Sanity on the wall

on the wall - literally... a good thing, not bad LOL

My new FLYLADY calendar arrived last week after not using one from the start of this year. It was a mistake to not continue on! I'd been using a smaller calendar. A very nice one. But smaller. Too small, it turns out. Much easier when you can see what's going on in life, from a few metres away vs needing to be within 1 metre. It wasn't getting used and we have not been as organised as we would like to have been.

Problem Solved!

A bonus with the Flylady calendar is that it is a 17month calendar - allowing plenty of overlap time... useful for those that are slack in re-ordering or for those that like to plan out the next year in advance. A bit of both for me this time!

Our colour coding is: Blue for Family; Yellow for Kids i.e. Piano, Boys Brigade, Girl's Brigade, Co-Op etc; Green is for Church activities and Pink for other appointments.

I also like the big spaces to plot it out as the day happens. Something in the morning goes at the top of the space. Evening at the bottom. Something all day, goes all over the space and so on.

I won't be making the mistake of trying a different calendar again!!

Home Ed Tracking

BEFORE Pete damaged his knee, I was well on the way to working out our new home ed tracking... in fact, that's what I spent many hours of the time they were at camp, doing! Inspired by The Paper Maid I was working on the system that I want to have up and running ASAP. To avoid as many academic bumps as possible with the arrival of our next blessing in early September

Aside from printing out the first page in a 'not quite complete' format I hadn't gotten around to completing the last subject column needed or printing out a final copy and binding it with a binder I have on loan.

So with today not having to take Pete to work and the older 2 being at holiday club, I took the time to finish it off and here it is...

I cut down a 'manilla' folder for the front and back covers

and inside, one page does 4 weeks for one child

I now have everything scheduled from now till the end of the year. Next steps are to do all photocopying and book binding that I need to do, to go with it. Our nephews are about to join us for the next few days so I might not be able to get to that till after the weekend... or maybe they'll all be so busy playing together that I will have the time??

Home Alone

I'm home alone at the moment - I love it. I love being with the family of course , the two are not mutually exclusive!

The chance to finish thoughts and plans without being interrupted. The chance to do a few more dishes and not see any created; to mop a floor and it dry before being walked on; to read a few more pages; jot down some  plans; order something we need; declutter without being 'sprung'; to add finishing touches to rooms or surfaces; to write letters and cards...

To just be.

We try and make it a weekly event around here. Usually on a Saturday, Pete will take the 3 children swimming. Easter Saturday ended up being too busy for this so we deferred it to the next day, and the next and then the next - and finally they are off! I suspect this is my last 'home alone' period that I can count on being a couple of hours long. Once bubs is born, home alone will consist of Pete taking the kids to the park and bubs in the pram, in between feeds... we live near a GREAT park thankfully... I'm probably looking at an hour at a time in this next season of life.

Until this Easter, Pete has also taken the children to his parents who live by the beach, for the Easter weekend. WOW - that time is so helpful to me in fulfilling my role here in the home... all that above list, all at once! Bliss!
This Easter we've played it safe with bubs due this week. It's different, a nice different... but next year, I'll be 'Home Alone' again.

I also love being home alone WITH Pete. It happens about once a year, though this year it will be twice. We had about 30 hours home alone for our anniversary in March and are looking forward to about 48 hours, mid November. With many thanks to my lovely sister (xx). We prefer to bundle the kids off and be at home ourselves... coming and going as we please. It's so important to do this and have this time with each other. It's just delish!

Do you manage to get all that thinking and doing done with with family around? I know some who go to the local library to get that head space for planning etc but me, I'd rather the family go to the library and ME be home alone! Everything I need at my finger tips. How do you get time alone at home? Or your planning done if you don't make time alone at home?

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10 tips for being organised ~ Tip #6

Tip #6
Changing Habits

This is the foundation of organisation - if you won't change your habits, you won't beat disorganisation!
and I say 'won't change', not 'can't change' because 99 x of 100 it's a choice.. maybe even 100/100?

Having said that, change can be difficult. (*still a choice though* she whispers)

When it comes down to it, it is a choice. Make wise choices to change habits, and it doesn't have to be as hard as we can make it for ourselves.

1. Don't change everything at once. Write down what you want to be doing differently in order to become more organised and pick a couple to work on for a month, then add a couple more and focus on them for another month and so on.

