Routines After Vacation – Getting Organized

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Getting Organized:
In your home and homeschool

Dear Friends,

After talking about preparing for vacation and settling back in, the most natural topic for today is getting back into your routines after a vacation. (This actually applies to getting back to routines after any kind of disruption.)

For those of you who are just establishing basic routines, it is hard to get back on the wagon again. Think about the last time you committed to a new diet or a new exercise program. What happened when it was disrupted with a trip, sickness, a long weekend, or an off day? It fell off the radar.

This has happened to all of us. What you have to do is recommit yourself. Make yourself sticky notes to remind yourself of your goals. Put reminders on your digital calendar. Write reminders on your paper calendar. Do whatever works for you to get your attention.

My basic routines are the same every day. (I am talking about the routines that are essential.)

We have a tendency to add in things to our routines, and then things become too cumbersome to keep up, and when they are disrupted, we lose momentum. Things fall off from the routines.

For the rest of this month, I want you to focus on BASIC routines. The most simple and basic things you need to do to have peace and calm.
Morning Routine (from The FlyLady):
  1. Make Your Bed
  2. Get Dressed Down to the Shoes
  3. Swish and Swipe
  4. Check Your Calendar
  5. Start a Load of Laundry
  6. What’s for Dinner?
Afternoon Routine (from The FlyLady):
  1. Eat Lunch
  2. Clear Off a Hot Spot
  3. Reboot the Laundry
  4. Declutter for 15 minutes
  5. Exercise for 15 Minutes
  6. Drink Your Water
Before Bed Routine (from The FlyLady):
*Starts right after dinner*
  1. Check Your Calendar
  2. Shine Your Sink
  3. Pick Out Clothes for Tomorrow
  4. Set Items at Your Launch Pad
  5. Wash Your Face and Brush Your Teeth
  6. Go to Bed at a Decent Hour
All of these help you keep your home running smoothly. If you practice just these routines, you will be able to keep them going no matter what disrupts your schedule. You will actually feel more peaceful when you have these established as habits.

The only additions I recommend are doing your Weekly Home Blessing either once a week or one of the per day and a quick Zone Mission per day from The FlyLady.

If you have a laundry monster in your home, figure out how many loads per day you need to do. One load a day may not be enough if you have a large family.

Many of these routines will be done when you travel, too, so it will help you to keep doing as many as possible when you travel.

If you are struggling, please just keep things simple. Email me with questions.

Your Zone Mission today is to declutter 1 drawer or cabinet in the main bathroom.

Your Home Blessing for today is to wipe your windows and mirrors.

My menu plan for Wednesday is taco soup. (I cooked hamburger meat in bulk in Monday.)

Have a great day!

Getting Back Home After Vacation

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Getting Organized:
In your home and homeschool

 

Dear Friends,

Yesterday, I shared about preparing for vacation in small steps. Today I want to share with you how to settle back into your routines in small steps after a vacation.

Our vacation was a road trip. We had a 6 hour drive home, so we were tired when we got home. But let me back up a little bit to tell you how I got us ready to load up to head home.

The night before we came home, my mom and I went through the refrigerator after dinner. We tossed the food that we were not bring home. We pulled out food that would make good snacks that evening. We combined items that could be combined. We checked the freezer and used what we could for evening snacks from there as well.

We also went through the dry goods and snacks. I packed a snack bag for each van. We got the coolers back out and ready to load the next morning with whatever was in the fridge after breakfast the next morning.

We did laundry that night. I encouraged the boys to organize their stuff. They washed off items outside to remove as much sand as possible. I organized my clothing and bathroom items. Basically, anything we would not needed was put in the suitcases. We laid out our clothes and shoes for the next morning.

On Friday morning, everyone had time to have a last visit on the beach. When it was time to load the vans, it was easy to finish packing because of our prep work the night before.

After a long ride home, we all worked together to unload the van. We started a load of laundry because we always have dirty clothes. We unpacked the cooler and put away the food items. Each person took his or her own suitcase and unpacked it. All told, it took 2 hours to get unpacked, and we did not push and work really hard. We worked as a team. Then we all had time to relax and enjoy the rest of the weekend at home.

