Friday, January 9, 2009

Momcessities: The little things mom shouldn't go without. Buttoned Up Pads

Need things in your household Buttoned Up?

Towards the end of summer, I decided that I needed to get my act together again. I had used a planner in college, and felt maybe I could get my household back on track again by reinstating my Franklin Covey Planner. While I was at the Franklin Covey shop, my sis found a section called Buttoned Up. I had only glanced at them initially when we walked in, I was on a mission to get my planner pages, nothing else, but she insisted they were something I should peruse because they looked really handy.

OH MY WORD.

These pads were truly the neatest little pads i have ever seen. The more I thought about my husband, the more I realized these pads would be in our future. Their pads are brilliant and can be incorporated into your whole families daily routine, whether you are needing a pad for directions, or wanting to make a shopping list these pads help you organize your thoughts and keep you on track. The kids can have a homework pad so they can keep track of their assignments at school or a chores pad so they know exactly what is expected of them with their household duties. There is a baby bag pad and a kid pad, so you can have a checklist of things to pack (or in my case, so my husband can finally learn to pack the diaper bag)when you are in a hurry. Their Would you pad looks great for making sure your significant other knows exactly what you need from them and the Not to do pads tell them what to hold off on. The options are endless and so user friendly. I can't believe I had never heard of them before.

Needless to say, when I left Franklin Covey, I left with a buttoned up pad. I chose the diaper bag pad, because the one thing my husband can not do is pack the diaper bag. No matter how many times he packs it with me telling him what goes in it, we are always missing something. So now I just highlight on the pad what we need, and he checks it off as he packs it. Having an infant in the house and a toddler really makes this an essential for our diaper bag.

I'm also a sucker for planning. It was what I did best as a teacher, and what I do best as a mom/housewife. I can plan the dickens out of something ( getting me to implement it is another story) so needless to say, now that I have my Franklin Covey up to date, and a few Buttoned Up pads in my household I feel like I can be a better organized parent. I just can't wait for the kids to get old enough so I can start getting some of those other pads.

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

To Clean Or Not To Clean

When Babe and I made the decission for me to quit work and stay home to take care of PooPie, I do not remember anything in my job description except "take care of child". That was it, the decision was made for me to stay home and take care of our delicate little baby because we didn't trust anyone else to do it. Somehow, Babe went behind my back and changed my job description so now I am the child care provider, the resident chef (big mistake there buddy), pastry chef, maid, laundry person, and so much more. I guess I should have known that I was going to be doing all that because even working I was doing it, but I don't think I ever realized how much harder it was going to be with a baby hanging around, not to mention 2 babies! However, I embraced all my titles and went with it and have worked for 2 1/2 years to master the best plan that I could to get done all that I need to get done. It is far from perfect and it really does change from day to day and week to week, but I really think that I am almost to the point of perfecting my perfect cleaning plan.



As of right now, I have a chart set up in Word with just a couple chores a day for me to do. I only do 1 or 2 things that way I can usually get them done while PooPie eats breakfast and is watching t.v. and then we have the rest of the day to play and do what ever we want. On Saturday nights, after the kids are asleep, I go in and add in anything that we have for the week such as doctor appointments, Babe's work schedule, and the dreaded meal plan for each day - I really hate deciding what to fix everyday. Everything has a color, chores are one color, meals another, appointments another. Some weeks, I get a little ambitious and try to think of special cleaning things/decluttering for each day such as cleaning out my closet or my bathroom cabinets. I actually haven't had the time to do that since Mohawk was born, but hope to get back to that in the next few months. When I was following Flylady.com, the house seemed to be less cluttered, so hopefully I can develop my own edition of that soon.



Here is my basic cleaning schedule: (my chart won't upload so this isn't exactly how I do it , but you should get the idea)

Sunday:
Off

Monday:
Water Plants
Change my sheets, girl's sheets

Wash sheets and towels
Study
Walk, weights
Dinner
8-4

Tuesday:
Vacuum
Clean master bath
Laundry
Girl's laundry
Study
Walk, weights
Dinner
8-4

Wednesday:
Clean kitchen - counter, stove, fridge
Mop - kitchen, foyer, bathrooms
Study
Walk, weights
Dinner
8-4

Thrusday:
Clean girl's bath
Laundry
Study
Walk, weights
Dinner
8-4

Friday:
Vacuum
Dust
Study
Walk, weights
Dinner
8-4

Saturday:
Off