Getting things done - Without really realising it

As you know, I've posted a list of things I want to get done before baby arrives, which you can read here. One thing that we've meaning to do for a while is painting the doors and architraves.

We made a start on the painting on Thursday and each day we've been doing a little bit more. I gave up on the painting after a while, as the constant bending was starting to get to me, so I decided to spend my weekend outside with the kids.

I did the basic stuff around the house, washing, dishes etc. and the rest I spent with the kids. After a while I found myself getting fidgety and eager to do something, so I started weeding. This was something that desperately needed doing, and as the ground was soft, it's something I could do sitting down and with little effort (I posted about my pregnancy scare last week, you can read it here). There's still a bit of weeding to be done but it's looking so much better now.

After a while the kids wanted to go out the front/Driveway where Daddy was painting the doors, so off we all went. But again I started getting fidgety. Since I've been on this organising mission I can't just sit there and relax. I'm constantly looking around at what needs to be done and what I could be doing. So I told the kids to grab the buckets and spades and help mummy shift some dirt (We have 2 piles of dirt out the front from when we excavated the backyard that we're using to level out the front)

I grabbed a couple of buckets and we all started filling them up. This was perfect. We were spending time and interacting with each other, the kids were having a blast, and we were doing something that needs to be done.

The kids loved filling up the buckets and spreading the dirt where it needed to be put. Hubby wouldn't let me pick mine up so he carried them for me which was sweet.

We didn't get much done, probably about 7 big bucket loads (The piles are about 3m long 1.5 m high and about 1-1.5m wide each), but the way I look at it, one bucket load is one less we need to do.

We were all so tired as we've had a busy week, even hubby was tired and he's a battler who never gives up lol, so we went inside for lunch and crashed on the lounge with a DVD :)

So for a weekend where I was meant to be relaxing and taking it easy, I got a whole lot done while I was sitting down. The added bonus - I spent the whole time with the kids :)

It was so good to come back inside to a tidy house, esp. seeing as though we'd only done the bare basics inside. It just goes to show how organising/decluterring really improves ones life :)




 - I haven't been able to get on the computer as much recently, so I haven't been able to update as often, but I'm hoping to get a couple more posts done today and throughout the week.

Pregnancy update

I've had a little scare this week, as the other day I had some spotting (sorry for TMI) and some contractions. They weren't regular, but enough to make me uncomfortable. I decided to keep an eye on it.

The same thing happened the next day, more spotting and contractions. I also felt really strange. I rang the hospital, more so for advice. I knew bub was OK cause I could feel him moving around, plus I have a Fetal Heart Monitor (Doppler) so if I get worried, I check his heart beat. Because of my history of prem labour and birth, they wanted me to go in. Unfortunately this wasn't possible as my husband was still at work and no one was available to look after the kids. I went to bed.

I havn't had anymore bleeding, but I'm still having fairly strong contractions (not regular). I'm keeping an eye on it, and if it worsens, becomes regular, or I start bleeding again I will go straight to the hospital. Otherwise I will let my Dr know at my next appt.

I'm worried for obvious reasons, esp. seeing as though I'm only 24 weeks (25 tomorrow) but I'm thankful that I've made it past 24 weeks, cause if something does happen (god forbid), I know there is a chance then if I was 23 weeks or less.

We have been so busy with appts, general living, and trying to get as much done around the house before baby arrives (such as painting), plus trying to keep up with my decluttering and organising, so today while the kids are at pre school I went to a nice lunch at the pub with my parents, my sister and my little feller, and now I'm taking it easy before I pick the older kidlets up.

I'm sure it's my body's way of telling me to slow down.

Total Chaos Recovery

In my last post I mentioned my Total Chaos Recovery (TCR). I was having one of those days where I felt like sitting in front of the TV eating chocolate, or lazying about in the warm sun...hmm nice to dream but I had to get back to reality. My house was a mess!

I looked around at the mess that had accrued over the past 3 days and just wished I could close my eyes and it'll disappear... unfortunately that didn't work lol.

So this is what I did:

Had a drink - Yep I had a drink. This freshened me up a bit and gave me a bit of energy for the daunting task.

Put a load of washing on - I usually do a load or two a day to keep the pile down, but it's amazing when you miss a day or two how it seems to EXPLODE.

Went around and picked up any/all rubbish.

Straightened up all the obvious messes - Such as folding up my lovely big tiger blanket which seems to take up the whole lounge (DH hates it lol) :) putting kids table and chairs back where they belong. Folded and put away clothes.