2. Little things do count and they do add up. So take them seriously.
I spend a lot of time washing dishes here, probably 4-5 loads a day. I spent months losing the plug - not in a big way, but my habit was to put it on the left side, where the dirty dishes get stacked. It would get lost amongst the dirty dishes in a short space of time, so every time I was starting a new load I was lifting things and moving them around to find the plug. Probably only 30 seconds, but still... that's 2 minutes a day, 14 minutes a week, and MORE THAN 12 hours a year looking for a PLUG!! I spent a few moments (while washing dishes) thinking of how to solve the issue and those moments have gained me 12 hours a year that can be better used elsewhere... for conquering other organisation issues, which will in turn save me weeks every year... which means I will be able to finally get around to those things I was convinced I'd never have time for! Gotta love that!
So now, I simply place the plug on the right hand side, between the dish drainer and the edge of the sink. Every now and then I forget but because I deliberately chose to think it through, I am quickly reminded and the next few weeks I am error free as the plug gets placed in it's 'can't get lost' place, once again.

3. Visual Reminders are great for changing habits. The key thing I found with trying to change habits is that the old habit that is not working for me is sooo heavily ingrained that I actually FORGET about the new habit I am wanting to swap it with!
A few 'system cards' on the corner of the bench has solved that for me. Anything will do, scraps of paper, sticky notes - whatever... it just has to be a short reminder of what you want to be doing, in a place you will see it often.
Let's say you're wanting to implement some of the tips from #5 Maximise Your Energy.
Take some cards or sticky notes or whatever you're using, choose the ones you want to work on first and write them on separate cards.
At the moment I'm working on drinking more water and also avoiding sugar so my 2 cards read
-Drink a glass of water, and
-Eat natural, avoid added sugar. Followed by a few easy healthy snacks that can be grabbed almost as thoughtlessly... carrot, low sugar yoghurt, crispy nuts, apple etc
Make your cards more of an instruction, not a 'nice idea'. 'Drink A Glass of Water' will have more impact than 'Drink More Water'.
Use this for other organising habits too.
Trying to keep a surface clean and decluttered - leave a sticky note saying 'Put It Away!!' is a great reminder.

4. Set Alarms. Pretty much every person has a mobile and every mobile has an alarm that you can 'label' as being for a specific purpose. Use it for changing habits!
I found us to be starting 'bookwork' at random times, and usually after when I'd like to have been starting each day. So now I have an alarm set that goes at 8.40am as a reminder for 'fruit snack and bookwork', which means we're at the books by 9am... and we can now be done by around 11am. Knowing that alarm is going to go off, also means we're better at getting the house up and going for the day. Most times it rings now, we have everything done that needs doing by this point in the day... cooked breakfast eaten, dishes done, beds made, load of washing on, bathroom wiped over, floors swept/vacuumed as needed, dinner under way and so on. Before the alarm, these basic tasks could drag on for an extra 2 hours... now add up those extra 2 unnecessary hours even just 2 days a week and that simple alarm is saving me more than 200 hours each year! And we're looking a whole lot better at 9am than before the alarm - loving it!

It may not be the things I've mentioned that you're wanting to change. So what? Pick what it is you want to change and just APPLY THE PRINCIPLE - no excuses!

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When life doesn't happen as planned

...even the smallest amount of organisation pays off!

I pushed myself too hard in the heat on Saturday and it took me all day Sunday to recover, including 2 serious naps... hopefully I will pick up the warning signs a little earlier next time.

What I did learn though is that I will keep on with menu planning - saves serious $$ when I'm not up to thinking about food... doesn't take much effort to cook something already thought out.

I also showed myself, once again, that the Out of Routine Recovery Plan is a life saver - or at least, a sanity saver! It doesn't even have to be me that does it - hubby's and kids can pitch in for sure!!!

By Monday morning it doesn't look like my weekend ended up with me in bed for hours, and I credit that to the above. (validation is a good thing!)

Now onwards with a productive week, and hopefully me pacing myself a bit better while knowing the improved weather will also help towards that.

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Thinking of tweaking the plan again...?

Let me know what you think please - am I on the right track? why/why not?

Our home ed not-so-scheduled-schedule is working well. Very well. So there's no reason in that department to change it.

However...
I'd like a more relaxed day, at home, in the week.
Wednesday is pretty relaxed, but I spend it at my sisters - ALL day.

I'm thinking of trashing the current Friday program and putting the Science lesson on to the Thursday. Art would then go to Friday.

Friday would then be a day for catch up - if needed. And otherwise a day for art/crafting. Melinda's latch hook, my sewing, pottering around the garden, baking if desired. More of a 'fun being at home' day. Friday is also the day we go to the market every 2-3 weeks.

