Chaos, Clutter and Working the Plan

My house is STILL in disarray. How can this be after devising such an awesome plan?  Here's how.

In my kitchen I decided to clean out the pantry and really ORGANIZE it. The way it was set up was just not working at all. It is a very deep half closet and is really difficult to work with. The back of the shelves had become a hodgepodge of items without homes. I recently bought a food processor and a kitchen aide stand mixer which I wanted to store somewhere easy to reach.  So I took EVERYTHING out of the pantry. (the first two shelves not the very top one as I organized it a couple weeks back)  You can imagine this created quite a mess. I purged many items but the kitchen table is still full of things (mostly storage jars) that I am wondering what to do with!

 

I know you are thinking, "this doesn't look too organized" but believe me it is so much better than it was that I am delighted!

 

Now add to that the fact that I moved an old wash stand that had three drawers full of "stuff" out of the living room and into my bedroom. Thus requiring that I move a dresser with three drawers worth of stuff out of my bedroom and you can see how I have a bunch of "stuff" to do something with. Also add to this the fact that I in my ultimate wisdom stopped everything for two days to work with a box of tomatoes from the garden and make freezer spaghetti sauce and salsa. Well.....the tomatoes were going to be wasted if I didn't!!

 

Now it would be easy to just stuff things back here, there, and anywhere that I can find space BUT that's how it got so crazy to begin with. So I have been slowly sorting, purging and finding homes for the "keepers". It's a slow process and I feel like in the meantime I am living in chaos. I just keep telling myself that once I get through it all everything will be so much easier to keep clean and organized!

 

I'll be back with an update soon and hope I'll have more success to report!

 

 

August, School, and Plans

I know we are well into August but you know what they say...better late than never. I've actually had the plan on paper I just forgot to blog it. This is a bit of a weird day for me as it is the first "official" day of teacher work days and I'm not there!  It doesn't really feel happy or sad...just different.

Anyway before I share my August Plan I wanted to give a brief update on July. Things that went well and things that sort of fell through the cracks. Fifteen Daily worked pretty well. July was paper control so every weekday I worked on it for 15 minutes. I think there might be 2-3 days that I missed doing it. Seasonal Chore worked out fairly well. It was weeding flowerbeds and I worked on it about 3-4 times during the month. I really needed more! The Grocery Challenge was a great success but the Room of the Month the basement only got minimal attention! I managed Move It Out Monday for the month but I don't think there will ever be an end to clutter control here. So that brings us to August. I decided to keep a lot of the same format.

Move It Out Monday: Every Monday

Seasonal Chore: Flowerbed work

Grocery Challenge: Continue

Fifteen Daily:  Creative Stuff Control (so need this one)

Room of the Month: Still the basement (I already had this down for both July and August)

Blog It:  Blog at least four times a month

I'm going to continue the Spiritual, Bon Appetit, Read, See, Watch and Create Goals but I do not really have them clearly defined.

Happy August everyone....make a plan and work it!

August Plan Update #2

Room of the Month: The kitchen.....this is still not udner control and I have one week of August left...okay 9 nine days....lol. I have manged however to make REAL progress in the office...I don't know i was just inspired to do it...I have more to dp to the office but it looks a lot better!
Focus of the Month: Clothes....Today is laundry day...so this evening I will work through a basket or two of clothes that are just lingering in the laundry room and see if I can get a bit more accomplished with this focus area!

Living My Life: This is a hard one for August because things are rather hectic but I have manged to schedule: Trip to zoo on August 29th (weather permitting), Schenck Girls at the Lake-Autumn for weekend of October 2nd.



THIS WEEK'S PLAN:

Sunday: Laundry and Bedroom:  I will clean what I can on the bedroom during the day and then work on laundry in evening while watching TV in family room (which is close to laundry room!)

Monday: Kitchen: I will clean the fridge and work on the cupboard again! The cupboard seems to be a never ending story!

Tuesday:  It's Tuesday in Paris as some of my fellow MHH members say. Bathrooms!! This isn't a huge chore but one that seems to take some motivation!

Wednesday:  Livingroom...It's usally a bit of a mess by midweek so hopefully this will make it easier to clean on the weekend!

Thursday: This is our "girl's night out" so no room!

Friday:  Office...I'm not sure I will always be able to manage this on Fridays. It will depend on my schedule etc. but I think it is a good goal to set because if I keep at it...the office will just need a quick pick up and the desk top to be cleaned off!

Saturday: This is MAJOR cleaning day as well as grocery shopping...so floors, vacumning, etc. I am hoping this becomes easier if I stick with the room a day routine. This will also be the day for BIG projects like working on the garage and basment. So I may alternate ...like one week MAJOR cleaning, next week garage, next week MAJOR cleaning, next week basement. There's a lot to do in both the basement and the garage. I got a good  start in the garage in the spring but then hot weather pretty much put a stop to that, Time to get back with it!!

August Plan Update #1

Remember a few weeks ago when I devised the wonderful August Plan? Well, now it's August 9th....time for an update. Dear Me!

Room of the Month: The kitchen.....I'm going to be honest...it is a BIG MESS. Going back to work takes a bit of getting used to. I need to get it in order BIG TIME

Focus of the Month: Clothes....I did manage a tiny bit on this. I also hate that in about six weeks or so I am going to have to deal with season change, Lots to still do in this focus area.

Living My Life: I have managed to plan a few fall excursions but honestly until I get the home front under control...its hard to manage this one! After I get used to work schedule again I am picking one room a night to give a quick cleaning to in addition to general kitchen chores which are a nightly task ( that often gets skipped)

Honestly so far it's not really that I can't MAKE myself do the stuff....it's that I really am TIRED...also I think I have a cold...stopped up nose and headache. Hopefully once I get to feeling better I can get August on Track better!

Keeping on Track: August

August you are approaching quickly. I've struggled with keeping on track lately but this week has been productive. As summer's end is drawing near, I am working on getting back into some kind of routine. I'm still working on books....believe it or not but I've managed to declutter some other areas too.

August Planning:

Room of the Month: The kitchen.....I already got a bit of a head start on this because I cleaned the top shelf of the cupboard but there is still mega stuff to do. This is a great room to do for August because it gets me ready for holiday baking, menu planning and parties!

Focus of the Month: Clothes....I'm not sure exactly what or how I am going to mange this focus but something needs to change. I know it's not early enough for changing seasonal clothes. I am more concerned about going through clothes in the laundry room and getting rid of a bunch of stuff. Closets and drawers are over flowing! (I'm going to continue on my shelf a week of book decluttering also!)

Living My Life: This month brings back work but the one thing I want to really cultivate in "living my life" is to get over the idea that everything comes to a stop when school starts. I still want to find time for a few fun excursions this fall.

So that's the basic plan....I am going to go one step further for August and I am going to break down the items into "weekly room tasks", "weekly focus goals" and "weekly living my life thoughts". BUT ....I know and you know the real progress comes in actually MAKING myself do the things on the list! lol