Today's update is a little reflection on one of my earliest lessons while writing this blog. That of 'ask an expert'. This concept of asking an expert was a critical component of my 'Inspirational motivation' blog entry. Over the months, I've come to realise that the expertise of the experts you ask varies depending on the circumstances. We can't always access the best person in the field of our interest, but we can find out from others what is working for them!
So without further ado, my two 'expert' pieces of advice that I've gained this year are
1. Do both regular cleaning and decluttering simultaneously / take regular turns. This simple concept has taken me quite some time to adjust to. There have been challenges in accepting this simple advice. I'm learning to accept that our house may always resemble a cyclonic fallout zone at first glance. How deep the debis lies is the critical thing! When all the clutter seems to look like piles of junk from floor to ceiling there is a problem. When one can distinguish obvious recognisable furniture and fixtures and the floor is not inches deep in toys, then that is maybe as good as it will get. I'm also learning that the more decluttering I take on, the more I need to be wary of falling behind the normal cleaning - I still need to empty the fridge, do the dishes and handscrub some laundry items. On the other hand, I also need to be forgiving of myself if I do accidentally forget the damp towel in a bucket in the laundry and have to throw it out. I'm only one person and I'm taking on extra with the decluttering. Some of the things I used to have in a routine might suffer as I am adjusting.
and
2. Write one big long, huge list of things to do (in the phone). Now this concept I find particularly confronting. What if the list just keeps growing and growing and growing I said? "so?" replied my 'expert' friend. Let it grow. It was going to grow inside your head anyway, at least on the list it is written somewhere safe. She had a good point. And so I have reluctantly begun using 'REMINDERS' on the iphone, not as 'reminders' but as the depsitory for the greatest longest list of all-time things to do. The logic behind this apparently functional (yes I'm still skeptical) idea is that when you do feel inclined, or have a sudden moment alone, or an insane urge to do something truly useful, there is your list of EVERYTHING, waiting for you to peruse it and choose the exciting job of the moment. I have to say that I have hardly been an enthusiastic recruit to this system, however it does seem to be quite effective. It is said that writin things down makes a difference (you are also supposed to write down goals), and it seems to be proving true in this case. The jobs that are written down seem to be at the forefront of my mind without having to really 'use' the app to 'find busy work'. This is a bit of an experiment in progress, so I'm sure that like the balancing act of regular jobs and extra decluttering, it will in time grow on me.
Do you have any expert tips to share on the theme of organisation?
Showing posts with label organising. Show all posts
Showing posts with label organising. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 20, 2013
Friday, November 8, 2013
A-Z of organising.
I'm going to totally show my blogging ignorance here and just paste this for my own reference later.
Someone else's tips A-Z style for organising their lives.
Someone else's tips A-Z style for organising their lives.
Sunday, September 22, 2013
Two weeks of grand cleaning!
Over the past few days I decided to try a new way to attack the organisation and restoration of order in my home. I realised that I was embodying the definition of insanity - to repeat the same activity over and over and expect different results!
What I intend to do instead is to be guided by what seems like a reasonable 'guide' to Spring cleaning and follow that guide through for the 2 weeks of the school holidays. I've modified it to fit in with my time frame, but I'm also committed to repeating the whole process over the following 14 weeks to achieve a decent level of household loveliness. Here is the guide I'm following.
That's the plan and this is where you'll see my updates. At the moment I'm on day 3 of the clean. Today I will finish the laundry and kitchen - this involves taking some shelving that was always meant to go into the kitchen and finally put it up, which will leave me more room in the laundry.
My first day was a successful cleanup of the entry - I've done that about 6 months ago and this time an armchair had drifted into the room next to the door, where it collected clutter. The armchair is now gone and so is the clutter.
My arthritis is playing up so behind the business of tidying will also be the restoration of my salad based diet, frequent walks and removing bread and milk from my diet again in the hope to restore some functionality to my poor arthritic hand!
My hubby and I are still almost full time caring for my father, as the nursing home staff do not supply him with enough fluids during each day and it is critical he gets what he needs.
These next few weeks will be challenging, as the last few have been, but the rewards will be worthwhile.
For those who are Springsteen fans, here is the youtube link to tonight's Rock in Rio concert!
I can't wait!
What I intend to do instead is to be guided by what seems like a reasonable 'guide' to Spring cleaning and follow that guide through for the 2 weeks of the school holidays. I've modified it to fit in with my time frame, but I'm also committed to repeating the whole process over the following 14 weeks to achieve a decent level of household loveliness. Here is the guide I'm following.
That's the plan and this is where you'll see my updates. At the moment I'm on day 3 of the clean. Today I will finish the laundry and kitchen - this involves taking some shelving that was always meant to go into the kitchen and finally put it up, which will leave me more room in the laundry.
My first day was a successful cleanup of the entry - I've done that about 6 months ago and this time an armchair had drifted into the room next to the door, where it collected clutter. The armchair is now gone and so is the clutter.
My arthritis is playing up so behind the business of tidying will also be the restoration of my salad based diet, frequent walks and removing bread and milk from my diet again in the hope to restore some functionality to my poor arthritic hand!
My hubby and I are still almost full time caring for my father, as the nursing home staff do not supply him with enough fluids during each day and it is critical he gets what he needs.
These next few weeks will be challenging, as the last few have been, but the rewards will be worthwhile.
For those who are Springsteen fans, here is the youtube link to tonight's Rock in Rio concert!
I can't wait!
Friday, June 28, 2013
Daily Mantra - an effort in consistency
"things go horribly wrong despite my best intentions." - This part of Monday's blog has me thinking. After all it is kind of the crux of it all. Why would things continue to 'go wrong'? Unless of course I perhaps am not doing one of the below things, like expecting the best of myself, and giving myself reasons why I CAN do things, believing in myself.
william paisley
If you always expect the best out of yourself & life you will get it! You are worthy of having it all... never forget that! #ypg
Organising Energy
Instead of giving myself reasons why I can't I give myself reasons why I CAN.
Something I saw on twitter suggested that I should believe in myself more - believe that I can be the best me I imagine - that's worth thinking about!
a comment...
“@Fit_Motivator: Instead of giving myself reasons why I can't I give myself reasons why I CAN.” good 4 when inertia strikes 2 get you moving
(yes the graphics are clumsy, but its midnight!)
I also said that "I feel like I need a plan, or a mantra and a plan." So my mantra for the week is to make an effort daily to give myself reasons why I CAN, to expect myself to be able to, and believe in myself. Maybe that isn't quite a mantra, but I'm sure I'll get there with some fine-tuning.
What I'm finding is that just having recognised the need to be mindful of my attitude is helping me. Today despite not feeling particularly positive, through the whole day, I have simply kept going doing what needed to be done, sometimes slowly, sometimes with a great deal of energy.
And I'm proud of my efforts, I have a somewhat sorted toy space, I've scrubbed a floor, looked after the animals, and I've even had a lovely chat about the very sad state of politics in this country. I'm filling in my little spreadsheet daily, and doing whatever is required to get over the little (and big hurdles) that life throws at me.
