The ToDo List

I am a list fanatic.  Pre-smartphones I had lists everywhere.  I was a loyal FranklinCovey Planner user - remember those?  Then I got a smartphone and little by little the lists disappeared, and as I've realized little by little I had become less organized, and less productive but worst of all starting to get stressed out about the little free time I did have and how best to use it.

After I started using Pinterest, I found all sorts of organizational blogs, and while many had great ideas, none really worked for me.  So after a few different experiments, this is what I've come up with.

Yep, a good old fashioned one subject notebook.  Recycled no less.  The reason it says "Guided Reading" on it is that it's a leftover from my daughter last year.

Anyway, here's the system.  Starting in the middle of the book I fold a sheet of paper in half.  On the left side I write out my monthly and weekly goals.  On the right hand side of the page behind it, I write out the days to-dos but block them according to things to do during school hours, things to do after school and finally things to do when the kids are in bed.  Breaking up the timing of the tasks really helps, I used to look at my app to do list in the morning and see 10 things on it, feel overwhelmed and feel like I failed if I hadn't made it very far by lunch time.  Now I'm setting reasonable expectations based on when kids are around and when I have quiet time, and if I manage to work on something ahead of time, yay!!  Here's a shot of today's list.  I managed all my school time, most of my afterschool stuff (that Target trip took a little longer than I had hoped), and now I have a couple of hours of quiet to work on the bottom section before I call it a night.  Not too bad, if you ask me.

So far it's been great, I had never found an app that let me track everything at once.  On some days, I'll take notes on the left hand side of the daily page, and may fold it in to the folded page if I need to keep them, otherwise I rip it out and start fresh the next day.  That's why I start in the middle though, that way I can keep notes if I need to, and as the folded sheet gets crossed off I can rewrite it on a page in front. 

Ideally I write up the next day's list before I go to bed, but sometimes do it after dropping the kids off at school. 

October Goals

I've recently adopted a habit of setting goals for myself for the month and I have to say it is helping me stay on task, especially for the bigger stuff.  I'd be lying if I said I accomplished everything, but I'm getting more done.

So time to set October's goals
- Sew Comforter for Little Readers Build A Bear Bed
- Refinance Car
- Hot Chocolate Race Training - So far I've just been running for fun, but I've signed up for a 15K on November 4th, so need to do a little research on training and make sure I'm doing what I'm supposed to.  Also need to get some cooler weather running gear.
- Finish putting photo albums together. Gotta get caught up before the onslaught of holiday photos begins.
- Start planning Christmas shopping. Planning a budget, keep track of things kids ask for, etc.
- Organize and file away CDs. All our music is on iPods at this point, but my husband refuses to let me get rid of the actual CDs.  I just need a better way to store them than my current shopping bags.
- Weatherproof Little Man's room.  Poor guy has the only room with two original windows and bad insulation, it get's really cold in the winter.

There are a few broader goals that I'll be including in my 31 days series but the above is the main stuff.  I also intend to stay on top of my weekly projects as none of them are that tough this month. 

August Wrap-up

Overall a good month.  I had quite a few fun outings with the kids before school started. Now kids are all settled in and happy in their classrooms. We've got our morning routine pretty well set, just waiting for a couple more afternoon activities to start before we're going on all cylinders.

I logged 41 miles running and walking the kids to/from school adds another 4 miles of walking a week.

I'm hoping we manage to keep it up when it gets cold cause I enjoy our little walks - especially when the kids get a little ahead of me and talk about stuff completely forgetting I'm right behind them. My daughters would love to walk to school on their own, and the school would allow it.  Even though they're good about crossing the street safely, I'm not ready.

The end of summer vacation came upon us a little too quickly, but I'm grateful to get back into our usual routine.

Unfortunately I am waaaay off track with my weekly projects. I need to look at what still needs to be done and get back to it.

With the new school year I'm planning on setting new goals and routines for myself.  As great as routine is, if I don't set goals I'll just get caught up in the day to day stuff and never get any of the big stuff done.

