It's Time to Break Open the Binder

My Christmas Binder came out of the closet during the final weeks of August. Inside it I have some of the best ideas from the web to get a person on track for the fall and Christmas/New Year holidays. I have the room-by-room plan and chore lists from the Holiday Grand Plan, the Christmas Countdown with its six-week checklists, reading recommendations, recipes and CEO's entertaining and helpful articles that I come back to year after year. It also contains two newer additions that I added two years ago, FLYLady’s Holiday Control Journal that has some wonderful meal and gift planning forms and CEO's Houseworks Holiday Plan that uses her book to help catapult the Christmas preparation plan.

Although I had brought the binder out two months ago, I have come to the conclusion this year that I do not want to hyper-focus on Christmas from August to October. In August and early September I like to squeeze every last drop of summer out of each day, so when working on the Holiday Housework Plan I am only focusing on the things that are only indirectly related to Christmas. This past week was the focus on the family areas areas. I still need to get my amaryllis bulbs started for here and one for my grandma. We have also decorated for Halloween and tonight the boys are carving jack-o-lanterns. When October hits, I do like to have the idea in my head that I will be prepared for Christmas, but I do not want to miss out on what autumn has to offer. I appreciate Christmas Countdown's emphasis on fall holidays and preparing the home so that when December arrives, the final touches of execution are all that are required.

So now I am going through the Christmas Planner web pages to see what needs an update before the first week begins tomorrow. I am going to use my binder for all of the lists and reading materials and the planner pages for the things that would be nice to be portable like shopping lists for gifts and holiday meals.

My Daily Routines and Basic Weekly Plan

Each day I try to follow a routine. If I stick with my routines, even on days that are not "normal", my life stays in order. I also have routines, a basic weekly plan and zones for work. If I follow them, all is well. I have a copy of these routines in my planner. I also have them printed on 3 x 5 index cards.

Over the course of a week, all areas of my home are scheduled to get attention with my basic weekly plan. My zones are areas of my home that get decluttering, deep cleaning or decorating attention for a brief period most days. I work with an online group, and we work on the same area for two weeks and report our progress to each other through group e-mails.

I highly recommend having someone to be accountable to, to share successes with, and to get ideas and insights from. This can be someone that is physically a part of your life. A friend, neighbor, sister or cousin. It can also be an on-line friend. Being a part of an online group with shared interests and goals has been great for me. Getting and giving support is a wonderful way to work toward reaching goals.

Sometimes life happens, and I get off the track of following the plan. The beauty of the plan is that the routines happen even when other things interfere with a normal day, and the basic weekly plan is always there to get things in order as soon as things are back as they should be.

Here is my current plan. It really is not as complicated as it looks in print. Since I do the routines in the same order every day, I don't even have to think about them. I have to look out to not have someone add something to the mix, or attempt to change the order in which things are done, as that is when I will get thrown off and waste precious time or forget to do something altogether. I also need to watch out for days that I don't leave the house, as I often delay getting the routines started and waste a lot of time that could be used enjoying things I love. I use my kitchen timer during my room rescues and other weekly tasks. When the timer goes off I am done with that room or task, and I move on. I have become a pretty good judge of 10 and 15 minute intervals.

MORNING TAKE OFF PRE-FLIGHT PLAN
WAKE UP — Set a time (4:30 work days)
JUMP UP — Don’t lie in bed, take meds, drink water, bathroom
MAKE UP — Bed immediately/automatically, if it’s empty, Monday change sheets
SET UP- Workout clothes on, water on for tea/coffee, clean dishes put away
WORK OUT- Move for 15-60 minutes; DVD, VHS or recording on DVR
WASH UP- Shower/Wash Hair
DRESS UP – Down to shoes
WRITE IT UP – Start daily blog entry
EAT UP — Something nutritious for breakfast; follow the meal plan
PACK UP- Pack lunch/snack bag and water; follow the meal plan (work days)
BRUSH UP- Take care of your teeth
FIX UP — Contacts, skin care, make-up and hair
CLEAN UP- Wipe and swish bathroom, put in load of laundry, kitchen counters
LOOK UP — Sometime early turn your heart upward to God-start the day right!
START ‘EM UP- Get boys up, fed breakfast (home days), dressed, teeth and hair, boys morning chores
TAKE OFF- Go to work or follow the BWP. Work Day take off 6:45 A.M. or 6:35 on meeting days
HEAD BACK- End workday and head home at 4 p.m.; On Tuesdays leave at 3:30 & run errands on way home; After monthly Site Council meetings (2nd Wednesday of month) leave at 5:15-5:30 p.m.


WEEKLY FLIGHT PLAN

Sunday
( ) Plan menus/make grocery list
( ) Check dates to remember
( ) Clean out purse
( ) Set/Review goals and Action Plans
( ) Reflect on week, Plan and prepare for week ahead
( ) Spend 1 hour in zone
( ) Choose clothes for the work/school week

Monday
( ) 15 minute Master Bathroom Rescue
( ) Water plants
( ) 15 minute Master Bedroom Rescue
( ) 15 Minute Kids Room Rescue x 2
( ) 15 Minute Boy’s Bathroom Rescue
( ) 15 Minute Zone Work

Tuesday
( ) Fill up with gas
( ) Aldi’s/Food-4-Less/other grocery store
( ) Banking as needed
( ) Misc. errands (or delegate if possible)
( ) Wal-mart (or send list with Joe)
( ) 15 Minute Zone Work
( ) 2nd Tuesday PTO Meetings 6:30-7:30 p.m.

