Wednesday 8/10

Day two and still going strong! Once again, the house is all clean, washing is hung, and both babies are asleep. I was a bit slack with my room of the day yesterday, but am about to get stuck into the bathroom, my room for today.

I’m finding life is runnng smoother when I do more of a night too, so I’m still powering through with that, ironing DH’s clothes, folding clean washing, drying the dishes instead of leaving them to drain. I know one of my new habits was to fold washing as it came off the line, but when it’s someone else bringing in the washing, it’s a bit hard to say “thanks for the help, but could you fold as you go, you lazy blighter? I thought you were trying to help me!!”, hence the need to fold washing at night.

Baby steps are the key! Another week or so, and my old habits should be firmly restored, and my house running smoothly (I hope!).

Tuesday 7/10

So, day one of being back on the bandwagon, and I’m cruising! All the general stuff has been done, inlcuding the washing AND drying of dishes – would you believe that our dishwasher chose the week our son was born to die! Of all the lousy timing! Two loads of washing have been hung out with the help of my mum, who popped round this morning.

I also managed to get DH’s work clothes ironed last night, it makes the mornings so much easier just taking out that one little task.

My room of the day is the kitchen, and I just need to mop the floors, and wipe out the dishwasher. Both boys have just gone down for a nap, so I might do the mopping now, and then I want to get stuck into cleaning out my wardrobe, I have a ton of things I never wear that I want to get rid of.

My other plan for today is to do a 20 item pickup before lunch, and before DH gets home from work. I find doing the 50 item pickup suggested over at Domestic Guru always makes my house look so much tidier (obviously!), so I’m hoping by doing a smaller pickup twice a day, the house will look tidier when DH gets home, plus there will be less for me to do during the day.

I also have a procrastination task this week – to clean my office/studio. I have a heap of craft projects in mind, but can’t get started until the studio is clean, so I’m going to be working slowly through that this week, maybe by just doing a 20/30/40/50 item pickup/packaway everyday.

On Fire Thursday

An early post today, because I’m going so well. All my general stuff is done, except to hang the washing. My rooms for today are the loungeroom, hallway & studio. The loungeroom is done except for a bit of dusting, cleaning the TV screen & getting a stain out of the carpet. The hallway just need to be mopped & the mirror cleaned, and I’ve made a start on the studio, but it’s pretty good, as I’ve been tidying as I go. Like I said in last nights post, I didn’t wash or iron last night, so I am hoping to get two loads of washing done today (one is done & ready to hang), and I’ll hook into the ironing tonight.

A handy hint: Use all the attachments on your vacuum cleaner! I used the soft furnishing one to run over the mirrors & screens, so, even though not completely clean, they were at least dust free. It also makes dusting easier if you use the furniture attachment, and the dust isn’t pushed into the air just to resettle behind you. The soft furnishings bit is also great for cobwebbing.

Wednesday

My nesting urges slowed down a bit today, I didn’t do nearly as much housework, but I did do some baking. We made yummy fairy cakes, so nice in fact, that they didn’t last long enough for a photo!

But generally speaking, I’m doing well with my little routine. My new habits are going ok, I remembered to take the meat out of the freezer for dinner in the morning. I ended up going to the gym this evening, and by the time I got home & had dinner, I didn’t really have the motivation to do any ironing, and I forgot to put the washing in. Oops! I’m on top of things enough though that it’s not really an issue, luckily for me!

Another productive day… Tuesday

Well, nesting is well & truely in force!

Room of the Day – Kitchen & Dining
I cleaned the dishwasher and the oven, wiped out the microwave, vacuumed, mopped, and cobwebbed. I also wiped down the skirtings, and then noticed how grotty the walls were. Next thing I know, I’ve hauled my seven-months-pregnant belly up onto the kitchen bench, and I cleaned the walls! No mean feat since we have 10 foot ceilings! So now our kitchen & dining area are both very clean, but still, I want to tidy up the pantry this arvo if I get a chance.

Habits
Ironing – I said I was going to iron last night, didn’t I? Well, oops, no I didn’t! I was busy researching internet options, and by the time I was done, DH was ready for bed.
Taking meat out of a morning – I remembered! One day down, three more to go. Do you think I can stick with it this week?

Another Monday rolls around

And a very productive one it has been!

Room of the Day – Bedrooms
I’ve stripped & remade both beds, dusted our room, tidied my son’s room including fixing up his piuzzle box, and completely decluttered & tidied our dressing table. The dressing table is something that has been bugging me for ages, but because it gets hidden away, it hasn’t been high on the priority list (it is part of our built in wardrobe). When the toddler awakes, I have to dust his room, then whip out the vacuum & do our room & his, as well as cobweb both rooms. If I get a chance I also want to clean the full-length mirror in our room.