On Saturday and Sunday, we were able to rest and relax and have fun without the unpacking hanging over our heads. I realize that many of you reading this have much younger children than mine are now. In the early years, I prioritized what got unpacked, and I used a staging area to work through it a little at a time. It took a couple of days that way, but I never made it a stressful thing to do. I just started with thee cold food, pantry food, dirty laundry, unpack for myself and the little ones, put away bathroom stuff, and put away the beach toys.

Use a timer to keep you form overdoing it and burning out. Getting back into your regular routines will take a few days. I will talk about that tomorrow.

Your Zone Mission today is to detail clean around the toilet.

Your Home Blessing for today is to dust and vacuum.

My menu plan for Tuesday is fish and shrimp.

Have a blessed day!

Preparing for Vacation – Getting Organized

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Dear Friends,
zone-3-july-2017
Last week I was on vacation with my family. For most of us the least fun parts of vacation are getting ready and returning home. I will divide my topics up and talk about getting ready for vacation today, and tomorrow, I will talk about getting back home.
With a large family, I had to develop a packing list that I could use from year to year. I set up an Excel spreadsheet several years ago, and I pull it up each year to use as a reference tool. I have several columns. (I should switch this to a Google document that I can share with my family rather than printing it out.)
  • Groceries and Sundries to buy when we arrive.
  • Kitchen stuff and linens that I will take.
  • Household items my mom will bring.
  • My mom’s general packing list.
  • My general packing list.
  • A packing list for the boys.
I also make a loose menu plan. We rent a house for the week, so we have a full kitchen. I write down ideas for breakfast, lunch, and dinner in pencil. Once we get there, I can change stuff around. But this helps me reign in the grocery budget. We eat out on the way there and on the way back. Sometimes, we eat out while on vacation. Mostly, we take turns cooking simple meals.
Last week, here is what the plan looked like.
Breakfast – choices of bacon, eggs, grits, sausage, biscuits and gravy, Pop Tarts, cereal.
Lunch – sandwiches or leftovers or freezer options – pizza, taquitos, pizza pockets
Dinner – paella, chicken, steak and gravy, Low Country Boil, fish
Some years, we have taken the slow cooker with us and made beef roast, turkey, or pork roast. We had had tacos, lasagna, and hot dog night. We like to keep it simple and enjoy our vacation.
The week before we left, I put down one thing to accomplish each day to help me prepare for the trip. This included getting the kitchen stuff and food together, linens, packing clothes for me, bathroom items, overseeing the boys packing their clothes, getting beach stuff together, paying bills, stopping the mail delivery, having someone check on the house and pets, etc.

I kept my list in simple steps. Some days I did two things. It was not stressful for me the day before we left. I had everything ready at the launch pad when it was time to pack. The only last minute packing was the cooler and a few of my bathroom items.

The boys and I travel a lot to homeschool conventions in the spring, and they are really good at following a packing list. I still check their bags, but they are responsible for packing their stuff. I have talked to many of you who still pack for your children. If they are 8 years old or older, give them a list, and let them pack. Check it when they are done. The first few times, they will miss items, but if you keep giving them a list, they will get better at it.
Your Zone Mission today is to declutter and shine your bathroom counter tops. Your extra room is to spend 15 minutes decluttering in the garage.
Your Home Blessing for today is to wash sheets.
My menu plan for Monday is hamburgers.
Have a great day!
Siggie - Tami Fox

Wrapping Up Your Week

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Getting Organized:
In your home and homeschool

 

Dear Friends,

On Friday, you sometimes look back at your week and wonder what happened to it? The plans you made did not happen. You got sidetracked more than once. You didn’t get around to much of the stuff on your list. You start to think negatively. I want you to stop doing that right now!
Each day is a success. Work your routines. Establish habits for yourself and your children.

Keep your expectations low.

Each morning I write down 6 things I need to do that day on a sticky note. These are thing extra little things above and beyond my routines. Most days this means writing articles for you to read. Doing some Pinterest Pinning. Decluttering 1 area. Paying Bills. Making phone calls. My Home Blessing of the Day.