Here's a pic of today's cleaning up efforts. As you can see I'm big on practical, light on for image, with very haphazard labels! Might get pretty ones to replace it if I could be stuffed going to the shops.
On another note, a funny thing happened to me on the way home from Tai Chi tonight, I ran out of diesel going up a hill! I was only about 2.5 kms from home, and aside from the first 500m of steep dark hillside, the rest was on my regular walking route that I cover in about 10 minutes from home. So I simply turned off the engine, hopped out and walked briskly home (my mobile phone wasn't working so I did feel a little bit of need to be hasty). It was the best feeling to be able to just do that without thinking twice! Bruce Springsteen and the ESB have had such a big influence on my whole life, not only am I fitter, and calmer but I'm more insulated against the negative than I realise! I am finding a whole new level of intolerance for negativity that I believe is self-preservation kicking in, allowing me the emotional space to deal with my own problems!
I'm looking forward to seeing what tomorrow brings in the way of successes and challenges; so far I feel like I'm doing great with my routine, especially regarding the children and getting them regular with brushing their teeth.
Challenge Day 2 - found here
Challenge Day 1 - found here
(I am experimenting with ways to make this blogging process more navigable for myself here, so far no breakthroughs)
Challenge Day 2 - found here
Challenge Day 1 - found here
(I am experimenting with ways to make this blogging process more navigable for myself here, so far no breakthroughs)
Thursday, June 20, 2013
A daily routine
What a novel idea!
I'm going to make an attempt at this in the coming weeks of the school holidays. So that I can be a 'real Mum', something I apparently have been slack at recently.
My idea of what goes into a daily routine would be:
Morning routine, consisting of breakfast, brushing teeth, getting dressed and putting on laundry & dishwasher.
Early morning cleaning focus - getting stuck into the often ignored projects, like cleaning out cupboards, sorting toys.
Mid-morning snack, followed by craft / food time with children - so while they're eating, I'm setting up for a late morning of entertaining cooking or construction
playtime for them, washing up / laundry folding / daily routine task time for me OR this is when we do errands / shopping needed for the evening's meal.
Lunch
post-lunch cleaning focus - tidy up and 'make nice' whatever room the morning was in
afternoon learning time with children - reading or playing, maybe toy sorting every afternoon (there are lots of toys)
Then afternoon tea, me cooking dinner, more general 'daily' tidying, including clean clothes put away from laundry to bedrooms.
Then tea time, showers, night-time routine. Read a book and tidy up all clothes and toys.
Little people to bed, wash up, adult night-time routine including taking out bin, cleaning the sink.
On days when I am left alone in the house I need another routine, more like:
1. Tackle major project
2. eat and relax
3. all 'daily' cleaning
4. either another major project or a significant 'regular cleaning' job, like scrubbing floors / vacuuming.
5. relax!
Thats what I'm going to go with for now, hopefully something like this will come to pass.
I'm going to make an attempt at this in the coming weeks of the school holidays. So that I can be a 'real Mum', something I apparently have been slack at recently.
My idea of what goes into a daily routine would be:
Morning routine, consisting of breakfast, brushing teeth, getting dressed and putting on laundry & dishwasher.
Early morning cleaning focus - getting stuck into the often ignored projects, like cleaning out cupboards, sorting toys.
Mid-morning snack, followed by craft / food time with children - so while they're eating, I'm setting up for a late morning of entertaining cooking or construction
playtime for them, washing up / laundry folding / daily routine task time for me OR this is when we do errands / shopping needed for the evening's meal.
Lunch
post-lunch cleaning focus - tidy up and 'make nice' whatever room the morning was in
afternoon learning time with children - reading or playing, maybe toy sorting every afternoon (there are lots of toys)
Then afternoon tea, me cooking dinner, more general 'daily' tidying, including clean clothes put away from laundry to bedrooms.
Then tea time, showers, night-time routine. Read a book and tidy up all clothes and toys.
Little people to bed, wash up, adult night-time routine including taking out bin, cleaning the sink.
On days when I am left alone in the house I need another routine, more like:
1. Tackle major project
2. eat and relax
3. all 'daily' cleaning
4. either another major project or a significant 'regular cleaning' job, like scrubbing floors / vacuuming.
5. relax!
Thats what I'm going to go with for now, hopefully something like this will come to pass.
Saturday, June 8, 2013
Labelling the world
One of the mysteries of organising for me is the label. Personally I don't need labels. If I decide where something goes, then that is it's home and there is no question of needing to put a sticker on it saying so. My husband on the other hand, simply cannot function without a label, and it has even been suggested to me he requires the 'post-it-note' system of labelling reminders of jobs to be done around the house.
The only labelling exception that I understand is that of labelling food when it is stored in the freezer. I've become quite lax at this lately, however for a good 12 months had a terrific system of using simple masking tape and a marking pen to label the date of freezing and contents. Not glamourous but effective as masking tape stays stuck when frozen, and the felt pen writes on the papery surface of the tape easily without wiping off.
A funny anecdote about the difference between my husband and myself involves our clean laundry sorting drawers. I simply had the drawers arranged in age order, mine at the top, then hubby, then the children from eldest to youngest. No labels. He could not function with this, and essentially refused to use the drawers. One night he got enthusiastic and printed labels from MS Word with our names on them. He stuck them on with sticky tape and proceeded to help sort laundry for at least two weeks after that!
I also enjoy labelling children's toys with bright pictures. My favourite way to do this is to cut and paste from magazines, e.g. for a box of play food, stick glossy pictures of food on the outside of the box. Another way is to clipart the objects into a label, like the one below.
What I am yet to experiment with is the art of post-it-notes to organise or 'label' jobs to be done. Apparently it works really well for people who need visual aids. I'm hoping to hear more about it from someone who uses it soon. My organising friends suggested that in order to get through the work necessary to complete our new 'family bedroom' upstairs that I needed to put post-it-notes on all the spots where hubby needed to contribute, with a date he needed to be finished. At this point where I have finished my part of the room preparation, that idea is very tempting!
I recently went on a shopping trip for organising, and had limited results from my label purchases.
These food labels have proven themselves long lasting, however I didn't use removable marker on them so the contents labelled once need to be recycled the next time; e.g. I have one container now for 'rice'!
These labels I bought specifically for hubby, but they're still hiding in my 'house' folder waiting for him to love them.
I will admit, since blogging, that although I personally feel no need to label, that there is a connection between labelling and being prepared. No extra thought is needed, or longwinded explanation, and the act of labelling is in itself an act of being publicly organised. Electronically I am now better at labelling photographs for instance, as I organised them by year and month into directories.
It will take time, but I am convinced of the need to use labels around the house.
The only labelling exception that I understand is that of labelling food when it is stored in the freezer. I've become quite lax at this lately, however for a good 12 months had a terrific system of using simple masking tape and a marking pen to label the date of freezing and contents. Not glamourous but effective as masking tape stays stuck when frozen, and the felt pen writes on the papery surface of the tape easily without wiping off.
