Don't Leave Anyone Out

I think I've been leaving my 5-year-old out. Whenever I have something I'm working on or need help with, I'm quick to call my 11-year-old and my 9-year-old. I also really like to know where my 2-year-old is, but somehow my 5-year-old scrambles through some things.

But this summer has been fairly crazy for me - so much that my hands, my husbands hands, my 11-year-olds hands, my 9-year-olds hands, and my 2-year-olds hands haven't been enough. I've had a few moments when I have NEEDED my 5-year-olds hands.

I have needed them, I've asked for them, and they have come. And they have helped. They have cleaned off a kitchen counter minutes before a party was going to start. They have cut cantaloupe, loaded the shoes in the shoe box, straightened the living room, put away the blocks, helped the 2-year-old get dressed. They have carried things to the car, cleared the table, and built lots of Lego cars. And everything he has done has blessed our family. And it's blessed him. I've seen how much he can do. He's seen how much he can do. And if he didn't already know how to do it, now he knows!

I'm grateful that I remembered to include him. And I hope I always do!

Get the Help You Need

We planted corn this weekend. My job was to furrow the rows while my husband tilled and my children planted. Part way down one of the rows, the furrow fell of its handle. I didn't know how to fix it, so I decided to till while my husband fixed the furrow. I've been gardening all my life and I had tilling experience (3 feet of garden a few weeks ago while my brother got a drink), so I figured I could till. (Tilling has never been my job). I did great until I got to the end of the row. I've watched the guys turn the tiller around easily at the end of the row, but when I tried, it barely turned and the tiller and I kept heading off towards a wood pile. I yelled, I tugged, I yelled, I tugged and missed the woodpile, but I was still tilling up grass. I yelled. I could see my husband and daughter yelling at me to do something, but I didn't know what. Finally, I understood. Let go of the handle. I let go and the tiller stopped. The lesson? Sometimes you just need someone who knows more or has done something a little bit more than you around. I've been gardening forever, so I thought I could do it, but I still needed some training. So do your kids. Maybe so do you. Maybe so does your husband.

When it comes to organizing, that means organize with your children. Let them see how you do it. Give them opportunities to help. Help them see how to do it.

When you are tackling something new, try it. Do everything that you can do and then get help. I'm in the middle of planning an event that is 10 or more times bigger than anything I've ever done before. It's so big, I almost don't know how to do it. But there is someone on the planning committee who has done it, knows how to do it, and can do it. I'm learning how to think big. It's kind of exciting. I've also had help learning how to raise chickens, learning to write HTML, and learning how to put phone numbers in my phone. Sometimes you just need help.

(I have pictures coming, but they're in an email and I can't figure out how to get them to my blog. My email/picture mentor will be helping me with this soon).

Be Ready and Do It When the Time Is Right

It's been raining all week at our house. The ground is sopping wet and saturated. But today it stopped raining, so I went outside and weeded. There were plenty of other things I could do today, but the time was right, so I went. The weeds came out easily and in no time and I had lots of piles of weeds all over my yard (but no longer growing in the ground).
There are lots of things that are easier to do if you do them when the time is right. Here's a few things I try to do that are much easier if I wait and prepare for the right time.

* Weeding.

*Copying. If I know I have copying coming up (anytime), I try to get it ready. Then if I don't need it immediately, I just leave it around my house. Almost inevitably, someone will need to copy something before I need my copying done and I can send it with them. It combines 2 copy trips into one and eliminates something from my "to do" list.

* Projects. I happen to have lots of projects going on at my house all the time. I like to have an idea of the things that are coming up in my head. That way, whenever I am shopping, I can be looking for the things I need for those projects. They may be months away, but if I get the things I need when I'm already shopping, I can usually save money on them, and be done without an extra shopping trip.

* Scheduled times in my life. (There is another post dedicated to this topic). I have scheduled times when I work on our finances, send big emails, and even write in my journal. Since I have a set time to do those things, I don't need to worry about them - or even think about them - at other times. Sometimes I have to remind myself that I have a time for those things - and when I do, I try not to spend any more time thinking about them.

What things work for you if you wait until the right time to do them?

Organizing My Blog

There is a never ending list of things that can be organized. My past month has been full of a 2,000 mile, 5 day family vacation; an (approximately) 2 week, 20 people family reunion at my house, and everything it takes to get ready for both of those. And the whole time, my blog has sat neglected.

I've thought about it a lot. I've had ideas for posts and even composed them in my mind. I've thought of things I want to change and update and improve. But I haven't done any of it yet. And that's ok. For the past month, it was more important - and I chose - to do other things with my time, effort and energy. And that's exactly what organization is about - choosing the things that are important to you and doing those things. I'm not ready to say my blog is clutter. But at different times of our lives, almost anything can become clutter. We need to clean it out and clear it out forever - or until it's important to us to make room for it again.

So I'm hoping I'm back. I'm going to work on improving my blog. I'm hoping to go back through and label my posts so it's easy to find posts of topics of interest. I'm hoping to post on a more regular basis. And I'm hoping to remember to take pictures! And I'll do it, as long as it's one of the important things in my life.

"Free"Cycle

I joined the group "Free"Cycle (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SaltLakefreecycle/) this week. FreeCycle is a way to recycle, but everything is free. You can offer things you want to give away and request things you would like to get. I had 11 rolls of film for my 35 mm camera that was getting older by the minute and not getting used. I offered them on FreeCycle. Within one day, I had 10 requests for my film. (I had already tried to sell it on KSL.com. I had one person interested, but she didn't want it when she found out how old it was.)

I decided to give it to a lady who emailed that she understood the risk of using old film. She wanted it, but couldn't come get it when her husband said he didn't want her going to a strangers house. Then I offered it to a lady who has 3 kids going to 3 different camps this year and she wants them all to take a camera. She came within 12 hours of me choosing her and my film is gone!

