{Week 19 – Routines}
We have some pretty rigid routines in our house. Most of these centre around getting to school, night time routines and obviously they are kid related. Having a son who copes better with things at the same time helps to enforce the actual routine. Up until the start of the SYL12 challenge I really failed to have routines in regards to the house. I HATE being stuck at home and being the one that is expected to all the housework. I don’t enjoy it and it is definitely a ‘chore’! What I do like is having a clean and tidy home. Hopefully at the same time. Tidy is something that doesn’t often happen. I clean and kids and hubby just mess it up.
So over the last few weeks I have been letting a cleaning routine naturally evolve centering around what we have on. I’m nearly ready to put it down on paper so that everyone in the house has a quick chart they can refer to if they are going to be helpful!
Menu Planning as I have mentioned before is new to me but the last month or so I have been doing it every Monday morning and its working great! Luckily I am pretty flexible and happy to change something if need be but I have 7 options every week listed down – and usually have all the ingredients I need to make a lovely dinner. Tonight we had chicken curry and I’ve been looking forward to it all week!
{Week 20 - Slow Down and Breathe}
in….out….in….out….
{Week 21 – Home Audit}
My list is huge and I honestly wont bore you with it. But the priority we decided on working on include:
1. Storage in both on kids rooms – Vertical storage like the Expedit shelves from Ikea to keep like things together and off the floor.
2. What is the ‘playroom’ doesn’t work. Adding more storage, a mat and a couch. This is huge because that would mean no bed for my Son Hayden to sleep in. He does have his own bed but wont sleep in there!
3. Paint the playroom and the two kids rooms.
4. Paint/oil our playground.
5. Get a load of sand so we continue our garden.
6. And at the moment the big ticket item is to get our shed floor cemented so we can store things in there with out the mice and snakes that like to call it home!
We now have some priorities not just me. I have had to compromise on a couple of things I would like completed NOW but we cant afford to do everything.
{Week 22 – Declutter Your Stuff}
I have been slowly going through our ‘stuff’ since the start of the year and the start of the Simplify Your Life Challenge. Slowly I have been handing bags and boxes of ‘stuff’ to my sister and Mum to get rid of. My Mum works with people that really do appreciate the clutter I have collected.
Things I have noticed that I have quite a lot of emotional attachment to things – I’m letting a lot of that go. I can still keep special things but I need to find a better way to store them. And I don’t need to keep ‘Everything’!
If you follow the blog, you may have read this post about me going through my shoes and my hubby’s shoes. We managed to get rid of 4 pairs of shoes because either hubby doesn’t wear them and is not likely to and because I cant wear the shoes because as much as they look absolutely gorgeous the y are so uncomfortable.
I have also been cleaning out Mikala’s room. She has a gorgeous room and a few weeks ago I halved the number of dolls that she had. Mainly soft bodied baby dolls that she had about 20 of! We donated them to little girls that will love them. This week we attacked the teasets and her kitchen. She had this big plastic box of things – I put one teaset away for when she loses and buries the other one in the sandpit. The ones she just had bit of I have bagged up to go to a new sandpit or home. She had 7 teapots – she wasn’t very happy about going down to 2 teapots!
So I think if I continue each week attacking an area, organising, tidying and decluttering by the end of the year we should’ve let go of everything that is unnecessary to keep!
{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }
I love that quote ‘Please excuse the mess, the children are making memories’, love, love, love it!! Your home priorities sound very achievable. It is so hard when you can see things that need doing and a silly thing like finances stands in your way – I hate that!! After a decision has been made, I like to do it ASAP, but more often than not the bank account doesn’t co-operate. You are doing great with your de-cluttering, and I love how you’re happy that it will take you the rest of the year to finish. I think I need to take this approach and keep telling myself that as long as I keep going, it will get done!
Mel you are right about the bank account – big plans dont always mean we have the money to do it NOW! I’m using the year as my timeline so I dont get too overwhelmed by the decluttering that needs to go on in some hidden parts of my house!
You are so good commiting to this challenge, wish I could convince Hubby to give away a similar pair of boots!
I tagged you in a post too.
Thanks for tagging me Nat! You made my day! Some days are longer than others and then something like a little recognition and everything else doesn’t seem to matter! xxx
So were they the brown boots?
I really enjoyed reading all the weeks in 1 post Annaleis! Well done on catching up.
Well done on your menu planning – it really makes a difference – and no last minute ‘what shall we have for dinner!’
Bec – I would like to say that it was my great idea to write the posts all at once but I need to make more time to actually blog what I need to rather than what I want to!
Loving the meal planning! xxx
Love that quote at the beginning! It is SOOO true!! And sounds like the de-cluttering is going well, I love that you are getting your kids involved!
If your saw my house right now that quote is definitely true. Whole house is set up like a hospital and I’m crossing my fingers that no-one comes to visit! (If they do they might get a health check!
Well done getting all caught up – love the pics of the decluttering teapots etc. Have to laugh at her having 7 teapots given the name of your blog!
Lol that’s how I came up with the name – my kids favorite toys at the time plus I love a cup of tea and we live in the bush!
I also love that quote – in fact I’ve often thought about hanging it in the kids toy room! Someone should post a real photo on Pinterest of what a toy room looks like when kids actually ‘play’ in it
Well done on the decluttering of teapots… I am wondering why we have about 50 pieces of plastic fruit… hmmmm…
Or when they aren’t playing in it just emptying all those lovingly labelled and sorted tubs!
Aww I love the way you came up with your blog name! It was so lovely to read your catch up. You’re doing so well! Good storage will really help you I’m sure. I love your playground! Well done getting hubby and the kids involved in this part of the process. I’ve been able to do the same and it has both made it more fun and bought us all closer together. We are finally all working towards the same goal (instead of me working towards a tidy house and then working towards getting me off their backs)
Jo