A funny anecdote about the difference between my husband and myself involves our clean laundry sorting drawers. I simply had the drawers arranged in age order, mine at the top, then hubby, then the children from eldest to youngest. No labels. He could not function with this, and essentially refused to use the drawers. One night he got enthusiastic and printed labels from MS Word with our names on them. He stuck them on with sticky tape and proceeded to help sort laundry for at least two weeks after that!
I also enjoy labelling children's toys with bright pictures. My favourite way to do this is to cut and paste from magazines, e.g. for a box of play food, stick glossy pictures of food on the outside of the box. Another way is to clipart the objects into a label, like the one below.
What I am yet to experiment with is the art of post-it-notes to organise or 'label' jobs to be done. Apparently it works really well for people who need visual aids. I'm hoping to hear more about it from someone who uses it soon. My organising friends suggested that in order to get through the work necessary to complete our new 'family bedroom' upstairs that I needed to put post-it-notes on all the spots where hubby needed to contribute, with a date he needed to be finished. At this point where I have finished my part of the room preparation, that idea is very tempting!
I recently went on a shopping trip for organising, and had limited results from my label purchases.
These food labels have proven themselves long lasting, however I didn't use removable marker on them so the contents labelled once need to be recycled the next time; e.g. I have one container now for 'rice'!
These labels I bought specifically for hubby, but they're still hiding in my 'house' folder waiting for him to love them.
I will admit, since blogging, that although I personally feel no need to label, that there is a connection between labelling and being prepared. No extra thought is needed, or longwinded explanation, and the act of labelling is in itself an act of being publicly organised. Electronically I am now better at labelling photographs for instance, as I organised them by year and month into directories.
It will take time, but I am convinced of the need to use labels around the house.
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
Pulling together and Being Prepared!
One of the most significant concepts for me since I began blogging is that of being prepared. It was the subject of one of my very early posts as I reflected on my mother in law's incredible pre-preparation for just about anything.
Particularly now, as I am feeling more positive, happy, upbeat and capable than I have in years, I find myself reflecting on this concept of preparation.
Recently (during that quiet time when no blog posts appeared) my husband travelled away for work. He was driving to a major regional town, about five hours away. When he'd been gone 4 hours already, and I was mid-breakfast, mid-getting children to school, the whole trip hit a terrible snag in the form of my coming down with a very severe case of gastro. I couldn't move, and he was 4 hours away. I am so grateful for his boss, who immediately drove him home again to look after the children, as I was so incapable. I spent the next several days feeling quite off, but the worst passed that first day, and along with the sickness came some pretty significant realisations for me.
The first one was that there was no way that hubby could travel for work again, at least not until our youngest is a little more independent. We simply don't have a 'backup' network to call on, other than each other. This didn't take much contemplation, after the horrible hours waiting for him to arrive home, I'm not doing that again with such small children.
The other realisations however came hot on each others heels and do require a bit more contemplation and change. After a very upset week, I realised that not only have I established a solid family routine since returning to working, but that this routine was hanging on by a thread. We simply aren't that used to it, haven't settled into it, or gotten comfortable enough with it that it tolerates much battering. The week I was at home sick threw the entire concept of 'calm', 'organised', and 'routine' out the proverbial window, it seemed at the time as though never to be seen again! (luckily I'm more resilient than that and this week is going OK)
Hand in hand with how precariously our little family is balancing its 'routine' is the entire concept of being prepared! After all, if we are more 'prepared' then by extension our balancing act is more stable, and less likely to topple at the slightest adjustment required.
Which leads me to my focus for the moment. I am still determined to lose weight, keep exercising with the same intensity as in the last month or so, and still quite keen to keep my positive attitude, however I feel a little like the tough work of beginning those changes has been accomplished and I need to consider how being prepared will accentuate the positive attitude and exercise transformations.
Firstly, simply being more prepared in the meals department will provide me with an even better daily diet to get the best nourishment without any excess sugary carbohydrates!
Being a step ahead of where I am now would mean having an idea of tomorrow's food, and it being in the fridge (its been a lean food prep week this week!); not running out of cat food; having photos uploaded every week; having activities ready for the children when they get home (OK that one is only if I turn into super-Mum!). It would also mean being on top of the mountains of paperwork for myself and my Dad. I feel like I'm drowning under papers at the moment, but will leave that conundrum for another day! I like the sound of being a step ahead, however for now, the tiniest fraction of being prepared that I see now is a bit less dramatic, but might give me a few hints about how to operate in a prepared way. I've already noticed that the better my communication, the more we are able to negotiate through things as they crop up. Put another way, two grumpy snappy adults don't make great decisions!
Since the returning to all hands on deck working, we've established some routines that sort of work. Hubby does early mornings (when my arthritis still makes me a slow turtle) and drops big children at school before work; I take our little one to her various morning activities; we come home and she naps while I get housework done; the almost 2 hour pickup of big children happens at the end of nap-time; we have a very early tea when we get home; then homework after Daddy gets home and a bit of chaotic energy, then bedtime. This is what is working for us.
Two times I am focusing on improving is the activities I get done while little miss takes her nap, and what I get done after hubby is home at night.
At the moment, I am happy that at nap time daily I seem to be managing to completely clean the floor off in the entry and kitchen as well as downstairs toys. This is a bit of an extension of what I've achieved in the past, and this week I'm trying to work out how to extend past that point into uncharted cleaning territory. I'm still not sure, but some experimenting is on the horizon to find the balance that will fit in my 2 hour time frame.
In the evenings I am juggling between walking (its not practical at 9pm any longer due to the cold!); school homework; and cleaning! I am using the early evening time to get into extra projects or washing up, whichever is needing doing more. This is how I managed to get the floor scrubbed on Monday night, determination!
I need to refresh and revisit the concepts of this post about Working Smart. That's the essence of what is going on here, an attempt to make the obvious easier!
There is something else I'm realising as I go over all this while listening to Bruce Springsteen's Darkness on the Edge of Town album. It's that I need to find a way to really ENJOY getting more prepared! I remember when I was in Girl Guides, that my Guide Leader instilled in me, for the shortest moment, a flame of inspiration of REALLY wanting to 'Be Prepared" and obtain my Baden-Powell emblem, the highest achievement for a Girl Guide. Years later, I feel I'm finally getting the point of all those badges and things. A sense of purpose about how I am going about this domestic life, to relish and delight in what is necessary.
I think I'd much rather relish and delight in more Bruce Springsteen concerts, but in order to do that I need my house to be respectable and presentable for house-sitters, so it's delighting in house cleaning for me in the interim.
Hang in there Bruce, I'm coming to a concert soon!
Particularly now, as I am feeling more positive, happy, upbeat and capable than I have in years, I find myself reflecting on this concept of preparation.
Recently (during that quiet time when no blog posts appeared) my husband travelled away for work. He was driving to a major regional town, about five hours away. When he'd been gone 4 hours already, and I was mid-breakfast, mid-getting children to school, the whole trip hit a terrible snag in the form of my coming down with a very severe case of gastro. I couldn't move, and he was 4 hours away. I am so grateful for his boss, who immediately drove him home again to look after the children, as I was so incapable. I spent the next several days feeling quite off, but the worst passed that first day, and along with the sickness came some pretty significant realisations for me.