I think we can afford to do this, because at the rate the kids are going through their bookwork, they will be done in just 2-3 terms if I do keep Friday as a bookwork day.

I'd like to be able to set up the sewing machine from time to time and just work on one project without packing up mid project, and not be fussed about where bookwork is up to for the day, or if they've spent the day playing Lego inside or a bunch of outside play adventures...

Weekends don't lend themselves to this sort of day for us... for a bunch of reasons... they just don't.

Is this worth pursuing? or might it backfire?

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10 tips for being organised ~ Tip #5

Tip #5
Maximise your energy

Being organised is soooo HARD when you're low on energy and focus. Lack of organisation will just make you more tired and stressed... and attempting to 'sleep it off', won't necessarily re-energise you... it just shuts off the stress for a few hours and delays the inevitable.

Here's a small bunch of things I've figured out / discovered through hours of research, that affect energy/focus levels

1. WATER - Drink lots of it. Mild dehydration is a big cause of fatigue
2. SUGAR - is evil! It destroys energy among other things. It gives you false highs and very real lows. It's said to be more addictive than cocaine. If you need more energy, avoid sugar like you would the plague. It's in EVERYTHING. Cut it out for a month and then have something sugary. Notice how ill your body feels - this is how you will have always felt... you've just grown accustomed to it. Like the frog in a pot of water analogy.
In the 1700's we ate less than 2kg of sugar a year. By the 1900's we are consuming over 45kgs of sugar a year!! A glass of fruit juice has about as much sugar as the often quoted glass of Coke. 25g. Just one glass a day is over 9kg of sugar a year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Tomato sauce is 25% sugar/weight, most Jams 50%. There's a teaspoon-ish of sugar in every McDonald's burger... that's before you count the overall carb content which your body treats as sugar anyway! If you didn't change your diet and just added up all the processed sugar in a week you would FREAK OUT - I dare you, do it!!
Even avoiding all the obvious sugars, you're still consuming heaps and heaps... more than enough
3. Avoid ARTIFICIAL SWEETENERS. Aside from the chemical toxicity, they wreak havoc with your adrenal system. Research your adrenal system and how it works. You don't want to mess with this. Your body assumes an artificial sweetener is the REAL THING... it releases insulin, which drops your blood sugar when it shouldn't, leaving you then craving more and the cycle goes on. Over use of the adrenal system ruins it. Stops it working effectively.Makes you a whole lot more tired among other 'not so good' things.
4. Exercise. Lack of it makes you feel blah. If doing it makes you feel blah then start and build up slowly. You don't need endurance. You need bunches of little intense bursts. This will increase your sense of well being, focus and energy.
5. Low Vitamin D... will lead to fatigue and make you susceptible to all sorts of illness and disease. I deliberately get, as often as possible, daily sun through the year. I recently tested and came back with a low Vitamin D result.... so if I'm deliberate in getting sun, how low are others?? Get yourself tested and do something about it!!

In short - quit whinging about low energy unless you are on top of these 5 things. I have NO pity on someone who doesn't pay good attention to these things yet complains about lack of focus, energy, fatigue or anything else related.

Get your energy on track - even a 5% improvement if you're really ill with something, will still help you get on top of life and be more organised!! Chances are you'll improve a whole lot more than that.




Next I'm investigating CoQ10... anyone use this? Know anything about it? 

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10 tips for being organised ~ Tip #4

Tip #4
Make more margins.
Stop tail gating... you know when you see that crazy car on the road and you give it a whole lot more space.... well life is like that crazy car - out of control... so accept it, get over it and make some space!

• Put the clocks in the house forward a permanent 6 minutes - and don't tell anyone, if you can get away with it!
• When going somewhere, work out how long you need to get ready so you can work out your departure time... and add in an extra 20%ish for life that will get in the way - a nappy that needs changing, misplacing your keys, looking up the address or whatever it may be. It can almost be guaranteed THERE WILL BE SOMETHING.
• Do first things first... make your list for the day and note the things that are MUST DO's on that day, and start with them. Do the optional items later - because they are the ones that don't matter so much if not done!
• Budget every dollar, including about 10% 'oops'... BEFORE the money arrives. Then don't spend it any other way until the next time around.
• Work out dinner the night before so that a) anything needed is defrosted and b) you're not gazing in the fridge at 5pm wondering what to cook or having a takeaway AGAIN!!
• Have a complete back up meal or two in the house - even if it's just a bag of pasta and a jar of pasta sauce.

