Making New Routines

As we know, I am a creature of habit. 

I like things a certain way, at a certain time, on a certain day. 

I do like a little bit of disarray, but only on my terms. 

A routine is pinnacle to this. I have two diaries. One for life, shifts, appointments, kiddie stuff and another for blog posts. Scheduling, blog ideas, themes... I think you may be getting my drift. 

I also like to do different things in my house on different days. For example, Saturday is a day for deep cleaning the kitchen. If I miss it, I get flummoxed. And over the past six months I have spent an awful lot of time flustered as the pile of clothes in the corner of my bedroom grows ever taller. 

One of my challenges for this year is to have a fully organised home by the end of December 2015. Surely this is a possibility. 

The children are now seven and nine-years-old so are more than able to undertake some bits and bobs, and the husband - for the first time in a long time is home more than I am - so there are things he can do too (except the washing, he already does that).

With this in mind I need a plan of action. 

A daily to do list as it were. I also need to actually stick to the list. Funnily, having a list written doesn't magically make the jobs get done. Which I find is a huge shame. Inventors of the world take note. This would be a fantastic thing to invent and would make you rich!

This list need to cover the whole house. 

Starting with the extraordinary deep clean to get everything where it needs to be, so that the easier tasks of maintenance can be concentrated on. 

I'm not exaggerating when I say that I have managed to turn parts of my house into something that resembles a before picture on a hoarder's programme. I cannot put into words just how embarrassing that actually is. 

Now for the nitty gritty of it all. I work shifts. Alternate patterns from one week to the next, apart from weeks with a Bank Holiday in them, then that is a whole other ball game. 

A flexible plan, is needed, and a speedy one at that. 

In January I am going to be focusing primarily on the Kitchen. With backing vocals covering the rest of the house. 

Extraordinary Kitchen Clean List:

1. Clear sides. 
2. Load dishwasher. 
3. Wash up items that don't fit or go in the dishwasher. 
4. Put those things away. 
5. Clean the hob/oven.
6. Clean down the sides I've cleared. 
7. Clear kitchen table and dresser side. 
8. Empty floor. 
9. Wash the floor. 
10. Empty dishwasher.
11. Clean the fridge.
12. Sort the food from fridge. Put spoiled foods in the brown bin for recycling. 
13. Organise the cupboards - this one will be labour intensive, I need to reduce the amount of things I have in my kitchen. 

Daily Kitchen Clean List: 

1. Empty dishwasher. 
2. Put away. 
3. Wipe down sides, after clearing.
4. Clear kitchen table.
5. Sweep floor, quick blast with mop if needed. 

As for the rest of the house. The Extraordinary clean will come month by month with a special guest star task. 

The Daily Clean: 

1. Keep on top of the washing. Do at least one load a day. (this also mean dry, fold and put away too! A little is easier than a lot.)
2. Empty bins. No one wants to take an overly full to splitting bag out. 
3. 

My Targets for May

After the success that was April I'm going to do the same again this month.

Biggest thing that needs to be tackled is the bathroom.

Last September I had a little accident, a bottle of hair dye flew across the room leaving a trail of Dexter-like platters in it's wake. So this month here at BeeBee Towers we are going to concentrate on undoing that.

I've been umming and ahhing over what to do for a while, but now it's time to sort it out. The wallpaper is going to come off and the walls will be painting. We still need to choose a colour and the appropriate accessories of course.

The bathroom is going to be the main focus this month.

Other mini targets include:

Finding a home for my cub paperwork
Clearing the coffee table in the front room window and keeping it clear.
Getting on top of my mending bag, I'm sure it has a life of it's own.
Tackling the multiplying dust bunnies under the bed.

My Targets for April: Part 2

At the beginning of the month I set myself a couple of targets for the month...

So how did I do?

Reduce surface clutter. I'm getting there with this one, slowly. I've managed to clear the surfaces in our bedroom and in the bathroom. The front room and kitchen could do with more work though.

Organise bedding - getting rid of some and replacing the ones that have seen better days with new bedding. I got some new bedding, I've also managed to remove 7 bags of sheets and pillowcases from the shelves. All the bedding is now sorted into matching sets with fitted sheets, duvet covers and pillow cases - kept together in a pillowcase.

Being ruthless at the bookcase and in the wardrobe. I've not bought any more clothes or books, so this is a bonus, unless you count replacing bras and knickers. I have managed to thin out some clothes too. I've moved all the clothes that didn't fit out of the wardrobe and into storage bags.

Make up - compared to some I don't have much, compared to most I probably have too much and right now it all sits in a Peppa Pig shopping tote. This in conjunction with the next goal has been sorted. I now have a small drawer and all my make up apart from what I'm planning to use for the upcoming week which is in my bathroom cabinet.

Tackle the drawers, junk and otherwise. They don't shut - or open. This has gone well. I've weeded out my 2 junk drawers, one now has make up - the other is jewellery. Who knew I had so many necklaces and rings. I've also thinned out by underwear drawers, sock and nightwear drawers too. It's been productive.