The first one was that there was no way that hubby could travel for work again, at least not until our youngest is a little more independent. We simply don't have a 'backup' network to call on, other than each other. This didn't take much contemplation, after the horrible hours waiting for him to arrive home, I'm not doing that again with such small children.
The other realisations however came hot on each others heels and do require a bit more contemplation and change. After a very upset week, I realised that not only have I established a solid family routine since returning to working, but that this routine was hanging on by a thread. We simply aren't that used to it, haven't settled into it, or gotten comfortable enough with it that it tolerates much battering. The week I was at home sick threw the entire concept of 'calm', 'organised', and 'routine' out the proverbial window, it seemed at the time as though never to be seen again! (luckily I'm more resilient than that and this week is going OK)
Hand in hand with how precariously our little family is balancing its 'routine' is the entire concept of being prepared! After all, if we are more 'prepared' then by extension our balancing act is more stable, and less likely to topple at the slightest adjustment required.
Which leads me to my focus for the moment. I am still determined to lose weight, keep exercising with the same intensity as in the last month or so, and still quite keen to keep my positive attitude, however I feel a little like the tough work of beginning those changes has been accomplished and I need to consider how being prepared will accentuate the positive attitude and exercise transformations.
Firstly, simply being more prepared in the meals department will provide me with an even better daily diet to get the best nourishment without any excess sugary carbohydrates!
Being a step ahead of where I am now would mean having an idea of tomorrow's food, and it being in the fridge (its been a lean food prep week this week!); not running out of cat food; having photos uploaded every week; having activities ready for the children when they get home (OK that one is only if I turn into super-Mum!). It would also mean being on top of the mountains of paperwork for myself and my Dad. I feel like I'm drowning under papers at the moment, but will leave that conundrum for another day! I like the sound of being a step ahead, however for now, the tiniest fraction of being prepared that I see now is a bit less dramatic, but might give me a few hints about how to operate in a prepared way. I've already noticed that the better my communication, the more we are able to negotiate through things as they crop up. Put another way, two grumpy snappy adults don't make great decisions!
Since the returning to all hands on deck working, we've established some routines that sort of work. Hubby does early mornings (when my arthritis still makes me a slow turtle) and drops big children at school before work; I take our little one to her various morning activities; we come home and she naps while I get housework done; the almost 2 hour pickup of big children happens at the end of nap-time; we have a very early tea when we get home; then homework after Daddy gets home and a bit of chaotic energy, then bedtime. This is what is working for us.
Two times I am focusing on improving is the activities I get done while little miss takes her nap, and what I get done after hubby is home at night.
At the moment, I am happy that at nap time daily I seem to be managing to completely clean the floor off in the entry and kitchen as well as downstairs toys. This is a bit of an extension of what I've achieved in the past, and this week I'm trying to work out how to extend past that point into uncharted cleaning territory. I'm still not sure, but some experimenting is on the horizon to find the balance that will fit in my 2 hour time frame.
In the evenings I am juggling between walking (its not practical at 9pm any longer due to the cold!); school homework; and cleaning! I am using the early evening time to get into extra projects or washing up, whichever is needing doing more. This is how I managed to get the floor scrubbed on Monday night, determination!
I need to refresh and revisit the concepts of this post about Working Smart. That's the essence of what is going on here, an attempt to make the obvious easier!
There is something else I'm realising as I go over all this while listening to Bruce Springsteen's Darkness on the Edge of Town album. It's that I need to find a way to really ENJOY getting more prepared! I remember when I was in Girl Guides, that my Guide Leader instilled in me, for the shortest moment, a flame of inspiration of REALLY wanting to 'Be Prepared" and obtain my Baden-Powell emblem, the highest achievement for a Girl Guide. Years later, I feel I'm finally getting the point of all those badges and things. A sense of purpose about how I am going about this domestic life, to relish and delight in what is necessary.
I think I'd much rather relish and delight in more Bruce Springsteen concerts, but in order to do that I need my house to be respectable and presentable for house-sitters, so it's delighting in house cleaning for me in the interim.
Hang in there Bruce, I'm coming to a concert soon!
Monday, May 6, 2013
Household madness and other cleaning conundrums
Has three months of blogging helped me to keep the house cleaner? If I look at the question critically, then the answer would be not a great deal. The state of the house is still very chaotic, my 'hot spots' where junk collects appear to have grown in size and number. However overall there are a few positive differences that would not have happened without blogging. These make the optimist in me say YES, blogging has made a difference!
The most obvious change is my entry. Having followed "Inspirational Thursday" and taken the advice of my friend, I 'made over' the entry over a month ago. And it is still looking pretty spiffy compared to the mess of bags and shoes on the floor that I had previously.
I am happy with that result! The second change is more subtle, but possibly has a much greater affect on our household. Since blogging, and my Bruce Springsteen experience, I have been much calmer and happier. My husband has therefore been calmer and happier, we have better routines and it has become unusual for the chaos to get as out of hand as it used to when we were under pressure. Now that I think about it, I think I've achieved a little glimmer of 'being prepared', something I so admired in my mother in law during my first week of blogging.
The more time I take to contemplate my household management and cleaning, the more I realise that the progress I'm making has everything to do with my positive attitude. It is amazing what can get done when you stop finding excuses and simply begin doing! This is particularly inspirational to me today, as yesterday I was feeling a bit unwell, I felt my positive attitude and energy had left me, yet I managed to cook 3 meals for a weekly cook-up with my hubby, and still went for a 20 minute walk for exercise. Pre-Bruce, pre-blog, neither of those things would have been achieved on a 'bad day'. I would highly recommend blogging, or journaling to anyone who is struggling with progressing in any aspect of life. Writing things down and practising self reflection are incredibly powerful tools for positive change!
The most obvious change is my entry. Having followed "Inspirational Thursday" and taken the advice of my friend, I 'made over' the entry over a month ago. And it is still looking pretty spiffy compared to the mess of bags and shoes on the floor that I had previously.
I am happy with that result! The second change is more subtle, but possibly has a much greater affect on our household. Since blogging, and my Bruce Springsteen experience, I have been much calmer and happier. My husband has therefore been calmer and happier, we have better routines and it has become unusual for the chaos to get as out of hand as it used to when we were under pressure. Now that I think about it, I think I've achieved a little glimmer of 'being prepared', something I so admired in my mother in law during my first week of blogging.
The more time I take to contemplate my household management and cleaning, the more I realise that the progress I'm making has everything to do with my positive attitude. It is amazing what can get done when you stop finding excuses and simply begin doing! This is particularly inspirational to me today, as yesterday I was feeling a bit unwell, I felt my positive attitude and energy had left me, yet I managed to cook 3 meals for a weekly cook-up with my hubby, and still went for a 20 minute walk for exercise. Pre-Bruce, pre-blog, neither of those things would have been achieved on a 'bad day'. I would highly recommend blogging, or journaling to anyone who is struggling with progressing in any aspect of life. Writing things down and practising self reflection are incredibly powerful tools for positive change!
