10 May 2010

Life is busy...

But I have some tricks up my sleeve when it comes to maintaining the chaos in my life. My number one thing is FlyLady! She helps me keep the chaos at home to a minimum! With a daily cleaning mission and weekly home blessing I will never have to spring clean again. Every week you focus on a different zone and they help you maintain clutter as well. If you can live with out something - get rid of it.
Another trick of mine is my calendar. I actually bought a school planner and I cut the tip of the end of the days that have past so I can easily locate where I am in my week. Another thing I do is use different colors for different people or for priority things. If it is a priority I normally put it in pen and other things in pencil. Different colors allow me to see who is doing what... Madison's cheer leading, Girl Scouts, Todd's work schedule. I also make sure when the kids receive a birthday invitation or Todd lets me know there is a squadron party I put it in the calendar immediately that way I am not looking for a tossed invitation later. ALSO, I RSVP immediately! Even if It is a maybe, people prefer maybe's to no response at all and a lot of time they will check back with me and ask if I know for sure yet if we will be able to attend or not.
Laundry is another place I cheat. I do laundry everyday... and when it comes from the dryer I immediately fold it! Socks however do not get folded. Instead I have small baskets on the dryer, each labeled with someone's name, and their socks get tossed into this basket. If someone decides they need socks before I have a chance to fold them and put them away they can run down and just grab their basket. The kids normally match their own and take them to their rooms. I am still working to get them to remember to return the baskets when they are done though...lol. I take laundry upstairs and put it away once a week. The same day I normally clean the laundry room. Sometimes if I have extra time on my hands or have just folded a small enough load I'll run it up right away but for the most part it all stays downstairs until the one day and then I get everyone's help putting laundry away. Todd normally helps carry it up and the kids put their p.j.s and such in their drawers.
My final thing is school work. I have yet to find a way to work a schedule for my school work. At the moment I have Todd take the kids out for a little while or wait until they go to bed. I am not to concerned with making a schedule for my school since this is one of the reasons I choose online classes. This way I could work it in when it was convenient. However, I am always open to suggestions.
Life is far from perfect, but these little things help me keep some sanity.

A day for me...
I wake up and get dressed and ready for the day all the way to my shoes
swish and swipe the bathroom before you leave it... make sure my hot iron is put away or any other tools i used
empty the dishwasher
make coffee
wake up the kids
serve breakfast
check calendar and help the kids get dressed and do the girls' hair
Take christian to school
check kelly's zone mission, my email and so on
take madison to school
work on kelly's mission and do todays chores
pick up christian from school
serve lunch
finish chores and take the babies outside
pick up madison from school
fill the sink with hot soapy water so I can clean as I do dinner
Let the kids play outside, play a game with them or take them to their extra cirricular
start dinner
give kids baths
layout clothes for tomorrow
put kids to bed
clean kitchen
do school work
brush teeth and get to bed

MY WEEK:
Mondays = Tanning day, and my weekly home blessing (which consists of sorting magazines, changing sheets, empty all trash, dust furniture, vacume all rooms, mop kitchen and bath, clean mirrors and doors) *more info on the weekly home blessing hour can be found on FlyLady website*
Tuesdays = Free day and work out day, I will water plants and spend 15 min in todays zone
Wednesdays = zone clean and desk time, clean fridge, make menus, balance checkbook, make cards
Thursday = Grocery and errand day, Workout day
Friday = paperwork and other, Tanning day, clean out car, purse, and laundry room
Sat = family day
Sunday = renew your spirit day

How do you keep up with life?

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