LeeAnn at Two Nuts in a Shell is a mom I met through our MOPS group. She is SO creative! I love to see her discount finds and what she does with them to make them her own! She is also an awesome cupcake baker! That girl is always making cupcakes! LeeAnn has two adorable children whom she home schools, and a hubby who is getting his first book published! How exciting!
LeeAnn's question made me fall off my chair laughing! She wants to know how I stay organized and what my daily routine looks like. Well, I did speak at our MOPS group last year about organization and routine, but that was before child #2 came along and I fell off the boat. I have recently found a lifeboat, and am working on getting back into the boat!
I LOVE organization books. If someone says they are an organization guru, you can bet I'm listening! It was pretty easy for me before we had babies. I remember having nights where laundry was caught up and put away, and dinner was on the table by 5:30! What did I do with all of my time?!
Since then, I have been searching for a new routine. I tried FlyLady, but checking my email meant getting on the computer, and I ALWAYS get sidetracked online. I mean, I have to check my email and respond, check what everyone on Facebook is doing, read up on all of my blogs (Have you seen how cute little Harper is?!), and maybe post something! I was also too perfectionist to get my control notebook together. Every time I added something to my notebook, I felt the urge to color and decorate it so it would be pretty!
Finally one day when going through the MOPS library, I found the book FlyLady always mentioned, "S.H.E", or Sidetracked Home Executives by Pam Young and Peggy Jones. This book was written for me, who was not B.O. (born organized), but always wanted to be! It involves a system of note cards that each have a daily, weekly, monthly, or seasonal task on them. They are color coded and you organize them by day and month. You don't have to have a clean house to start this system, and it even includes cleaning up your hot spots that always seem to have piles even when you try to keep it pick up.
This system works really well for me. I HATE spring cleaning, and by doing a little bit each day, there is never spring cleaning to be done! The problem I have found with this though is that you have to keep your week organized, or your tasks pile up. I guess you really have to DO IT. Imagine that! I have been working on getting this started again. They don't recommend trying to clean the whole house before you start, but they do recommend decluttering in an organized manner. That is what I have been concentrating on recently.
As far as my routine, I ALWAYS start with a shower and getting dressed. If I don't get a shower, my day is off-kilter. It probably means I'm not doing much of anything that day. Anyhow, I do my shower, do my hair, get dressed and get breakfast. Breakfast usually is a glass of milk and toast. Then I quickly check, I mean, spend WAY TOO MUCH time on the computer while the kids are waking up and getting breakfast. Mornings are spent emptying and filling the dishwasher, cleaning up the kitchen, sweeping the kitchen floor, and getting laundry going. We usually do a toy clean-up before the kids eat lunch. After the kids eat, I take a little time for myself to eat and enjoy some reading (and usually check things online again). Then I do some of my heavier cleaning during nap time. If I plan to mop the floors, vacuum, or clean the bathroom, this is when that happens. I also do organization and decluttering during this time. The afternoons are reserved for our more unusual things, like finger painting and such. We don't do this everyday, but I try to mix it up a bit. Next, I start thinking about getting dinner ready. Laundry is interspersed throughout the day. The washer and dryer are almost always going at our house, or I am way behind!
Our days don't always look like this, but in general that is a good idea. What are your routines and cleaning systems? I would love to hear about them! Leave me some new ideas in your comments! And would you like to hear about what I'm doing to avoid spring cleaning in a blog devoted to cleaning and safe cleaning solutions? And did you know that spellcheck thinks that decluttering and Facebook are not words??
Now to get on with that routine!!!
Because our house is so small, it is very hard to stay organized, even though I drive myself crazy trying. This isn't really an organization tip, but.... I would love love love to have a playroom, but such as it is, we do not. So, I rearranged our family room so there is about a 4 X 7 foot area in the back where toys are kept on the shelf and in baskets. I do try to keep this area cleaned up as you do, around lunch and at bed time, but if that doesn't happen, it is situated in the back and I can't see it from the couch, so it lets my brain think things are neat!
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