Thursday, April 25, 2013
Pocket money aka lets bribe the children
I have mixed feelings about pocket money. Some of these come from longstanding issues with my own childhood, and others from a reflection of what pocket money should be a reflection of in a child's life. I was never given regular pocket money, and continued to resent this into adulthood. I really felt like I had missed out. On the other hand, I am concerned (and rightly so) that linking pocket money to behaviour is a slipperly slope of bribing children into the behaviour we'd like to see, rather than taking more time to help them understand responsibility and respect. Nor do I personally like the idea of pocket money for no effort whatsoever.
In our house we have tried various pocket money / behaviour systems including star charts links to positive outcomes when reaching a goal; star charts linked directly to dollar amounts (e.g. 1 star = 1 dollar); pocket money for jobs completed and a set roster of jobs for a set amount of money. None of these have worked for us in the long term.
The reasons for their failure are varied but probably fall into the following two issues:
Curious, I asked her how the system worked for her and if she could explain it. Fascinated I learnt the following:
I think the reasons for its success are the boundaries and certainties inherent in the system, for both children and parents. For example, our son who is 5, currently gets $3 a week as his starting money. As parents, we don't want to give him nothing each week, so we are very circumspect about giving out crosses to him, and very conscious that because he can have outbursts of 5 year old behaviour, we need to encourage him with earning extra ticks (to counter any potential crosses he might build up!) As parents we don't want to allow our children to build up an extreme amount of ticks in one week, so we are tweaking the 'expected jobs for basic money' to fit in with a fair amount of responsibility. In our house that isn't very much, it is little things like getting dressed and waiting at the front door for school the first time we ask in the morning instead of the 50th!
Our big children are excited and happy to be saving their money up for treats, and so far we have been regular with pocket money on a Saturday morning because it is an easy day to duck out and get whatever change is needed, plus we always have Sunday up our sleeve if we stuff up on Saturday!!!
I am not as neat and organised as my friend with the pretty blackboard - here is our chart!
This week has been not as easy on our eldest, but looking at the chart, as parents, we know we can encourage some behaviours to get those ticks back there, and be aware to be less 'reactive' as parents and not give out any more crosses - helps keep our boundaries and prevents us from going overboard using the pocket money as a significant discipline / bribery technique. I'm cautiously happy having pocket money bribery in the parenting toolbox so to speak, but not so keen on it being our primary parenting tool!
Before writing this post, I did a quick scan of the information in cyberspace about pocket money. The gist of the information 'out there' is that everyone agrees money handling skills such as budgeting, saving, goal achievement, responsibility and more. Questions of whether work should be done to earn pocket money, and what children are expected to pay for are tactfully left as an individual family decision :) For me, I am hoping we have found the balance in our household and this system will continue to work in a balanced way.
Interestingly I also found this page with links to pocket money apps. I've never used an app for pocket money, can't imagine doing so now, but you might like to check it out - 5 Free Allowance Apps.
I also particularly like this article, discussing how our children have a tendency to expect things for free! My middle child is in danger of this, owing to some compensating issues the hubby doesn't seem ready to shake. I am hoping this pocket money system will at least provide some counterpoint to the issue of it 'raining free toys' as sometimes happens here :(
In our house we have tried various pocket money / behaviour systems including star charts links to positive outcomes when reaching a goal; star charts linked directly to dollar amounts (e.g. 1 star = 1 dollar); pocket money for jobs completed and a set roster of jobs for a set amount of money. None of these have worked for us in the long term.
The reasons for their failure are varied but probably fall into the following two issues:
- we were not consistent either in our approach or in handing out money earned at the right time, or in suggesting jobs so that pocket money came regularly
- bargaining got out of hand - with poor boundaries we ended up using stars as the go-to for all discipline. This is an ongoing problem in our household, as hubby tends to escalate any situation!
Curious, I asked her how the system worked for her and if she could explain it. Fascinated I learnt the following:
- Each child has a set amount of weekly money allotted to them, say $5.
- This amount requires them to do some jobs around the house (we didn't go into the details)
- The ticks were for when the child did something without being asked, or something extra special.
- Crosses happened if the child dragged their feet at doing tasks expected of them or particularly poor behaviour.
- For each tick an extra dollar was given out, and for crosses, a dollar taken away.
I think the reasons for its success are the boundaries and certainties inherent in the system, for both children and parents. For example, our son who is 5, currently gets $3 a week as his starting money. As parents, we don't want to give him nothing each week, so we are very circumspect about giving out crosses to him, and very conscious that because he can have outbursts of 5 year old behaviour, we need to encourage him with earning extra ticks (to counter any potential crosses he might build up!) As parents we don't want to allow our children to build up an extreme amount of ticks in one week, so we are tweaking the 'expected jobs for basic money' to fit in with a fair amount of responsibility. In our house that isn't very much, it is little things like getting dressed and waiting at the front door for school the first time we ask in the morning instead of the 50th!
Our big children are excited and happy to be saving their money up for treats, and so far we have been regular with pocket money on a Saturday morning because it is an easy day to duck out and get whatever change is needed, plus we always have Sunday up our sleeve if we stuff up on Saturday!!!
I am not as neat and organised as my friend with the pretty blackboard - here is our chart!
This week has been not as easy on our eldest, but looking at the chart, as parents, we know we can encourage some behaviours to get those ticks back there, and be aware to be less 'reactive' as parents and not give out any more crosses - helps keep our boundaries and prevents us from going overboard using the pocket money as a significant discipline / bribery technique. I'm cautiously happy having pocket money bribery in the parenting toolbox so to speak, but not so keen on it being our primary parenting tool!
Before writing this post, I did a quick scan of the information in cyberspace about pocket money. The gist of the information 'out there' is that everyone agrees money handling skills such as budgeting, saving, goal achievement, responsibility and more. Questions of whether work should be done to earn pocket money, and what children are expected to pay for are tactfully left as an individual family decision :) For me, I am hoping we have found the balance in our household and this system will continue to work in a balanced way.
Interestingly I also found this page with links to pocket money apps. I've never used an app for pocket money, can't imagine doing so now, but you might like to check it out - 5 Free Allowance Apps.
I also particularly like this article, discussing how our children have a tendency to expect things for free! My middle child is in danger of this, owing to some compensating issues the hubby doesn't seem ready to shake. I am hoping this pocket money system will at least provide some counterpoint to the issue of it 'raining free toys' as sometimes happens here :(
Sunday, April 7, 2013
Motivational Thursday (Bruce!) - the results
I was surprised at how easy it was to get stuck into the Entry just the way my friend suggested!
Here are the results of what I called The Motivational Thursday Project. For anyone who missed it, this was motivational Thursday.
Part way through. Still quite a bit of chaos.
This was moved from the main wall to make room for the new Expedit shelves.
Wall waiting for shelving.
Front corner less chaotic, and with temporary curtain!