That's the first bunch of ideas that come to mind, to help us have more 'margin' in life... I'd love to hear what you do to create 'margin' in your life and thus avoid what I call 'headless chook syndrome'.
(and for non-Aussies, a chook is a hen)

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10 tips for being organised ~ Tip #3

Tip #3
Have a back up plan - before you have the main plan


I'll explain Tip #3 in a minute.... but before I go there I have to say... Tip #3 is a PRACTICAL tip.
Unlike Tip #1 and Tip #2, this one is practical.

If you've read the first two tips and are saying 'At last! Practical is what I need! I was wondering if we'd ever get to the practical!'... or anything else that sounds even remotely like that... then my educated guess is that YOU need to go back and immerse yourself in both tips one and two. Pray that God will open your heart and eyes to anything that you can learn from them.

Without having a handle on both the first tips, then you will go jumping from one practical tip to the next, from a variety of sources... and nothing will ever come together. I know. I've been there, done that and bought the T-shirt (well, the organising books actually!)


So - back to Tip #3
Have a back up plan - before you have the main plan

or as I call it 'My Out of Routine Recovery Plan'

I use it every time that life is upside down. Be it returning from an emergency trip interstate, or at the end of a week like last week when there was too much to do in too little time or just when I've had a backwards day or two and I don't know which way is up. Maybe it's after coming back from a family holiday or camping trip... I use it at the point where once I might instead start searching (probably online) for some 'new' organising help, information and ideas.

Step 1 - Get the children occupied... be it sleeping, TV, outside - whatever... at this point it doesn't matter. Just get them out of your head for an hour or two. If this is not possible and they'll be clinging on... then I just say 'Tough, get over it and make it work'... if you use that as your excuse, you haven't done your homework on Tip's #1 & 2 and you don't have my sympathy! If you work better with some cheerful music or essential oil burning - now is the time to get that happening now. I like Andre Rieu if I have the headspace for the extra noise and as for essential oils, something citrus is always nice and energising. Now is not the time for vanilla! Down a glass of water and move on to step #2

Step 2 - Figure out the next couple of meals. Yes, even if it's 7pm and the next meal is breakfast... ot it's 8am and lunch is hours away... get the next 2-3 meals SORTED. Again at this point, don't worry about health so much as full tummies. This is not about your usual standards and the ideal way you would like to live. It's about finding short term sanity so you can start to move forward to that ideal. 2 min noodles with tuna, a bowl of wheat biscuits and milk, baked beans on toast, a bag of frozen potato gems... WHATEVER... just know what the next few meals are and write them down. (one day, down the track, not to far away from now - you will actually have a spare casserole or two in the freezer for days like this.... so keep the faith but just don't aim for it now unless you already have something like that in the freezer okay?). If the next meal happens to be NOW or when you are working through this list, that's fine - make it happen when it needs to and be thankful you're now on top of it... and then just move onto the next step.

Step 3 - Spend no more than 30min and get the 3 wet areas looking/working better. Note: looking better... not 'up to scratch'. Put the dishwasher on or run a sink of dishwater and load it with dirty dishes - or both.... put a load of washing in the washing machine and turn it on - for me, this used to be a rewash of the load I had left in there and had now gone smelly (oops!) (to fix this, add your usual detergent (again!), make it a warm wash and add a teaspoon or cap full of eucalyptus oil... this should get rid of any musty smell from the wash).... now get back to those soaking dishes if you have any and wash a few, dump another load of crusty dishes into the sink.... now to the 3rd wet area... the bathroom basin(s). Quickly put things away off the surface (no, don't straighten the cupboard now, just get the bench surface clear(er) ) and use a wet cloth to give the basin and bench a decent wipe over and then the dry cloth in your other hand to dry both. 2 minutes TOPS at the basin, okay?
Now, of the suggested '30min tops' I suggest for these 3 wet areas, you are probably only halfway through that... so finish up the dishes if you can... if there's no time left, no worry... you'll get faster as you practice this. Half the hassle of being organised is knowing what to do next!

Step 4 - Spend a couple of minutes clearing what you can off your dining table and give it a quick wipe down and dry. However much you do, it's going to look better than it did right - don't aim for perfect, just improve it!

Step 5 - Set the timer for 10minutes and GO! Spend the time doing a 'quick pick up' of your main living areas... the lounge/kitchen/dining table floors... as much in the bin as possible... as much in the right place as possible... the rest, just move it off the floor.

