Sunday, March 8, 2015

Let's get our poop in a group!!

Let's start this organizational post with a little about me...

I am a stay at home mom. In our family situation that means that I am responsible for running the house, running after the kids and keeping the place clean. My hubby very rarely complains that the house is dirty. But I feel that if he is willing to go away to work for 9 days at a time he deserves to come home to a clean home and fresh home cooked meals not the pub food he is served in camp...

But... lately... I been a little.... preoccupied, let's say, with my new blogging hobby and all those card challenges. I mean there are the kids and the activities and all the trips to town and to the city and just life. However, my floors should be cleaned more than once a month let's be real.

My mom was not a clean person. Tidy, yes, clean.. not so much. And so I was not raised cleaning bathrooms weekly or cupboards or the kitchen or dusting or anything like that. We were living and relaxing. Now that doesn't mean we lived in a pig pen!! The house was tidy every night when we went to bed everything was where it belonged... there may have been a pop can ring besides where it was sitting but it was back in its place. I am also that way. The dishes are in the sink, the toys are in their homes, laundry in the basket, paperwork put away, you get what I'm saying? But the kitchen table.... very rarely cleaned after supper. Lol

We live on an acreage on my in laws farm. And its about to be spring. And I have a dog, a cat and 2 toddlers... did anyone else just see a million muddy foot prints all over the floor in their minds?? Well, I did and in this house we have dark wood laminate that shows EVERYTHING!

So I'm thinking I better get something figured out around here and get myself back on the clean house track. We are coming into busy season around here with planting the fields, fertilizing, spraying, getting the garden in, maintaining the lawn; all that fun homestead stuff. And I had better get this new plan implemented and working or I am gonna be swimming in dirty house, dirty laundry, dirty kids... and no fun crafting stuff!!

I am a list type person. I don't know what type personality that is... A maybe? I dunno. But I do know if I want to get it done I better have it written down somewhere!

I have a Costco list, I have a Walmart list, a Dollar Store list, I have a paper craft list, a mixed media list, a sewing list... I got lists coming out my butt!! But no where on those lists is "Clean bathroom" "Do craft with kids" "Give Hubby a little something something" ok that ones doesn't need to be on a list but you get it right? lol

I have these goals in mind with my new plan:
1) Have a cleaner home
2) More time with my babies doing the fun stuff not the "pick up your toys!!!" stuff
3) More time with my hubby
4) Equal time down here playing
5) Better supper for my family (grilled cheese and alphagetti 3 nights a week is no longer acceptable! LOL)

So I was cruising... you guessed it Pinterest and I found this pretty monthly planner printable from Everyday Enchanting which I really love the layout out of!!! I love that I have a full monthly calendar that I can jot down all the things I need to know for the month ahead and have quick view!

 I love that I have a column for each day so I can write my to do and check off as I go! 
I love the blog post section for each day so I can jot an idea or a product I used or which challenge is due that day. 
There is a meal plan section for each day so I can look ahead for the week and grab what I need, mostly for now I'm shopping from my pantry but I think I will be more included to cook with a plan. Plus if I take it out in the morning when I'm going over the list for the day it will have to be cooked at supper time. Score!
 There is also a notes section to jot down anything else I might like... perhaps a cute quote from my child to be scrap-booked later? 
And there is a master to do list on the side. So I can write down anything I need to get done around the house that's not urgent, like putting some stuff up for sale on the internet, and get to it when I get to it but it won't be forgotten.

I also wanted a cleaning list in there. I am not really a room by room person... why be tripping over the vacuum all morning when I could get it out once and vacuum all 3 bedrooms and then put it away? So I think the list is important so that I know where I am at in each room if my kids need me or we run out of time or whatever, I can pick up where ever I left off. Also I want to make this a habit cleaning some part of the house everyday and I believe repeating and repeating the same process is part of what creates the habit? I downloaded Everyday Enchantings cleaning list as well but sadly I could not make it work for me. 3 pages did not fit where I want it to in my planner binder, which by the way I picked up for $3 at Staples!! So, I took Enchanting as inspiration and a guide and made my own, very late last night after work.

Lastly, I wanted something to keep track of the budgeting in there as well. Our budgeting is a little different than most peoples and its definitely something I am going to work on in the next few months here. I want to try this meal planning out and see how it helps and then go from there. So for now the budget sheet is really just the list of bills when they are due etc etc. I also grabbed that from Everyday Enchanting. If these look like they will work for you too, you can buy them from her Etsy store here.

I'm very excited to see how this will help me balance everything and keep more on top of the things I think are important for my family. And maybe help me be a little less stressed trying to figure out what I forgot or what to make for supper lol.

Here are some pics:
This is the pretty little binder that I picked up for $3!!

This is the monthly budget sheet. I have it at the beginning of each month where its easily accesible.
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Then comes the calendar spread. You can fill in the fields in Adobe but I think I like to just hand write it in. Its almost less work... but we shall see when I get to working on April...

The double spread for the week with a column for each day...

including a Blog post section and a meal plan section. I swear I will do it!! But those 2 days are 2 weeks from now!!


This is the cleaning sheet I prepped for myself. Right now it feels like its a bit much, but I'm gonna roll with it for a few weeks and at least get all those thing back in order and then see if I can modify it down... Maybe mudroom and laundry room become a monthly chore or something instead. 

For now I'm really pleased with the way it all turned out. It was a lot of work and a lot of print and reprint to learn how to print it all the way I wanted it laid out. But now that I know maybe it will be easier as I print the upcoming months. March is the only one I got done today but I figure I have a few more weeks till April at least :D

And now I bid you all Adieu. I'm so tired I can barely keep my eyes open but I just had to share a little bit of this mommy's new learning and plans with you! Nighty Night!

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