It was a little bit of a hassle to give my film away, but I feel better about it than if I had thrown it out, and I also don't have it sitting around my house getting older.

I also tried to get something on FreeCycle. I wanted legos. I posted it, but no one has contacted me yet, so maybe it's harder to find stuff you want. I'll have to wait and see.

Organizing the Freezer

It's spring, and for me, that's the best time to organize the freezer. Our chest freezer is in the garage, so I like it to be cool (not hot, not freezing) when I go through the freezer. If it's too hot, all the food thaws before I finish. If it's too cold, my fingers freeze. I also like spring because (at least in theory), we've just eaten most of the food over the winter, so it's a little more empty.

We cleaned and organized both of our freezers today and here are some things I thought about:

* I decided to keep all open bags of vegetables in the freezer door. I'm hoping that will help us find them and then use them until they're gone and then open a new bag.

* The challenge of a freezer is its depth. Once something is down deep, it's hard to find it again. As much as I could a tried to stack deep. I have stacks of chicken and hamburger that go from the bottom of the freezer, all the way to the top.

* When you have 2 freezers, (a freezer with your refrigerator and a chest freezer), it's a good idea to keep the things you use most in the smaller refrigerator freezer. I pulled most of my frozen pumpkin from the refrigerator freezer and moved it to my chest freezer. It opened up so much room and now I won't have it falling out on me anymore. I kept the vegetables, meats, cheese, butter, and other freezer stuff we reach for frequently in the refrigerator freezer.

* Freezers need to be organized every once in a while. I try to keep on top of mine, but I still found things I never thought could be in my freezer. Freezers also usually need to be defrosted and for sure cleaned out. We found styrofoam cup pieces, kernels of corn, meat labels and even a stray pepperoni in ours!

Do Something that Will Make the Most Difference

Sometimes when my kids want to play computer in the middle of the day, or do something else I would prefer they not do, I ask them to first "clean up something that will make the most difference." That means that if there are blocks, legos, and little animals all over the family room, they can choose the one that will help the family room look the best. Sometimes it might just be putting away a blanket, or putting chairs around the table.

If you are just starting your organizing journey, choosing something that will make the most difference is exactly what you want to choose. Choose your biggest problem spot and go to! When you choose something big, it's easy to feel the difference and then keep going.

Kitchen Cups

We've been wanting individualized cups for a long time, but when the Easter Bunny brought them and people who happened to be at my house started talking about them, I decided they were worth a blog entry.

We are a big water family and have been working very hard to drink enough water. (The amount of water you should drink each day is your body weight, divided by 2, in ounces. For example, if you weighed 100 pounds, you should drink 50 ounces of water a day. This amount is at least. If you exercise, play outside on a nice day, are nursing, or any other number of things you need more).

We are working to drink water because it's healthy and it has been helping a lot with the asthma in our family. (If you're interested in this topic, this is a great book about it - "ABC of Asthma, Allergies and Lupus: Eradicate Asthma - Now!" by F. Batmanghelidj and also "You're Body's Many Cries for Water".)

The problem with all this water drinking is that we never know exactly which cup is ours, and we always get a new one. We don't have a dishwasher, so the cups add up fast and whoever is washing dishes notices.

The solution was to have an original cup for each person. We keep them on the counter all day and wash them at dinner time. It's worked great these past two weeks with some great side benefits - my two year old got an ABC cup and he likes to call it his ABCDEFG cup. My 11 year old is finally drinking most of the water he needs, and everyone is drinking more.

We had adopted this practice with our "excursion" water bottles a few years ago - and we've loved that too. It's always easy to tell who's water bottle is whose (they used to all match, but be different colors, but we've lost a few).

We've also done this with towels. Everyone has their own color so it's easy to know whose is whose. We can use them a few times this way without having to wash them everytime they get used.

72 Hour Kits - A New Menu

We've been planning and shopping to repack our 72 hour kits this week. Since we didn't love our last menu, we've been trying to come up with a better one. In the end, we didn't change it very much, but we decided that we will rotate every year and not wait 18 months like we did last time. We did make a few changes that really simplified things. Here is our new menu:

Day 1 - 1 oatmeal, 1 juice box, 1 Ramen, 1 fruit can, 1 can soup, 2 water bottles, 1 fruit snack, 1 hot chocolate, 1 roll lifesavers, 1 pkg. cookies

Day2 - 1 oatmeal, 1 juice box, 1 Ramen, 1 box raisins, 1 MRE, 2 water bottles, 1 fruit snack, 1 hot chocolate, 2 pkgs. cookies

Day 3 - 1 oatmeal, 1 juice box, 1 Ramen, 1 fruit can, 1 can chili, 2 water bottles, 1 fruit snack, 1 hot chocolate, 1 roll lifesavers, 2 pkgs. cookies

Even though we didn't like any of the MRE's we tried, we decided we still wanted to have one MRE, because if we were truly in an emergency, we might want food that was cooked and ready to eat.

In general, I really love our 72 hour kits. I've tried them several ways and so far I like this way the best. If you are struggling to figure out how to put some together, here are some ideas I really like. Most of them came from a class I went to by Jennifer Goldsberry.

This is one of my kids 72 hour kits:

Each person in our family has a backpack. Inside it are the following:

* Food and water for 72 hours including a menu (in Ziploc bags to contain it if anything leaks)

* Clothing - sweatpants, long sleeve shirt, sweatshirt, underwear, 2 pairs of socks, hat, and work gloves (in a big garbage to bag to keep it all dry) (one great tip is to buy everything too big - then you'll know it will fit when you need it, and when you update your kits, you can pull out the clothes that now fit just right and put in new clothes that are too big)

* Shaking flashlight

*poncho

*dust mask (at least N95)

*handwarmers

*emergency blanket

*whistle

* $20 in small change

*names, phone numbers and addresses of our relatives

My 2 year old also has cloth diapers, pins, and rubber pants.

