Is it too soon for a break?

I've noticed that I've been giving myself until the next Friday to get things done, and I usually do it Thursday night. Oh well, I'm getting stuff done. I finished my 3 pages for Alex's baby book, there is still a lot left but I'll get there.

I worked on my food storage chart and now I just have to buy food. I plan on buying things when they go on sale so I don't know if I can plan ahead and challenge myself with this. So I think instead of having a "food storage" goal I will change it to a "family preparedness" goal. Reading Michelle Denna's blog made me realize there is a lot more than food storage needs to be prepared.

I made a box for mail. This was more complicated than I thought. Do I want a small box so it can't get too full or do I want a big box since not all mail is letter size? I decided to use a magazine box we had and try that before I buy something. It's nice because I like to keep the weekly food adds and I could put mail and adds in the box, but then the small mail gets lost in it. I'll try this out for a little longer and decide if it is working.

Changing my habits is really hard. Meal planning went better this week, but waking up did not. I think I should have made going to bed on time a goal before waking up on time. Other than waking up everything else in the morning went well. I made breakfast (not everyday, but I don't think I want to everyday), got dressed, washed clothes, and put away some dishes. I wasn't perfect but I'm happy.

So this next week my in-laws are coming. I have no idea what is going on so I don't want to plan anything and then not have time. I know it's only 2 weeks in but I'm giving myself a break. I will still work on my morning routine because Tyler still has school, and I'll try going to bed at a reasonable hour, but that is it. Until next week.

Some great some not

Hooray! I finished Tyler's baby book. It only took me 5 years so I guess that is my goal for all the other children, finish theirs by the time they are 5. Here is a page of my work. Not too fancy but I am happy with it.














I also cleaned out my pantry! It probably looks the same, but I know where things are and I know what's in it. At least for now. I know it won't last, but it's good to clean it out every so often.









For my food storage I made an excel file of things I want in my food storage. I have columns for how much it cost at costco and what a good sale price is, because I always forget how much things cost. I'll fill it in when I go to costco and as I see sales.

And finally my sad news, my meal planning did not work out. So I'll have to try something different. I'll try planning only 2 weeks on Tuesdays when I get the adds so I can see what's on sale.

Here are my new projects:
I want to finish organizing my kitchen. For the most part my kitchen is fine, but I can't seem to be able to keep my counter clean. I blame it on the mail. We don't have a spot for mail, it just goes on the counter, and then other things pile up with it. So this week I want to find a way of organizing mail and getting my counter cleared off.

Keep working on my food storage chart.

Work on Alex's baby book. It's farther along than I realized, but it's not done. There are a lot of pages that I started but did not finished because I needed to cut something out. So I will finish 3 pages by next week.

Try meal planning again and have a morning schedule. I was thinking it would go like this:
wake up at 6:30 (I know I can do it if I set my alarm)
get dressed
start breakfast
empty dishwasher
wake boys get them dressed
eat breakfast (me too)
brush teeth
start laundry

We'll see how that goes.

My First Attempts

I pick my pantry. It is big and deep and everything is falling out of it. My plan is to make permanent spots for the things that are always in there (oil, bread crumbs) and then see what is left to work with. Here is the before picture.

















My behavior choice is to do better meal planning. Not just dinner, but the other meals too. I'll try planning for the whole month on the first Saturday and then edit it as needed every Saturday. We'll see if that works.

I need to finish Tyler's baby book. When I look at him I keep thinking "I can't believe I haven't finished that yet." I only have 4 pages left I just need to get it done.

For food storage I want to take inventory of the things I have and make a list of things I need to get.

Other than meal planning, everything should be done by next week.

Finished before I started

Yay me! I decided that my first home project would be the laundry area because it would be easy, and then I organized and cleaned it. It was easy. It's not too impressive, but here are the before and after pictures.

What I'm trying to do

I've realized that my life is unorganized and causing me a lot of stress and frustration. As my children grow I need more organization to keep my home running smoothly. These are the areas I want to work on.

-House (closets and rooms)
-Behavior (create good routines and planning)
-Crafts (finish some)
-Food Storage (get some)

I will pick a project for each category to be working on. We'll see how this goes. Wish me luck!