 Step 6 - Vacuum the middles of the areas you just cleared. Again, just make it better - not perfect

Step 7 - If you were feeling 'sticky' as you were moving around doing all these, grap the mop and mop the middles - 2 minutes okay?!

Step 8 - Grab a glass of water (dehydration is one of the top causes of lack of energy!!) and sit down. Breathe.  Take a moment and look at what you HAVE done... not what is still to do. Feel good about it!

and in about an hour, the house is starting to come together, though sometimes it's crazy enough that I work through half the list again right away. Either way, a lot of stress has been reduced and I can focus again on long term things.

The important thing is to make a list like this that is yours - one that works for you. Also, make sure you don't get hung up on what's on the list. It's designed to cover 'all possibilities'... so if you're working through it and 'hey presto' there's no washing to put on.... then it's just 'Yippee' and you move on to the next thing... or maybe the table doesn't need clearing, or whatever... as time passes, the portion of the list that doesn't need working on grows - go with the flow, skip over it and pat yourself on the back instead. Still don't shorten the list though... because the day will come when it ALL needs doing, for one reason or another and it's great to not have to think about it.


PS: A lot of disorganised people I've met or know online will procrastinate by convincing themselves (all too easy to do) that they first need to sit and relax before tackling the house. I promise you it doesn't work. Jumping in on a list like this will  have you feeling so much better, so much sooner than half an hour or so on the computer or watching TV ever could... stop fooling yourself and just DO IT!!

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10 tips for being organised ~ Tip #2

Tip #2
Quit cursing yourself.
Change your words - remember that there is life and death in the tongue!!

Take a moment to sit in a chair and think about your second most dreaded task.... save the worst for the next exercise okay?
Think about it... how big it is, how awful it is, how it never goes away, how tired you are, how you just don't have the focus for it, can't be bothered, unappreciated by others when you do do it.

Do you feel like doing it now?

Now sit and ponder the WORST one you came up with before. For me, that's probably the ironing.
Close your eyes and think again... choose to think to yourself how good it feels when finally done, how great it is to not have it hanging on the to do list anymore, how energised you feel, imagine yourself getting up and getting stuck into it, admiring the finished task and feeling the weight lift off as you see the final result.

I bet you feel a lot more like doing this task now than the first one you thought of right?

If you now need/want to go and get it done NOW - then GO!
You can always come back to read the rest later, right?

**So, remember to choose your thoughts, and choose good ones**

What about how you sound when talking to other people?
"I'm too disorganised for that"
"It's never ending"
"Kids make it so much harder"
"I'm too tired"
"I'm too sick"
"He's the messy one"
"If only the kids didn't make so much mess"

Your brain is lazy... when you say or think these things, it hears them as an instruction; as a truth and struggles to operate in any other way.

Change your words and help yourself
"I love a tidy loungeroom"
"It feels so good to declutter"
"I'm working with the children to teach them to tidy up their own things"
"It'll only take a few minutes, I'll do it now"

Go on, go do it now ~ we're at the end of Tip #2.... it'll only take a few minutes

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10 tips for being organised ~ Tip #1

No, I am not a BO 'born organised' but I'm working on becoming more organised. Some do mistake the progress I've made, and am making, as me actually being a BO... but trust me - I'm not!

Tip #1
Have a purpose.
Know why you want to be more organised.
God wired us to work with a purpose.
It's much easier to walk 30min to catch a train daily than it is to just get out and go for a 30min walk every day.
So know your WHY... the 'why you want to be more organised'

For me...

it was coming to a better understanding of God Himself.
I serve a God of order and excellence. One doesn't need to spend much time reading God's word to understand that. We are made in His image, a likeness of Him. We operate better when organised, even if we struggle with learning to be organised.
By knowing this, and the way children and husbands operate... I know my family does better when we're organised.

Titus 2: 4-5 tells us that when we are not 'keepers of the home' that we blaspheme the Word of God.
Yet another very good reason to manage my home well!

Also, what does my home say about me and my God?
Do I want to encourage the world to think that 'homeschoolers are messy/dirty/disorganised/too busy'?
Do I want to encourage the world to think that 'families with 3 or more children are messy/dirty/disorganised/too busy'?
Do I want to encourage the world to think that 'Christians are messy/dirty/disorganised/too busy'?

More reasons to work on being more organised and make it a natural part of life, don't you think!

Motivate yourself by writing out the Titus 2 verse above, or something like Proverbs 10v4 and put them where you can easily see them throughout the day - I have them next to my kitchen sink... a biblical kick in the pants if you will :o)

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