That's it inside their packs. But on the outside is another one of my favorite things. It's a laminated paper that we tied on to the outside of each pack. On one side is a picture of our family. Apparently, if someone in your family is lost, it's great to have an easily accessible picture to ask people if they've seen them. On the other side is the following information about each person:

*Name, phone number, address (first meeting place)

*Information about the person including hair color, eye color, allergies, medications

*Second meeting place location (somewhere in the neighborhood)

*Third meeting place location (somewhere outside of the neighborhood)

*Out of state contact

*Grandparents phone numbers and addresses

*Things that person should grab besides their backpack if they have time

Last time we put our 72 hour kits together, we did a practice drill to see how long it would take us to get everything into our van. It took us 20 minutes grabbing everything on our big list. We thought that was pretty good, but we think we can do it faster now that we've had a trial run. Our big list includes a bigger "garbage can" 72 hour kit, extra water, all our scrapbooks (about 25 of them), the computer, wallets, cell phones, coats, and more.

Two more notes: (1) My backpack and my husband's backpack have more stuff than our kids. We have first aid kits, rope, can openers, a crank radio, and all sorts of things. But that's a list for another day. There are lists all over the web if you need one soon.

(2) 72 hour kits and other "preparedness" jobs take work and money. But you don't have to start big. Just start with something and then revisit it. Every time we come back to our 72 hour kits or our preparedness, we get a little better at it. It usually doesn't have to be done all at one time. (Although, I really like to do stuff like this for birthdays or Christmas because it gives me a present and a deadline all at the same time!)

Get prepared!

One Room Done

I guess if I'm going to be a blogger, I've got to change the way I take pictures. I don't have any before pictures of what I'm going to talk about today, so you can't really see the change, but hopefully, you can imagine it.

Yesterday was our day to clean the boys bedroom. It was pretty much a disaster (see my previous blog). We started at nine in the morning. After an hour and a half, my 5-year-olds stuff was pretty much done, but my 11-years-olds was just scratching the surface. It was a beautiful day (this is a serious weakness I have), so I told all my younger kids they could be done and go play. My 11-year-old wanted to play too, but he could clearly see that his stuff was not done. So he offered me something I find very hard to resist - I could clean his room. I have mixed feelings about this, but I have been trying for years to limit knicknacks on the dresser, clear stuff off the bulletin board, throw out the little broken toys he never plays with (because he can't), and put stuff the way I want it. So I took the opportunity, and he went outside to play.

It took most of the day. I didn't put the last thing away until 10:00 last night, but I finished and now I love to go in that room. Here are some pictures:







We took out 4 bags of garbage, gave one bag to the DI, and found the lost library book. Here are a few things I noticed:
* Less is more. I love looking in those nearly empty drawers and uncluttered dresser. Having more and showing more does not make you "more". Being able to find and use what you do have is the real "more."
* My 9-year-old came in to help me. I let her go through the stuffed animals and of her own accord, she found a bunch that she wanted to send to the DI. I wouldn't have gone there with the stuffed animals, but I'm happy to be rid of them.
* Finishing is hard. I got the whole room clean except the pile of 25 things I didn't know what to do with. To get rid of that pile, I called my kids in and asked if there was anything they knew we didn't need. That got rid of one thing. Then I looked hard to see if there was anything I did know what to do with. I found 5 things I could put away. Then I decided on some things to throw away - 3 more things gone. Then I just left the pile for awhile. I wanted to finish so I could cross it off, but I didn't know how to get rid of the pile. Then I moved the whole pile to the kitchen counter so I could vacuum the room and have the room done. Finally, right before bed, I looked at the pile, made decisions and found a place for everything.
* I love having one place that is completely clean. It makes my whole house feel better.

Springs Arrival and Caving In

This week has felt like spring. The birds are chirping, the sun is shining, the plants are growing, and it feels like my house is caving in on me. In the winter, I like the close, cozy feeling of stuff, but this week of spring has made me want to throw open the windows and throw out the stuff.

So I did. I went through my books (again) and found a bag to give to the DI. I went through my kids winter clothes and got out their spring clothes and found a bag to give to the DI. We cleaned out our toy and game closet (that has had plenty of use this winter). While my kids returned lost pieces to their correct game boxes, I fixed EVERY breaking game box. (We had a bunch of them, and every time I looked in that closet, I felt like everything was falling apart - now it's not so bad). We also cleaned out CD's and tapes, took down George Washington and Abraham Lincoln and cleaned up birthday decorations. I started walking around my house looking for things I could pick up and move. I threw away papers that had floated to the floor and stayed there. I returned a rock collection to its owner, I picked up a pencil that was stuck at a baseboard, and I filed medical papers.

I really want to go through the whole house. On Monday, we are going to tackle my boys room for our Monday project. We're cleaning off dressers, going through drawers, looking under beds, and cleaning out closets. (We're also throwing out candy garbage and hoping to find the missing library book).

I am also working on figuring out how to change our 72 hour kit menu. It's a fairly high priority, because right now they are all sitting in the living room. I don't want to put them away, until they can be packed again. I'll post whatever we decide to do. Until then, off to more spring organization!

Eating Our 72 Hour Kits

Eighteen months ago, we put together our 72 hour kits including packets of food. I had just been to a meeting that talked about 72 hour kits and was encouraged by what I learned about the food to put in. This was our menu:

Day 1
1 cereal bar, 1 juice box, 2 cracker pkgs., 1 fruit cup, stew, 1 water bottle, 1 trail mix, 1 fruit snack, 1 hot chocolate, 1 lifesaver package, 2 packages cookies

Day 2
1 oatmeal, 1 juice box, 1 ramen, 1 fruit cup, 1 MRE (meal ready to eat), 1 water bottle, 1 trail mix, 1 fruit snack, 1 hot chocolate, 1 lifesaver package, 2 packages cookies

Day 3
1 pkg poptarts, 1 juice box, 2 cracker pgks., 1 box raisins, can of chicken, 1 water bottle, 1 trail mix, 1 fruit snack, 1 hot chocolate, 1 lifesaver package, 2 packages cookies

When we put our food packets together, we were all excited to eat them. We all thought they looked great and had a good variety of foods that we would actually eat.