Quick vac with handheld.

Spent a few minutes tidying smaller messes - Such as kids toys/books etc


All up this only took 30-40 minutes. I didn't spend time decluttering or deep cleaning, I was focused on getting the house back to a state of order, and I did :) I was so happy with it I decided to give it a name lol.

So on days when I feel like I don't want to do anything, or don't know where to begin, I'll follow these simple steps and my house will be better in no time :)

There's plenty of blogs/organising sites out there with similar systems to tackle mess, but I hadn't found one which suited my house, my family and my clutter spots. Every house is different. For me it's the lounge room which seems to get the messiest, I know with my mum's house it's her bathroom, my besty's house, it's the back room/entertainment room.

Feel free to follow my TCR whenever you may need it. You may need to tweak it to better suit yourself, but either way it should help get your house back to some sort of order :)

Slipping back into old habits

We've been so busy since Saturday, that all new routines that had been put into place flew straight out the window.

Last Friday, I set myself a To Do List.

I'm pretty happy with what I was able to get done in the time I had, as I completely forgot about Grocery Shopping, and having to walk to pick up the kids (DH had the car), so I lost almost 2 hrs of precious cleaning time (I added Grocery Shopping to the list later in the day).
I've been really wanting to get in there and give the bathroom a good scrub, so I promised myself I'd get it done over the weekend.

Saturday came, My Husband got called into work, and head off at 6am (I'm used to having him here in the mornings and off to work in the afternoon) People popped in and a very disobedient almost 3 yr old made it impossible to complete the task.

Sunday came, we had a birthday party to go to which was smack bang in the middle of the day, so apart from getting up, doing the bare basics and getting everyone ready, there wasn't much time to do it in the morning. So I thought I'd do it when we got back. Well, we stayed at the party 2 hrs longer then planned (we wanted to stay for an hr but the kids were having a ball and it was a fantastic party). We got home and all had some hot chocolate and I was all ready to tackle the bathroom and my brother and his fiance showed up. They had a lot of things they wanted to sort out and seeked our thoughts and opinions (They're wanting to buy a house and get married in the next couple of years). So they were here for a few hrs. Once they left I pretty much had time to get dinner, bath the kids, shower and head off to bed.

Monday and Tuesday (today) were the same - Swimming lessons, Antenatal appts, Top up Grocery shop (hubby decided he wanted to stretch Fridays big shop over 2 weeks, but in order to do that we needed some things. Numerous phone calls to finalise things... amongst all the chaos I didn't really get my daily must do's done.

My kids have been really clingy the past 2 days (Probably cause we've been so busy), so yesterday I took them outside for a play and they helped me weed the garden and transfer some plants. I know I could've easily got the bathroom done in that time and caught up on my daily must do's but I also need to spend time with my kids and give them plenty of options to know they're 'helping' and spending time with mummy.

Today however, I did get more done then I expected, as along with having a busy morning, I really felt like doing nothing as I was annoyed and overwhelmed by all the mess and by how I was slipping back into old ways. This is where I came up with my 'Total Chaos Recovery' (Will add details in another post). I followed the steps in my TCR and within an hr, I was satisfied with my house.

As that had got me in the mood, I ended up scrubbing the bath, vanity and over toilet storage, and now all I have left to do in the bathroom, is to clean the mirror, shower screen, vac and mop the floor. HOPEFULLY I can do that tomorrow :)

To do list - Friday 13th May 2011

Tomorrow the older kidlets will be at school, the hubby starts work a little earlier, so it'll just be me and the bub.

I like to have Friday as my deep cleaning day, but as it's my only day with the one bub I like to go visit family or friends, or like the last couple of weeks, go op shopping.

But last night got me thinking. If I do go into labour early again like the hospital have warned me they are expecting me to, then there's 12 weeks until he's here. I personally think I'll have a full term pregnancy, but I was caught off guard last year, I didn't even have a cot (1 broke the other is still being used, both were 2nd hand), his room wasn't prepared, clothes weren't soaked... So this time I want to be as prepared as can be.

