The Bed

Here's a picture of the bed I bought at the flea market for 85 dollars. It was black but I spray painted it white! I really like it! The picture doesn't show the quilt as clearly as I'd like because I took it with my phone...it has lavendar flowers with also green and yellow in it.

The Bedroom Project

So as you can see....I managed to blog Week One of the Holiday Grand Plan. I am soooo bad at long term projects but I finally pulled off the bedroom project. Well, almost, I still need to paint and put up the new closet door. I also need one other peice of furniture...still searching for it...a small tall dresser for beside the bed. A thrid item I am still looking for is a floral or twig swag to hang above the headboard of the bed...not playing full price...so I need to find it at a resale shop or flea market! That wall can be bare until I happen upon the perfect item! So to celebrate...here's a list of what I managed over hmmm about an 8 week time period. I will get some pictures up soon!

1. Painted walls lavendar and ceiling white.
2. Painted trim white
3. Painted electrical coverings white
4. Painted the floor vent sage green
5. Put down (wood-looking) flooring
6. Painted the old bed I found at the flea market (white)
7. Painted the resale shop lamp sage green (I love it!)
8. Painted the frames of some pcitures I found at the flea market (white)
9. Put up a white little shelf (from flea market)
10. Painted trinket box....sage green
11. Painted some adorable little metal squares white..they are linked with chains and I am going to add the words. Love Laugh Life (as soon as I find the rub on stencils of them)
12. Painted the old brown lamp from my husbands side of the bed white. (it looks new!)
13. Cleaned out about half of the closet
14. Got rid of three bags of clothing and shoes
15. Got rid of miscellaneous other junk

TOTAL Project cost= 400 dollars (thats with an estimated cost for closet doors & dresser & swag for above bed)

I love the room....it is so pretty...and clean! The bed will look nice at Christmas with some greenery wrapped around the headboard!

July Plan

Let's just skip June totally because I am still working on the garage and just general house stuff. Plus my trip to Cozumel means June will end with a wonderful bang....and I fear the house will not get much TLC.

July Plan:

Room of the Month: Master Bedroom (yes I know it was up in May but...)

Focus of the Month: Books (again, I know) Sometimes I fear I will drown in books....they are everywhere. I still haven't bought my nook but hubby says if I don't get it before then ...it will be my birthday present in October!! Some books I love and I don't want to part with them but most of this is just silly hoarding and sentimental keeping.

Living My Life: So we have a 5-6 day camping trip planned for July and the end of July brings back...the dreaded...gasp...work....so I think my living my life goals for this month will just be to relax and enjoy the time off that I do have and to spend time with family!

It's ALL in the Title

You know....from my rambling post yesterday that motivation is alluding me of late...well...I've been pondering that some more and then it hit me....It's all in the title....the blog title....Month by Month....the best progress I've ever made on anything has been month by month....

Not necessarily in a notebook or note pad or even on a card....but just plain old good monthly planning. The cleaning plan that always helped me the most was the Room of the Month. I feel more organized when I look at things in a monthly format. Even when I taught Kindergarten we did our planning monthly...monthly themes etc.

So I'm going to try getting back on track with the Room of the Month approach...along with some other little things like Move It Out Mondays (one of my fave daily ones). I think the idea of weekly planning overwhelms and discourages me (even though the monthly list gets broken down into weekly ones).

I also think monthly planning fits my lifestyle because I get a FRESH start every 30-31 days. I also like it that I can spice up my monthly planning by adding the Monthly Magic ideas for birthdays and party planning if needed that month! Throw in a FUN Celebrate Me Day on the 15th and Rudolph Day on the 25th and it makes for a well rounded month.

In addition, I can add a bit of FOCUS to my month by adding in a CENTRAL THEME....for that month. For example let's say March's Room of the Month is the Living Room....I can also have a central theme of say...BOOKS (if I want to be specific) or DECLUTTER (if I want to be general) and then along with the Room of the Month...throughout the whole house I also concentrate on the central theme.....

I don't know if it will work but I just feel like I need MORE than just the Room of the Month.....or I'm never going to accomplish what I want to do.

January Assignments

Each month I will post some monthly assignments and reminders to help us get motivated to have a GREAT month!

• Check out the January Monthly Magic Assignments
• Fill out a Room of the Month Schedule & start the January Room
• Pick a Declutter Focus (this can be in your room of the month or some other area)
• Organize and pack holiday decor
• Update your Month by Month notebook or your household notebook
• Put stickers on the 2009 calendar for each special day

Ginger's January Assignments: Part One

• I need to update and add Celebrate Me and Hippity Hoppity to Monthly Magic and then I will print the assignment sheet.
• Room a Month schedule is set...January Room: Master Bedroom
• Declutter Focus: Master Bedroom closet
• Decor...this is a BIG one and is not even started yet!
• Notebook needs to be updated and tweaked
• Stickers...still need to do.

Okay...it's January 1st...TIME to TAKE ACTION...lets get going for 2009!

Room of the Month Master List

You can keep track of your Room of the Month either by using the section on the Weekly List for Room of the Month To Dos or by creating a Room of the Month Master List on this form:

Room of the Month Master List Form

Uusally I do a combination. I create the master list for the room and then each week add a few things from the master list on to the weekly to do list.

Here's a link to:

The Weekly To Dos by Days (Friday and Saturday)