Get Out of Rut Challenge

I've been feeling pretty good about my progress with my weekly projects. Each time I get something organized I feel like a weight has been lifted. I don't adhere to feng shui but I do feel calmer when things are organized and when I have decluttered.

Nothing makes me happier than to get rid of things we no longer need. As much as possible I donate things we no longer need, but even recycling/throwing things out makes me happy.

Having said all that, my appearance doesn't reflect that. While my house is getting organized, quite honestly, most of the time I look like crap. Part of it was guilt about buying new things when we were so deep in debt, but when all my jeans had holes in them, many of my tshirts had stains and my favorite jacket to is falling apart, it is time to action before the fashion police mount an intervention.

I stumbled upon this get out of a rut challenge on the Weekend Blog Walk and figured it was the perfect jump start. I know enough about myself to to know that I'm more likely to follow through with things if I publicize them. So here goes.....

I have two goals for June
1. Make more of an effort with my appearance. Wear an outfit not just clothes. Put on a little makeup and wear some of all the jewelry I have and love.
I tend to dress like a guy, grabbing whatever is clean rather than putting together an outfit. I have all sorts of rationalizations of why I do this - no time, if I'm planning on cleaning, why bother dressing up, etc. But really it comes down to laziness.

2. Get our finances in order. The first 5 months of this year we were in the red. Now we finally have a positive cash flow again. The surplus isn't huge so I still need to be careful about not overspending. Time to start actually using the mint.com account I started ages ago but would neglect as I found it depressing.

Anyone else up for the challenge? It's easy, no rules, just post your challenge to yourself on the Divvy Spot and touch base at the end of the month with your progress.

Week 14 project - Consignment Sale Prep

Two weeks from now, my women's group is hosting their semi-annual consignment sale.  This week is time to go through the bins of outgrown clothes and get it all tagged. 

I also use it as an incentive to get the kids to purge their toys.  I help them price everything, and anything that sells, I give them the money for.  Last fall they each earned $9 and they were psyched, even kicked themselves for not selling more.  I look forward to picking up some "new" clothes for the kids at the actual sale.  I still have yet to sell more than I buy for, but even so the savings are amazing. 

With my first daughter, I bought almost all of her clothes new and shunned handmedowns and sales like this, now I love them.  Kids grow so fast, consignment sales are the way to go when getting stuff for your kids.  I posted some tips after the previous sale in the fall - check it out if you're new to consignment sales

Week 12 Project - The Dreaded Storage Closet

These are the before shots. It is a walk in, but you couldn't. I kept tossing things that belonged in there in there, figuring I'd get to it eventually. It's a mix of our fancy dinner stuff - china, crystal, etc.  Holiday crafts that the kids have made and I plan on using to decorate over the years, suitcases, bags, games, computer and electronic accessories, and a lot of other "junk"

I finally tackled it this week and it's amazing. I didn't get rid of that much, just got a bunch of bins and boxes at the Container Store and took out some things that we rarely use like tons of duffle bags.  And then things I will never use again but feel like I can't throw out either - like my wedding dress. I didn't toss them, just put them in the bigger storage room under our basement where they aren't in the way of stuff we need more regularly.

And now for the after...

We had a ton of hats and while my husband wears them occasionally in the summer, over half were never worn.  I used an old shoe rack that fit perfectly on the shelf and makes them much easier to find.  I even sorted them, so the hats from golf venues are on top since he usually wears a hat when he golfs, and the other more sentimental hats underneath (like his high school baseball hat - which he will never part with even though he'll never wear it)
The white plastic bins each have a purpose - one for lightbulbs, one for grooming supplies - lint brushes/shoe polish stuff, one for poisons - pesticides/WD40 that kind of stuff, and one for things used to connect things - glues/tapes/string/twisties, and one for electronic wires etc

The back wall now has bins for each holiday (labeled using Avery labels - I'd love a label maker, but can't justify it).  The suitcases are easy to get to and not nested inside each other like they used to be.  I always hated having to get the smallest one as it was inside 2 others.

Look at all that floor space now.

