Keeping Schedules

I am still working on my financial debacle, but I'm currently waiting on some information so I've put that project on hold for today.  I wanted to take a moment to talk about house cleaning.  Now this is not something I'm good at.  I confess to be a total slob, and while I like things clean and cleanliness gives me peace of mind, I'm not naturally an organized or clean person.  I tend to get overwhelmed when it comes to cleaning and distracted very easy.

Spring is around the corner and I've seen a ton of posts about Spring Cleaning, checklist abound in Blog World.  I get exhausted just reading through the lists much less feel inspired to start using one.  That is until today.  I found one I could manage at My Simpler Life.  It isn't necessarily a Spring Cleaning list, but it does stretch out the whole deep cleaning process out over the length of a year.  That's about how long it would take me to clean anyway :) so I thought I would give it a try.

Source: mysimplerlife.com via BillandBrandi on Pinterest

I printed up this Moth's calendar and put in my Home Journal.

It only lists 1 deep cleaning, decluttering project a day.  Now that is something I can live with.

While working with Modern Retro Woman in January I discovered another fabulous trick that has really helped me maintain my home.  I say "maintain" because it is just maintained in other words, far from spotless but no longer on the verge being being condemned.

She challenged me to find a way to keep focused.  I decided to use a timer.  At first it worked great. I set the time for 25 min and went to town.  But, it didn't take long for my ADD to kick in and it was harder and harder to maintain working for 25 minutes (that's kind of embarrassing to admit).  So, I shortened it to 5 min.  5 min doesn't seem very long, but you would be surprised at how much you can do when you're focused.  So with my timer, which really has become a second appendage (it goes with me everywhere), I have developed a schedule that seems to work for me, for now anyway.

Daily:
 - Make Beds
- 5 minute clean up in each bedroom (even the kids have spend 5 minutes straightening)
- 5 min kitchen clean up
- 5 min Hot Spot clean up (areas that breed clutter, like the entryway or top of the dryer)
- 5 min bathroom clean up
- 5 min major pick up
- 1 load of laundry (I don't always get this done, but Monday is laundry day so I can catch up if I miss it)

This schedule has actually improved my house considerably and it is so simple! Now, with the Declutter calender I think I see some really good things happening.

Do you have a schedule you'd like to share?

Redefining Success

About 3 days ago I sat and watched a PBS program on someone I would never even consider being interested in...John Wooden.  Sports just ain't my thing...I'm more inclined to listen to Oprah then someone who coached collegiate basketball and I still, after watching the show, have no idea really what John did in his life and I have no clue how important the awards were that he earned, but I do know that I had a tremendous breakthrough listening to this man.

John defined success.  He defined it in 1934 and it remained the cornerstone of his coaching, his life, his program...it defined him as well as all of the men who looked up to him for guidance in his years of coaching. John's definition of success was coined as "Success is peace of mind, which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you made the effort to do your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming." 


Wow....when I heard him say tears swelled in my eyes and I sat there, remote in hand, kids running circles under me nodding my head in agreement.  It was one of those moments that the world snaps into place and suddenly you have clarity.  I have been chasing and looking for some purpose for so long and yet I was capable of success all a long right where I am.  I was looking for monetary and social stroking, accolades, important friends to define success.  I felt this life (being a stay at home) was fine for now there were elements I liked but all in all I wasn't very good at it and so when I started working again then THAT would be when my success came, THAT was when I would find my passion and define myself.  What a waste!  I have the opportunity for success each and every day!  

For the past three days when I laid my head down at night I asked myself 1 question, Are you proud of who you were today?   Yes!  Because I knew that question was coming at night so during the day when I was impatient with the kids I sucked it up and found ways to be patient.  I engaged, I created the ideal of what I thought was a good mom/wife/friend/Homekeeper/daughter.  All the different roles I played over the course of the weekend, I asked myself, Am I giving my all?  Am I doing my best?  The result...satisfaction at the end of the night.  Joyfulness which comes with peace of mind-success.

John Wooden may have completely changed my life in one simple statement. 

Schedules

"She watches over the ways of her household..."  Proverbs 31:27

Now this my friends can be a big task.  Just this past weekend my Hubby and I got into a major fight.  We got in a fight because there were two particular events I was scheduled for that he completely forgot about.  Because he forgot, my plans were a bit of a wreck and I in turn (because us women do this) convinced myself that he just didn't care enough about my plans and he therefore must have done this on purpose to ruin my life (or is that just me?).  I was fuming mad and because I was mad I had a very hard time adjusting to the change of events and going with the flow.  How could he forget, I mean I had been talking about the events non stop, honestly I really think when I talk to him I must sound like the adults on The Peanuts to him. This afternoon being a sweetie that he can be he brought me a yummy healthy lunch (because he knows I'm on a diet) and had lunch with me and the kids to make up for it and to prove that he really cares about what is important to me.

So, when a woman gets mad she does 1 of 2 things:  throws something, or takes care of business.

So since I was past option 1 and I knew that wasn't going to get me anywhere I decided to make a commitment to my family and start to take care of business...like every one's business.  This led me to a very cool site I would love to share called Cozi.  If you have been on this site you probably love it, if not I strongly suggest you try it out.

Cozi is everything I ever wanted to be; the chart-making-color-coding-hyper-organized mama, only it's so much easier to fake it!  Here are my top 10 highlights of the program:

1. It's FREE.  Yay!  For the Budget Maven that is a beautiful word.
2. They have tons of great practical tips and articles about parenting, cleaning, decorating etc.
3. You can color code you family members and update them via email or text message reminders of the whole family's schedule.  You can even update changes as they happen!
4. There are check off lists for shopping and TO DOs which can also be emailed or texted to your phone and it even makes a sound when you check off that item (so satisfying for a gal like me)
5. You can get a weekly schedule updated to you and your family members for a week in advance.
6. When scheduling an appointment, guess what?? You can actual add the location which will bring up map quest, like when you get lost for the billionth time trying to get to your son's dentist....(or is that only me?)
7. You can link your calendar directly to your kid's school website and all the important date like holidays and vacations are automatically linked and filled in.
8.  You can even include pets and give them their own color for Vet appointments and grooming dates.
9.  They have a feature for meal planning that can be converged with your family's schedule (which is so cool it deserves it's own post)
10. My favorite thing is the family journal section.  In the Journal you can set up little memories of the events that are scheduled in your calendar (like birthdays, park days whatever) or you can just add fun memories.  You can upload picture to go along with the memory and then you can actually schedule an automatic email to go out to your contact list, out-of-state grandmas and grandpas, aunts, family members, friends whomever you choose.  They can be kept updated with the going-on of your busy family.


I highly recommend this program.  If you are already using Cozi I would LOVE to hear your experiences with it.  With Cozi you can be a Type A Mom too!


Love,
Brandi