The Day Begins

Some mornings are wonderful. I open my eyes, well rested and eager to begin whatever is on my PODA (Parade of Daily Activities). My goals are in the forefront of my mind, and I whip through my morning routines and give immediate attention to the day's priorities. I seem to have energy for anything that comes my way, and that momentum continues throughout the day.

Other mornings, I lazily stretch, get up and putter about with aimlessness. Sip my coffee or tea and think about the things I need to do, the things I would like to do, and then ponder if I am going to get anything at all accomplished, as days like this usually don't end up very productive. Sometimes that is okay, as nothing is pressing. If it happens more than a few times, I start to sink into CHAOS and feelings of being overwhelmed.

Still other mornings, I get up later than I should, rush to do what has to be done, leaving many things to be taken care of "later". Barely make it to work on time, not enough time to do any preparations before my first meeting or assignment, and the day goes on at a very hectic pace, with me playing catch up or putting out fires. I end up at home, later than planned, exhausted and in no way ready to finish the day with any energy, let alone prepare for the day to come.

Then there are those mornings that fall somewhere in between. I have to get up and out the door, I have a list of things to accomplish, and my routines are usually the only things I get done throughout the day except just a couple of focus or must do tasks. I just do what needs to be done, but there is no time left for things I would like to do. I survive the day. All seems well in the world, but I have not enjoyed most, if anything, of what the day has offered.

I have noticed that there are many factors that can predict what kind of a morning I have. Did I get enough sleep? If not I'm dragging for sure. Did I get my workout in the day before? If I did, I am sure to have energy to spare. Am I drinking enough to keep me hydrated? Did I eat well, skipping most of the sugar that bombards me in a day's time? Are my allergies bothering me? Did I take any medications for my allergies? Did I do my before bed routine, setting out clothes for the day, having my bag packed, lunch prepared, an idea of what's for dinner tonight? Did I remember to pick up an item at the store, be it milk or toothpaste or something else we just can't function without? If I really stay focused on all of these things, and make sure that they happen, the likelihood of a good morning is high.

When I have a good morning, it is highly likely I will have a good day, despite what negative forces come my way. It is a cycle that makes it possible that I will attend to the many things that will make it possible to have a good morning the next day. It is a pattern that feels very good.

The pattern continues until something comes up. What is that something? It may be that I get sick, one of the kids get sick, I have late meetings several nights in a week, early meetings many mornings in a row, weekends that are packed with activities that don't allow for down time or catching up time, and just about anything else that takes me out of the get ready for the day cycle. Once I am out of the good morning cycle, it takes much work and motivation on my part to get back into the positive. Too tired to set my clothes out or to pack tomorrow's lunch, I then get up too late since I haven't the energy I need since I am somehow no longer exercising, getting enough water or watching what I am eating.

And the motivation to get back on track for me usually requires some force outside of myself. A big motivator for me are the workout DVDs and equipment that are kept very handy and usually visible in my home. I finally start paying attention to the daily or weekly e-mails from very motivating people. The act that needs the first bit of motivation is to move, to somehow, some way, just get up and move. A little moving leads to more moving. Movement brings energy to do all the things that I need to do to get back into a positive lifestyle pattern. A positive lifestyle pattern leads to good mornings and good days. I am watching out for the motivation stealers. I know they are coming. They are just one over-extension of my time away from taking away my good days.

Putting the Water on

There were days, many years ago, when I would watch “Star Trek” or “The Jetsons” and wish I could have the dishes done, beds made, floors swept, doors open, get any information I needed and basically have any chore done with the simple pushing of a button or a voice command to the computer. Others with more time and resources have ventured into delivering the automation so many of us have wished for over the years. I have grown to appreciate all of the newest innovations that were developed since watching the futuristic programs that depicted the drudgery basically eliminated from the lives of their characters. These thoughts were fresh in my mind this morning as I got up to put on the coffee water. I should have the ability to get up at the appointed time finding the water has already been heated and dripped down into the waiting pot. I bought the pot with this feature over a week ago to replace a coffee maker that no longer worked. I tried to see if I could set it without looking at the directions the day I took the coffee maker out of the box. I had a pot with the timer feature before, and it did not seem this complicated to set it. I would have to refer to the directions, later. The next morning I got up to get my coffee, and told myself I would add setting the coffee pot timer to my before bed routine. And since I had already put my coffee water on for that morning, I simply went on with my day.