This weekend we took out our 72 hour kits and decided to eat them. The plan was to only eat the 72 hour kit food for 2 days (Saturday and Sunday). As it turned out, we were invited out to dinner both those days, so we only ate our kit food for breakfast and lunch each of those days.

I'm going to tell you how it went, but need to put a few disclaimers. First, food should be rotated more than every 18 months. The original plan was to eat it once a year, but the year came so fast, I thought pushing it off 6 more months would be fine. Second, eating all the food for 9 meals in 4 meals isn't really a true representation of how your food would work for 72 hours, but it was eye opening anyway.

Here's how it went. Most of the food was old and stale. The crackers and trail mix weren't very good at all. We each had different MRE's. None of us had eaten them before, so we cooked each of them, put them on the counter and had everyone try them and rank each of them. The ranking system was don't like, ok-, ok, ok+, and good. No MRE got better than an ok from anyone and most were in the ok- or don't like category. The lifesavers were going soft, the fruit cups looked old, but tasted good, the raisins had dried out, the juice tasted like it had fermented. My kids loved the fruit snacks and the oatmeal was a good choice for breakfast. Ramen was the favorite choice for lunch, although everyone wished for some cheese to put in it. Some of the cookies were lemon sandwich cookies and they were a good choice because the lemon taste was stronger than the stale cookie taste. I ended the first day starving and with a headache, and I ended the second day with a stomach ache.

It was a very eye opening experience. We are in the process of reworking our 72 hour kit food and I"ll let you know when I figure out how it will change.

It was a good thing for us to experience this before we actually need to use our 72 hour kits. We're happy we could try it out in a situation that wasn't too extreme.

Be A Finisher

I was swimming laps this week with my 9-year-old for the first time since I hurt my ankle. I haven't been moving much for the last 3 weeks because of my ankle, so about half way through her laps, I started to get tired. I (slyly) suggested we take a break and come back to finish the rest later. She said, "No mom, I just want to get them finished."

Learning to be a finisher is a great step toward getting organized. What would happen if you always swept the floor AND got the stuff you swept into the garbage can? What would happen if you cleaned out the closet AND put away the loose ends that don't really go back in that closet? What would happen if you shopped for food storage AND got it put away? Finishing empowers you. You can be done with something and move on to something else.

I love to have a list of the things I'm doing AND I love to cross them off when I'm done. The hitch is, I can't cross them off until I'm ALL THE WAY DONE. I love to cross things off my list and it motivates me to finish all the way. But something else happens when I finish all the way - I'm done. I don't have straggly, undone, incomplete, half-way done, everything hanging around me. I'm done.

And something else happens. I start to see what really is important to me. If it's not worth finishing, maybe it's not worth starting.

Try it. Let me know if you finish something and how it works for you.

Flat Surfaces

My husband doesn't like to leave mail for the mailman on the mailbox overnight. And I usually get stuff ready to mail at night. That means I can't always get it ready, put it out, and be done with it. (I really like to only handle things once, so that would be ideal for me). I had some mail tonight and left it on the kitchen counter to put out in the morning. My kitchen counter was cleared off and I noticed that it would be easy to remember to put it out in the morning, because it was the only thing on the counter.

Oh, that it was always that easy. My bedroom is another story right now and it's hard to find anything. Every flat surface is piled too deep and we're spending way too much time looking for things. It's not worth it! We've all got better things to do with our time than looking through piles of stuff for whatever we might need at that moment. What can we do? Here's a couple ideas.

*Handle it once. When you're touching something, put it where it goes - file it, toss it, pay the bill, write it on the calendar - just don't stack it.

*Have a place to put your papers. You can use a filing cabinet, binders, filing containers, notebooks, whatever works for you, but make a place to put your papers - so you can put them there.

*Hole punch. If you're using binders, hole punch your stuff (or put it in plastic sleeves). When it's hole punched, it stays in place and won't be falling out to create another mess for you to sort.

*Make a time to file. I have people over for dinner almost every Sunday and it's great encouragement for me not to have papers all over the piano or counters. Find something that will encourage you to file and do it.

*De-clutter your flat surfaces. The more stuff you have on your flat surfaces, the easier it is to gather papers or other things. Remove your trinkets and items that can find a different home. You'll be surprised how much easier it is to keep clean.

*Decide what to do with magazines and publications. I have a basket for mine that I go through about every 6 - 12 months. (It's a pretty big basket). I have one magazine that I'm keeping indefinitely (my kids go through spurts where they like to go back and read back issues). I also have a stack of great magazines for cutting up, but I keep it to a manageable pile. I have one more magazine that I go through to cut out great pictures and the rest I throw when they are more than 6 months old. I can't keep them longer than that. And I'm never going back to them unless it's through the internet.

*Have places you put things. We like to keep track of our receipts in a computer program, so we have one place our receipts are put until they are entered. We have one place for invitations, tickets, and other things that are coming - we need the information, but the event isn't here yet. When it's there, we always know where to find it.

Create The Environment - It's Official

Create the Environment is the name of my new business and I'm now officially in business (my business license arrived in the mail this week!). Create the Environment is all about creating an environment that supports learning, growing, and living. I've got tons of ideas and lots to do and a whole new part of my life to organize!

Swimming Lessons

Swimming lessons and other lessons have been hard for me to figure out. We've moved around (different states) enough for me to have enough experience with different lessons to know what I like and what I don't. Everytime we take swimming lessons, I'm always hoping the teacher will just have my kids swim laps. But that rarely happens. I also like lessons to be 45 minutes to an hour - otherwise they seem too short. Currently, I haven't found swimming lessons that fit my criteria. They are all short - 30 minutes. It seems like you just get in the water before you're getting out.