Wednesday
( ) 15 minute Utility Room Rescue
( ) 10 Minute Refrigerator Clean-up
( ) 15 Minute Kitchen/Dining Room Rescue
( ) 15 Minute Great Room Rescue
( ) 15 Minute Zone Work

Thursday
( ) 15 Minute Desk Rescue
( ) Pay bills, balance checkbook
( ) Lesson plans, School preparation
( ) 15 Minute Zone Work

Friday
( ) Family Night or Date Night

Saturday
( ) Family Work Project Outside or in the Zone and/or Family Play

EVENING SMOOTH LANDING PREPARATION
PICK IT UP- Tuesday- stop for errands on way home
SORT UP- and put away mail, and anything unloaded from car, backpacks, etc.
CHANGE UP- from work clothes to home clothes-Put clothes from washer to dryer
CHECK UP- Boys’ chores/homework/notes, tomorrow/this week’s calendar, etc.
EAT UP- Prepare and serve planned family meal, family works together on this; follow meal plan. Take vitamin, calcium and aspirin with dinner.
CLEAN UP- Kitchen-everybody sticks around until the kitchen is completely done.
STRAIGHTEN UP- Areas from BWP, Hot Spots, and Focus Area- family event if not done earlier in the day
FOLD UP- And put away laundry
PLAY IT UP- Take a walk, play a game, read a book, etc. with Joe and/or boys
PACK UP- Items needed to go out the door tomorrow
WASH UP-Boys’ baths, pjs, story and into bed; Brush teeth, wash face, my pjs
CATCH UP- On e-mail, journaling (including blog), letter writing, cards, school work, grading, planning, recorded tv shows, etc.
SEND UP- Words of glorification to God with praise, thanksgivng, and requests
READ UP- Current Bible reading and then other reading selections
INTO THE HANGER-Plan for 8 hours or more of sleep each night (in bed by 8:30 p.m. work nights)

Keeping My Act Together

My planner is a tool I used for many years with much success. I stopped using my planner a few years ago as I was experimenting with making my information more accessible through the computer. I did have access to information at home and work. I did use the same common calendar, to do lists, and had routines accessible for both work and home. The problem was that I would have to make copies of to do lists or be tied to the computer. The information was not portable, as I didn’t have computer access most of the time while traveling, or while out on errands. The other parts of my computer-based system seemed to work, but then it became a burden to keep it up. I had to actually be in front of the computer to do it. Everything was not in the same place or located in the same program. I did not find that this was a success, and so this year I have purchased a new planner with half sheet pages. I have never been one for an electronic planner either, as there is something about that process that appeared to be tedious and somewhat limiting. I know that many have found success with using them, but I want my paper.

In my current planner I have included my calendar, goals, routines, basic weekly plan, on my mind lists, budget, bills and checkbook, meal plans, grocery and shopping lists, contact phone and address book, meeting notes, health and fitness tracker, information for each vehicle’s servicing, website tracker and my tickler file. I am happy to now have it all in one place, and portable so that I can work on paying bills, or adding items to my shopping list from anywhere. If someone calls me looking for some important information, I most often have it with me.

The calendar I use is for everything I need to remember. I use it for personal, family and work events and special days. I have a month at a glance and a weekly detailed page that has a section for each day to list appointments, my current area of focus at work and at home, and my to dos that are priority and not a part of my routines. I have a personal and work section in my planner too, each including a separate set of goals, routines, basic weekly plans, and to do lists. In a pocket in the front of my planner I keep a thin stack of home routines on index cards that can come out of my planner as I work through the items on the lists. I don’t think I will ever completely give up my cards.

Meal planning is done on a page of my planner and I have it with me when I shop. On the back of that page is my shopping list. Everything we need to buy is added to this list and I try to keep shopping and errands down to once a week. If something can’t wait, usually Joe will pick it up before coming home from work. I have also started a price book so I can keep track of where to get better deals on products we use.

My contact list includes addresses, phone numbers, cell numbers, e-mail addresses, websites, birthdays, anniversaries, and anything else that would be helpful to remember. My memory gets less sharp at time goes by.

I also have a section for pages used to journal. These don’t usually stay in my planner once they have been filled, but if you haven’t noticed yet, I really love to write. I usually have several different topics going at once. I am so eclectic. Some may say scattered. My planner helps me keep it all together.

Finally I have a pencil, eraser, a couple favorite pens, stamps, a few blank index cards and a small pack of post-it notes. I think with this I am ready to take on whatever the world has to dish up for my day.

Hello from My World!

The purpose of this blog is to document my journey as a child of God, a wife of twenty-four years, a mother of 5, a homemaker, a pet owner to two beagles and a gecko lizard, a middle school math and science teacher, a photographer, a scraper, etc. My interests are many, my time is stretched, but I want to get all I can out of life. My biggest challenge today is getting it all organized.

*I have started using a planner again. After a couple of year's of just using master lists and Outlook, I really look forward to getting my schedule, routines, calendar, to dos, goals and people contacts all back in one portable place. This is still a work in progress, but the planner is now with me always. I am trying to have a separate section for work routines and to do lists this time around, as in the past I put everything on the same list and work somehow took over the rest of my life. Work appointments and deadlines do go into my calendar, as it is the one place where it all fits together.

*I have recommitted to a group that is working on organizing our homes. I check in as often as I need, but at least once a week I share my progress.
*Aside from teaching full time, I have contributed to education the past several years by being an active part in the site council for the school where I work and working on the board for the PTO for my children's school. I like to be in the know and to help make good things happen for the young people in my world.

* I am again on a spiritual journey to read through the Bible in a year. I am reading it in chronological order, a text compiled by Harvest House Publishers with commentary by F. LaGard Smith. I read through this New International Version five and six years ago, and it really is a great way to experience God's word. I am following the scheduled readings and catching up if I miss a day. For my supplemental reading I am also rereading The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren and published by Zondervan. I went through this about four years ago, and it was good. I am going at my own speed, which, at present, is one or two "days" each week.