This has repeated day after day, with my intention to get back to the directions and set the timer and make my next morning a little easier. “I’ll do it when I have time,” I tell myself. Now it has become a joke, me the techie who longed for automation wanting someone else to come along and set my timer. How hard can it be? So finally, out come the directions. They were still in my "to file" pile. The sad part is it took all of 60 seconds to see what I needed to do and to set my coffeemaker for tomorrow morning. The saying, "You have to take time to make time," rolls through my head. I'm glad I didn't have to call the Geek Squad on this one.

Catch Up Day

I always like to plan a buffer day between when I return from a trip and when I have to jump back into the world at work. It doesn't matter if it is a long trip or a shorter one, I need a day to get my head back into the routines of life. It is a good thing that I do not travel for my job, although I love to travel. I just would need time to stabilize my footing after each return.

Today is no different. I am just returned from a short trip (5-6 hours in the van each, there and back again) and had to reconnect with e-mail and internet networks. Then I start to prepare for tomorrow. What will I wear? What will we eat? What is on my schedule? Then I can chill out a bit before reporting in. Once back into the thick of the days to come I can start planning my next trip. Now where am I headed next time?

A Year of Blogging

I have enjoyed the opportunity to blog my experiences and thoughts over the past year, and it is encouraging that others are enjoying reading it as well. Many of you are coming back again and again. Thank you for sharing my journey.

Over the next year I am going to work on simplifying my life and keeping focused. Every year it seems I am a bit more organized than the year before. But I still seem to have so many things going on, so I want to prioritize and then get rid of things that I truly do not, and will not, have time to do. Then I will streamline my time so that I can actually focus on the things that I do think are important. Scheduling time to do what is important for me and my family is my goal. Not just to say it, but to actually carve out a time and do it.

Things that are new I am trying this year;
*Twitter-lots of fun connecting with family and FLYFriends
*Facebook-connecting with cousins mostly at this time
*Focus on one plan-my plan

The things I want to do more regularly this year;
*Spend time with family- immediate and extended
*Family play day at least twice a month
*Game night at least once a month-we have times where game nights are frequent and then a pause
*Get fit- I have really let this one go over the past year

Things I want to keep doing this year;
*Blog
*Take trips-short and long, with family
*Get rid of clutter as it comes in, or as I re-prioritize-at home and work
*Routines-at home and work
*Read
*Pray
*Love
*Budget resources
*Save for rainy days, fun days(birthdays, trips and Christmas) and retirement days

Back at School

I knew yesterday would be tough. I have had my share of return to teaching days to know, and this time I was prepared to the point I had done all of my tasks for yesterday, except personal care, auto-routines and teaching itself. I am so glad that I did, and I will get back to the weekly routines today.

Christmas is completely packed away. A few strays from school got packed up this morning and all the tubs and tins are in the storage closet.

A Stitch in Time Saves Nine

Taking care of something right away most often means much less work than letting it go until later. The saying was published in a book by Thomas Fuller back in the 18th century. The concept is as equally true for a stitch in clothing that breaks open and needs repaired as it is to many tasks that I encounter day to day. If you are someone that mends your children's clothing (I am not) then it would be better to repair a break in a seam when it first occurs than to have it worn and the break in the stitches gets larger meaning more work for you. If something is spilled, it is far less effort to clean it up right away than to let it dry or set.

It took me many years, and some insight from my friend the FLYLady, to understand that if you clean something before it even looks dirty or dusty it is much less effort than waiting until it looks like it needs cleaned. If I use a duster every day or two, I don't see dust. I spend two minutes or less each day doing a quick "swish and swipe" in my bathroom, and it stays clean. If the boys go in and get toothpaste on the counter or mirror, we just clean it up then instead of waiting until "cleaning day". I don't let rooms get past a five-ten minute pick-up, and then we do the pick-up when we are finished with the room for the day, or at least that part of the day.

