A Productive Morning

This morning has been going pretty darn well so far! Audrey woke up earlier than I wanted her too. At about 7:30am I finally went in to get her out of bed. In actuality it worked out well because I need to start getting up earlier. I find that I'm much more productive in the morning than I am later in the day and into the evening. So this morning I've had computer time; gotten Audrey and myself breakfast; unloaded the dishwasher (I put my handwashed dishes in there to dry); washed the breakfast dishes; made the bed; washed, dried and put away a load of laundry; done my swish & swipe in the bathroom; organized three cabinets in the kitchen; cleaned up Audrey's room (although it's probably a wreck again); wiped down the counter in the kitchen (along with a handful of other things and not in any particular order). So far, I'm feeling VERY good today! Later on I have to go donate plasma, but besides that I plan to be at home utilizing my time here, that way, later in the day, I can spend my time relaxing with my family!!

Organization 101 - 10 Easy Ways To Get Organized

1. Hang up your keys. (Preferably by the door.)
   
   
2. Find a place for your purse, coat, gloves and other frequently used items and always keep them there.
   
   
3. Make your bed each day as soon as you crawl out of it.
   
   
4. Get dressed. Even if you are a stay at home mom or a mom who works from home, get dressed. Clothes really do make the man or woman. You'll be just as productive as you are dressed which means if you are dressed for sleep (pajamas, sweats or a robe) then you will get about as much work done as you would when you are sleeping. That may be stretching it, but you get my point.
   
   
5. Wash the dishes and wipe the counters after each meal. No matter how large or small the meal or how tired and in a hurry you are, do the dishes. Even if you are hurried or late in the morning you wouldn't dream of leaving the house half dressed. Make leaving your kitchen clean as important a priority as getting dressed for work. This may seem impossible at first but once you are on top of things it should only take five or ten minutes to clean your kitchen.
   
   
6. Get rid of trash. About 50% of what unorganized people have in their homes is trash or stuff they will never use again. Stop wasting time taking care of it, moving it or stepping over it. As you walk through the house, pick up garbage and toss it.
   
   
7. Control your laundry. Don't let it control you. Follow these simple steps to help keep your laundry from taking over your home and you.
   
   
1. Place a hamper or basket for dirty clothes in each bedroom and/or bath. Make sure that everyone's dirty clothes are put in the hamper before bed and in the morning.
   
   
2. The laundry isn't done until it is put away. Get out of the mind set that if it is washed and dried it is done. Folding and putting it away is equally as important.
   
   Some of us think that if we get the laundry washed and dried that's all we need to do and it's okay for the family to just pull stuff out of a pile. That makes as much sense as cooking a meal and expecting everyone to stand at the stove and take turns scooping the food out of the pan and eating it one spoonful at a time. You wouldn't dream of doing that. Yes the food is cooked, but the meal is not complete until the table is set and the food is put on plates. Do the same for your laundry. Put it away.
3. 
   
8. Pick up continually. This may seem like a pain to do at first but if you stick with it, it will become a habit. I didn't realize how much of a habit it had become for me until I was visiting my daughter's the other day (Hey! That's me! ;-) -Tawra). As I was walking into the kitchen, I picked up empty glasses and odds and ends on my way. Then when I walked from the kitchen to the bedroom I picked up toys as I went in there. It wasn't even my house but I had seen something out of place and out of habit picked it up.
   
   Every sock or glass that you walk past is a spore waiting to flourish into a vortex of debris. Catch it while it is small!
   
   
9. Read and dispose of newspapers and magazines. There are usually two reasons people have stacks of newspapers and magazines piled around:
   
   
   1. They want to save an article in it. If that is the case then cut the article out as you are reading the magazine and file it. Trust me, you not only won't cut that article out at a later time, but you probably won't remember what or where it is.
      
      
   2. They don't have time to read them. If you aren't going to read them the why are you subscribing to them? Stop your subscriptions. This doesn't have to be an all or nothing thing. If you can't keep up with the daily newspaper then just get the Sunday paper. Most people usually have more leisure time Sunday to read it. Pick out one or two of your favorite magazines and stop subscribing to the rest.
   
   
   
10. With any item, if it is broken or you don't use it anymore get rid of it. That includes clothes, toys, furniture, decorations, dishes and exercise equipment ;-). If it's not important enough to fix right now, you don't need it!

Article from : Living On A Dime

Organization 101

I've been thinking about the whole organizational topic for awhile now. I am definitely NO WHERE NEAR as organized as I'd like to be. Or for that matter, need to be. I often find myself getting overwhelmed when I start to think about routines, schedules, weeding through junk, cleaning, etc. Not necessarily because I can't do these things, I know that I can (and I can be pretty darn good at it, if I may say so), but the overwhelming feeling comes from not knowing where to start. Or from seeing a starting point, but also seeing the mountain that needs to be climbed after that initial starting point.

I know that I need to do something about becoming more organized in my life. When I do follow some sort of routine, or when my house is cleaner I just feel better. Both about myself (that I'm actually doing it) and I feel less stressed. Now I know that some people might read this and say, why on earth would a homemaker get stressed? Don't you stay home all day, everyday? And to you I would say that trying to keep a household running in tip top shape can be stressful at times. And add to that the fact that I do have a part-time job, plus we are down to one vehicle at the moment. Anyways, enough with that rabbit trail. Another thought that kind of freaks me out, is that now that Audrey is approaching 2 years old we're talking more and more about starting to expand our family, and the thought of having to do all that I do (without the organization) while having a toddler and an infant scares the living daylights out of me!!

I didn't want to do this as a "New Year's Resolution", because I feel like that would be setting myself up for a quick failure. I never seem to thrive when it comes to making resolutions at the beginning of a year. Also, I know that one of my other problems is my 'all or nothing' mentality(I suffer from this in several areas of my life). I think a lot about what the end product should be and I try to do that from day one, thus setting myself up to completely burn out and get totally unmotivated for awhile until the memory of my failure has been erased from my brain.

So, I'm going to come up with a plan to slowly, but surely get myself organized. I figure since I'm on a roll with my whole new eating plan, I might as well put some of that determination into another area of my life. One of the first ways that I am going to do this is by following Crystal from Biblical Womanhood's lead. In December she did a series for a couple of weeks called Making Your Home a Haven. Now she is keeping up with this by doing a Making Your Home a Haven post every Monday. So starting next Monday I'm going to join in on the fun!!

I'm also going to sit down (tonight or tomorrow) and think long and hard about what I would like to accomplish in this arena. And then actually plan out the steps that I need to take to fulfill this desire. Wish me luck and look for more posts on this topic coming soon.