So we decided to try a new approach to swimming lessons. We decided to buy a one month pass to our swimming pool and treat it like it was swimming lessons (as an added bonus it cost as much as swimming lessons for 2 kids - we have four kids). We committed to go swimming at least 3 days a week, with the option of going more days. Our kids committed to swimming their age in laps each time we went, and then they could play the rest of the time.

It has been fabulous! Everyone has become much better swimmers. It's not always easy to get ourselves to the pool, but we committed and we've done it. Most weeks we've made it four times a week. Our 2 year old has figured out how to use a life jacket and float on his back with it. He swims around by himself and especially likes to play at the "playground" in the water. Our 5 year old also figured out how to use a life jacket and loves to do the lazy river on his own, throw his goggles and swim after them, and swim back and forth on the bridge. Our 9 year old learned to "butterfly" (and is really good), has learned to swim her laps faster, and has almost learned how to do a handstand in the water. Finally, our 11 year old has become an expert at the weird things in the pool. He likes to swim around under the water and look at what goes on under the water. He has gotten lots faster at swimming his laps and even did 20 laps one day without stopping!

Organizing is about figuring out what works for you. When I couldn't find swimming lessons that worked for us, I figured out something that would. It has exceeded my expectations and hopes. With only one week left of our month at the swimming pool, we're working to fit more visits in, looking forward to summer when we can use our new skills, and excited for April when we'll have time for something new!

My Kids Yearly Jobs

A rotating job chart doesn't work for my family, because all the kids are at different stages and need different jobs to help them grow and help our family run. So every September, my kids get jobs for the year. Sometimes jobs change, and sometimes they stay the same. In general, these are the things they are supposed to do every day without being asked. They still usually have to be asked, but if other things come up, I'm allowed to add to their list of things to do. Every day, everyone has a breakfast, morning, lunch and dinner job. Once a week they have a laundry job, and once a month, my older kids make dinner (see my post a few down).

Here are the current jobs:

11 year old
Breakfast - Wipe off ALL counters and table, take out recycling
Morning (before devotional at 8:30) - Clean/wipe off bathroom counter, 1 daily morning job
Lunch - Wash dishes
Dinner - Wipe off counters and table, put away your age of things in kitchen, Clean up house
Laundry - Gather your room and the kitchen, Load washer, Bring up and put away empty laundry bags, Fold and put away your laundry and kitchen laundry
Once a month - Make dinner

9 year old
Breakfast - Wash dishes
Morning (before devotional at 8:30) - Check diapers and wipes EVERY DAY, 1 daily morning job Lunch - Put away food, wipe off all counters and table
Dinner - Put leftover food in tupperware, Clean up house
Laundry - Gather your room and the bathroom, Unload dryer, Empty lint, Bring clothes to living room, Fold and put away your laundry and towels that go in the hall
Once a month - Make dinner

5 year old
Breakfast - Put away food, clean up toys on kitchen floor or in the hall or entry way
Morning (before devotional at 8:30) - Put covers and pillows on chairs and couches, Put shoes in shoebox
Lunch - Clean up toys on kitchen floor or in the hall or entry way
Dinner - Clear dirty dishes, clean up with Dad, Clean up house
Laundry - Gather your room and mom and dad’s bathroom, Fold and put away your laundry

2 year old
Breakfast - Help clean up toys in kitchen, hall or entry way
Morning (before devotional at 8:30) - Help put shoes in shoebox
Lunch - Clean up toys on kitchen floor or in the hall or entry way
Dinner - Put away hotpads and put food in the fridge
Laundry - Gather your room and towel, Put clean clothes away in your drawer

Camping Checklist

By request, I'm posting my camping checklist. This is a list of everything my family needs to go camping. When it's time to pack for a camping trip, I print it, cross off anything we don't need and then we pack and go. It saves me tons of time because I don't have to remember everything involved in camping. After a camping trip, we evaluate and update our list if there's anything we wished we had.
*Tent
*Hammer
*Sleeping bags
*Matches
*Wood
*Newspaper
*Sink (tub)
*Roasting marshmallow sticks
*dish towels
*dirty clothes bag
*garbage bags (big and little)
*dish soap
*sponge
*knife
*cheese slicer
*can opener
*first aid kit (very important)
*lawn chairs
*mosquito repellant
*sunscreen
*pocket knife
*clothesline/clothespins
*camera/batteries
*water jug
*water bottles
*Uno
*tablecloth
*utensils
*wipes
*paper towels
*flashlights
*camping stove with propane
*lantern
*blanket
*whisk broom
*pitcher
*big bowl (mixing, etc.)
*hiking backpack (binoculars, water, bottle, extra film, trail mix)
*warm stuff in one place (sweatshirts, gloves, hats)
*something to put shoes on outside and inside the tent
*dining tent (if camping for more than one night)
*air mattress
*pump
*tarp for under tent
*salt and pepper
*spatula (for eggs)
*hot pads
*cooking spray
*scissors
*plates you can burn
*socks
*shoes
*dish towels
*rag towels (for wiping up rain)
*garbage bags for putting wet tent, etc. if it rains
*pots to cook in and boil water
*nebulizer/inhaler
*pens
*bathroom hand towel
*hatchet (cutting wood)
*small hand shovel (trench)
*bbq tongs
*gloved hot pad
*washcloth for wiping tablecloth
*cutting board
*aluminum foil
*ziploc bags (Big and little)
*rain gear

I Didn't Think It Would Happen To Me - Another Really Good Reason to Organize Your Life

Last night I was carrying a big laundry basket to the car and stepped off the curb wrong. I just crumpled and ended up with a really twisted, sore, hurting ankle. I've spent today laying on the couch with my foot up and surrounded with ice.