Then there are the things that need to be done and are tasks that are ongoing, like cooking meals, cleaning dishes, washing clothes, and sweeping the kitchen floor. If these things get done routinely they require much less effort than letting them go until they need to be done. It relieves much stress to have these done regularly too. There will be no scramble for someone whom is out of clean socks or jeans. There will be no urgency when dinner needs cooked and the pan is still dirty from an earlier meal. I say, "No thanks," to procrastination. I want peace and time to enjoy life.

I have learned that preparation saves time too. It is as simple as that. It makes me more effective at home and at work. If I sit down and plan what I am going to do from hour to hour during the day it becomes my map for reference. If I know what is for dinner, or have at least planned and shopped for a well stocked pantry, getting that meal on the table at our family's dinnertime is very doable. On the other end, and I have been there before, the question of what is for dinner was asked when it was too late to thaw out meat or stop to pick up a missing ingredient and I either needed to pick up a pre-made/fast food meal or drag the family out impromptu to a restaurant and hope we ate and got back home at a decent hour. More likely though, I would throw something else together and it took longer to prepare and often lacked the quality I wanted for my family. So a bit of planning and stocking up makes the evening hours much less chaotic, and we can focus on spending time together, catching up on what happened that day and then start our preparations for the next day.

First Things First

I have decided to do a review of the resolutions that I have made over the past couple of decades. It is interesting to me to see the changing of resolutions as time passed and priorities changed in my life. I had to do a bit of work to find resolutions from the past, but I found the goldmine of my journals that I have saved and a couple of years ago brought them all together into a single box along with a few other keepsakes. I guess I should have it in something a bit more special than that, but at least they are together. Would you believe that when looking through my journals January had the most frequent entries over the years? I hope you can hear the tone of sarcasm clearly enunciated. There is something about the fresh start that a new year brings, so I should not be surprised to find I have almost always made a resolution and I almost always documented it. The first day of the first month of the year was the day that I started on many new journeys of growth. There are a few years that are missing documentation, but for the most part I found dozens of resolutions. There were some years when the resolution was the same as the year or two previous and some years there were resolutions made into multiple parts of my life. Spiritual, family, health, and organization are some general themes that have repeated through the years. And I know that some resolutions were made at times other than New Year, or I jumped in a bit earlier as I wanted to start during my break in late December.

The next most frequent time for me to record in my journals was in the spring. I usually still had the resolution I made on my mind at that time, but I would either be making excuses as to why they were not being fulfilled or I would be recording checklists at how far I had progressed to meet my goals. Some goals were multiple years worth of steps, and some were expected to be changes that were made immediately and continued forever. Some resolutions took several running starts and some just crashed and burned with little hope beyond the first week or two. Life simply takes over and the resolution sometimes fizzles out despite the early enthusiasm or promise that my life or soul would be improved by the change.

So now to reflect again on my most successful and life changing resolutions.There is no other habit that brings a better sense of starting my day than making my bed each morning. If the rest of the house is a bit cluttered, then the bed being made neatly with pillows piled and bedspread smooth across the plane of our king-sized furniture brings hope that the rest of the tasks I need to do can fall in place soon. The idea is that I can have peace and feel productive all with one act that at most takes a couple of minutes of my time. It also sets the day's momentum. The day's routine has began and I have crossed this task off the list with an effort that makes me feel like I am disciplined and in control of the day.

There is an unsettled feeling for me if I am walking out the door with the bed left unmade. It happens because someone else is still there, which is a phenomena at our house from time to time, but I still do not like it. More often than not, if I walk out the door with the bed unmade then I return home to the unkempt room with an overwhelmed feeling. This is just not right. I have made the bed at 5:30 or 6 p.m. before just to get the peace that it brings.

Since the day over thirteen years ago when we moved into our brand new home and I resolved to take on this task daily (December 8th, 1995) I walk into my bedroom, and there is order and beauty that comes with having everything in its place, including pillows, sheets and bedspreads. Yes there have been days over the years when the habit was left undone, but through reflection I discovered it is very little effort for a big mental payoff. I resolve to continue.

Baby Steps

Getting started...Why, that's easy!

This time of year at our house we often watch the Christmas program called Santa Claus is Coming to Town. In the story, young Kris Kringle sings a song about change..."You put one foot in front of the other and soon you'll be walking 'cross the floor. If you put one foot in front of the other, then soon you'll be walking out the door."

