Woohoo! I am celebrating "One Month of Home Organization" today!
One month ago, I decided I needed a little more structure and organization to my home life. I wasn't living in a mess. I wasn't feeling like a mess. BUT, I knew there were improvements that needed to be made, and I thought it would give me something else to focus on besides the physical and emotional ups and downs of pregnancy. I've noticed that through reading we can become aware of weaknesses we didn't even know we had. We can also become aware of better ways of living and parenting that we didn't think of ourselves. I love it when I find new ideas and can implement them into my life--makes life so much better and less stressful, not to mention the spare time it creates for other interests!
I began by making a few different lists--every good organizational endeavor begins with a list right? My lists included "Daily Tasks," "Weekly Tasks," "Monthly Tasks," and a "Seasonal Cleaning Checklist." I was also feeling like my pantry needed to be stocked a little better (I've never been one to have things "on hand," and I want to change that, so I researched the topic "Stocking a Pantry" and came up with my own list of items that I felt suited our family). Side Note: Isn't the Internet wonderful for information like this?! Lastly, I printed out a monthly family calendar, which would now include scheduled family nights and regularly scheduled one-on-one dates with our family members. Then I asked my Microsoft Excel-Wiz-of-a-husband to help his Microsoft Excel-challenged wife convert all of her crazy lists into monthly charts that I could hang on the fridge. All in all, It was a BIG project with a lot of research about how different people tackle homemaking and housekeeping.
The Result? Fantastic!
I haven't been perfect, but I've managed to keep a pretty clean house for a month! I've had more free time to read. I've been adding 5 or 6 items to my grocery list each week in order to slowly stock my pantry. I've had my meals planned out a week in advance, which has resulted in 1 or 2 trips to the grocery store per week, rather than 3 or more. I know...lots of time at the store right? I also realized if I can get my grocery shopping done on Saturday mornings, my weekdays are A LOT less busy! And my biggest change was in the area of cleaning: I was doing ALL my weekly tasks on Mondays--busy from 8am to 8pm! It felt good to have it all done, but I was exhausted, and Mondays just weren't very fun and didn't have room for anything else. Now I have all my weekly tasks on a chart, and I complete however many I want to on any given day. Somedays I do more, and somedays I do a lot less, but it all gets done within the week. It's much better.
If it takes 3 weeks to form a habit, then I'm there. Too bad it takes me more like 3 months! I hope this next month will be a good one, and that I can continue to learn how to refine and improve upon what I've begun.