I've wanted to use my laying on the couch time well, so I've sent my kids looking for papers and notebooks I need to get things done while I sit here. Luckily, they've been able to find everything I needed, BUT not always because I could tell them right where it was. They are much more willing to help me when I know where things are and they don't have to look for them.

I never expected to spend today laying on the couch, but isn't life like that? We don't really know what will happen to us, or when it will happen to us, so it's best to be prepared as much as we can. Getting organized is a good way to get prepared!

Everything We Learn Is Helpful

Maybe this doesn't seem like it applies to organizing, but it really does. I just finished building my first ever website. (You can visit it at www.readyraceparty.com). I've probably spent 50 hours building it and 12 of those were today (a beautiful, sunny, spring day). It was hard, and it took SO much time. And there were lots of times when I just didn't know if I could really do this. But I WANTED to do it and I wanted to be able to figure it out. And somehow I did it (with some help and hints from my mentors).

I am so grateful to have all this new knowledge stuck in my head. And I'm so grateful for the all the stuff I've stuck in my head over my lifetime. All of it helps me figure out how to do things when I'm presented with new opportunities and challenges.

And so, to organizing. Start. Try. Tackle. Do. And as you work through it, you'll figure out how to do it and what works for you. And when you have figured it out, you'll be that much more ready to tackle your next adventure!

Dinner - Once a Month

I know dinner once a month doesn't sound like a lot, but I've finally figured out how it works for me. For years I have been trying to figure out the best way to help my kids learn to cook. They've helped me chop vegetables, cook meat, peel fruit, make sandwiches, cook eggs, and tons of other "little" things, but I wondered how they would ever learn to put a whole meal together. I've heard of people who have their kids make dinner once a week, but that wasn't going to work for me. I couldn't count on 2 days a week (I'm just worried about my older kids at this point) being home enough so they could have time to make dinner.

And so . . . last September we added a new job to their jobs - make dinner once a month! The kids check the calendar and figure out what day will work, and then they do it. We have had fabulous food - homemade chicken alfredo, tacos, hawaiian haystacks, potato soup, chicken noodle soup (homemade), homemade french bread sandwiches, and the list goes on. It's not too often so they are willing to do it. It has helped me a lot. On my days "off", I spend time with the little kids or work on my projects. My older kids have learned a lot about how much food they need to make, timing everything to come out together, and just what it takes to make dinner. My nine year old is making her own recipe container with recipes she has made. And my 11 year old is figuring out how many days you could potentially have between making dinners and still be on track (he says it potentially 61 if you have the right months and make dinner the first day of one month and the last day of the next month).

Banana Bread (we couldn't find the bread pan)

Chicken Alfredo with Vegetables

Books

Books are a big deal. If you have a library of great books, it's so much better than having a library of mediocre (or less) books. I believe it's better to have fewer books, than a bunch of dumb ones. I go through my books periodically and weed out all the books that don't have any substance. I can tell what they are because I don't like them when I read them, never want to read them again, or never would recommend them to my kids or anyone else. It's fairly easy with picture books, but I decided to do it with my chapter books too. I started going through my shelves and if there were books that I couldn't remember, I read them. It was very enlightening. I got rid of "James and the Giant Peach" (and a lot of other books I've never missed) that way. I just didn't like it enough to have it in my house.

P.S. It's good to have a collection of great books at home, but don't overwelm yourself with books. Most books only need to be read once or twice, so you might as well check them out at the library! (You won't need to sort them, dust them, organize them, move them, etc.)

Successful Project Day With the Kids

I just wanted to share a successful project day we had this week. Project days are Mondays at our house and the day to get stuff done that needs doing. This week the kitchen needed doing. While I cleaned the stove and microwave, my 2-year-old grabbed his rag and wiped the stove with me. My 5 year old went through the pencils and pens, sharpened them or threw out what didn't work. My 9 and 11 year olds washed the floor, baseboards and bottom cupboards. We spent about 45 minutes and got the kitchen clean! It was one of those happy days when everyone helps and you get something done that needs doing.

Mail and Papers

Papers, mail and projects are close to the top of the list of those things that just keep coming. You can't stop them, so you need to figure out a system of dealing with them - preferably as simply and easily as possible. Here are a few ideas:

* Touch it once. When you bring in the mail, stand by a garbage (or recycling) can and throw away everything you know you don't need. Stay close to the garbage can when you open the mail. Throw away all the add ins and fillers that you don't really need either.

* Pay your bills immediately. Even if you might make a few pennies more in interest by waiting to pay your bills until their due date, you lose them in the effort it takes to keep track of what bills are due when and trying to get them paid on time. Keep your checkbook handy, and as the bills come in, send them back out and file the paid bills - out of sight and out of mind.

* Keep your calendar handy. As the mail brings items to calendar, put them right on. Include time, address (if needed), and phone number (if needed). Then create a holding place for invitations and other papers that may need to be looked at in the next little while. If you need to go back and look at it, you'll be able to find it. If you don't need it again, you can flip through your "holding place" every so often and throw out the ones that are over and done with.

* Create a filing system. Everyone needs a filing cabinet. I asked for one for my 12th birthday and thought it was the best thing I could get! I've loved it ever since. You don't have to spend a lot of money. I've bought them at garage sales for $10. You can also find them at surplus sales, or you can just go out and buy one. But you HAVE to have a way to keep and find papers. Buy a bunch of folders, label them, alphabetize them or put them in an order that makes sense to you and start filing. But don't keep things you know you'll never look at again. Keep the stuff that you need - by law (tax returns) or by reason (financial, important papers like birth certificates, marriage certificates, social security cards, passports, etc.) You can also keep anything you'll use again. If it passes that test (and you have room and you'll be able to find it), you can keep it!