No matter what it is that you want, or have, to do, you can only do it one step at a time. Keep focused on your steps as you go. Once you get finished with a task, or feel steady doing a new part of your routine on a regular basis, then you can concentrate on your next task or habit to make.

YOU: IN CHARGE

What an awesome responsibility. Being solely responsible for every decision that is made in your own life. What is it that makes you get up in the morning and do all that needs to be done? Then consider other days you might get up and sluggishly take three hours to do what could easily be done in 30 minutes. What happens when you let something that you need to do slide for an hour, a day or even longer? Every decision, every act, and every lazy moment shapes the way your day goes and the direction of your life.

You have hundreds or maybe thousands of decision to make every day. Some are pretty trivial. Should you wear your black slack s and a sweater, or your blue pant suit? Some decisions effect others or the world at large. Should you use paper or plastic, or better yet, your own reusable bag? And more than you may think, most of your decisions effect your life journey. Decisions on how you spend or save your money, how much schooling you work to receive, how often you think of others when you make decisions or if you are the center of your choices. Will you stand at the rudder to guide the direction, or will you let a sail lead you in whatever direction the wind blows? Do you pray and give control of your life to the will of God, or to someone else? Do you plod through life checking off a never ending list of things to do, or do you live from minute to hour either taking care of what you want to deal with hoping the consequences are small, or worse yet jumping from one dramatic moment to the next dealing with things because they have become urgent and now you have to deal with them? You do have a choice. It is you, and only you, that decides.

I think that there should be a balance between planning and spontaneity in life. There are things that I need to do because I am responsible for doing them and then there are times in my life where an opportunity or experience presents itself and I just do it because it sounds like fun or it would be a good experience for my kids. There are times when I plan for an event, and then circumstances happen and I have to choose to follow the plans with a level of compromise or just give it up and go to plan C.

An example in my life comes with eating habits. I enjoy good food and I have a need to practice good nutrition, so what I called good food ten and twenty years ago is not the same as it is today. Do I plan my meals carefully or do I just make choices as the mealtimes (or snack times) come? I am usually a creature of habit, so eating the same thing at the same time each day is often my reality. I try to vary dinner meals a bit, but breakfast and lunch are very predictable. Even my weekly lunch out is a routine, though it is a treat. My colleagues from my team and I go out to a Mexican restaurant close to work. The tradition was started as I joined the team, but even though I am working with a new group this year the event continues regularly. If someone outside of our group plans something else during our weekly set time, we just plan to do it another day. It is not to be missed. On the downside of being a creature of habit, I will run into a course of time when the good eating habits are nonexistent, and it takes a bit of effort, as well as a strong will or motivation, to get back into doing what is right and my habits may need some planning and preparation to put back into practice. When I don't make good food choices, my health is being put into jeopardy. When I do eat things that aren't so good in moderation, I find a balance and can more easily live a healthy lifestyle.

As I go through the week, I know I will be getting up at 4:30 a.m. to workout and then getting ready for work on most weekdays. I will have a tall cup of tea before I leave the house and make another one to go. I pack one of about three combinations of foods for my lunch, take a shower, put on clothes that I set out the night before and brush my teeth, put on make-up and then do my hair...in that order...every day I go to work. Then I straighten up the bathroom, put a load of clothes in the washer, and make sure that the little boys are ready for the day. I am NOT a morning person, but there is much that I do in the morning since I can work on automatic with a fresh energy, and my routines are less likely to be interrupted by meetings, errands or guests dropping by to visit.

When I get home at the end of my day, I unload everything that does not belong in my vehicle. Trash can not live in there and so it just goes out at each stop at home as a habit. My kids get the same directions when we return home. The exceptions may be if we get home late when the little boys may be sleepy or after a day trip or vacation when there is much to unload. Then I need to set the goal to get it cleaned up before I do anything else. It is a habit that saves me time and energy in the long run.

So as you are planning out your day and making choices, remember that it is important to have a set of routines to guide you in things that keep you on track. It is important to know what matters to you most so that you can give attention to your priorities. Daily chores, getting out the door at a set time, preparing quick healthy meals all take time and planning but are made more efficient with an element of routine.

