As I strive to become more organized, I'm learning there are some things that I'm taking to pretty well and others that I'm really struggling with, for whatever reason. For example: I'm doing pretty well keeping up with my new home management binder, making to-do lists and meal plans and grocery lists, but I'm struggling with consistently doing some of the tasks I've set out to accomplish. Particularly making the bed on a daily basis and going to bed before 10:30.
I don't know why making the bed is so hard. I did it every morning growing up, but for some reason, now I'm slacking in that area. Maybe it's because nobody ever comes in our room, so making the bed seems unimportant in relation to some of the other things I could choose to do with my time. But on the other hand, it's not like it takes that long, and I feel much better about myself when I get it done. I like keeping a neat home, and having an unmade bed keeps it from feeling neat (to me).
I know exactly why getting to bed earlier is hard. After the girls go to bed, I have free time! Well, sort of. I use a lot of it to catch up with chores that I didn't finish during the day - it's a lot easier to get them done when nobody needs feeding or changing or holding. But after I catch up on tasks around the house I usually take some time to get on the computer or read or do something else that I enjoy. And then I don't want to stop! I could be as tired as... well, I can't think of any clever endings to that phrase at the moment, but I can be extremely tired and still I will choose to stay up and blog, or read, or whatever. Which is honestly a little selfish, because my family depends on me and being well-rested is one of the ways I can keep my strength and energy up and make sure I'm fully capable of meeting their needs. Yet I choose to have a little more "me" time instead. And that's turning out to be a really hard habit for me to break! I want to make the selfless choice, but it's really been a struggle!
So I'm thinking in order to overcome this, I'll set a goal to go to bed early every night for six nights, (unless we're not at home or something) and then maybe I'll let myself stay up late one night and do stuff I enjoy, and then back to the six days.
I'll let you know how it goes. My goal is to start getting enough rest so that I can get up before my husband and kiddos and have some quiet time with the Lord in the mornings before the day begins. I'm thinking maybe I can take the dog out and fix breakfast, too, which will make my mornings much easier! (Not easy taking the dog out and cooking once the girls are up - they both need changing and Rachel needs to be fed, and sometimes it seems to take forever before I get breakfast made.)
Anyway, now I'm kind of rambling, so I'll sign off for now. Later!
Showing posts with label Homemaking. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Homemaking. Show all posts
Saturday, February 18, 2012
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Home organization binder
I read a post yesterday at passionatehomemaking.com about creating a home organization binder, and it seemed like a really good idea, so I think it's something I'm going to try this year. Hopefully sooner rather than later. Here are some things I'd like to incorporate in mine:
A page for my life goals, both for godly character traits I would like to possess and things I would like to accomplish
A page for my goals for the year - goals in food preparation, writing, homemaking, loving my husband, raising my children, and honoring my God
Pages for goals for each month
A list of my weekly chores
A list of my daily chores
Paper for daily to-do lists
Paper for weekly grocery lists
Paper for weekly meal planning
Any ideas or thoughts about this? Am I missing anything?
UPDATE: Oh! Here's a thought. Maybe I can do this here on the blog. Hmm. Which would be better, on paper or on the computer? Paper I can take with me. On the computer I'll never have to replace or add pages, and I won't have to buy anything. What if we stop paying for internet?
Huh. Maybe I'll start on the computer for now and see how it goes. The only thing I really need on paper is my grocery list, and that takes all of two minutes to copy down onto a scrap of notepaper from the computer, so that's not much... Okay. We'll just try it and see how it goes for now. Can always change my mind later if it doesn't work.
A page for my life goals, both for godly character traits I would like to possess and things I would like to accomplish
A page for my goals for the year - goals in food preparation, writing, homemaking, loving my husband, raising my children, and honoring my God
Pages for goals for each month
A list of my weekly chores
A list of my daily chores
Paper for daily to-do lists
Paper for weekly grocery lists
Paper for weekly meal planning
Any ideas or thoughts about this? Am I missing anything?
UPDATE: Oh! Here's a thought. Maybe I can do this here on the blog. Hmm. Which would be better, on paper or on the computer? Paper I can take with me. On the computer I'll never have to replace or add pages, and I won't have to buy anything. What if we stop paying for internet?
Huh. Maybe I'll start on the computer for now and see how it goes. The only thing I really need on paper is my grocery list, and that takes all of two minutes to copy down onto a scrap of notepaper from the computer, so that's not much... Okay. We'll just try it and see how it goes for now. Can always change my mind later if it doesn't work.
