Organizing Activity Supplies

Over the years, it becomes painfully obvious how much stuff you accumulate as a parent. If you are like me, you don't necessarily like to throw out the 2 good paint-pens just because the other 8 are done for. As your brood grows, so does your arsenal of activity supplies that you use to stimulate your younger children and to encourage and fine-tune development of their fine-motor skills, etc., but let's not forget they are all great to have handy to survive summer vacations, sick days, snow days, rainy days, etc.

If your children attend public school, having all of these items handy will also prove beneficial throughout their primary-school career. You can receive project assignments that run the gamut, i.e. needing to bling out a cardboard cutout for various occasions, star-of-the-week projects, homework assignments, etc. Having two older children in elementary school when we added our third member to the equation.....let's just say there have been MANY times I thanked my lucky stars that I did not have to run around town in rain, sleet, or snow, or any combination of the 3, in search of the supplies we needed to meet the decorative requests/assignments, the same supplies that miraculously disappear from stock due to the sudden high demand leaving you high and dry by the way with a disappointed child who had a certain "vision."

Start stockpiling and saving good containers when the kids are young, even before you have the need for organizing supplies. Infant formula containers and Ovaltine and Nesquik containers are great for organizing activity/crafting/art supplies, and they are free after you, a neighbor, a relative, a coworker, or a friend, have consumed the product.

In my opinion, the somewhat oval-rectangular-shaped Nesquik containers are the best because you are able to utilize more space with them, but since I didn't buy as many of those, I used primarily the Ovaltine and formula containers, which still work well.

No matter which containers you decide to reuse for this purpose, you have a couple of options for labeling them. I picked out an easy-to-read font on the computer, picked an appropriate size, and printed the words of each item out on an 8-1/2" x 11" piece of computer paper. I then cut it down to size and hot-glued them onto the containers. You could alternatively choose to take pictures of the contents assigned to each container and print off those labeled pictures for children too young to read or learning to read. You could also use some really cute contact paper to completely encircle the containers, as the computer paper doesn't make it quite all the way around, and then hot glue pictures and/or labels onto that. I love you cutesie-pie folks, as I would love to do it myself, but I have to focus on fast and done!

A quick note, however, on containers I decided I did not like.....anything that is tapered, i.e. cookie-dough fundraiser containers, whipped cream containers, etc. (they are different sizes on top than bottom with bottom being smaller - this makes for wrapping your paper around it much trickier).

I basically started with an activity cupboard in the kitchen but, again, as the family grew, my activity arsenal grew, as did my domestic skills and kitchen appliance inventory, the activity cupboard has therefore bounced around a bit. I can't wait to finish the cupboards where the supplies reside now so I can share them with you in the future as well - got them completely free! -- but right now that white paint is really only primer.

Organized Cleaning Schedule

Here it is......my organizational anal tendencies at their best.....my cleaning schedule.

This schedule helps me to have a house that appears clean at all times, minus toys/activities the kids are currently engaged in at the moment. I thought it up one day when a neighbor's little boy needed to use the bathroom. I was so worried about what the underside of the toilet seat looked like due to having a potty-training boy toddler myself that I told her it was too messy. I wasn't quite sure when the last time I had cleaned the toilet was! I felt terrible, despite the fact they lived right across the street.

I was just starting my transcription business, was working long hours and into the wee hours of the morning and therefore napping with the kids whenever possible, had a baby who was refusing to nap during the day on most days, and was pretty much operating as a single mother due to my husband's schedule. I knew it was no excuse so I figured I needed to come up with the answer that wouldn't make me want to crawl into a hole every time I had an unexpected or unannounced visitor......my life-saving, or at least guilt-saving/make-me-feel-not-a-total-housewife/mother-failure schedule, and it works....

It might gross some people out, but not me at this stage of my life. As you can see, the rooms that need attention more than once a week for certain are the main living areas of the house, i.e. the bathrooms, the living room, the dining room, and the kitchen. I've "scheduled" them twice. I do occasionally deviate from the schedule if necessary too though. Also, the kitchen....the dishes get done every day, or at least every night, but I don't believe dishes in my sink for a day equates to a dirty home either.

WEEKLY: On the assigned days, each room gets a light cleaning, something that keeps it simply presentable. If it needs dusting, then dusting occurs. Vacuuming occurs. Light pickup and quick organization occurs. Bedding/linens are cleaned if needed and switched out. For the more "used" rooms that require disinfecting, the same thing.....these rooms are disinfected and cleaned appropriately on their assigned days. The kitchen floor....it gets swept almost daily because it's needed, but for the most part, I spot clean anything that is "stuck" on the floor rather than cleaning the entire floor, which is saved for the monthly round instead.