It's as Simple as That

I hear it often enough. If you want to get something accomplished...just do it. That sounds simple enough. Just get up, grab the bull by the horns and go for a ride. Yeah! That's just how it works. NOT!

So how is motivation to just getting up and getting the job (whatever it may be) done created? By getting up and getting started. Taking the first step. Agreeing that working for a set period of time and then you can be done is all that is needed. But then comes the question, what is it that will motivate my first step? What is it that motivates me to get started? In reality, it is not the same for all. What may motivate me to get the house in top notch order is that I know I will be having visitors soon, or the motivation to keep my grades updated daily is that there are parents that watch as every grade is made available online. But you know, as I have worked to create routines in my everyday life, much of what I do is no longer motivated by what other people are expecting from me, but more from the habits that my routines have developed. These habits have made living in my home, or working within my career much more pleasant as I have a time set to get things done.

I have also been better at learning to delegate. Letting go of control is not an easy feat. I have to remind myself that the world would not end if I did not exist and that things can be done well enough in ways that are not "my" way. One thing I have learned is that you can't delegate what you don't already have under control. I have to jump in to get the area at a level in which I would like it to be maintained, with or without some help. I also have learned that we do a service to our children to teach them by working alongside of them as they are learning a chore. Once they have proven competency then they can work under less close supervision, but I think I need to be doing something of equal contribution to the family and not simply off enjoying a cup of tea and reading a novel or surfing the web. The older boys in my house have learned to team up in just about every chore they have so the job will go more quickly, usually to get out the door or off to a shared activity.

So all motivation, I believe, comes from habits, and habits come from routines. Those things that are not done routinely are usually done to make the routines go more smoothly, or the motivation comes from going through the routines and just seeing what needs to be done next.When the routines stop, it all seems to stall out. Instilling motivation in others comes by sharing the chores and making it a team effort.

When It's Just Too Much

As many of you know; I use routines to get through all of the repeating responsibilities in my life. I have daily sets of tasks that I do at the beginning and end of my day, and I also have daily routines at work. I remain sane, as I don't have to repeatedly write down these routines. I just do them in the same predictable order, day in and day out.

When I first started to get a handle on my home twenty-five years ago, I found the card file system in Pam Young and Peggy Jones' book Side Tracked Home Executives (see my journey). Since then I have been using my planner and daily routines and a Basic Weekly plan. I have also adopted the focus area plan where I focus on an area of my house for a week and do seasonal cleaning and decorating in those areas.

My biggest challenge has not been with keeping up with routines, nor with finding time to focus on areas of my home. From time to time everyone can fall off the routine wagon for whatever unusual circumstances come up. But they can easily be picked right back up and all is well and the house is running smoothly again. The challenge is what to do with all the stuff. I have closets including two walk-ins in the master bedroom and a linen closet in the master bathroom that is large enough to store much more than sheets or towels. I have shelves and cabinets in the living areas that hold specific items. We have one set of shelves for family board and card games, another set of shelves for DVDs and videos, one set of shelves for video games, one for books, one set of shelves for my scrapbooking supplies and photos, and one for other craft supplies. The kitchen and pantry have their own storage spaces for all that surrounds cooking and eating.

Things come into the house on a regular basis. New books or magazines to read, clothes to wear, gadgets for any family member that we just can't live without, food and consumable supplies and a good sized stack of mail, school papers, receipts and other paperwork to sort throughout the week. I am happy to say that most of these things find a home or are cycled in with the regular schedule of time that makes my house a calm and comforting place to be. Sometimes my desk day just involves dealing with these items that have been left in a holding place. As you are probably guessing, this is often my undoing. Finding time to deal with stuff that really hasn't found a home can be just too much. And it's not that I don't want to deal with it, or that I forget to find time to deal with it. It is that when I encounter this new stuff in my house that really doesn't have a home yet, I don't know where to file it, place it, and keep it... If I get a new book I need to decide which book has to leave so I can keep it, or if am I just going to read this book and pass it on, or am I going to expand my space for my library. How much of the boys' creations should I hold on to? I do have a place for what I am keeping, but where is the holding spot until I make that final decision on what is staying in our home for keeps.