Weekly housekeeping list
All right. I've really been in an organize-my-life sort of mood lately, so while I still feel this way I'm going to go ahead and make a list of some stuff that should probably be done around here on a weekly basis. I'm thinking divide the chores up and do them throughout the week so that there's never too much to do at once, and since everything's being maintained, the place will (hopefully) stay looking pretty nice.
There are also some things that have to be done daily (or every other day for some, as needed), so I'll get those out of the way first.
Daily - dishes; clean kitchen; vacuum; make the bed; wash diapers; fold diapers; take out trash; pick up clothes, toys, dishes, trash, etc.; check next day's menu and do any necessary food preparation (soaking, marinating, etc.)
Weekly...
Monday - laundry
Tuesday - organize something (one drawer, shelf, etc.)
Wednesday - dust surfaces
Thursday - grocery store (can be moved to another day depending on Wesley's work schedule)
Friday - clean bathrooms
Saturday - make up day for anything that got missed
Sunday - NOTHING! YAY!
There are also some things that have to be done daily (or every other day for some, as needed), so I'll get those out of the way first.
Daily - dishes; clean kitchen; vacuum; make the bed; wash diapers; fold diapers; take out trash; pick up clothes, toys, dishes, trash, etc.; check next day's menu and do any necessary food preparation (soaking, marinating, etc.)
Weekly...
Monday - laundry
Tuesday - organize something (one drawer, shelf, etc.)
Wednesday - dust surfaces
Thursday - grocery store (can be moved to another day depending on Wesley's work schedule)
Friday - clean bathrooms
Saturday - make up day for anything that got missed
Sunday - NOTHING! YAY!
Monday, February 6, 2012
Stuff I'd Like to Do This Year
Thought I'd make a list of some stuff I'd like to do this year - maybe it'll help me remember so I'll actually do it, lol.
March - make clarified butter
April - make sourdough bread (goal - get a good sandwich bread that Wes will like)
May - learn to make kombucha
June - make filmjolk yogurt
July - learn to make mustard
August - make (good-tasting) cream cheese
September - learn to make kefir
October - learn to make mayonnaise (that tastes good)
November - make (good-tasting) cultured raw butter
December - learn to make vinegar
Other things I'd like to do before the end of this year:
Finish the first book of The Legend of Talis
Learn about essential oils and massage
Go a day without talking
Go a week without asking for anything (selflessness)
Create a home-organization binder
Finish a scrapbook
March - make clarified butter
April - make sourdough bread (goal - get a good sandwich bread that Wes will like)
May - learn to make kombucha
June - make filmjolk yogurt
July - learn to make mustard
August - make (good-tasting) cream cheese
September - learn to make kefir
October - learn to make mayonnaise (that tastes good)
November - make (good-tasting) cultured raw butter
December - learn to make vinegar
Other things I'd like to do before the end of this year:
Finish the first book of The Legend of Talis
Learn about essential oils and massage
Go a day without talking
Go a week without asking for anything (selflessness)
Create a home-organization binder
Finish a scrapbook
Organization - cleaning the home
Hmm. This is something I've always admired and never been good at - keeping an area of space organized and clean. I was one of those kids that would go on a cleaning rampage and spend hours straightening up my room in one afternoon... and then neglect to keep up with the maintenance side of cleaning, so before too long it would look pretty much the same as it had before I cleaned.
But I would really, really like to be able to get my home clean and then keep it that way! Especially now that it has become my responsibility to demonstrate desirable disciplines (try saying that five times fast, ha!) and character traits to my children. I want them to grow up in a peaceful home, and at least for me personally, clutter and messiness equals stress, not peace. Actually, I think it's the thought that I'm not doing my best that leads to stress. I think I could be content with messiness if I needed to - and I'm going to have that tested here pretty soon, as we're moving in less than a month.
Actually, on that note, I'm going to be tested on it right away. Boxes are going to be everywhere, and things are slowly going to go from being "in their place" to being stacked up wherever they fit, ready to be loaded into a truck and hauled to our new home.
So we'll see how that goes. But a new home seems a great opportunity for a new start - a fresh try at organization from the beginning, starting with an empty home instead of having to re-organize something that's already set up.
With that in mind, I thought I'd jot down some ideas to keep me on track when we do move into our new place.
For one thing, I don't want to get overwhelmed. So I'm going to try and focus on one thing at a time, and not worry that it might take several weeks to get everything finished. I'd rather have it done right and take longer than get it done fast and then have to redo everything later.
