Small Things~

I'm excited to be getting back to doing the Small Things from Home Sanctuary regularly again.  They are wonderful for keeping me on track.
Monday was all about saying goodbye to your trash.  I'm feeling really motivated right now about getting rid of clutter...I got rid of three bags of trash and stuff to donate.  The plan is to keep it up for the rest of the year.
Tuesdays Small Thing was Minimum Maintenance....pretty much doing a routine.  I kind of have that down...been doing Flylady since 2000...but, I find myself falling off the wagon regularly and this was a good reminder.
Wednesday was about giving yourself permission to do something less than perfect...no issues with me there!
Thursday was about making yourself clear when communicating with others.  How many problems could be alleviated if we were just clear with others? I needed to make myself clear with ds15 that day...
Friday we celebrated the beauty around us.  It's so easy to neglect this area of our lives because we can get so busy.  I bought some flowers to plant in my garden so I can have some year round beauty.

Getting rid of the CLUTTER

Amy at The Finer Things In Life also has decluttering as one of her goals for the year. She's planning to get rid of 730 items over a year long period. Getting rid of stuff is one of my goals for this year. While I don't know if I have 730 things to get rid of I know that I do have a lot of stuff that needs to go. I do like her idea of keeping track...so I've decided to keep an unofficial tally of what is going out of our home. Today a bag of 12 items and 1 item for consignment left the house...never to return. Hmmm, I wonder if there's a counter of some sort I could use to keep track of the numbers?

Routines

It's so easy to get out of the habit of doing the routine things when the business of life keeps getting in the way. I have a control journal ala Flylady that has worked well for me...but...it's still in a box in the garage. It should've been pulled out as soon as we moved in. I've been trying to follow along with emails Flylady sends out but that really isn't working because I've been tryin not to spend so much time on the computer. Sooo...what to do? Get up and go dig out my contol journal.

Small Thing:Inner Sanctum

This Small Thing was done over the weekend. It was all about cleaning up your inner sanctum (your bedroom). I had several hot spots that were trying to turn into raging infernos. It looks very nice now. I took before and after pictures but will have to wait to post because my batteries are dead.

Small Thing

Today's Small Thing over at Home Sanctuary was to take care of our Physical Nature Call Center and give our potties a scrub. Now that we are in our new place we have one bathroom instead of two. Can I mention that the small inconvenience of having four people using one bathroom is almost made up for because of the ease of cleaning only one bathroom? At our old house both bathrooms were small and it was a major challenge to get to the backs of the toilets. Because of that...they didn't get cleaned as much as they should have. Ew. At our new house there is space around the toilet and I can get to the back easily...even with my creaky knees...

Small thing: Bathroom Junk & Paper Clutter

I'm still playing catch-up with the Small Things. Yesterday and today were about dealing with bathroom junk and paper clutter. When we moved in I filled a cabinet(not a drawer) with toiletries. Even dd22 (who has a ton of toiletries) couldn't believe how much I had...neither did I. The problem was it was stored in a storage room and kept getting forgotten. Now it's all in the bathroom cabinet and getting used. However....I don't need to buy another toiletry item for another year or two...or maybe three.....

As far a paper clutter goes...I'm shredding away. We still have a lot of boxes in our garage. I'm just not sure I want this stuff to come in to the house. We are all really enjoying the minimalist look.....

Small Thing

Now that we're moved in I want to get back on track with the Small Things.
I'm going to backtrack a few days. So far I've dusted a lampshade in one room, am creating some order in my home by unpacking a few more boxes, and used some 'pockets' of time (I can do a lot of things in 10 or 15 minutes).

Small Thing

Todays small thing was to......make your bed. A small thing, yes. But try making your bed and seeing what a huge difference it makes in how your bedroom looks.

small things

Todays small thing is to get your school supplies organized. I can happily say that I have that one done! Ds14 has what needs in his backpack for the first day of school and the rest are boxed and ready to move.

Get Rid Of It #18

This past week at Kathi's Project Blog we are being encouraged to let go of 21 items. I need to let go of a lot more than that!
So far I've gotten rid of old children's books, earrings,plastic containers,shorts and shirts ds14 has outgrown and pot lids that don't match anything. That's just for today! Think I'll be doing this for the rest of the week...

Small Thing

Todays Small Thing is to clean your cutting board. Very easy...got out the vinegar and now 2 of them are sanitized and packed in boxes.

Menu Plan Monday

Breakfast: Oatmeal
Biscuits and eggs

Lunches: Leftovers (I’m at work so the family feeds themselves)
Pb&j’s, fruit
Tuna sandwiches, fruit

Dinners: BLT tortilla wraps
Pasta with ground beef/ salad
Spaghetti/ cornbread/ salad


Desserts: Applesauce coffee cake
Peach cobbler

Small Thing

This Small Thing was to do something fun to relax. We went and saw the Eagle (ds25) in this play. It was a very intense play..but, I am so impressed with my sons acting abilities. It is interesting to watch him grow and wondering where this will take him in his life.

Small Thing

This Small Thing is to put away something that doesn't belong. I'm working on my kitchen table that is the family dumping spot. No pictures...way too embarrassing. I'd really like to be able to sit down and eat a meal there. The problem is keeping it clear. We all seem to drop things on it...and once one thing is dropped on it..it becomes a clutter magnet.

Ok...changed my mind...how about an after picture? It took 30 minutes and everything on the table was tossed or put where it belonged. Now to keep it clear...

Get Rid Of It

GROI #15 is cleaning out the silverware drawer. Mine really needed it. Can't remember the last time I cleaned it. I threw out a few things, donated a few knives (didn't put these in the free box because of kids browsing through it) and moved some canning lids. One thing I discovered is I have a number of non-working can openers. I haven't found a really good one that's easy to use and doesn't break after a short time. Anyone know of a good brand? I didn't think to take a before picture...but did take an after picture. Looks pretty good, huh?.

Get Rid Of It

I'm been behind on doing the GROI projects so I'm going backwards in trying to get them done. GROI #17 was to get rid of something you could possibly use some day, but you know giving it away would bless someone else. I couldn't come up with anything specific...but, over the past weeks of decluttering for our move I've realized how much I've been hanging on to stuff because I can always think of a reason to use it in the future. It has felt really good to put stuff out in front of our house to give away instead of trying to sell it at a garage sale. I know that some of the people I've seen can really use what they've taken. And I also know that we just have too much stuff. There is no way I'm going to allow so much clutter into our new home.

Small Thing

Todays Small Thing is to get your entertainment center together. We don't have an entertainment center, but I have gotten all vhs tapes and dvds in their cases and in the plastice shoeboxes. Can we say organized!

Small Things

Today's Small Thing is to put an ironic twist in your life by doing ONE THING that has been plaguing you. (What have I been putting off?)
Well, there is a bag of magazines that I've been meaning to take to my job so the kids could cut them up for collages. However, the handle on the paper bag broke so it seemed like such an issue to pick it up and get it in the car. It's sitting right in the entry way creating an eyesore. Care to know how long it's been sitting there? Over a month... It's now in the recycle bin. I just decided I needed to get rid of it...instead of telling myself I was going to get them work.