Making decisions about stuff is sometimes way too much to deal with for my very busy schedule. There is an answer to every question about stuff, but it requires that I have a time in the right mental state. So I have a hold spot that is in a box, and I call it my "Too Much" box. The things on hold in my life can only take up the space of the box. The box is for things that require decisions that are not autopilot or easy for me to make. I know that I will get to a point where I can make these choices about stuff, and it is not every day or just because it's anti-procrastination day on my calendar. It may be while I am working on a certain area of my home or when I have a block of time away from work. I delve into the box a few times each season when I am in that proper mental state to make decisions. I feel that with my Too Much box, I can deal. I can find a home for some of the stuff that needs a decision in a time that works for me. Stuff inside the box gets a home or is sent out the door. In the meantime the mental clutter that the stuff can create has a home of sorts, although temporary, and life goes on.

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)

Call me

a slob, a SHE, a messie. There are many names for my condition. I consider myself a recovering clutterholic. With my family, a busy life and a full house, I have a lot of stuff that moves into my life.

About 24 years ago, while I was a new mother, wife and homemaker, I came face to face with the truth that I don't like to live in a mess. I was under the cleaning impression that when it gets dirty, you clean it. So I would jump from area to area trying to clean up as things got undone or cluttered. I did not have a routine of any kind, although I already had lists. The problem with lists was that I would write down what I thought I needed to do, would deal with things on the list, but would get sidetracked over and over again. I often would have three or four cleaning or organizing projects going at once. Sometimes I would not get something onto the list until it was really in need of help. Having a young child and my own home often felt overwhelming. I also played ball, read a lot and worked on all kinds of craft projects. That just added to my challenges. When said son was about ten months old I came across a book called The Sided Tracked Home Executive; From Pigpen to Paradise. The authors call themselves the Slob Sisters and they coined the SHE (Sidetracked Home Executives) label.

I read the book and, after a quick trip to Wal-Mart, started my new filing system of index cards that very week. It was winter and by the following autumn I was often getting side tracked from my file box. I had gone back to work and found even more to do with less time now to get it done. I would get the box in order once a week and by the end of the week would have fallen behind. Again I would shuffle my cards and lose my place as I would go to work and come home and deal with an active toddler. I started to see that in order to get things done, I would have to get a mind set on what I needed to do at home when leaving work, so by the following spring I started carrying the day's cards in a vinyl envelope in my purse. Each evening, I would file the finished (and sometimes unfinished) cards back into the box and then pull out the cards for the following day. I fell off the wagon a few times, misplaced my portable envelope a few times, but overall this seemed to work for me. I would save the big jobs for days I had off work, and tried to work around other plans that would come up. There were many days I would refile cards that were undone, but I kept plugging along. I know without that system, I would have really been without direction.

Fast forward ten years. I was now the mother of three and both working full time and taking a full load of classes working on finishing my requirements for a teaching degree. Again I was struggling with my cards as my time to devote to my home had dwindled. I had already added many more cards to my box. Ones that were needed to keep my kids feed, wearing clean clothes, and to school on time with what they needed. Other cards were added that included things I needed to do for school. I was still pulling cards from the box each evening and had developed the ideas of putting a punch hole in the corner of each card. I would clip a metal ring through the punch holes of the day's cards. I tried to have them in the order they needed to be done. There were just too many of them. I used my cards throughout the day to keep me focused.

Just a year before, I had gone to a special workshop offered by my college counselor's office that was called "Getting It All Done". After hearing my situation, the counselor that was giving the workshop advised me to either quit school, quit work, or quit sleeping. The latter was her biggest recommendation. She bragged about sleeping only four or five nights a week for two or three hours a night when she had gone to school. I left that workshop frustrated since I really couldn't give up any of these. I had to work, I needed to go to school and I couldn't do either, let alone take care of my kids, if I didn't get some sleep. I would stay up into the wee hours when I had a paper or project due, which was often enough. Those were still the days when a typewriter was my only tool at home, and so if I made any errors, I needed to catch it before it rolled off the bar of the typewriter, or it would have to be completely redone. There was no spell check, and my editors were my older sister and a friend at work. The reality was I was not getting everything done.