And finally this side has a bin each for gift bags (arranged by occasion), leftover fabric, sewing notions.  Then games are neatly arranged (and were weeded out).  The Pampers box admittedly should be replaced with something nicer, but right now contains my glass vases.
Right now the china is all on the top shelf in the boxes that they came in  While they are nice and protected, it's a pain to just get out plates when serving a meal for 6 or 8 as I have to go into each box.  Next time I have a good coupon for the Container Store or Bed & Bath I'll get some of the padded zip containers.

It feels so good to finally have this done.  I'm not into feng shui at all, but I do feel like a weight has been lifted now that I finally took care of it.  Like I said I still have a few things to do to make it even better, but at least now it's organized so any adjustments/beautifications will be so much easier.

Next weeks project - organizing our file cabinet, which should be much easier as I already did some when we applied for the refi.

Meet Me On Monday

1. How do you like your eggs? Scrambled with Swiss cheese and ham mixed in
2. Who is the last person you spoke to on the phone? My Mom
3. Do you have a place you keep 'junk' in your home? Unfortunately more than one.  This weeks project is tackling the storage closet

  

4. What is on your 'spring cleaning' list? Organizing every thing.  I made a list of weekly tasks and am slowly working my way through it  Here's the list
5. What blog post have you written recently that you'd like more people to know about? (don't forget to link it up)  MS Study - My mother was diagnosed with MS about 6 years ago and I enrolled in a study to see if there is any genetic/environmental cause for MS.  The post is actually not super recent, but I do still repost it to bloghops occasionally to help get the word out, as they are still looking for volunteers.

Trying to Get in Gear after Being Useless Yesterday

Saturday was a beautiful day. We spent a lot of time outside, and then went out with friends at night. We went to a French bistro that we'd been meaning to try, and it was great. Lots of great choices on the menu, but I ended up having Baked Brie for an appetizer and pork medallions for my entree.

After dinner we went barhopping. We went to 3 different places all a short distance from each other. We got home around 1am.

I figured with the big lump of cheese and bread and making sure to drink water as well as wine during dinner, and not having any hard alcohol I'd be ok Sunday morning, but no. I was miserable all day and while I did manage to take a shower mid day, I couldn't get my butt off the couch til about 4pm when I was finally able to eat something again.

My sweet little guy would come by randomly throughout the day and give me hugs and ask if I was feeling better.  

So today I'm playing catchup. After dropping my daughters off at school, my son and I spent 2 1/2 hours getting groceries for the week. After lunch I need to catch up on chores, emails, blogging etc, and get a plan of attack for this weeks project - the scary storage closet. Thankfully I just got a coupon for the Container Store, so hopefully I can find some things to help get the mess in line.

Service Provider Sheet

This post is a test of two things. I found a post by Ask Anna showing how to add a document to a blogpost.
Since I'm working on putting together a household binder, I figured I'd use my Repairman Form as a test. It was really easy.
 

Week 7 Project - Kitchen Drawers

This week's project is organizing the kitchen drawers. After 3 trips to the Container Store (the first two because I didn't measure properly) I finally have our junk drawers under control. Thanks to some pegs I found at Meijer, my cleaning closet is all organized too. It already had the peg board, I just didn't have enough pegs. Anyway, here is the before and after.

After the first trip to the Container Store was unsuccessful I dumped most of the stuff in the second drawer and put stuff we needed most in the top drawer (not sure why I put the cigar in there).

I got some mesh wire separators at the Container Store and this how it looks now. So much better and easier, and I only removed a few things that didn't belong.

I also found some pegs at Meijer so decided to tackle our cleaning closet.

Before

And now after

Everything has a peg, and nothing is in the way of getting to anything else.  For some reason I had two Swiffers, so I brought one upstairs for quick bathroom cleans. So much easier.  It almost makes me want to clean (almost).

Since I was at the Container Store I also got some bins for our coat closet too, so have already started working on that, even though that's next week's project.

Week 6 Project

We're meeting with our accountant this week to prepare our tax returns, so this week's project is to get all our stuff in order. I like to do them as early as possible as we have always gotten a refund, and call me greedy but I want my money.

