Where to Start?

So remember way back when I said one of my goals was organizing and setting up routines for our household? Yeah, me too...

Well, this is the week I am beginning...I have finally thought my way into a plan.

Unfortunately, I'm still not 100% which room to start with.

The kitchen? It is the hub of the house.

The living room? It is the room I spend a lot of time in and the first room you see when you enter and the "hospitality room".

The master bedroom? It is my retreat, my sanctuary.

The basement family room? The room the family spends a lot of time in.

(That in no way implies that I try to spend a lot of time away from the family!)

I have long found it interesting that each person has one space in their house that they go to first when it is time to clean. Their place that once it is clean, they can think, can breathe.

If you had to pick one space in your home to start with, to organize, to decorate, what would it be?

Household Goals

Right before Christmas I got a new book: Organized Simplicity, by Tsh Oxenreider.

The woman has no vowels in her name...I just had to point that out!

Anyway, I LOVE organization, but I rarely buy any books about it, because they all say the same things. However, this book is different!

The book is about 5x7 and has a spiral spine...that just makes this office supply junkie girl very happy! It makes the book seem more like a workbook instead of a "read and try to implement my ideas" book.

The tag line to the title is, The Clutter-Free Approach to Intentional Living. That just makes me want to take a deep breathe! This book sums up how I want our household to be! Intentional about what we own and how we keep it, and clutter-free! It takes the idea of simplicity and makes it real-world livable. We aren't talking sell everything and live with one pair of pants and one fork kind of life! This book is about make choices about what you have and in what room of your home - understanding that if you choose to have five bookshelves of books because you love books that's fine. You made that choice, but it may mean that in order to have room for those books, you may need to let the Precious Moments figurines go.

And wait, there's more...right now on Amazon, this book is only $10.42!!! So head on over to the Amazon jungle and get yours now!!!

2011 Resolutions:

1. Go through room by room and create organized simplicity I am starting with my living room and focusing on one room at a time. My hope is to finish the decorating in that room as well, but the organization and the simplifying is the main goal. And consistent with Dave Ramsey, my plan is for a big garage sale in the spring to pawn off my junk to someone else in order to build the 3-6 months savings!

2. Create and follow a household cleaning plan I have a plan for laundry that I have been able to follow for the last year and it has allowed me to not have those 20 loads of laundry days. It has been relatively easy to follow, however, I enjoy doing laundry. I do not like cleaning my house, but I am hopeful that if I only have about 45 min worth of cleaning every day that the house will be clean and I won't be overwhelmed.

3. Regular chores for the slaves...I mean kiddos We have tried chore charts galore and have never been able to stick with them. My plan for January is to create a new system for chores for our family...one that works with our kids and our schedule. Most importantly...one that we can maintain for a looooong time!

My main purpose with all of these goals is to have my house be warm and inviting and a place that I am not embarrassed by if someone unexpectedly comes to the door. I want to be able to spontaneously invite someone for coffee or dinner without running around hoping the bathroom is clean or that there isn't laundry laying around or a kitchen full of dirty dishes. I don't want a spotless house, but I don't want my guests to have to move things to find a seat either. And I want to know where things are. I don't want to have to hunt for that receipt or bill or Mike's wallet (that's a whole 'nother story!)

This will be a year long process, but I want to look back on December 31, 2011 and say that we have made progress! I want to know that we are moving forward, not backwards!

Hello 2010

I say hello today, because the kids just went back to school. So now is the official start of the year. And the official start of resolutions. Do you make new year's resolutions? I do. I'm a sucker for them. Growing up I made them and I still do. The usual: exercise more, read more, eat less dessert...and my favorite, remember everyone's birthdays and anniversaries. Every year over Christmas vacation I fill in my new calendar with all the important dates. I organize my cards and I start sending them. I usually do pretty good until the end of February. So if your birthday is in October, you are out of luck! Thankfully the invention of Facebook has made keeping that resolution easier. But there is still something about getting a card in the mail as opposed to a Facebook, "Happy Birthday - hope you have a great day!" [Submit] Just not as personal...I'm just saying.

So this year, my resolutions aren't that different from previous years...
1. journal what I eat and eat less sugar and more veggies
2. read my bible every day
3. be organized about cleaning my house
4. meal planning and prep
5. exercise three days a week
6. blog more often
7. remember birthdays and anniversaries with cards

Seven...because it is the number of perfection.
1. already have the notebook for this year and ate oatmeal for breakfast
2. one day behind already
3. making a plan today
4. ditto
5. tomorrow
6. yipee
7. missed my aunt and uncles anniversary yesterday - belated card from the store today

Ahhh, well, I'm in for the long haul this year, not the perfection of everyday only to fail come mid-Jan.

oh, and my picture a day site - I want to get back to that...I miss that. Maybe I'll cross off the exercise so I still only have seven! :-)

Don't Ask

Just know that my children are not allowed in the basement for quite a while...like until they are leaving for college.

The Black Hole

"You can't have everything. Where would you put it?"
— Steven Wright

Why don't I live by this? I throw A LOT of stuff away, but it seems to keep piling up. And where do you put it? In my master bedroom, the kitchen counter, the garage, or...I can't believe I am about to admit this...in the corner of the basement. I have this odd corner in the kids playroom. It's only 3x5, but it can hold a lot! I put their easel (a toy my kids really never use, but I could resist buying) in front of the little section. Behind there is The Black Hole. If you are missing something, chances are I "cleaned up" before people came over and stashed it there. This phenomenon I claim came from my mother. When I was younger and people were coming over, she would pick everything up, put it in a paper grocery sack and put it in the garage. It looked neat, but the paper sack was quickly forgotten and months later, you could find ten or more sacks in the garage. Obviously we could live without whatever was in them. The Black Hole is the same way. I should have a goal to clean it out, but really what is the motivation?