It was at this point in my life that I discovered that the Slob Sisters, Pam Young and Peggy Jones, had written a new book, Get Your Act Together: A 7 Day Get-Organized Program for the Overworked, Overbooked, and Overwhelmed. Again, my sanity was saved. I was introduced to the idea of routines. Instead of having one card for each to-do, which for me was rather tedious and sometimes got me sidetracked between related jobs, I now had a card with a group of tasks that were done at the same time. This is also the time that I started organizing photos into shoe boxes, started keeping items close to where they were used and keeping like items in one place, and got serious about making my kids a part of the plan(thanks Pam and Peggy). In the next couple of years, my job changed, I was out of school as a student, and I bought my first home computer. I got on-line as soon as it was possible in my area, and started visiting message boards that were meeting places for SHE's. This is where I came across three other very influential people in my organized life.

The first I found on the SHE boards and later by joining a group that dealt with The 21 Essays. The on-line group would work through one of the 21 essays each week. Cynthia Townley Ewer is the author of the essays. CEO, as Cynthia is known to me, developed a step by step method to getting the SHE card system going and members would go through the process twice each year and make changes and fine tune our card systems as the situations in our lives changed. It also provided a support group to share successes and challenges. CEO went on to develop some of my favorite websites. Organized Home, Organized Christmas and Organized Scrapbooks. She also has a site Sew Organized, but I don't check in there as that is not a challenge in my life. I recommend it to anyone that does sew or quilt. She also wrote the book House Works, definitely a read for any fellow SHE. I love our CEO. I used to have a printed copy of the Essays, but they have since been passed on. I can read them on the files of my SHE list, and I do from time to time.

On the SHE boards that Pam and Peggy had set up on their site, I ran across a great fellow member, Marla Cilley, better known as FLYLady. She had shared her routines on pages of the message board. When FLYLady started her own group, I joined as a FLYbaby as I was then in graduate school and expecting my fourth child. I was also working full-time teaching. My index cards soon developed into lists of routines that I kept in my planner (CEO helped me with starting to use a planner). I think I am a FLYkid now as it has been eight years of FLYing for me. She also has a wonderful website and a team on her list that helps people learn to FLY (Finally Love Yourself) and get out of CHAOS (Can't Have Anyone Over Syndrome-I think that this is a Pam and Peggy term). Marla has written a book and co-written another with Leanne Ely, Sink Reflections and Body Clutter. Both are good reads.

The last of the great influences that developed from being a part of the SHE message boards was the Holiday Grand Plan, that was developed and written by Katie Leckey and later shared as part of CEO's website. There have been others that have fine tuned the idea, including CEO herself with the Christmas Countdown, which is an abbreviated version focusing on Holiday preparation. I love the idea of spending months before Christmas making the season a great family experience without stress.

I now belong to a group that works on home clutter challenges (much like Katie Leckey's Cleaning Grand Plan), a local FLYbaby group (I love my drill team), and a group that works on a plan to prepare for Christmas (much like Holiday Grand Plan, but tweaked of course to suit the group) that starts up in late summer and runs until mid-January. I have a couple of other groups that I just visit and contribute to occasionally, but I can only do so much.

I hope you have enjoyed the story of my journey so far. I am still working to get better organized and tweak the system I use to keep me that way.

Anti-Procrastination

Later, gator... Out of sight out of mind.... Why do I put things off? Most of what I do, I do at the last minute.

I think it is because I have so many things on my to-do list. They say that those who have a lot to do put themselves through stress and their memory goes. A big part of that is the fact that you can't multi-task with attention. Some things you can do. Habits that do not require thought. Loading a dishwasher while talking on the phone. I don't have to think about it much, and after the phone call, or during a pause in the conversation I will ask myself if I put the soap in or started it up. I won't remember because it didn't have my attention.

So I make to do lists. I do the things that are every day routines and I do what has to be done, but often times things that need attention just don't get it because I can only do so much. The less desirable jobs are often the ones that are put off. Sometimes too long. When I get around to them I often discover that they really were not as bad as I had set them up to be or that they have become monsters since I have put them off so long that it will take a great deal of time and effort to get it done. And I really believe that it would have been less time and anguish involved if it had been dealt with the first day it appeared on my list. Now to find the time....