Voila! New shelves filled with all our stuff! (and a bag packed ready for the trip to Melbourne!)
Today I steam cleaned the rug and tidied the last junk off the pine hutch. It feels great! Inspirational music today was Shackled and Drawn.
Here are the results of what I called The Motivational Thursday Project. For anyone who missed it, this was motivational Thursday.
Voila! New shelves filled with all our stuff! (and a bag packed ready for the trip to Melbourne!)
Today I steam cleaned the rug and tidied the last junk off the pine hutch. It feels great! Inspirational music today was Shackled and Drawn.
Monday, March 18, 2013
Getting Advice - the upshot of motivational Thursday
So last Thursday, which will now be known as 'motivational Thursday', one of my lessons learnt was that I needed to seek feedback in order to succeed. Today I put that part of the key to success into action!
Very recently a friend said to me "You are your own worst enemy when it comes to cleaning up". Harsh criticism. So I thought that was the ideal place to begin my quest for feedback.
When clarified, her statement about being my own worst enemy was indicative of the way I get sidetracked, and don't stay on task. Personally the only reason I can agree with her, is through this blog, I see myself constantly swopping 'jobs' around, not finishing or focussing on what I intended to do. I still get stuff done, but I don't get the thorough results from staying on task.
So, given that I was inspired to clean our entry beyond my typical mop the floor so its all done type of clean, I jumped right in and asked advice on what she would do in our entry to improve it. In a state of half pride I had to explain that the floor was free of clutter and there was currently nothing in the room that glaringly didn't belong! (that is embarrassing to admit!)
Her thoughts were thus:
Get in a Expedit bookcase like this one:
As it turns out I bought a very similar thing from Bunnings! Looks pretty much like the one above. I think my husband bought white.
To store all the knick knacks, schoolbags and sports bags and other gear that we need within easy access of the front door. This means that the hutch we already have in the room will have to go, and I'm going to try this on for size, because, as the article says, success requires focus and feedback.
So the plan is to get on top of all the current things (at the moment mostly that is the pile of clean clothes); and get stuck into transforming the entry.
We'll see how I go, another project to keep everyone posted on. I think this kind of proves my friend's point about not sticking to one project!
Very recently a friend said to me "You are your own worst enemy when it comes to cleaning up". Harsh criticism. So I thought that was the ideal place to begin my quest for feedback.
When clarified, her statement about being my own worst enemy was indicative of the way I get sidetracked, and don't stay on task. Personally the only reason I can agree with her, is through this blog, I see myself constantly swopping 'jobs' around, not finishing or focussing on what I intended to do. I still get stuff done, but I don't get the thorough results from staying on task.
So, given that I was inspired to clean our entry beyond my typical mop the floor so its all done type of clean, I jumped right in and asked advice on what she would do in our entry to improve it. In a state of half pride I had to explain that the floor was free of clutter and there was currently nothing in the room that glaringly didn't belong! (that is embarrassing to admit!)
Her thoughts were thus:
Get in a Expedit bookcase like this one:
To store all the knick knacks, schoolbags and sports bags and other gear that we need within easy access of the front door. This means that the hutch we already have in the room will have to go, and I'm going to try this on for size, because, as the article says, success requires focus and feedback.
So the plan is to get on top of all the current things (at the moment mostly that is the pile of clean clothes); and get stuck into transforming the entry.
We'll see how I go, another project to keep everyone posted on. I think this kind of proves my friend's point about not sticking to one project!
Organising tools ahoy!
Hello, a quick update today about yesterday's shopping trip to Officeworks. I was out, child-free for a change and while in Officeworks found these funky tools that I'm already getting great use from.
This little A5 zip-up folder is to put in my handbag as a portable office. I am too cheap to pay freight for FlyLady's "Office in a Bag" so I'm having a go at the version for under $10! It already has some medical bills for my Dad in it that need to be delivered to Medicare.
This groovy little sideways piece of plastic is to go on the wall beside my computer. I'm going to store current bills in it. Previously they went into piles, which grew and grew towards the ceiling. With this slender wallet on the wall there will be a limit to how many bills fit in at once, so I'll be forced to keep up to date. I really need this kind of visual reminder.
These very boring looking magazine holders are already seeing use. Back in December I photographed my cousins's sorting system where she kept these all decorated up as sorting systems for school and extra-curricular activities for children. At the moment I've already stocked 2 of them, one with my daughter's school notes, tuckshop bags, and other important documents relating to school. The second one is what I call "home and motivation" and it contains my dreams workbook, housecleaning notes and other nifty house organising references. Once I have the system working I will decorate them and re-post.
I'm doing well with side-ways pictures today! These labels are for storage in our fridge. We are often confused about whether food has been 3 days or 5 days - which can make a difference. If we label the leftovers I figure thats one more part of life we've saved time and made easier. We both share cooking so its easier to be able to open the fridge and see whats in it. Especially good for my husband who finds it difficult to think about anything once it is inside a container unless there is a label.
And these little beauties are re-useable labels for anything. I figured my husband who loves labels can find a use for them.
What organising tools do you use?
This little A5 zip-up folder is to put in my handbag as a portable office. I am too cheap to pay freight for FlyLady's "Office in a Bag" so I'm having a go at the version for under $10! It already has some medical bills for my Dad in it that need to be delivered to Medicare.
I'm doing well with side-ways pictures today! These labels are for storage in our fridge. We are often confused about whether food has been 3 days or 5 days - which can make a difference. If we label the leftovers I figure thats one more part of life we've saved time and made easier. We both share cooking so its easier to be able to open the fridge and see whats in it. Especially good for my husband who finds it difficult to think about anything once it is inside a container unless there is a label.
What organising tools do you use?
Thursday, February 28, 2013
Cleaning habits, Challenge week works!
I've come to a realisation about the creation of good habits. Small good habits, or small efforts made repeatedly, lead to a self-regulating habit. Just like this post on "Habit V's Guilt" I am discovering that baby steps do indeed make cleaning progress. Not only do baby steps eventually lead to real changes, but the slow creation of habits over time creep in.
There is something about confidence that makes a contribution here too. The entire theme for this post started out when I happily noticed that the laundry has managed to stay in a state of what I'd call controlled chaos since the great laundry challenge week (updates found here, here and here).
The state of the laundry looks pretty awful at the moment, but the reality is that I'm getting through my 1-2 loads a day from beginning to end and for the most part, everything is where it should be. The same kind of thing is happening in the kitchen. Sure the hard-to-wash-up stuff sometime lingers, and there always seems to be leftover washing up, but its not the same dirty pot sitting here on Thursday that was there last weekend. Its a new pot, replacing the cake tin. I think when I am more confident, and my habits are even better, I can raise the expectation that no dirty dishes will be there from one day to the next.
I think I'm getting all my concepts mushed up in a mess here, but what I'm figuring out is that by giving myself permission not to be perfect in my habits, while simultaneously keeping up some confidence that I'll get these things done, I'm managing to keep on top of some routines.
All I need to do now is keep up with the decluttering and slowly add in more routine cleaning. Seems so simple but I suspect it will be a slow road.
