Thursday, October 13, 2011

time management

with the arrival of this baby girl coming closer and closer, i am trying to seriously stay on top of things up in here.

in the spirit of that, a few time management updates:

 freezer meals from our day of cooking are like the best thing ever!
i hate when 5 o'clock rolls around and i don't know what to make for dinner.
but meal planning, when i know i only have 4 nights to plan, because 3 nights can be freezer meals/leftovers, is a lot less daunting! it is so nice to be able to pull a dinner out of the freezer in the morning, throw it in the crockpot for a few hours, or the oven for an hour, and voila!
delicious dinner.

and everything's been tasty so far!
so far we've tried the chili, white chicken chili, chicken pot pie, enchiladas, corn chowder, and lasagna. oh and both the shredded chicken and ground beef we had made extra's of.
love it and 2nd day of cooking is scheduled for next week!

cleaning schedule is still going strong. it's been almost a month and i'm still on track.
here's how i started (ever so many years ago). i wrote down every room/chore and how often they need to be cleaned and divided them over a 2 week period. it used to be 1 week, and i even used to have a day for shopping set aside, but with every move and every new baby i've had to adjust. i will probably be adjusting very soon, but for now it's working. here's how it works.

week 1:
(every) *monday i do all my floors on the first floor. i shark all the wood and vacuum all the carpets and do laundry.
*tuesday - my room, bathroom, and closet
*wednesday - addie's room and mudroom
(every) *thursday - all the first floor floors again and kitchen - cleaning out fridge, organizing pantry, wiping stainless steel, etc.
*friday - frankies room and girls bathroom upstairs

week 2: 
*monday - floors/laundry
*tuesday - formal living room and powder room
*wednesday - family room (it gets picked up many times every day, but it's nice to have a day to clean out the computer desk and pay special attention to small details that should be done regularly) and formal dining room
*thursday - floors/kitchen
*friday - basement and downstairs bathroom

that leaves saturday clear. :)
the only problem is stuff like windows, that i've never cleaned in the 2+ years we've lived here.
i did vacuum my truck out last saturday, so that was nice.
when i actually stay on top of my cleaning schedule it works so famously.

i also found this amazing new dry shampoo.
looooooove.
as allie pointed out, you can't use it every day, but a little refresh between washes?
yes, thank you!
(disclaimer: i've only used it twice, but so far, two thumbs up!)

sarah and i participated in our 2nd kid swap this week and last and it went swimmingly. i was able to get 2 days of work done, tackle 2 projects that were left over from my summer list, and take some time for me.
 awesomeness.

all this staying on top of things has even left me with enough time to coupon a little bit. nothing like i used to, but that's ok. every little bit helps, i always say.

preschool is still running like a dream. we take turns teaching and helping and watching the leftover little ones like we've been doing it forever. and addie's told me all about safety ("if there's a fire, we have to get low and go, and crawl like frankie"), tuba's, and constellations. love that she's broadening her horizons!

i'm always looking for ways to make life easier! these are just a few things that i've found that have worked for me. :) 

4 comments:

The Ainas said...

I used to have a cleaning schedule like that when we lived on our own. I should get back to that... :)

Kori Wilson said...

Love the idea of a cleaning schedule. I am going to implement one here. Where did you find the recipes for your freezer meals? I never can tell what will freeze well.

Lana said...

I love the new header! so cute!!

The two old crows said...

When I had a family I had a schedule, maybe I should try that again and something would get done. I could always tell, Sid could too, when the baby was coming because I would start getting all the loose ends done. With one baby it was canning all the pumpkins in one day, with another one I thought the yard had to be weeded, mowed and put in order, with me doing it. hehe. I did it anyway but that day it was really important.,