Making a Routine That Works

I meant to post this yesterday, but here it is today. Let's talk about actually creating and implementing your cleaning routine.


I recommend the Flylady because she tackles what the major issue is first. CLUTTER. Without addressing the clutter issues in your home you will have a hard time maintaining any semblance of order and it makes every task take 30 minutes longer.

Now I'll admit her website is REALLY overwhelming so let's just break it down a bit. I recommend taking some "Mommy Time" at your local coffee shop or happy place to sit down and figure all this out.


As overwheming as it may be print out the following from the Flylady website:

Zone Cleaning Lists 
Weekly Checklist
Before Bed/Morning Routines


With these things, start a Housekeeping Binder. I actually keep mine in my coupon binder. You can put your grocery list or to do list in it and any other useful household information. It sounds a tad ridiculous, but if you have these in a special place that you can get to easily, you will check it often, I keep mine on top of the microwave, or by my wall calendar in the kitchen.


Start asking yourself:


"What areas give me the most trouble?"
"What do I hate/love cleaning?"
"What doesn't apply to me?"
"What do I need to add?"
"What can I get rid of?"


Go through each list and modify as needed. Reprint with your changes and make sure you are being REALISTIC! Then get started!

What I love about the Flylady is that you can jump in wherever you are. We are in Zone 4 right now, the master bedroom. You can start today by just doing your 15 minute decluttering sessions a few days this week. Learn to declutter here.

Once you get a few rooms decluttered (this will take a few weeks) you will start to notice that rooms stay cleaner longer and it's easier to get the rooms in order.
 
There are definitely weeks where I fall behind, but it almost always ends in a Crisis Cleaning session to get me back on track. My life is SO MUCH easier, when I just stick to my plan. I have more time with my children and more time to do the things I enjoy.

I hope these past two days haven't been too boring, and I hope that everyone can get on board with this :)

Coupon Organization - Evolution of the Binder

So it appears that despite my best efforts, I may be in danger of needing to shift into the "baseball card holder" method of coupon organization. Keeping the entire ad is annoying, messy and I don't like having to clip as I go.

I keep my pages of printable coupons together, and that's working great, but the ads are just out of control. So I went and clipped everything I had left (excluding only Qs I know I will never use) and just divided them among the sleeves with the date and ad type. 

So for now, this is my ghetto-fied system. It's just so much easier to clip the ads as I get them and stick them in the sleeve by date and ad type. I am still not sure if I really want them in individual little pockets, but for now this will have to work. This week it seemed to work great, my couponing took less time, so I guess we'll see. 

So this is probably the 5th time I have changed my coupon organizing, and I am pretty sure it will change 5 more times :) So how are you all keeping your Q's organized? My couponing is just taking a lot of time lately, so I would love some new tips :)

Good Habits to Change Your Life

When I first became a stay-at-home mom I was thrilled for the simple fact that I would be home enough to keep my house as orderly as I would like to.  I had visions of spending naptimes happily scrubbing grout with a toothbrush and every surface being free of dust and grime. Well, that dream went quickly out the window as it became apparent very quickly that two kids can WRECK a house in 5 seconds flat. This made for a very frustrated and upset mommy.

Now we know that we can make things fabulous 15 minutes at a time, but what about the rest of the time?  Are our bad habits continually creating the chaos we live in?  

One of my favorite things about the Flylady method is her Babysteps.  Adding one good habit everyday for 31 days.  Two of these habits completely changed my house and they seem insignificant, but I promise...they work!

Make your bed!  Seriously, your mother was right, you need to make your bed every morning.  Now I purposely moved the camera a bit to the right so you can see the clothes and stuff on the floor.  My room isn't perfect this morning, but the bed is made and the orderliness of the bed sort of overpowers the stuff on the floor.  This way, when I go to straighten my room later, it is much less overwhelming.  Does that make sense?

 

 SHINE your sink and keep it clear!  Your sink is not the dish collector.  I used to (on lazy nights) put all my dishes in the sink nicely stacked, intending to put them in the dishwasher the next morning.  The next morning I wake up to a cluttered sink that I can't use and an all around mess.  Plus, you are making a lovely breeding ground for bacteria (ew).  It takes 3 more seconds to put items in the dishwasher and if you have to put things in the kitchen quickly, put it on the counter.  I am much more likely to put away my dishes if they are on my counter staring at me.  You would be AMAZED at how clean your kitchen will stay if you do this.  TRY IT!

 

Now here is a little praise report (haha).  A few weeks ago I organized my tupperware.  I thought this was a futile effort and that it would be trashed again in a week.  Well over a month later and its still tidy!  Taking an extra 5 seconds to properly put my tupperware aware instead of opening the door, throwing stuff in without looking and moving on, has made a real difference.  Taking a couple extra seconds to do thing properly means LOTS of extra minutes for Jesus time, hubby time, or time to watch all those Tivo'd episodes of the Real Housewives :)

Now don't wait! Start TODAY.  Check out the baby steps link above, you start by shining your sink :)  Make it an awesome Wednesday everyone!