Something also seems to be brewing in the wider family as this evening my husband has swept the floor without any prompting.
There is something about confidence that makes a contribution here too. The entire theme for this post started out when I happily noticed that the laundry has managed to stay in a state of what I'd call controlled chaos since the great laundry challenge week (updates found here, here and here).
The state of the laundry looks pretty awful at the moment, but the reality is that I'm getting through my 1-2 loads a day from beginning to end and for the most part, everything is where it should be. The same kind of thing is happening in the kitchen. Sure the hard-to-wash-up stuff sometime lingers, and there always seems to be leftover washing up, but its not the same dirty pot sitting here on Thursday that was there last weekend. Its a new pot, replacing the cake tin. I think when I am more confident, and my habits are even better, I can raise the expectation that no dirty dishes will be there from one day to the next.
I think I'm getting all my concepts mushed up in a mess here, but what I'm figuring out is that by giving myself permission not to be perfect in my habits, while simultaneously keeping up some confidence that I'll get these things done, I'm managing to keep on top of some routines.
All I need to do now is keep up with the decluttering and slowly add in more routine cleaning. Seems so simple but I suspect it will be a slow road.
Something also seems to be brewing in the wider family as this evening my husband has swept the floor without any prompting.
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Leave each room a little brighter
Thats my motto for today. The idea comes from the wonderful wisdom of "Organise and Decorate Everything" found here on Facebook and here on the www.
Day 3 of her 28 ways to stay organised is a cracker - with "Always leave a room looking better than when you entered it." You can follow the rest of the 28 days on facebook. For now, I'm focussing on Day 3, and how much difference that can make.
This morning before school, I must have done laps between the living room, front door, back door, laundry and kitchen at least half a dozen times. The fun of having 2 schoolkids and a toddler! Keeping in mind the mantra to leave the room a little better, the living room soon had dirty dishes removed, a bit of plastic wrap binned, and some clothes put into the laundry dirty sorting pile. My kitchen table got cleaned off over several trips past it to the bin and the few things that had fallen out of (or never quite made it to) the sorted dirty laundry were quickly put in their proper place. It created a lovely vortex of positive energy whereever I went, because I was on the lookout for the sort of debris in the house that I normally try not to look at!!! Funnily enough, those little things made a difference to how the house felt when I returned after the school drop-off, I had taken a load of rubbish to the bin!
On that note, its bin day again today and the fridge got another clean-out - anything potentially suspicious all tossed out to make room for fresh food and straight into the rubbish truck!!!
Another bonus today was the impromptu window wipe - I went to open my son's juice bottle and it had turned rancid in the heat - and exploded all over the window above the sink! So the window cleaner, paper towel and I had a little pre-breakfast date to clean up. :) The room is now a lot brighter, literally!
Day 3 of her 28 ways to stay organised is a cracker - with "Always leave a room looking better than when you entered it." You can follow the rest of the 28 days on facebook. For now, I'm focussing on Day 3, and how much difference that can make.
This morning before school, I must have done laps between the living room, front door, back door, laundry and kitchen at least half a dozen times. The fun of having 2 schoolkids and a toddler! Keeping in mind the mantra to leave the room a little better, the living room soon had dirty dishes removed, a bit of plastic wrap binned, and some clothes put into the laundry dirty sorting pile. My kitchen table got cleaned off over several trips past it to the bin and the few things that had fallen out of (or never quite made it to) the sorted dirty laundry were quickly put in their proper place. It created a lovely vortex of positive energy whereever I went, because I was on the lookout for the sort of debris in the house that I normally try not to look at!!! Funnily enough, those little things made a difference to how the house felt when I returned after the school drop-off, I had taken a load of rubbish to the bin!
On that note, its bin day again today and the fridge got another clean-out - anything potentially suspicious all tossed out to make room for fresh food and straight into the rubbish truck!!!
Another bonus today was the impromptu window wipe - I went to open my son's juice bottle and it had turned rancid in the heat - and exploded all over the window above the sink! So the window cleaner, paper towel and I had a little pre-breakfast date to clean up. :) The room is now a lot brighter, literally!
Monday, February 18, 2013
Progress made!
Given that I spent some time in the entry this week, I decided to stay there, and aim for some cleaning that went deeper than the surface of things. And I discovered, once I emptied out the shelves, that I own an incredible amount of jigsaw puzzles!
After the photograph and the amazement of the tower of puzzles that I have, it was time to sort. I found the early parts of sorting easiest, and after making a dozen decisions or so, it got harder and more and more puzzles ended up on the 'maybe' pile.
My puzzle sorting doesn't fit in with most 'organiser' recommendations. Its unique to me and my puzzle scenario.
First were puzzles I'd finished, and had no attachment to. The 'get rid of' pile.
Then the puzzles that I either hadn't done or thought I might like to do again. A subset of this was the 2000 plus pieces and the less than 750 pieces groups separated out.
Last were the puzzles I knew I absolutely wanted to keep. There were about 6 of these from that whole tower. Scenes I like, special memories, particularly fun ones.
Now I am pretty overwhelmed at the responsibility of taking ACTION! Very grown up this sorting and deciding business. While getting children to bed, I remembered a recent article about the way cluttered people make decisions, and its true! I felt very uncomfortable making snap decisions after the first few. Towards the end, all the decisions I made had very little connection to how I felt about the puzzle, and a hell of a lot to do with how uncomfortable I felt.
Bearing all this in mind, what I plan to do is to start doing puzzles, and see if in 3 months, or 6 months I still have the same attachment to the 'maybe' puzzles. After the time passes it might seem pointless to keep them for the 'one day' when children are bigger.
In the meantime I've made offers to loan them out to friends, and I've chosen a better home for the ones I'm keeping - instead of in what was the conveniently new and empty hutch in the entry, they'll be making their way upstairs to the toy /craft area and stored in a large cupboard up there that needs a good cleanout but is otherwise unused.
After the photograph and the amazement of the tower of puzzles that I have, it was time to sort. I found the early parts of sorting easiest, and after making a dozen decisions or so, it got harder and more and more puzzles ended up on the 'maybe' pile.
My puzzle sorting doesn't fit in with most 'organiser' recommendations. Its unique to me and my puzzle scenario.
First were puzzles I'd finished, and had no attachment to. The 'get rid of' pile.
Then the puzzles that I either hadn't done or thought I might like to do again. A subset of this was the 2000 plus pieces and the less than 750 pieces groups separated out.
Last were the puzzles I knew I absolutely wanted to keep. There were about 6 of these from that whole tower. Scenes I like, special memories, particularly fun ones.
Now I am pretty overwhelmed at the responsibility of taking ACTION! Very grown up this sorting and deciding business. While getting children to bed, I remembered a recent article about the way cluttered people make decisions, and its true! I felt very uncomfortable making snap decisions after the first few. Towards the end, all the decisions I made had very little connection to how I felt about the puzzle, and a hell of a lot to do with how uncomfortable I felt.