* Make an "I don't know what to do with it yet" place. Mine is a basket - just for papers that need somewhere to go and I haven't found that place yet. Keep it small, go through it when it gets too big, and let your family know about it (so they can put papers they find in it). By putting all those papers in one place, you'll know where to look when you need something, but aren't sure where it is!

Kids and Organizing

Organizing with kids can be a great experience. It definitely takes some up front time and training, but then they get it and they can do it. We talk about organizing so much at our house that my 5 year old boy likes to do it for fun. He'll come to me and say, "Mom, I'm organizing the mittens." or "Mom, I'm a good organizer!" He's really proud that he can organize just like everyone else. So how do you get to that point?

*Invest time. Do organizing with your children. Talk about what you're doing and why. Have them put rubberbands around card games, stack game boxes that are similar sizes and shapes, test out markers and crayons and get rid of the ones no one wants to use, look through books and pull out the ones they don't like anymore. You should also go into their rooms with them. Pull out all the papers, collections and junk in the drawers, and show them how to make piles, and help them think about why they are keeping things. Help them find a place for everything. You can help them see how nice things look when they are organized. All of this works best if you start when they are little (2 is about the right age), but if it's too late for that, it can still work.

*Choose parts of organizing that your kids will enjoy. There are always parts of organizing that are more fun than others. Give ALL the fun parts to your kids. You keep the ones that aren't as much fun. The more good experiences kids have with fun organizing, the more they will believe that organizing IS fun. (and I believe it is.) If they believe it is fun, they will still believe it's fun when they need to do the parts that aren't as fun.

*Give clear instructions and follow up. I asked my 11 year old to organize our flashlights. He did something and told me it was done. When I went to look at it, he had 2 containers - both filled with an assortment of flashlight tops and bottoms (not put together), batteries, night lights, timers, and other gadgets. I said I didn't really think it looked organized. So I gave him clear, specific directions and then he did it. He doesn't thrive on being organized so he needs follow up and detailed directions.

*Let the kids go at it. My nine year old girl does thrive on being organized, so with her, it's best if I just give her an assignment and let her run with it. She will organize deeper and better without instructions. Getting to know your kids and what they need will help you help them learn to organize!

All the Best Ideas

I am really interested in the best ideas out there. If you have a great organization idea that you'd like to share, please leave it here in a comment!

Tying It All Together

I believe there are more important things in organization than others - they are the things you can never get back. They include:

* Time with your kids. (This is not mutually exclusive - your children are capable of helping you get organized.)

*Journals, personal histories, and scrapbooks. These are things that can't be done if they are procrastinated. Children grow, people change, memories fade and disappear. Figure out a way to organize and preserve them while you still remember them.

BUT, we can still work on other things too. The more we recognize the unimportant things and patterns in our life and remove them, the more things we'll have gone FOREVER - freeing up our time, energy and enthusiasm for the things we really want in our lives.

A couple other thoughts:

Just because you're organized, doesn't mean you'll always have a clean house - you may never have a clean house, but when you're organization is down deep, you ALWAYS have the potential to have a clean house.

Being organized also doesn't mean you'll be able to run faster than you are able, it means you don't have to run with road blocks in your way.

Organize for Future Needs and Use

When you're organized, you can see where you're at, what you have, what you don't have, and some of what you'll need. USE that information!

*Have tape, posterboard, new markers, or whatever you use often, on hand.

*Buy food storage you use - on sale.

*Get prepared.

*Have a stash of presents for weddings, birthdays, baby showers.

Preparing frees you up and gives you more time for the other things you want to do.

A List of Some of My Organizing Favorites

1. Shoebox. We have a big chest for shoes right by the door. Our shoes don't always make it into the chest, but the POTENTIAL is there and there is always a place to put them when we do clean up.

2. Clear containers. I'm still in the phase of keeping clothes from older kids to save for younger ones. I have big clear containers for this and I love them. I label each container Boy or Girl and add the age. I limit myself to one container per year - that helps me get rid of the grungy stuff. As my kids grow out of clothes, I put the too small clothes in the previous years container and pull out new clothes from the next one.

3. Stuffed animal container. I don't like stuffed animals very much. But every once in awhile, we need stuffed animals, so I can't just get rid of them. From my previous post, you read that I have them hidden in a closet. I also have them hidden inside the closet. I bought a hanging storage container at IKEA for a few dollars. I love it because it is dump proof. To get any of those animals out, you have to reach in a pull them out - one at a time.

4. Camping checklist. A few years ago on a drive home from a camping trip, we decided to make a list of everything we were glad we took and everything we wished we had taken. I typed it up when we got home and now everytime we go camping, I print it out and we pack. It's eliminated tons of planning time. We also update it based on new camping experiences. A checklist could easily be made for anything you do repeatedly, but not often enough to remember what you really need.

5. File folders. If someone needed to find something for you, could they find it? Could they find it if you told them were to look? Could they find it if they couldn't tell you? You need a system that makes sense to you and makes sense to others.

6. Rotaskof. This is my mom's name for a kitchen junk drawer. I'm ok with having a kitchen junk drawer, but make it junk that you use. I use it as a place for the stuff I use all the time, but usually piles on the counter - keys, phone, camera, etc.

7. Library bookshelf. We use the library often and usually come home with more than 50 books. We have cupboard shelf (with doors) close to where we read that is dedicated to library books. If we don't have any library books, the shelf is empty. It saves lots of time we could spend looking for those books!

8. Bulletin boards. Each of my kids have a bulletin board in their room so they can hang their important stuff. I love them.

9. Basket for papers you don't know what to do with yet. I have a basket for papers I don't know what to do with. I might be waiting for something, deciding what to do about it, or just haven't decided where to put it yet. My family loves it too because when we're cleaning up, they put any papers they don't know what to do with, in my basket!

10. Shoeboxes. I love shoeboxes for things that you want to keep, but never use - specifically birds nests, rock collections, fossils, feather, snakeskins, whatever. I put it in a shoebox, label it and put it on a high shelf in the garage. It's there if we ever need it again, but we don't have to see it until then.