We've received all the documents we needed - W2, bank interest statements etc.
I got all our bank statements organized today and have gone through them to identify any checks that would be deductible.  Not many but we have a couple.
I've gone through my receipt folder and we have quite a few repair expenses on my husband's car, some basic office supply stuff, and a few charitable contributions (both goods and $).
I've downloaded the AMEX summary to find any deductible items on there.

Tonight I need to figure out the cost of my husband's car insurance for the year and our total cost for our second phone line and internet access, since those also qualify as business expenses. I need to figure out the value of the goods we donated. Once I have all that I can put it all in my usual spreadsheet to give to our accountant when we meet.  It makes it so much easier to review everything with her this way, and then we can use more of the meeting to discuss bigger questions of our finances for this year, like making sure we adjust our withholdings correctly to make sure we maximize my husband's earnings to take care of our short fall.

Off to a good start

This week's project is Super Bowl party prep. Ok, maybe that's cheating a little but I figure some parts of the house will get organized as a result. Case in point I took my husband's board certificate to be reframed today and will pick it up tomorrow - cross that off week 11.

I did my monthly Costco run and picked up some things at Bed & Bath, and took my son for a much needed haircut.

After picking up my daughter at school I did a load of laundry while the kids played. While my son took his nap, I did some cleaning - the kids bathroom top to bottom, and dusted and vacuumed kids rooms and our bedroom. All in a little over an hour. Not too bad. I figure if I wash all the floors upstairs tomorrow and do a quick clean of our bathroom I'll be done up there and can focus on the areas where people will actually be for the party.

The best part after all that boring stuff was I had time to sit with my daughter and talk about her day and help her with her homework will my son napped.

It was pretty warm today so the kids played outside for a little while before it got too dark.  I took this picture while standing out there.  It was actually a crescent moon, but I guess the iPhone camera does have its limits :)

Finally after the kids were in bed, my husband and I watched Alcatraz.  I'm not a fan of science fiction or JJ Abrams but this has a pretty basic concept.  When Alcatraz closed in the 60s and all the prisoners were transferred to other facilities, but the premise on this show is that they actually disappeared without a trace and are now reappearing in the present.  Once you buy into that concept the rest of the show is kind of like Journeyman which I used to like but was cancelled after one season.

Busy weekend

Friday I went with my oldest daughter to her Brownie meeting and ice skate. I had to get a sitter for the younger two since my husband was on call but since I don't get a lot of one on one time with her it was worth it.

They had pizza at the rink and then one of the Moms gave a presentation on Greece.  They learn about different countries at each meeting and have previously learned about Jordan and Japan. One of the Moms is Greek gave a quick presentation and then they all got to write their names in Greek.

Only 2 of the troop leaders had skates and I was the only Mom who came to skate that was not a leader. I took another woman's daughter for one lap around while she got her skates on, and then a girl who is friends with my daughter asked if she could join us as her parents had just dropped her off. She was a little better than my daughter but not so much that it mattered. It made a little harder for me to coach my daughter since I had to watch the other girl too, but they both had fun. She hadn't skated in almost a year so was a bit unsteady in the beginning but was doing better by the end. There were a couple of girls who were really good, one of them was a total show off though which bugged me. She's someone who my daughter has said is pretty bossy in school and I totally see it. My daughter was probably in the middle in terms of abilities, better than some, not as good as others. We stayed about an hour and a half and were on the ice almost the whole time. We only fell once and that was because she started to stumble right when someone distracted me, but we were both fine.

Saturday morning my husband took my daughters on their overnight to the water park along with their Indian Princess tribe. I took my son to Firezone to go play. It was our first time there and it was smaller than I had expected but good for an hour (which is the length of the drop off time). The kids get a little firefighter coat to wear and there is a full size fire truck and ambulance to climb on, a firepole, a dispatch center, a couple of ladders they can pull up and down and a little house where they have a smoke machine blowing smoke and the kids use the hose attached to the hydrant outside to put out the fire. They have a firefighter there who does a little presentation at the end putting on all his gear do the kids can see it all up close. As we left he got a little fire badge sticker to wear.