Bearing all this in mind, what I plan to do is to start doing puzzles, and see if in 3 months, or 6 months I still have the same attachment to the 'maybe' puzzles. After the time passes it might seem pointless to keep them for the 'one day' when children are bigger.
In the meantime I've made offers to loan them out to friends, and I've chosen a better home for the ones I'm keeping - instead of in what was the conveniently new and empty hutch in the entry, they'll be making their way upstairs to the toy /craft area and stored in a large cupboard up there that needs a good cleanout but is otherwise unused.
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Challenge Week Update!
Today marks the end of my "Laundry Challenge" and I'm happy to say it has certainly been a success! Thinking about and focussing on one area of work for the 7 days has given me the boost to make progress in the laundry, to be inspired to tackle other areas, and get something 'finished' - although the 'finished' job at the end was far simpler than the 'finished' job I hoped for on day 1. My laundry has gone from cluttered and a dumping ground for all dirty clothes wet and dry on the floor, with a huge mountain of clean clothes growing from a washing basket in the corner, to an orderly looking room with nothing on the floor, sorted dirty clothes in this great Antonius system from Ikea. 
Clean washing is also sorted in Ikea, so that everyone in the family can collect and put away their own clothes easily. What I've learnt from my weekly challenge is that it is a great way to accomplish something in a particular area; that it motivates me to move and meet my 20 minutes goal every day; that I need to continue the laundry challenge and add in another challenge next week, building on the foundation of my routines until I am a powerhouse of keeping things tidy and organised! I'm so pumped by this challenge that I'm going to start my new Challenge today - this one is going to be doing a nightly clean up, every night for 8 nights! What that means in this case will be spending 5 minutes in every room, making something neater, tidying, collecting all dirty dishes and rubbish and taking them out, and where possible, pick up everything off the floor. It will probably be a 30 minutes a day job, because our house is very large and I'll be doing the whole thing!
Saturday, February 9, 2013
Laundry day 3 Cleanup weekend day 2
Yep, thats the inspiring title today. Labelling whats going on in the land of lets clean up. Todays goals were to clean off the kitchen bench, kitchen table, bills from my desk and 1 other job. I got through the bench and table, paid a few bills, left the rest for Monday when I can confirm what amounts I need to pay and then I got stuck into the overloaded medicine box. Which brought me up sharp against the fact that my husband is not a compulsive hoarder, but he is compulsively untidy. Everywhere I turn in this house there are signs of his neverending efforts to make the house messier. Every surface in our house looks like this and worse. 
I googled a bit and found some good links that helped me realise I could keep going with getting the house clean around him. http://www.compulsive-hoarding.org/About.html has a good insight into some of the underlying hoarding stuff. I found this site particularly useful with great tips that seem practical - http://www.lifedesignstrategies.com/art/my_partner_is_a_clutterbug.html Basically going to visit those sites got me past the overwhelming sadness and despair that hit when I realised how insidious and constant the cluttering is in my home. I really need to continue every day taking the time to fight the clutter or I will never get on top of it. I discovered today that in addition to a big box of medicines at the top of our pantry, and a selection that had expanded above the microwave, that my hubbie had taken off with my large Tupperware cake carrier and loaded the lid of that up with more medicinal stuff!!! All of it got tipped out onto the kitchen table and I repacked and re-sorted it all out so that I have a small neat group above the microwave, the original medicine box and one small box for the excessive amount of bandaids I found! Tonight I'm continuing my laundry 20 minutes. I have finished a load all the way to put away and will head in there now to put away some more of the clean washing pile. It is helping to focus on the laundry to help catch up or get ahead on that area for this week. Tomorrow's cleanup focus is on the outside of the house, mowing the lawn and possibly tidying up the back verandah.
Thursday, February 7, 2013
Laundry Challenge Week
Working Smart
Today was bin day. I'm not very organised, hence the interest in how to organise my energy better. One thing I've learnt, at least a little bit, is the value of working smart. Something I'm proud to have accomplished, almost regularly, is the simple art of cleaning out the fridge before bin day. That way at least I don't have ikky stuff in my fridge for more than a week, and what is in the bin thats on the iffy side doesnt sit there for 6 days attracting the fly population of the whole street. 
Sometimes I get it done on Tuesday night, sometimes I get it done thoroughly, including wiping down every shelf. Other times I toss the clearly too-old leftovers that stare at me as soon as I open the door, but don't get to the slightly iffy food lurking at the back of the bottom shelf. How smart I work is still variable on a lot of other factors, but if I get SOMETHING out of the fridge on bin day, I give myself a pat on the back for working smart that day! I also try to do a quick '27 fling boogie' (flylady again!) around the house to ditch any more stuff that I don't need as the bin is ready to go out. If its not too full, I make sure to try to fill it up from rubbish I don't need or old broken toys, anything I can get into the bin. For more info on 27 fling boogie visit www.flylady.net There are plenty of other examples of working smart. One I also do regularly is to open all the mail at the recycling bin. Junk mail and envelopes go straight into the bin, never coming into the house, because they don't need to be inside cluttering up the house. Then filing goes away straight away and bills go to be paid. One I don't do (because my kitchen sink is often full) is to fill a sink with hot soapy water before you start to cook, and as you cook, used utensils go straight in the sink and you wash up as you go. A friend of mine downloads her photos at the end of every week. She also sorts them at the same time into the various albums that she then prints when she has enough photos, eg. an album for each of her daughters and one for the family. I find myself not as organised as that, but when I do download photos (I try to do it monthly) I save them into a folder under the year and month, with months labelled 1- Jan 2013; 2- Feb 2013; etc so they stay in order. That way its easy to find by date. What 'working smart' tips do you have?
Monday, February 4, 2013
Being Prepared
I've had almost no sleep, my husband was with my Dad until 3am this morning as he tranferred from the nursing home to hospital with pneumonia. I had 2 children waking up in turns most of the night. The hospital kindly phoned me at 5:24 in the morning, simply to tell me that Dad was being admitted, breaking what little sleep I'd had. And so todays blog is about preparation. I was a Girl Guide. Be Prepared was their motto. I don't think at the tender age of 15 I had a clue what they meant. Now I believe I know what they mean, however my execution is lacking. My mother in law is prepared. Her mother, incidentally was a Girl Guide Leader for many years! Or perhaps it is a generational thing. She has her house and life organised in such a way that unexpected visitors simply mean closing a couple of doors (like the always busy sewing room), and she's ready. Visitors on short notice? Quick mop and she's ready. Visitors for morning tea? Defrost biccies. Visitors for lunch? Defrost some quiche. Unexpected illness? More defrosting. A chest freezer is pretty central to her level of preparedness! 
My point is that no matter what the occasion, she's ready. She'll be having some minor surgery soon. You can bet she's cooking extra meals now, in preparation for leaving my father in law to fend for himself. One of her most amazing acts of preparation is her amazing potting efforts. An avid gardener, in the drought a few years ago, she chose the important plants, transferred them to pots, and watered them from the dam. I just hope that I can begin to become somewhat prepared, even if it is not as spectacularly well done as my Mother in Law.
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