Which leads me to my to do list for tomorrow. I know if I don't have something to keep me on track, I'll end up not doing the house work. So here it is: (I'll add a thing or two out of my before baby to do list)

• Wash boys sheets
• Make beds
• Load of washing
• General tidy
• Vac'n all but main bedroom
• Mopping
• Deep clean bathroom - scrubbed shower and wall tiles so far
• Continue with 21 Day challenge - Filing (been doing a bit each day so I'm not overwhelmed)
• Finish dusting walls and roof in main bedroom.
• Dust and clean fan in main bedroom 
• Take time out for myself and bub
• Vac laundry
• Separate meat into meal portions and freeze done what I could, ran out of room in the freezer lol
• Fold any/all loads of washing
• Put away washing
• Cook dinner
• Kmart to pay layby - postponed, too tired
• Sweep back porch
• Grocery Shopping

I could add 1000 more things to the list but I best leave it at that and I'll add more if I have time to do more, but I highly doubt it.

Quick Tidy - Utensils Drawer

I'd often open my utensil drawer and wonder what on earth I was going to do in there... I really wanted one of those drawer organisers but wasn't going to pay the price.

I tidied it a few times and it would always end up a mess again. It was driving me bonkers. I really needed a system in there... Then I remembered my old dish rack and cutlery holder that I had put away for the garage sale. I grabbed them out, checked to see if they'd fit and to my delight they did :)

I washed the dish rack and cutlery holder in hot soapy water and let them dry.

I pulled everything out of the drawer and sorted through it all. I vac'd up all the crumbs with my handheld and gave it a good wipe over.

I placed the organisers in there and arranged the utensils nicely in them.

Here's the pics:

I love it even more because I've reused something I already had instead of buying something new :)

My nice, organised drawer was short lived as Mr 1 decided he'd go in there and pull out all my wooden spoons and play drums... lol... I don't mind, it kept him out of other mischief :)

Organising Journey Recap

When I first started this Blog back in March, I was overwhelmed. Overwhelmed by the state of our finances, overwhelmed by the state of the house and overwhelmed by my kids.

I had recently quit my job, which for so long I used as an 'escape' from my crazy household. It was an escape from the mess, an escape from the kids and an escape from any responsibility I was to be faced with at home.

When we made the decision for me to stay home, it was like I was thrown in the deep end. I could no longer 'escape'. I had to learn to deal with it. But I was more then happy to learn.

I signed up to countless organising sites, newsletters and blogs. All of which inspired me to start my own blog to keep an online 'journal' of my organising journey.

Looking back to before I started this Blog, the area in which I've noticed the best improvement is with our finances. Thanks to a payout, selling the second car and being smarter with our money, we've paid off over $10000 in debt this year, and I'm hoping to double that amount by the end of the year. We've tried budgeting, but have always blown them. For the past couple of weeks, we're finally starting to stick to one.
I can't wait to get a set budget in place after we refinance our mortgage next month. The money we save from that will be paid into the car loan, which we're aiming to pay off next year.

The next area would be the house. I've been following a few organising challenges, plus also doing a few of my own along the way. I've taken countless bags of stuff to the Op Shop, with many more in the garage, and two more I filled today to be donated. I can't believe where we stored it all before. I remember my husband and I discussing getting built in wardrobes for the kids rooms because the cupboards were overflowing. Well thanks to the decluttering, we've saved ourselves at least $1500 simply by decluttering.

I've definitely noticed an improvement with the family. I've got time to spend with the kids, not only to play, make, do etc but also to do 'home work'. I stocked up on sticker work books when they were half price at Big W. Adding, subtracting and some others. My daughter loves to do these. She'd do them all day if she could. I don't know where she got her love of maths from, certainly not me lol. My kids are so much more happier and healthier, as now I have the time to make nutritious meals, and make sure they eat them.

I didn't do much at all in terms of housework today, apart from the 'must do's'. I spent it with the kids. Miss 4, Mr almost 3 (In July :)) and myself did some baking. We made Choc banana loaf (was supposed to be muffins but they wanted it in the loaf pan :)), Chocolate cup cakes and Chocolate muffins. They were so happy especially Mr 3. I could spend all day with my kids. I love seeing them bring their imaginations to life. They fascinate me.

My husband and I have always had a great relationship, but things weren't the best while we were both working. We'd only see each other in passing. I'd get up at 5am. He'd head off to work at 3pm. I'd finish at 4pm. We'd see each other on days off or if we woke up during the night. That was pretty much it. We have so much more time for each other now. We make time once the kids have gone to bed, to have a couple of movie nights throughout the week. It feels so good to know we can now set aside time to spend with each other.

I'm happy with how far we've come since starting this journey and can't wait to see if/how things improve in the future.