Procrastination Task
After a hectic week last week, I decided to carry over my procrastination task of decluttering the books. I haven’t done anything about this today, I really do need to get cracking.

Extras
I think I’m starting to nest already – I found myself on hands & knees this morning scrubbing the kickboards in the kitchen. Why? Because they looked a bit grotty, and I simply couldn’t leave them like that any longer. Yep, I’m strange!

Habits
fold washing off the line – still happening. I’ve just folded 3 loads from yesterday off the line, all I need to do is pack it away now.
load of washing in every night – going ok. I did get a bit slack last week, due to a demanding toddler who didn’t want to go to bed without me. But back on the bandwagon this week! I’m not spending another weekend doing laundry!
ironing every night – hmm, well, I do need to get stuck back into this tonight, my ironing pile is starting to get a bit scary again.
Menu planning – loving it! My grocery bill would be around 25% lower, and I had such a backlog of frozen serves that while my husband was away for the week last week, I didn’t have to cook once! Bonus! So now instead of freezing, I am going to make meals last for two nights, meaning I’m only cooking half as much!
taking meat out of a morning – yeah, not so great. I am still relying on my microwave far too much. I need to work harder at making this automatic. This can be my focus for this week.

I think I’ll give myself this week to get back into the swing of things, and pick up all my habits again, before adding anymore to the list.

How quickly Monday comes around

Yep, Monday again! My rooms of the day are the bedrooms. I’ll also going to start a new Procrastination project, inspired by last weeks. This week it’s the books. We have hundreds of childrens books scattered in various places throughout the house, so I am going to sort out those that can be put away from those that are read constantly, to try & declutter out loungeroom a bit.

Last week’s PT project was a great success, all toys are sorted, and I’ve freed up a heap of space. I’m so glad I finally got it done!

All my new habits are going ok, I did slip a bit with the washing last week, but managed to catch up easily over the weekend, and now my washing hamper is lovely and empty! What a wodnerful way to start a new week.

Happy Monday!

Thursday

Today’s rooms of the day were the loungeroom, hall way & office. Luckily my office is still in great shape, I’ve been fastidious about putting things away when I’ve finished with them to keep my studio space as tidy, inspirational & productive as I can. On the up side, I managed to finish my procrastination task, and the toddler’s toys are now all sorted into three boxes, and I’ve freed up 3 drawers to use for storage of other bits & pieces one collects with children about.

On the down side, my menu plan for tonight has fallen by the wayside – it was supposed to be fish, but I didn’t get to the fish shop to grab some fresh pieces earlier. Not sure what I’m going to do now… But anyway, one night isn’t so bad, right?

Wonderful Wandering Wednesday

I love Wednesdays. Half way through the week, adn it’s one day where I don’t have a million things to do. It’s generally craft morning here, which is loads of fun, and today was such a nice day, we headed down to the park to feed the ducks. When we got home, the toddler was insisting on playing in the sandpit, so I let him loose in the backyard, and made a start on the laundry, where I could watch him from the window. After five minutes, however, I though, bugger it, it’s a gorgeous day, and grabbed a book and went and sat in the sun next to the sandpit! Housework will wait, little boys grow up too quickly.

My rooms for today are the bathroom and laundry. I got busy this morning, and the bath has been cleaned, and I mopped just before we went out so it had time to dry without little feet running over it. I’m still slowly working my way through the masses of toys – I’m sure they must breed at night or something!

I also realised that it’s been awhile since I added a new habit, so it’s time for the next one! You may recall my last habit I started was menu planning, which is working out really well. It makes life so much easier, and it has slashed my grocery bill. It also means less wastage of food bought on a whim that never gets used, and then chucked. So my new habit is to be kinder to the environment, and take the meat out of the freezer of a morning rather than nuking it 5 minutes before I need it. Less power = less carbon emissions (and less $$$!).

Day Five – getting domestic!

No focus rooms today, instead, it’s a free day to catch up on chores missed during the week, larger jobs that didn’t really fit in a focus room, or finalise weekly tasks. This week’s theme is Fix It Week (from Domestic Guru), so my task for today is to mend some pants that the fabric has fallen apart in (six weeks after I bought them – not happy Jan!), and to check the buttons on DH’s work shirts and replace any that are missing. I’m also using domestic day to try & finally get on top of the mess in my office.

How are all your new habits going? I have found my habits have become quite ingrained, and even after a couple of nights off with a sick child, last night I just found it came automatically to put on a load of washing, and do my half hour ironing. That has to be a sign of a good habit, doesn’t it?

Have a great Friday!