For another thing, I want to remember my priorities. God is first in my life (or at least that's the way I want it to be - still working on that), so I don't want to get so distracted with setting up my new home that I forget that I'm doing it for his glory. I want to make a point of taking time to watch a few sermons at cornerstonesimi.com, and maybe go through a good Christian book on my breaks, reading just a few pages a day and really taking time to meditate on what I learn and let it sink in.
I also don't want to neglect my kids. It's tempting for me to just try to "get it done" when I start working on stuff like this (organizing the closet, for example), but I would rather let Kaira be involved and have a good time with it, even if the project takes longer or we have to do it in several small chunks. I don't want to approach this with a "just get through it" attitude - when I do that, I have this mindset that peace lies on the other end of whatever I'm trying to accomplish, but that leads to stress, and a kind of rushed feeling when I'm working, and I don't enjoy the work itself at all. We're supposed to throw our hearts into every task, doing it to glorify God - not rushing through it to get to the next thing.
Here's how I think I might divide the task of setting up our new home:
As we unload - make a place for downtime. Reading, using the computer, etc. Make a place for Kaira to play. Set up Indy's kennel somewhere.
Day 1 - Kitchen. Definitely a priority since I make almost all of our meals at home. Maybe we can plan to eat without cooking for the first day, to take away some of the stress of trying to get the kitchen cooking-ready. I'm thinking like fruit for breakfast and maybe go out to Chipotle for lunch. By dinnertime I think I should be able to cook something. Maybe I'll pack one box with all the essentials - a couple of plates and bowls, silverware, and a pot and pan, maybe a baking dish... and a couple of glasses and food storage containers. That way, in case something happens and I can't get the kitchen set up quick enough, we'll still be able to cook and eat. :)
Day 2 - Finish Kitchen
Day 3 - Bedroom - furniture, room layout
Day 4 - Bedroom closet - hang up clothes and get closet boxes unpacked
Day 5 - Bedroom closet - organize
Day 6 - Bedroom closet - organize
Day 7 - Living Room - furniture, room layout
Day 8 - Living Room - books
Day 9 - Living Room - movies
Day 10 - Living Room (or bedroom, maybe) - diapers (I'll have these in a pile somewhere until I get around to setting up a changing station)
Day 11 - Living Room - organize/details
Day 12 - Bedroom - organize/details
Day 13 - Dresser - organize
Day 14 - Nightstand - organize
Day 15 - Kids' dressers - organize
I'll probably let Kaira watch a little more TV than usual during these first couple of weeks (and the last few weeks over here before we move) - I've been trying to limit her TV-watching to one video every other day, but I'm going to try to make resting a priority so I don't exhaust myself during the move, and resting is generally easier when I know Kaira has something to keep her occupied. On the other hand, if she's content playing with toys or other items, maybe I'll be able to continue to limit the TV to once every other day. Who knows? I'm just not really going to worry about it either way until we're done with the move.
So, there's some semblance of a plan. We'll see how things turn out, I guess, huh?
But I would really, really like to be able to get my home clean and then keep it that way! Especially now that it has become my responsibility to demonstrate desirable disciplines (try saying that five times fast, ha!) and character traits to my children. I want them to grow up in a peaceful home, and at least for me personally, clutter and messiness equals stress, not peace. Actually, I think it's the thought that I'm not doing my best that leads to stress. I think I could be content with messiness if I needed to - and I'm going to have that tested here pretty soon, as we're moving in less than a month.
Actually, on that note, I'm going to be tested on it right away. Boxes are going to be everywhere, and things are slowly going to go from being "in their place" to being stacked up wherever they fit, ready to be loaded into a truck and hauled to our new home.
So we'll see how that goes. But a new home seems a great opportunity for a new start - a fresh try at organization from the beginning, starting with an empty home instead of having to re-organize something that's already set up.
With that in mind, I thought I'd jot down some ideas to keep me on track when we do move into our new place.
For one thing, I don't want to get overwhelmed. So I'm going to try and focus on one thing at a time, and not worry that it might take several weeks to get everything finished. I'd rather have it done right and take longer than get it done fast and then have to redo everything later.
For another thing, I want to remember my priorities. God is first in my life (or at least that's the way I want it to be - still working on that), so I don't want to get so distracted with setting up my new home that I forget that I'm doing it for his glory. I want to make a point of taking time to watch a few sermons at cornerstonesimi.com, and maybe go through a good Christian book on my breaks, reading just a few pages a day and really taking time to meditate on what I learn and let it sink in.