We had lunch at Jason's deli and then headed home. I had already decided that he and I would watch a movie before he went to bed and for the past couple of days he had said he wanted to watch Cars. Then today he decided that since he had already seen Cars he wanted to watch Nemo instead. So after a quick dinner and a bath, we settled in to watch the movie. At first he was sitting in his chair and I was on the sofa, then it got to the part where Marlin and Dory meet Bruce the shark and he started to get a little scared, so I told him he could sit with me which he did, all snuggled up for the rest of the movie :) I think quite a bit of it was over his head, but he still seemed to like it.

After reading a quick story I put him to bed and then I finished the curtain for the storage closet. It looks pretty good for a temporary fix.. I watched Green Zone and went through our Super Bowl party supplies to see what I need to get and then gave myself a quick pedicure since all the polish was chipped off anyway.

So all together I tended quite a few of my trees the past two days :)
- quality one on one time with 2 of the 3 kids, I'll paint with my younger daughter Monday afternoon
- finished one weekly project right on time, so started the next a day early
- took care of myself with the pedicure and movie that I wanted to see

I'll start tomorrow, I swear

I spent the weekend figuring out the best plan of attack for the cleaning schedule and had great intentions for starting today. I was supposed to dust the whole house and clean the two bathrooms upstairs. What did I do? None of it.

But, I did make some progress on my project of the week. I got some fabric at Joanns for the storage closet "door". I also finished entering my list of weekly projects into this blog and then I updated the layout of the blog itself, moved some stuff around. Overall it think it looks much better, still basic, but that's fine.

My daughter had her first Junior Great Books meeting today. It's an optional lunch time book club that meets once a week for 8 weeks. They are assigned a little extra reading and some homework every week. The classes are taught by parents (sometimes former teachers, but also just parents who want to be involved somehow with the school). They read and discussed the Princess and the Frog (the original version not the Disnefied one). There are only 3 other kids in it, all from pm kindergarten so she didn't know them well but still had fun.

My son is still obsessed with the Lion King and insists that he is Kiara or Simba and my role changes from Nala and Rafiki. He likes to make me Rafiki so I can pick him up and "present" him to the rest of the animals like Rafiki does in the movie with baby Simba. He has taken to referring to our house as Pride Rock :) He even refers to his food as wildebeest (bananas), zebra (berry banana) and antelope (pear squash).

I love that he has such a great imagination, but I have to admit I am getting tired of him getting upset with me when I call him by his proper name and not whatever character he is playing.

Tomorrow an occupational therapist to evaluate our little man. We'll see how that goes. I'm kind of hoping that they say that he doesn't also need that kind of therapy. I know this stuff is all important but I miss my long days to do errands and other things (or even just stay home and play).

Pinterest

It's official I'm hooked. I knew I would be which is why I put off signing up, but I see now how it can also keep you organized and save time.

I used to be the type who when I get a magazine I would read it cover to cover and rip out any articles or ads I wanted to remember instead of keeping the whole thing. My Mom has piles of magazines everywhere that she saves just for one page, it bugs me (not sure why, it just does). The problem was that aside from recipes (which I do have a good system for) those ripped out pages never had a good home, and I would end forgetting about or losing them.

Bookmarks are great but I had bookmarks on my phone, two computers and the iPad. Not very practical. I tried using a page on this blog for keeping track of recipes I want to try but since the mobile version of blogger doesn't make it easy to add links, that didn't really work either. Anything I wanted to link I had to do from a real computer. I hope they fix that feature soon.

I was very happy when I got the pinning bookmarklet downloaded to my phone yesterday. Now I can capture anything I see on a website that I want to keep.

Also, if I see something in a magazine I just go to that company's website and pin whatever it is. I'm already at the point that I get annoyed if companies don't make things pinable. For example, yesterday I found a craft I thought would be fun for the kids in Parents magazine. I went to their website and tried to find it and couldn't. So instead I just took a picture of the craft and the instructions with my phone and uploaded it. Not ideal, but better than nothing.

At this point I'm only following a couple of people and haven't added much just repinned. I have to figure out how to watermark my pictures so I can start uploading my own stuff.