A few days…

I haven’t written in a couple of days and I think that is alright. I didn’t create this blog as a ‘every day writing’ type of gig. I would like to get to that point some day but I don’t like to write when I have nothing to write about. Doesn’t really end up well, at least for me.

The first two weeks of May were, well a struggle, just a bit. We ended the two weeks with a $1.82 in our checking and had to take out of our savings and brought that total back to zero. We only had a hundred in there opposed to the two hundred we had planned. Since the last two weeks of the month are a bit more breathable, we plan to replace that hundred with the due hundred on top of it as well.

Budgetting is rough. Not really ‘rough’ as in hard to go by but really getting a good estimate of what you will actually be purchasing. We’ve gone over our grocery budget but we did throw in a cheap printer and a few extras here and there as well. The printer was $30.00 but it’ll pay itself off here soon as I begin to print (and USE) coupons. Right now I think instead of focusing on stockpiling and fantastic deals, I’ll just get into the habit of using coupons period. Of course, if I happen to come by a really good deal, for something we use frequently, I will snag that. That is a given. I almost had a good deal for free taco seasoning (and we use a TON of taco seasoning) but the coupon wasn’t available when I went to go print it. We lose some and win some. I’ve been following sites like Money Saving Mom, Deal Seeking Mom, Baby Good Buys, etc. to see what kind of deals are available.

We’ve been doing a pretty good job at keeping track of our receipts as well. Some have gone ‘missing’ but I’m able to look at our bank account and see what was spent so that I can log it correctly. Though losing reciepts isn’t going to help me at the end of the month when it comes to overall budget totals and estimating June’s budget.

I have made leaps and bounds on my home management notebook. Today I sat and went through all my old Fly Lady stuff, discarded what I no longer want to use or found useful and implemented a little system. For daily use I’m using the pocket docket by Simple Mom and I printed out the emergency information sheets from Organizing Your Way.

Laundry is slowly getting done. But thats a task that will always remain. I have a sort of system going with it but right now I’m just doing it as it goes. I’m sure I’ll fall into a true system as time goes on.

Cleaning Schedules, Daily To Do’s, etc.

At the moment I’m working on my cleaning schedules and how I plan to manage my daily to do lists, etc. I’ve decided to implement Simple Mom’s Most Important Tasks and Daily To Do’s system. A list of ten items to hopefully get done that day, the top three being the Most Important Tasks. I like her idea of adding in a Weekly Cleaning Master List and adding things in to each day to hopefully try and accomplish the Master List by the end of the week. But at the same time, I’m wondering if I could possibly implement Fly Lady’s approach here instead.

Fly Lady divides everything into Zones and each week is a different zone. For example week one of the month is bathrooms, week two living room and dining room, etc. Perhaps personalize this to my home. My biggest concern is Fly Lady implements a weekly home blessing which in my opinion is a general pick up of the house once a week. If I don’t implement something like that, all the other rooms except the zone I’m focusing on for the week, will turn into terror zones instead.

My idea? Is to divide my home into Zone’s and include a Master Weekly Check List. The Master Weekly Check List will include general up keep of all the rooms while I focus on deep cleaning the current Zone I am in. If this is making any such sense? Thankfully I’m using a spiral notebook and pencil to rough draft this all out.

So far this is what I have:

Zone/Week Cleaning Assignment
Week 1: Play Room, 1/2 Bath
Week 2: Kitchen, Dining Room, Family Closet
Week 3: Main bath, Living Room
Week 4: Master Bedroom, Children’s Rooms

As I’m writing out a master cleaning list, it’s a little obvious that cleaning detail is unique to each room. I definitely won’t be washing a sink in the Master Bedroom but I could be wiping down knick knacks. So I’m beginning to think that each Week/Zone should have it’s own Master Cleaning List and at the same time, I’m worried I could be making this more complicated for myself.