I also don't want to neglect my kids. It's tempting for me to just try to "get it done" when I start working on stuff like this (organizing the closet, for example), but I would rather let Kaira be involved and have a good time with it, even if the project takes longer or we have to do it in several small chunks. I don't want to approach this with a "just get through it" attitude - when I do that, I have this mindset that peace lies on the other end of whatever I'm trying to accomplish, but that leads to stress, and a kind of rushed feeling when I'm working, and I don't enjoy the work itself at all. We're supposed to throw our hearts into every task, doing it to glorify God - not rushing through it to get to the next thing.
Here's how I think I might divide the task of setting up our new home:
As we unload - make a place for downtime. Reading, using the computer, etc. Make a place for Kaira to play. Set up Indy's kennel somewhere.
Day 1 - Kitchen. Definitely a priority since I make almost all of our meals at home. Maybe we can plan to eat without cooking for the first day, to take away some of the stress of trying to get the kitchen cooking-ready. I'm thinking like fruit for breakfast and maybe go out to Chipotle for lunch. By dinnertime I think I should be able to cook something. Maybe I'll pack one box with all the essentials - a couple of plates and bowls, silverware, and a pot and pan, maybe a baking dish... and a couple of glasses and food storage containers. That way, in case something happens and I can't get the kitchen set up quick enough, we'll still be able to cook and eat. :)
Day 2 - Finish Kitchen
Day 3 - Bedroom - furniture, room layout
Day 4 - Bedroom closet - hang up clothes and get closet boxes unpacked
Day 5 - Bedroom closet - organize
Day 6 - Bedroom closet - organize
Day 7 - Living Room - furniture, room layout
Day 8 - Living Room - books
Day 9 - Living Room - movies
Day 10 - Living Room (or bedroom, maybe) - diapers (I'll have these in a pile somewhere until I get around to setting up a changing station)
Day 11 - Living Room - organize/details
Day 12 - Bedroom - organize/details
Day 13 - Dresser - organize
Day 14 - Nightstand - organize
Day 15 - Kids' dressers - organize
I'll probably let Kaira watch a little more TV than usual during these first couple of weeks (and the last few weeks over here before we move) - I've been trying to limit her TV-watching to one video every other day, but I'm going to try to make resting a priority so I don't exhaust myself during the move, and resting is generally easier when I know Kaira has something to keep her occupied. On the other hand, if she's content playing with toys or other items, maybe I'll be able to continue to limit the TV to once every other day. Who knows? I'm just not really going to worry about it either way until we're done with the move.
So, there's some semblance of a plan. We'll see how things turn out, I guess, huh?
Organization - meal planning!
All right. Time to knuckle down and get this thing done. Here goes an attempt at meal planning for next week. (For those of you who didn't read my earlier post on organization, this is NOT one of my strong points.)
Okay. So I think I'm going to try planning for two big meals every day plus snacks for lunch. And if we're hungrier, we can always have leftovers (assuming I make enough food).
I'm planning on going to the grocery store on Thursday, as that is Wes's day off this week. So this meal plan will go from Thursday evening to next Friday.
Thursday Dinner - Southwest dinner (fried chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans)
Friday Breakfast - Pancakes, fried eggs
Friday Dinner - Chicken broccoli rice
Saturday Breakfast - scrambled eggs
Saturday Dinner - Rice and beans
Monday Breakfast - Oatmeal and fruit
Monday Dinner - Fish and rice
Tuesday Breakfast - Eggs and biscuits
Tuesday Dinner - Steak and Fried Potatoes
Wednesday Breakfast - Muffins and fruit
Wednesday Dinner - Quesadillas and rice
Thursday Breakfast - Eggs and Hashbrowns
Thursday Dinner - Southwest dinner
Friday Breakfast - Oatmeal and fruit
Friday Dinner - Chicken broccoli rice
For lunch/snacks - plenty of bananas, pears, apples, and oranges. For Kaira, steamed broccoli. Extra eggs. And I'll make a pot of bean and vegetable soup that should last the week.
Desserts - I'll probably make at least one batch of Wes's favorite Epic Sugar Cookies, so I'll need to make sure I have enough coconut oil and evaporated cane juice. And I'll plan on a batch of chocolate ice cream, too, if I have enough milk left.
