Getting My House Under Control Part 1

I haven't blogged for a while because I've been extremely busy trying to get my house (and life) under control.  We celebrated H's first birthday last week which was great and really jump-started my cleaning!  Then, on Friday, I started "31 Days to Clean".  I'll get to that in the next post.  Today, I want to share what I worked on before H's birthday and have been trying to use consistently.


My friend Megan introduced me to Andrea's blog at www.simpleorganizedliving.com.  I browsed her site and found lots of great ideas!  This planner page was one of my favorites!  It was very close to what I needed, but not quite, so I created my own.  Here is a picture of what that looks like.  

There are a few changes I've found that I already want to make, but I really like it overall.  Below is a rundown of what each section is for and how I use it.  

Top 5:
Here, I write the top five things I want to get done that day.  I usually write some of them the night before and the rest in the morning.  I REALLY try to get these things done in that day.  Sometimes they're things to do around the house and sometimes they're errands that I really need to run.  Sometimes I even write things that I just really want to do!  

To Do: 
This is one section I want to change.  There's no way I ever get fifteen things done in a day (along with everything on the daily routine list which you'll see in a minute), so I am going to reduce this to five things.  Then, I'll have my Top 5 and five additional things that I need to do.  If they get done that day, great.  If not, they'll either go on the next day's Top 5 list or the next day's To Do list.  

Appointments:
A pretty self explanatory section.  I write down any appointments I have during the day here.  

Daily Routine:
This is probably my favorite section.  I LOVE checking things off of lists, so a few of the things I put on here just so I could check them off.  For example, I'm obviously going to get dressed, eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and H is going to get her nap.  But if I get nothing else done in the day, I can at least check those things off!  


I also like to have them there as time landmarks.  For that reason, I have found some changes that need made.  I put away the dishes before breakfast and I should do my house project during H's nap.  Also, I've found that with everything else I am doing, I don't have time for two 15 minute pick-up sessions.  I'll probably get rid of the evening one and keep the morning one.  


Choose Tomorrow's Clothes is on there mainly for days when I'm going to have to get up and go somewhere the next morning.  For instance, on Saturday night, I really need to have Sunday morning's clothes ready.  


I also have to say that I don't get everything done every day.  And I'm okay with that.  I do my best and as long as I'm getting a good majority of the things done each day, I don't beat myself up about it.  

Meal Plan:
Here, I write what we're having for dinner.  I don't write down breakfast and lunch since I'm really only fixing those meals for myself and sometimes H.  Plus, for lunch, I usually just have leftovers.  I'm using mealtime makeover's sample meals right now, so this makes it VERY easy to know what we're having for dinner!  I'm planning on purchasing a membership for at least a few months until I get some meals that I can consistently fix quickly and easily.  

Exercise:  
Here is where I write (or should write) the amount of exercise I do in a day.  I actually haven't written anything in there so far, but I like having it there because it reminds me to exercise at some point during the day.  Under the exercise box are eight glasses of water.  By the end of the day, I SHOULD have all eight glasses crossed off.  I think my average is four or five.  But once again, this reminds me to be drinking water and pushes me toward a goal.  

To Buy:
I really like this section as well.  As the day goes by, anytime I think of something we need, I write it in the To Buy section.  Then, when I'm getting ready to do my shopping, I just look back through the past few planner pages to make my list.  

Notes:
I have yet to use this section.  I'm really considering deleting it, but I keep thinking it could be useful if I happened to have something to write a note about.  We'll see.  It's staying in for now, but next time I got to print off pages, it might just be gone.  























Well, there it is!  I can't say I'm 100% organized now, but it sure does help.  The check boxes are my favorite thing.  Like I said, I love to check things off lists and it really motivates me to get moving!  I'm still needing to get a notebook for my pages.  Right now, they're just folded together.  I print two per page so I can see two days at a time.  I like that, but I do have to write small!  


If you'd like to use my planner page, I'd be happy to send it to you, just shoot me an email or leave a comment with your email address.  The file is saved in Publisher, so let me know if you don't have that and I can probably easily transfer it to Word.  


I'll be writing more soon about getting my house organized and doing a review on "31 Days to Clean". Right now, I'm off to get busy!!