Put Everything Somewhere

You don't have to go out and buy a lot of fancy stuff to get organized. But, you do need to have a place to put things and you need a place to put EVERYTHING you want to keep. By that definition, if you can't find a place for something, it might need to go to the "get rid of" pile.

Here are a few things to keep in mind when looking for places to put things:

*You want things accessible - don't pack tight and stack as little as possible - the more layers you have to go through, the less likely you are to use what you have. If you have to stack, stack deep. It's better to have a long thin line of shampoo, canned goods, or paper cups that is the same all the way back, than a grouping of any other kind. Stacking deep helps you see how much you have and makes everything accessible.

*Make it hard to pull everything out at once (like toys) - this is especially if you have kids. Try not to keep all the toys in exactly one spot - especially if you have younger kids. They tend to get dumped more often than they are played with. I have games in 2 different closets, toys in 3 different closets and the stuffed animals hidden in another closet where no one can find them unless they actually think of them. That means that unless all the closets are opened and emptied, I don't have all my toys out at the same time.

*Put things that are the same together. It used to be that whenever I needed a pen or pencil, the only thing I could find was a pencil that needed to be sharpened. So one day I walked around my house, gathered up all the pencils, sharpened them all, stuck them all in a pencil box and put them in a drawer. Now whenever I need a ton of pencils they are ready and waiting. (I also opened a package of pens and restocked my house with them.) There are tons of things that are better when they are put together - craft supplies, scrapbook supplies, food storage, new supplies (pens, crayons, clothes, Christmas presents, etc.). Keeping everything together helps you see what you have and remember where you put it!

*Contain it. Containing stuff doesn't have to be expensive or fancy - you can use apple boxes (free from the grocery store), baggies, and rubberbands. If you have the money and desire for more, you can buy storage containers (but don't overdo it - they can take over your house) or other containers. I really wanted a chest for our dress-ups, but I couldn't rationalize the money for it. So I asked for it for Christmas and got it. Containing your stuff gives you an easy place to put things. I like to save toilet paper tubes, juice can lids, cards that can be cut up, and all kinds of "doodads" like that. I have one container set aside for that kind of stuff. I know I can keep whatever fits in that container. If it gets too full, I have to go through and get rid of some stuff. It gives me an easy place to put things, but also a limit. Another favorite container place is underbed containers. I can fit 4 big (but not the huge ones) under bed containers and 6 small containers under my bed. I love them because they are very accessible, I don't have to dig deep to get to them, and they are utilizing a part of the house that is usually an organizational disaster. Under my bed I have a container for craft supplies, sewing supplies, unused cards, scrapbook supplies, computer supplies, ribbon, cassette tapes, and tons of old pictures. One more important container - binders or file folders - depending on what papers you are saving and where you hope to keep them. We all have papers we have to save and we've got to have a system for it. I think I'll talk about this one later in more detail.

Steps to Getting Organized - First, Remove the Clutter

The first step to getting organized is to remove the clutter. It opens up space for the things that really matter. I'm not a typical organizer who believes you should get rid of anything you haven't used in the last year. I also don't believe you should get rid of things you like, want, or use. But I do believe that we all have tons of stuff filling our houses that we don't like, don't want, and know we'll never use. That's the stuff to get rid of. It might include:
*towels you got at your wedding
*a hand me down table you're done with now
*McDonald's toys
*teacup saucers - my mom didn't like it when I got rid or mine, but I don't drink tea and I've had a real tea party since and I didn't miss them at all! I also haven't missed moving them the 6 times we've moved, storing them, or worrying about if they broke!
*accidently bought low fat peanut butter (we don't like it, but I was just buying peanut butter and didn't stop to read the label).

This list could easily go on forever, but to generalize, this is stuff you don't like, don't want, know you'll never use, . . . but . . .

*You keep it because someone you love gave it to you. It's pretty safe to say that the person who gave it to you didn't give it to you for you to think about how much you don't like it every time you see it. They want you to think good thoughts about them. So if you don't like it, don't want it, or know you'll never use it, don't keep it!

*It's still good. Some of us keep things because they are still good - even if we don't like it, don't want it, and know we'll never use it. Don't keep it! If it's still good, it's still good for someone else. Give it away or sell it. It might be just the thing that someone else really wants!

* Broken toys, furniture, etc. These you may really love. I have a broken tricycle in my garage right now and it can't really be fixed. Every time I look at it, I love it, but I also feel sad EVERY TIME I see it. And I spend time feeling sad it's broken. If I got rid of it, I'd stop seeing it and stop having to revisit the sadness that it's broken.

*You spent money on it. Buying the wrong peanut butter, or buying clothes that just don't fit right also fit into the sadness/guilt category. If you keep it because you spent money on it, you keep feeling guilty every time you see it, but if you get rid of it, it's over and done.

There are things you can do to help you feel better about cleaning out your clutter:

* Put wrong food buys in a box ready for the next food collection event - boy scouts, post office, or food drive. It's still good food - just not exactly what you want and as a bonus, you may already be ready for that event.

* Give it away. I had 2 sister missionaries at my house one day and they happened to mention they didn't have an iron. I had 2 irons so I gave one to to them. I've never missed it and have been happy not to have it cluttering up my laundry area.

* Throw it out. If you have stuff without use, throw it out. McDonald's toys, papers, garbage - just throw it out and be done with it.

* Give it to the DI or a thrift store. You can feel good that someone else can use it. Make a place in your house to collect the stuff to give away so when you find something you want to give away, you have a place to put it until you can drop it off.

* Sell it. Have a garage sale or sell it on ebay.

Whatever you decide, don't keep the stuff you don't like, don't want, or won't use. There is NO reason to keep, store, clean, move, pack, haul, and shuffle around stuff we don't even like.