MONTHLY: On the first day each room is encountered per month during the first week of each month, I take a good look around from floor to ceiling. If there are cobwebs on the ceiling, they're removed. If the light fixtures need to be cleaned, they're cleaned. If the walls need cleaning, they're cleaned. If there is dust on the floorboards, furniture is pulled out and they are all wiped down, and vacuuming under all the furniture occurs. If the windows look dirty, they get cleaned. Old clothes are removed from drawers for donation or storage. Drawers are organized. Toys are sorted and organized. Walls get washed if needed. Curtains are taken down and washed if needed - ALL of it....top to bottom, or bottom to top. For the rooms requiring disinfecting, medicine cabinets, walls, washing of trash bins, etc. for the deep cleaning. For the kitchen, it means wiping down chairs if needed, floor washing, stove cleaning, etc.

Believe it or not, there isn't a room in the house that actually looks dirty nor is technically dirty at any given time, especially since the main rooms are hit at least twice a week, approximately every 3 days at the most.

This means I don't need 5 hours to clean the whole house, a whole day to do only windows, or a whole day assigned to only moving furniture to dust floor boards. This means I get all my cleaning done in under 1 hour daily too. I don't mind pulling out the window cleaner each day rather than once a week, as I only clean windows for 5 minutes rather than for 2 hours on one day. This also means that I don't have to bother with spring cleaning AT ALL!

I'm also known to clean a toilet if needed while a kid plays in the tub, thereby deviating from the schedule, but that just means I usually don't have to do it on the assigned day (and YES, I wash my hands before touching a kid in the tub after the toilet @@).

I know laundry can be an issue, as it is for my husband, but if you just take a moment to NOT put it into the basket as you are folding it and instead fold it by family member and drawer for each member of your family, get up and walk it to the drawer, it literally ONLY takes 5-7 minutes to put a load of laundry away for a family of 5-not counting the folding, for which I've never timed myself. I divide laundry as I fold it and make piles according to drawer situations, i.e. undies/socks drawer, shirt drawer, jean drawer, sweaters, etc. for each member. I then stand up and pick them up for 2 rooms at a time or place them into the basket altogether organized the way they need to be delivered....walk right in and deliver them to the appropriate drawer. The kids sometimes take care of their own laundry, and when I'm not working on teaching them how to handle it themselves because I've decided it saves me time in keeping their drawers organized, I let them handle it; it's during these times that the drawer organizing happens more often, whereas it doesn't when I just do it, so it depends. Also, if you just make sure to do at least one load a day, in a family of 5, you won't spend a whole weekend or "off" day doing laundry!

I know that moms working outside of the home may not even be able to fit this in, but if you find a variation of this schedule that works for you, I'd love to hear about it!

Resolving the Resolution Problems....

I have made a single resolution this year, despite the fact that I want to lose weight, correct some self-defeating behaviors, and break some bad habits, etc. all at the same time. I really need to have about five resolutions. You see, this one single resolution will put all the other "usual" resolutions into line. My resolution is to set things straight, all the things that enable me to make what others view as "excuses," to eliminate the "real" problem. I don't consider the things that cause me to fail or to give up excuses, in the literal sense of the word, as they are real, very real. In fact, I rarely ever make a New Year's resolution--If I don't make one, I won't fail, right? In actuality my resolutions are made all throughout the year and mentally added to my to-do list. I don't fail really, as I keep trying too.

Not everything is simply an excuse to NOT do something, despite it appearing that way to the top-notch psychologists or merely to others. The day can simply be too full with all of the other things on our plates or simply with all of the other things that we feel are important or that we simply WANT to do. So the real questions become, "How do I fit THIS in? That which I really do WANT? How do I make it high on MY priority list?"

My intention today was to blog about what it is that makes you or I break our resolutions because I believe I discovered last year what my problem is, as well as the answer to that problem. My problem is addressing all the things that complicate life that aren't "excuses" at all thereby putting the things I actually WANT on a back burner.

I thought I would try to look up an approximate number or percentage of how many resolutions are broken, how long they are kept, etc. real quick. I came across a site with an article implying that there is a science behind keeping and breaking resolutions. I gave it a look/listen. (http://tinyurl.com/9k4sjx)

Apparently, the "willpower muscle" in the brain is weak and "tough" tasks can exhaust the willpower part of your brain, which can cause you to break a New Year's resolution, especially if you have more than one resolution.

