Weekly Project: Survive The Week

Ivy says:

This week I only have one goal, and that’s to get through this week. Every once in awhile, we all have weeks like this. Overscheduled, too much to do, not enough time for it all. I keep my schedule on my MacBook’s iCal program, and I’ve been watching this week loom for the past few weeks. I opened my iCal this morning and here it was, the week I’ve been dreading. Schedule: full.

Life coaches and organizational experts everywhere tell you not to let yourself get overscheduled, but I think it’s one of life’s inevibilities. The key, I think, is to make sure it doesn’t happen constantly, and when it does, arrange for as much help as possible. Also, turn down things that are non-essential.

One of the things that is greatly helping out this week is being able to trade carpooling responsibilities with another parent for my son’s band camp. The other mom has to be at work in the morning, so I take the morning drive, and she’s home in time to pick them up for the evening drive. It saves time and gas money- everybody’s happy.

So, when you’re facing a week like this, ask yourself if you can get help. Make sure everything is scheduled with plenty of time to drive the places you need to drive, and make sure you get enough sleep. You’ll be able to jam everything in there, somehow.

Or, that’s what I keep telling myself. Wish me luck.

Weekly Project: Getting That Email Under Control

Ivy says:

Anyone who has ever emailed me knows- I’m very haphazard about whether or not I’ll reply. It’s not that I don’t want to reply or anything, I just am extremely disorganized when it comes to email. I’ve been using the email program that comes with my Mac OSX software lately, and I’ve been even worse than usual about remembering to respond to email. So I’ll be going back to Thunderbird for my email client, and then I’ll be searching all around the ‘net for good tips on email organization.

So, let’s hear it from you, Home Eccers- how do you keep your email under control?

Weekly Project #2: The great laundry debacle

Ivy says:

This week’s project is going to be loads of fun. Well, loads of something, anyway. Yes, Home Eccers, it’s time to actually catch up on the laundry once and for all, and get rid of all non-fitting, ugly, stained, or otherwise not-fabulous clothing. Let’s look at the schedule, shall we?

Monday: The gathering phase. This is my least favorite part. It’s not so bad when you just take baskets of clothing into the laundry room and do the laundry. No, since this is a special project, our goal is to find all the laundry. This includes all laundry hiding out under the bed, in the bathroom, on the closet floors, everywhere. I didn’t wait to start the laundry until I had it all gathered, either. I threw in a load first thing this morning. Since it’s really hot here, I’m drying about half the loads outside and drying half the loads inside.

Tuesday: The already-clean clothes fashion show. When I do each load, I’m asking the kids if the clothing fits, if they like it, etc. But my husband is off on Tuesday, so we’ll do his clothes while he’s home. Also, I’ll go into the kids’ drawers and closets and go through that stuff. That’s where I expect to find the most stuff to get rid of.

Wednesday: Donation day #1. All the stuff that’s nice enough to donate will be donated. All the stuff that’s not nice enough is going to either be made into rags or thrown away. Because, really, how many rags do you really need?

Thursday: Finishing up odds and ends. By then I should have the laundry finished, so I’m going to finish up anything else that’s not finished and get the little stuff like potholders and rag rugs and wash them. I’m also going to thoroughly clean my laundry room, which also happens to be where the cat boxes reside. Ewww.

Friday: Donation day #2 and shopping. I’m going to go through the house completely and make sure there’s nothing left to be donated. It always seems like I somehow manage to leave a bag behind, but this time I’m not going to. I’m also going to stop at the thrift shops to pick up any items we’re seriously short on. For example, I know my daughter will be needing some more shorts. She just sprung up a size out of nowhere and has been lamenting that she only has jeans that fit her. We’ll fix that on Friday.

On Saturday and Sunday, I’ll  be relaxing!

What are you working on this week, Home Eccers?

Weekly Project #1: The Great Cabinet Clean-out

Ivy says:

Now that summer is into full swing, I usually have more time to get things done because now I have helpers who are normally in school. So, I’m doing a project a week to get my house into shape! You can follow along as I do the projects and do them with me, or you can tell me what you’re working on this week!

This week’s project is to clean out all my kitchen cabinets and drawers. Yikes- this is a scary proposition as I have one very terrifyingly messy “junk drawer” that is going to be interesting to clean and organize. The neat thing about taking a week to do a project is you don’t have to spend hours and hours on your cleaning. Today, I’m going to clean out the refrigerator and wash it thoroughly. Tomorrow, I’ll do the dishes and pots and pans cabinets. This shouldn’t be too hard, but I’ll be sure to get rid of any items I’m not using, and pull out all the dishes/pots and pans and wash down the insides and outsides of the cabinets as well.

Wednesday is the great drawer day. I’ll pull everything out of the drawers and reorganize and wash the drawers down, inside and out. Thursday is pantry day- all the food stuff in cabinets will be checked to make sure it isn’t too old, organized (is anybody else’s spice cabinet a mess? Mine is.), and of course, the cabinets will be washed, inside and out.

Friday I’ll clean all the appliances- microwave, dishwasher, stove, oven, toaster, and all the other little appliances that sit out. Finally, on Saturday I’ll catch up with anything I haven’t finished and I’ll do my usual thorough kitchen cleaning- sinks, mop, etc. Sunday I’ll rest, natch.

The weekly projects will be like spring cleaning in a way, but not all tasks are going to be cleaning. Some things I hope to accomplish this summer are to stain my deck and make some reusable grocery bags. Is there anything you’d like to see me do this summer? Leave a comment telling me what and I’ll see what I can do!