So. My grocery list is gonna look something like this:
Salt (almost out)
Chicken
Steaks
White Flour
Eggs (lots of eggs)
Evaporated Cane Juice
Coconut Oil
Butter
Rice
Dry Pinto Beans
Rolled Oats
Potatoes
Onions
Celery
Green Beans
Broccoli
Fruit (assorted, depending on prices)
Garlic
Fish
Cheese
There! That wasn't so bad. Now all I have to do is write this down on paper and I'm set for my Thursday shopping trip! My goal is to spend around $70, as I've already spent $20 on milk, eggs, and a sandwich at Subway... but if I don't quite make it, that'll be okay. Wes will get $10 to spend on lunches for when he's at work, and that brings us to $100 for the week for all our meals. (That's our goal - $400 a month on eating.)
Also a bit of random information to tack onto the end of this post - I'm looking into ideas for healthier lunches for Wes. I'd eventually like to learn to make a good sourdough sandwich bread, as the breads available in the stores are pretty bad for you - but in the meantime I'm thinking of trying tortilla wraps and other things. I'll keep you posted on what I figure out. For now, he just gets whatever he wants with his $10. But maybe soon I'll be able to fix healthy lunches for him to take with him.
UPDATE: We are now having beef brisket and vegetables for dinner on Thursday, as we will be hosting Lifegroup this week and that's what Wes wanted to cook. I have no idea how to make brisket - thankfully, Wes is going to be cooking the meal. I'm just making cookies.
Okay. So I think I'm going to try planning for two big meals every day plus snacks for lunch. And if we're hungrier, we can always have leftovers (assuming I make enough food).
I'm planning on going to the grocery store on Thursday, as that is Wes's day off this week. So this meal plan will go from Thursday evening to next Friday.
Thursday Dinner - Southwest dinner (fried chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans)
Friday Breakfast - Pancakes, fried eggs
Friday Dinner - Chicken broccoli rice
Saturday Breakfast - scrambled eggs
Saturday Dinner - Rice and beans
Monday Breakfast - Oatmeal and fruit
Monday Dinner - Fish and rice
Tuesday Breakfast - Eggs and biscuits
Tuesday Dinner - Steak and Fried Potatoes
Wednesday Breakfast - Muffins and fruit
Wednesday Dinner - Quesadillas and rice
Thursday Breakfast - Eggs and Hashbrowns
Thursday Dinner - Southwest dinner
Friday Breakfast - Oatmeal and fruit
Friday Dinner - Chicken broccoli rice
For lunch/snacks - plenty of bananas, pears, apples, and oranges. For Kaira, steamed broccoli. Extra eggs. And I'll make a pot of bean and vegetable soup that should last the week.
Desserts - I'll probably make at least one batch of Wes's favorite Epic Sugar Cookies, so I'll need to make sure I have enough coconut oil and evaporated cane juice. And I'll plan on a batch of chocolate ice cream, too, if I have enough milk left.
So. My grocery list is gonna look something like this:
Salt (almost out)
Chicken
Steaks
White Flour
Eggs (lots of eggs)
Evaporated Cane Juice
Coconut Oil
Butter
Rice
Dry Pinto Beans
Rolled Oats
Potatoes
Onions
Celery
Green Beans
Broccoli
Fruit (assorted, depending on prices)
Garlic
Fish
Cheese
There! That wasn't so bad. Now all I have to do is write this down on paper and I'm set for my Thursday shopping trip! My goal is to spend around $70, as I've already spent $20 on milk, eggs, and a sandwich at Subway... but if I don't quite make it, that'll be okay. Wes will get $10 to spend on lunches for when he's at work, and that brings us to $100 for the week for all our meals. (That's our goal - $400 a month on eating.)
Also a bit of random information to tack onto the end of this post - I'm looking into ideas for healthier lunches for Wes. I'd eventually like to learn to make a good sourdough sandwich bread, as the breads available in the stores are pretty bad for you - but in the meantime I'm thinking of trying tortilla wraps and other things. I'll keep you posted on what I figure out. For now, he just gets whatever he wants with his $10. But maybe soon I'll be able to fix healthy lunches for him to take with him.
UPDATE: We are now having beef brisket and vegetables for dinner on Thursday, as we will be hosting Lifegroup this week and that's what Wes wanted to cook. I have no idea how to make brisket - thankfully, Wes is going to be cooking the meal. I'm just making cookies.
Saturday, February 4, 2012
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.
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.
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