When first coming across this audio clip, I almost turned it off after the first few seconds, as I was incredulous. Findings suggested that those who were assigned a 7-digit number to memorize over those assigned a 2-digit number to memorize were almost twice as likely to choose chocolate cake over a fruit salad.

I don't buy that I would choose chocolate cake over a fruit salad and break my resolution to not eat sweets simply because I was assigned a 7-digit number to memorize rather than the 2-digit number. In fact, I KNOW I would choose the cake simply because I wanted the cake. I would view the opportunity to have that chocolate cake as a wonderful or convenient opportunity to eat that piece of cake....that cake I don't keep in the house, make myself, or that isn't readily available to me....see, I would justify why I should eat that rare piece of chocolate cake at that moment. It would be a very real conscious decision for me. I don't EVER have a goal on my mind that doesn't play into my daily decision-making process--I just simply make the choice, consciously; rationalize it; justify it; etc.

However, after thinking on it for a bit, maybe I would chose that cake because the willpower portion of my brain is more taxed by another task, one that isn't necessarily a priority to me, albeit just not as trivial as memorizing a 7-digit number or the "cake." Translation: Despite this audio clip implying it would be a subconscious decision to eat this cake, maybe the fact that I have momentarily placed another task higher in priority or that I have assigned five more tasks an equal weight of importance on the priority scale would thereby render it a subconscious act, i.e. I chose to eat that cake by consciously deciding to, but maybe I might not have if it were my ONLY priority. It is a valid point.

Let me explain further.....let's say that my top 5 current goals, in no specific order, are to lose weight, get my invention to market, get organized from under the mess I allowed people to create around me when I got too tired and temporarily gave up trying, to exercise, and to eat right all an equal importance ranking on my priority scale. I could very easily let eating right slip down a notch from the others on the day I'm viewing accomplishing an invention task critical. I could also let exercising slip down a notch on a day that I need to spend that 45 minutes researching manufacturers instead. Keep in mind that these are all goals no matter what else occurs throughout my day(s) as well. I could see that if I focused on only one goal, there is much less risk that I would choose that cake because it would be first and foremost on my mind, possibly the ONLY thing on my mind.

My work needs to get done, my house needs cleaning (even if only daily pick-ups and not deep cleaning), my invention requires attention, my children require my attention, family members periodically call for attention, friends periodically require attention, my husband requires attention, my marriage requires attention, food needs to be purchased and cooked, errands need to be run, the dog requires attention, the cars need some recall work, dentist appointments, hair appointments, school appointments, bills need to be paid, end-of-the-year reports need to be generated, taxes need to be done, people need to be paid, invoices need to go out, filing needs to be done, etc. (See, I even still left off myself requiring attention, but this is what I'm working toward!)

So how does a multi-tasking mother manage to accomplish it all? We all know that we accomplish many tasks throughout a day, and when you think about it, it is very rarely that you accomplish more than one at a time. You can't simultaneously load the dishwasher and sew some clothing, and if you can, I'd love to meet you! We are also often pulled off task, interrupted in the middle of a task, etc. (says the woman who just absolutely HAD to find a bin for the Diego track that hubbie insisted MUST have a place right now pulling me away from the to-do list of tasks I've placed a priority on.)

To me, with some reflection, the answer is clear.....you may be making the wrong resolutions or setting yourself up for failure straight outta the gate! You need to put systems into place to fix the things that ARE pulling you away, messing up your priority scale, and blocking your progress. Put systems into place that streamline functions and simplify life. Make minor changes to accommodate these new systems to find success. This is what I plan to blog about for the next few months as I fix each and every issue that causes me to gripe or simply causes me frustration.

All five of my goals will remain of equal importance to me, but they are goals and not resolutions. I'm not trying to set myself up for failure, but rather set myself up for success, which is why my resolution is to fix many other things before attempting what I would rather be focusing on. I'm putting the gears in motion for success. I must address the clutter issue, my to-do list, the organization of my family members, their participation/contribution to it all, etc. before I will find even remote triumph or success in the majority of the personal goals I've set for myself, those I consider to be my ultimate resolutions.

This means it is an ongoing process, one I started last April that was sidelined by something I placed greater emphasis on that had a six-month lifespan (a conscious decision). I need to eliminate that which makes me gripe, that which weighs heavily on my mind causing me to feel that neglectful, guilty feeling as I do what I'd rather be doing...that which gets in the way. Care to join me?

What tactics or approaches work for you? How do you find success? What makes you fail? Are they really ONLY excuses? I would love to hear about all the success stories and tips and tricks for accomplishing this success!