Crisis Cleaning

So yes, another post on cleaning.  So why do I post a lot about cleaning and organization and post photos of my messy house?  Well,  I have TWO toddlers and toddlers are messy.  But, I have found things that help me keep my house under control and I want to help and empower other mommies, wives and people in general to take charge of the clutter and mess.  This isn't about a perfect home.  It's about enjoying the space you live in and being ABLE to do that.

I had the perfect opportunity yesterday to try out the Flylady's Crisis Cleaning Routine.  Between my son being sick and being cooped up in the house more than usual...the house was definitely a bit limbed in.  It usually only gets this bad on the weekends when no one does what they are supposed to do.

Yes, there are two pieces of drywall in my living room.  Will someone please send us a shed or garage?

So let's talk about crisis cleaning.  This is perfect for when you have guests coming or you just have gotten a little behind and got a major mess brewing (or already brewed).  Follow the Flylady's instructions TO THE LETTER.  I have a hard time with getting side tracked and trying to deep clean everything (never leave me alone with bleach and a toothbrush).  It is very important to follow the instructions.  I'll talk you through what I did.

GET DRESSED TO SHOES!

Seriously!  This is important.  You aren't going to get revved up for the day hanging in your jammies.  

Starting in the kitchen, set your timer for 15 minutes and start by shining the sink and work your way out from there.  Unloading dishwasher, clearing counters, etc.  Stop at the timer and go to the living room.

Start your timer again.  Clear things that don't belong, remove trash.  Carry a little trash bag with you and a basket for items that go in other rooms.  You can put those away in a little bit.

If you need to, go back to the kitchen for another 15 minutes.  I actually didn't need to so I used the extra time to go back in the LR and DR and sweep.  If you need the time in the kitchen, don't sweep.

STOP!  Take a break!

Take a 15 minute break and marvel at what you have accomplished!

Move into the bathroom next, wiping counters, swish the potty, pick up laundry (DONT get sidetracked and start a load,, you can do that later).

If need be go back to the LR and continue straightening.  You can do the intervals every 15 minutes, taking a break every 45 minutes as long as you need to get the job done.  BUT, I promise if you have already been following the Flylady, it won't take that long.  It took me 45 minutes to get things in line.

Look!  All clean!  You can do it too!

And look! It's a mess again! Haha! I'm using my spare time to tackle the laundry I was lazy and didn't fold...we all have our days, but at least we can hop right back on board and make it a good one!

Tackle a mess at your house today :)  De-clutter a corner, clear off a desk.  ANYTHING can be done 15 minutes at a time :)

Coupon Organization - THE BINDER

The entire time I have been couponing I have avoided THE BINDER method of organizing like the plague.  I do not want to be one of those crazy looking extreme coupon ladies.  I feel like a binder will put a huge bullseye on me at the checkout that says, "scrutinize every coupon I have, I am trying to get everything for free" or "Beware, I have 25 coupons for all 25 of these cans of green beans, but wait, I also have 25 store coupons for them too".  It's hard enough getting through the checkout without feeling like you are ripping the place off, without looking like an "Extreme Couponer".

Anyways, as I have been using more printable coupons and taking time throughout the week to gather information and it has gotten out of control.  Sheets and sheets of coupons everywhere, clipped coupons in piles, stacks of inserts and then there are all the coupons that you get in the mail, etc...needless to say intervention was needed.

The Flylady recommends doing a journal type thing to keep your cleaning and household affairs in order so I figured I could do it all in one.  I keep my zone cleaning lists and weekly cleaning lists in plastic sleeves so I can just use a dry erase marker to check off what I have done. 

See?  When the week is done I just wipe it off and go to the next zone checklist and start over with my weekly checklist.  This way I'm not printing out stuff every week (save those trees!)

Ok, back to the point.

So my cleaning stuff needed a place and now my couponing stuff is going with it too.  Here is what I have so far.

 I stuck a little zippy bag in the front and have been putting the coupons I plan to use my next trip in there.  I still want to use my small accordion file so when I am ready to go they will go in there.

 All my printed coupons that I haven't clipped are in sleeves.  

Going to try keeping all my inserts together and clipping as needed.  We'll see how this goes.  I put the date on the insert on the front of each one.  This way when I visit my saving sites and they say coupon for ___ is in the 4/10/11 SS, I can grab it easily.

I'm still not sure how this method is going to work for me, but for now all my coupons are organized and in one place :)  However, I don't plan on lugging this thing to the store though...

So how do you all keep your coupons in order?