Having a general cleaning list that will be performed each week is simple:

• One load of laundry per day
• Dishes
• Pick up trash
• 15 minute pick up each evening and morning (This includes toys, etc.)
• Wipe down bathroom surfaces and kitchen surfaces (Taking a wrag and wiping it down, simple enough)

Right now things such as dishes will continue to be on my daily to do lists until I get into the habit of having them complete every single day. And it may remain because seeing things even as simple as doing dishes, lets me know that I should get that done today, every day.

I think if I tried to do a good clean of every room, every week, I’d burn out. I have a hard time keeping up with doing that as it is now so seperating them by week would give me something to focus on each and every week. Instead of focusing on everything, all of the time.

Home Management Binder

Home Management Binder’s seem to be rather popular and I can’t deny that I haven’t attempted to make one myself. There are a hundred different ways to set them up, organize them and make them resourceful. I once upon a time set one up myself. However, I cheated, sorta. When I set up my Home Management Binder or rather at the time ‘Control Journal’, I was a Fly Lady activist. I fell off the Fly Lady bandwagon when my family made the great move from Georgia to Pennsylvania and lived in my Parent’s home for 3 weeks.

There was no cleaning necessary for me as I lived at my Parent’s home except keeping an eye on the kids and picking up after them. I helped with dishes and laundry; and if my Mother gave me a task, I did it. It wasn’t my home so plotting my daily and weekly cleaning tasks, wasn’t necessary nor my obligation. Now, over a year living in the state of Pennsylvania, in our own home, I have yet to set one up but have been inspired to do so. I found my old Control Journal with everything Fly Lady said you needed in it. I found my hole punch, my page dividers, my index card box, notebooks, etc. I love office supplies and I knew I had an abundance some where…it was hiding in the dungeon aka the basement.

Having it pulled out now, it’s over whelming. Everything is set up for my old home in Georgia, written in Pen and not useable to an extent any more. Certainly a waste of paper for me now. However, it has given me ideas of how I should set up my binder. As Fly Lady, while you helped me a great deal, it’s time for me to fly on my own. I need a new routine, a fresh start.

I found a great deal of resources, which I will list after this post, but I know one thing. Every Home Management Binder is unique to it’s home. I can not set mine up like someone else’s and expect it to work. S0me Binder’s hold school information, home-schooling work, job-oriented tasks, church information, etc. Thing’s that mine does not need. My kids are not quite at school age yet. Another year to go before Pre-School.

So now, I’m rough drafting how my binder is going to be set up and I’m sure will be a work in progress for weeks, months, possibly years to come. Ever changing, but hopefully, always reliable. So far, this is how I have plotted my Home Management Binder thus far.

1. Calendar – This will include all upcoming appointments, reminders to make appointments, birthdays, special events, etc.
2. Meal Plan – Self Explanitory. Plan to have a list of favorite meals as well so when I’m on ‘meal plan burn out’ I’ll have a go-to list.
3. Cleaning Schedule (Daily, Weekly, & Monthly)
4. To Do List – Sort of miscellanious. Everything from want to do, to future ideas, etc.
5. Finances – Will include a list of bills and due dates (along with a bill calendar -so needed-) and every months budget template. I have a template that I use on Google Docs Spread Sheets to keep track of our spending. In May we’re really planning on cracking down on budgeting with new baby and moving creeping up on us.

Right now, it seems intimidating to put it all together. Especially since I’m lacking a printer at the moment. But I’m aiming at a loose goal of having this binder complete within the next two weeks. I know it’s going to be an ever changing binder, within a year 1/2 I’ll have a child in pre-school and one following closely behind her. And with three kids, keeping track of appointments is going to be a must.

Home Management Binder/Notebook Resources:

Simple Mom – Home Management Notebook Series
Finding Freedom – Home Management Binder Series
Organized Home – House Notebook Series

As I complete my notebook I’ll update my progress and share resources and ideas that have helped me along the way. Right now, I’m writing my 3 MIT’s for tomorrow.