I have never been a very organized person. When I was younger my room was always messy a complete disaster. The ironic part of this, is that clutter and disorganization drive me batty. I seriously cannot think clearly when things are a mess. But for some reason I just can't seem to figure out a system. I try, I really do. I bought little baskets for our "junk" drawer. I organized it but it always gets super messy again. I organize my pots and pans cabinets and two weeks later they are cluttered and it's dangerous to open them again. And don't even get me started on the pantry, fridge, and my craft closet.
I need your help! I know some of you are awesomely organized. Help a sister out.
I'm thinking the first place I want to start is with a cleaning schedule.
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| Did anyone see this on FB? This is me to a T! |
So what's your schedule? Or how did you come up with one? Be specific! Talk to me like a 5 year old. I'm slow. :)
Also, meal planning. I've tried it and yet I keep failing miserably. How do you do it? Do you have a system? HELP!
well you know I don't have any advice! maybe your readers can help me out too.
ReplyDeleteGet up before everyone. Shower, put your make up and and if you have somewhere to go put your shoes on.
ReplyDeleteStraighten up the house, make the bed, start laundry. (I put a load in the night before, so when I wake up I switch it to the dryer and if there is another load I start it then.)
GO around the house and straighten up from night before, if you don't do it before you go to bed.
Unload dishwasher and set out plates for breakfast.
Back to laundry room. Lay out clothes for girls, fold clothes, switch loads.
Once girls get up, get fully dressed, shoes on if going somewhere. Then go to make breakfast. While serving breakfast, get out dinner to defrost.
:) That is how my basic morning looks. Then it is maintenance from there and I tackle deep cleaning if they are quiet or bed. :)
I'm actually addressing the first part - have you read the book "It's all too much" by Peter Walsh? You should be able to get it at the library. I kept checking it out so much I finally bought it for cheap on Amazon. Anyway - I'm re-reading it yet again as I do another 40 day purge for Lent (I started now, though - I think I need more than 40 days!) I was feeling overwhelmed and just surrounded by STUFF. Stuff I used and stuff I was hanging on to. That first year I got rid of so much of the "hanging on to" stuff and it was so freeing because I finally had a place to put the things I really loved and used. William Morris is quoted in the book and he says "have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful." I remind myself of that often! So, that's just my 2 cents... see if there are things you can purge to make room for those you use and love!
ReplyDeleteSecond, meal planning - before C, I planned about 2 weeks in advance. I have a list of favorites and go often from that while planning. One of my goals this year is to sit down and just plan a few months worth of menus that I can just pick and choose from. We rarely eat out and I love to cook, so I enjoy having a variety. Some would be for summer - more salads and such, and winter menus would have more soups and stews. This week I decided to try cooking 4 nights out of the week (except Pizza nights) and make enough at each meal for DH & I to have 3 meals. We almost always eat leftovers for lunch which is helpful. Breakfast is on our own - we have eggs, sausage, ham, cottage cheese, kefir, fruit, etc. Occasionally in the winter I'll eat a leftover soup or stew. Oh, and I'm discovering the crock pot is my friend. It's so easy to plop in some meat, a few veggies and a little bit of liquid and have a great meal that night.
I am so rambling :) - but I'm trying to do a load of laundry a day. Some days have been easier than others, but this really seems to work.
Join FLY LADY!!! She totally helps whip you into shape. Keeps me on my toes and I'm already pretty organized naturally!
ReplyDeleteTwo big things I do-
1) Menu plan a month in advance. Takes the pressure off.
2) Make a weekly schedule every Saturday.
Here's a sample of mine:
Monday- grocery store, colors,
Tuesday- bathrooms, girls' clothes, make bread
Wednesday- MOPS (no chores), whites
Thursday- vacuum and mop, sheets and towels
Friday- update budget/pay bills, colors
Saturday- create grocery list for next week, girls' clothes
So basically I do one load of laundry a day and have two days for heavy chores. Hope this helps!!!
I have to second the FlyLady! Love her! The 15 minute missions have saved my sanity and made me think I can actually keep up with it all.
ReplyDeleteI was chuckling at this post, because I am exactly like you. I have always told my husband that deep inside, there is a person who wants to be organized! And yet, I'm not. I actually do suffer from ADD and can totally relate to the ADCD and going from one task to another without really getting anything finished. My constant defense to my husband (who is a neat freak) is, "But I did so much today!" Which is true--however, nothing was completed because I started on the dishwasher, then got distracted by the garbage and then took the garbage to the garage only to get distracted on the way by deciding to start the laundry. Add 5 kids to that who are constantly distracting you!
ReplyDeleteI have no advice for you, as I am just like you--but my sister-in-law (who is pretty much like Martha Stewart) also loves "Fly Lady." For myself, I checked out her site and felt overwhelmed with all the tricks so I can't say I found it very helpful. The only thing I would suggest is to write down one job you want to do that day--even if it takes you the entire day to do it, and then move onto the next job the next day. That's what I do, and it usually seems to work, though I admit it's slow going.
Hope that helps!
Hmm. I don't have the AD(C)D problem - if I really want to get one thing done, I will stick with it until I am exhausted. But I have to really want to do it, which raises a different problem - clutter does not bother me, and I intentionally put off the housekeeping if I think there's something more important to do. I am good about scheduling my one regular chore - every Saturday morning I get the laundry started, and done by the end of the day, while I am also doing other things. Everything else gets done when it gets bad enough to annoy me :). If you are easily distracted and are also interrupted by the schedule of a small person, I can see how the AD(C)D would prevent you ever accomplishing anything. Does it help to repeat over and over, "I am not allowed to work on anything but the dishes"?
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure I fully understand this meal planning business. Granted my DH and I work full-time and I do not cook dinner every night (I make one big quantity of something - soup, pasta, curry, etc. - every week). But when I was cooking dinner at night more regularly, I didn't go to the grocery store with a list for my week's menus. I replaced any staples we'd run out of (which includes rice, potatoes, flour, pasta, tomato sauce, onions, and garlic), and bought whatever meat and vegetables (including frozen) were on sale. Prices for those items can vary widely, so I used them as the deciding factor when it came time to plan dinner. I'm not a faithful recipe-follower anyway, so I prefer to open the freezer and wait to be struck by inspiration :). It does help to have a number of meals that are old favorites and that lend themselves to major ingredient substitution (pork for beef, etc.). I will go out of my way to buy something for a specific meal, but only if we're entertaining. Maybe the plan-ahead method works better, I don't know. But I'm pretty sure it wouldn't work for me :).