Now to start on a new list for May.

My Life Monday: Targets for April

So this month I am aiming to get on top of a few things.

This starts with a complete bedroom declutter.

The wardrobe has far too many things in it. Including blankets, sheets, random other bedding, enough pillowcases to cover a hotel full of pillows, odd non-matching duvet sets, suitcases, a tv from one of the kid's bedrooms and that's before you even get to the mounds of clothes.

Lots of clothes that either fit and I don't wear or clothes that don't fit and theere are rows up rows of books that need reading or bosing, donating, selling or binning. I think you might be starting to get my drift.

It feels like I'm drowning under all the stuff in there. I daren't even look under the bed! There could be a whole undiscovered civilisation living under there.

What I need to be is ruthless, someting I find tricky yet also weirdly exhilerating.

So on my To Do list this month.

Reduce surface clutter.
Organise bedding - getting rid of some and replacing the ones that have seen better days with new bedding.
Being ruthless at the bookcase and in the wardrobe.
if it doesn't fit, it must go
if I haven't worn it, it must go
Make up - compared to some I don't have much, compared to most I probably have too much and right now it all sits in a Peppa Pig shopping tote.
Tackle the drawers, junk and otherwise. They don't shut - or open.

My reign as Queen Bee Hoarder must end this month - at least in the bedroom!

Do you set any monthly goals?

Relaxing and Maxing

After this week I took the opportunity today to clean the house from top to bottom.

After lunch I took to the kitchen, making Jim Beam chocolate brownies, bourbon chicken wings and crabby pancakes for a night in with friends.Oh my those brownies were good!

Normally after a spate of cleaning I like to relax by reading.

It is quite simply my most favourite thing. I'm lucky, as my job is basically reading, and on occasions writing about what I've read. My hobbies are reading and writing on here. I also love photography, but time is key with that one.

If I'm at a loose end with the internet near by I like to slip into @pinterest the things in there either relax me, inspire me to try new things or give me ideas of what I can do and how I can improve my lifestyle. I love that place. So much stuff in one location. It's mind boggling and much cleaner than snipping bits out of magazines.

I'm starting to enjoy looking at beautiful gardens and hope this means I may embrace gardening as a fun activity, what with the size and state of mine it needs a lot of hard work and inspiration!

Family Friday: Getting Organised

At the risk of harping on. There has been some big changes this week.

This obviously will impact on our family life.

After 10 years spending a majority of my time at home, I have strangely managed to see more of my children this week while I've been working full days in the office.

The week has gone in a flash and now the weekend is here.

It's been a week of meetings, meals out and a tv marathon with takeaway. So tomorrow is a housey day. We will do the weekly shop, my menu for next week is already sorted, deliver my remaining Avon orders and then get down to the business of tidying up - hopefully at some speed. Then, and only then, we can get to do something fun.

I'm just not sure what yet.  What I do know though is that weekends are going to be important.

A time for us to be together and go and do things. Now to track those things down and make them happen.

My Life Monday: Things They Are a-changing

For the last eight years I have been working part time at my office.

Next week I am going to return full time. New department, new role, new responsibilities.

I also embrace the whirlwind that is shift work, five days a week. I will still be publishing on this blog daily, I will still need to keep on top of the housework, the boys and their homework, cubs and just who will take the boys to school and bring them home (depending on the week).

This means I have, for the last few weeks, been trying to get the house in order so I can maintain, rather than fight an uphill battle in 15-30 minutes a day.

A few weeks ago you will have seen I worked on the de-cluttering of my bedroom. That is still remarkably tidy. However, little bits that needed to be finished still need doing and there are a couple of other areas that are starting to fall behind again.

The bathroom got attention last week, the joy of living surrounded by boys.

The kitchen is this week's task.

I'm also working on getting back into the groove with planning shopping around a pre-decided meal plan.

I also need to start to use weekends for doing things with the kids... and sleeping!

I'm going to be a busy BeeBee.

Tidy House, Tidy Mind

I've had a dreadful 4 months.

Pretty much since my Gran died everything has gone down hill. Including the state of my house. Mainly because I took a lot of items in when we cleared her house. Not as much as I would have liked but still.

Yesterday, I attacked my hall. Today I have been attacking my bedroom floor. It's horrendous. And is one hell of a dumping ground.

I broke it down into manageable chunks. Seeing as the whole room needs sorting out. So today I will be clearing out this space here to make my room accessible again. It's like living in an episode of Horders!

I started with a 10 minute chunk. Which barely touched the sides, but did get the momentum going. So I didn't break my back, I lifted all the kelt off the floor to the bed, then I worked in chunks of 10 mins to start with, then later on moved on to 25 mins. You have to admit that once you get started it is kind of addictive.

In total it took about 3 hours from start to finish, with breaks.


To equalise the ying and yang of the process for each chunk that I did, I treated myself to a little something off my simple pleasures list. I put some brand new, fresh bedding on.

If you want to find out more about the pomodoro system read 5:2 Your Life by Kate Harrison.