to get overwhelmed trying to get everything done at once (I get motivated and then really want everything to be perfect, so I try to do it all), and then I get so burned out that I don't even care anymore and don't do anything at all. So I'm going to try for something closer to the middle of the road - organize one or two things a week, maybe. One drawer. One side of the closet. One bookshelf. Whatever. And then STOP when I'm done with that, and be content with it. Eventually it'll all get done, and I'll keep up with it so that I can maintain the orderliness all the time after that (hopefully).

Clothing - I'm going to try to simplify my wardrobe to one color scheme so that every top is compatible with every bottom.

And finally, getting rid of stuff. Maybe go through like one room at a time or something, and donate, sell, or throw away all the things that we don't use. Why keep it if you don't need it, right? I love simplicity - having only what you use. For me, having extra only adds stress and makes it harder to keep our home looking neat.

Okay. So there's my plan. We'll see what happens. I'll keep you posted.