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.

Back in the swing of things…

My apologies for my absence, I have been quite introspective in the lead up to the birth of our second child. But it’s time to jump on the wagon again, so as of tomorrow, you can expect daily (hopefully) posts on my attempts at being domestic goddess in between being mummy to two rugrats and trying to squeeze some ‘me’ time in as well!

Until tomorrow…

Back on the bandwagon…

After a subtle reminder or two, I’m back on the blogging bandwagon, all will try to do better in future!

So, where am I up to? It’s bathroom day, but I’m yet to start it. The kitchen is clean, as is the toddler’s room. So this afternoon, I need to make our bed, tidy and vacuum the loungeroom, and hang some washing.

Menu planning is working well for me, and generally I’m only having to cook every second day – it makes life so much easier. I have been slack with my ironing though, and only doing it as needed, so I’ll have to work harder at that.

With only four weeks left until my baby is born, I really need to get my routines sticking – wish me luck!

Mondayitis

Well. not really, but I have come down with a winter lurgy. Not fun, especially since I can’t take anything for it. I think I’ll give my room of the day a miss today, and stick with my everyday jobs, like unpacking & repacking the dishwasher, making the beds, and chucking some washing in the drier (it’s a rainy day here, and DH is out of shirts). I’m hoping by resting up & taking it easy I can kick this bug before it gets a real foothold. A nice quiet day sounds like a good idea!

Bad Blogger!

Wow, Friday already, and I haven’t posted since Monday! How slack am I! It’s been a crazy week here, I’ve been helping out at our church with some holiday activities, and in between that, housework, toddler time & crafty me time, the poor old blog slipped through the cracks! I will try harder next week, I promise!

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 $$$!).

Terrific Tuesday!

Today is a lovely sunny day, very mild, and not a hint of winter. Today, I am cleaning the kitchen & dining room as my rooms of the day, and still pondering working on my toy procrastination. I can’t lie, I haven’t started yet, but I have all week! I will get a wriggle on this arvo once the small one is awake & I can work in his room without disturbing him.

Now my mojo is back in full force, I once again have time for guilt-free indulgence time. I am about 1/3 way through a new quilt, and have project ideas coming out my ears! So that’s a bit of an incentive to stick to my routines & habits, so that I have time to do all the fun stuff as well!

Monday again…

My word, it doesn’t take long for a week to roll around again! We have had a lovely weekend, very productive, but not busy, if that makes sense! We made a sandpit for the toddler, I cleaned out my office, and I’m halfway through my current quilting project.

So, now the mojo is back on board, I’m getting stuck back into the routine. For now I’m just going to roll with my little weekly cycle, I think it will be a couple of weeks until I’m caught up enough to deal with weekly themes or obscure jobs. I’m actually thinking of switching from the weekly theme/obscure job routine, to picking a larger job I’ve been procrastinating on, and working say 15 minutes a day on getting that project done.

With that plan in mind, today’s room of the day is that bedrooms. I got stuck in & dusted & cobwebbed our room on Friday, but the other bedrooms need to be done, beds need to be stripped & changed, all the general stuff. I might even try & get the windows cleaned! Procrastination project for this week is to sort out Duckling’s toys. I gave his room a good tidy over the weekend, and my current setup of drawers, boxes & a bit of a mishmash just aren’t working anymore. So I need to:

*sort out toys & rotate
*redistribute into boxes
*put baby toys into seperate box/drawer ready for baby
*run up a couple of bags for puzzles without boxes

I’m sure I’ll work out more as I go along! But if I get at least these things done, I’ll be happy!

Thursday

The mojo is back! I just kicked my own butt, and I have found my mojo (or at least part of it!). THe focus rooms are still as tough to get through, but I am cruising through my daily jobs, and my night routine, so at least there is some order in the house. My room of the day for today was the loungeroom & office, and all I managed to do was dust the hallstand (though I did duct & cobweb our bedroom as well).

Not much of a post today, but I finally have a chance to get some sewing done, so I’m out of here!

Wednesday

Bathroom & Laundry day today. I have grand intentions of getting back on the daily room routine, but I think I’m still fair too unmotivated to think about tackling the Domestic Guru routine, especially the obscure jobs & the larger weekly tasks, which is mainly what I use it for!

I think I may need to spend this week & next going back to doing things the way I did before I discovered DG, and go flat out in my daily room until it is spotless, no matter how long it takes. I did this for a while, pre-DG, using the same weekly rotation through the rooms I use now, and it only took a couple of weeks, and I was burnt out, as I was trying to do too much. Then I discovered the Domestic Guru, and realised that bite sized chunks meant I was more likely to stick to the routine long term. So rather than go with my “flat out” approach, I kept my room rotation, and introduced the half hour limit suggested at Domestic Guru, as well as the obscure jobs & weekly focuses.

But now I have gotten behind, between a sick child, and lack of motivation. So I am throwing caution to the wind, and going back to my way, just for this way & next, until I feel like everything is under control again. A mini-spring clean if you will. Then, once everything is spick & span, I’ll jump back on the Domestic Guru wagon, with half hour limits & extras.

But then, a good routine should be flexible, shouldn’t it? I think that’s why I don’t stick religiously to one system, but have developed my own weird little hybrid of many systems, because a system that works for one, won’t work for all.