You can see these are things that could slip through the cracks, but I am keeping it reasonable. I am working these things into my day. Most of the time, I accomplish them in the afternoon. Sometimes, I accomplish them after dinner. Rarely do I accomplish them in the morning.

If things pop up, I can move something to the next day. With my son’s therapy and doctor’s appointments 4 or 5 days a week, I keep my expectations on accomplishing stuff really low. That way, I feel successful every day when I check these things off.

Many of you are perfectionists, and you like to make LONG lists. You want to see a lot of stuff accomplished every day. You get angry at yourself when you don’t accomplish it all. You get grumpy. You are not happy. Your family knows this and starts walking on eggshells around you.

So today, I want you to keep it simple!

Today’s Zone Mission is to wipe down the stove and microwave.

Your Home Blessing for today is to empty the trash, sweep, and mop.

My menu plan for Friday is take out of some kind.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Daily Hot Spots

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Getting Organized:
In your home and homeschool

Dear Friends,

Are you dealing with your Hot Spots for 15 minutes a day? In talking to ladies, I have learned that many of you feel discouraged that you have to deal with the same hot spots over and over again.

In some ways, this will get better as you declutter, but as long as you have a family with children in the house, you can expect that Hot Spots will develop daily. Usually, they develop in the same places because we are creatures of habit.

You use this to your advantage and build in the habit of dealing with Hot Spots daily.

I deal with my kitchen Hot Spot each night after I shine the sink. This is a part of my Before Bed Routine. Some call it puttering around. It is relaxing for me.

When I get up in the morning, it makes me happy to see a shiny sink and a cleared off kitchen island. Right now, it is not cleared off completely. It is not a raging fire, but it is not done for the day. When I finish writing this, I will get up and start my Before Bed Routine.

If your family leaves things on your Hot Spot, you can ask them to come get their things and put them away. Usually the stuff on my kitchen island is the stuff they are not sure where to put it.

My husband does use this as a launch pad for his stuff for the next morning. It is helpful to him if I have put the other stuff away.

Another Hot Spot is the entryway. Every person that walks into your home wants to drop things as soon as they walk into the door. You can train them to put their things away. You can set up an organizational system near the entryway if that is also your launch pad area. Don’t let this area be a dumping grounds.

Decide the best time of day for you to spend 15 minutes dealing with Hot Spots. As time goes on, you will only need to spend 2 to 3 minutes a day on them.

You are doing a great job!

Today’s Zone Mission is to declutter and wipe the kitchen counters.

Your Home Blessing for today is to declutter paper and magazines.

My menu plan for Thursday is fish and a salad.

Have a great day!

Pick It Up Day

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Getting Organized:
In your home and homeschool

Dear Friends,

After a few days of celebrating and having fun, your house probably needs a little pick up time. Today, we are going to make that a game for everyone to play.

First, start your laundry right after breakfast today. I know you have some to do.

Now, write down five areas that need to be cleaned up.

Number them 1-5. Make out slips of paper with the numbers 1-5 written down. Put these slips of paper in a bowl or hat.

Get your fun music ready to go. Get your timer out.

Draw the first number. Tell everyone what area has been drawn, and they have 5 minutes to make it look great. Set the timer and go!

Do this four more times. This should not take too long, and it will help you get the hot spots tamed down.

Check your menu plan. Do you need to lay something out for dinner tonight?

Next, have you done your Home Blessings each day, or do they need to be done, too?

Use your timer and divide and conquer!

When my floors need to be done, I set one person off with the broom to sweep. I set the second person off behind him to mop. I have one area rug that another person can vacuum in 2 minutes. While they are doing this, I can do a quick dusting job. Then, we can have a paper gathering session. While I trash papers, they can start collecting trash in the other rooms and meet me back in the kitchen. While they take the trash outside, I can do a quick swipe of the windows and mirrors.

Do you see how I have learned to make my Home Blessings roll into the next thing? Keep training your children. It is worth it! They need to know how to do it, and they can help you!

Your Zone Mission today is to declutter the science experiments from the fridge.

Your Home Blessing for today is to wipe your windows and mirrors.

My menu plan for Wednesday is chicken and salad.

Have a great day!

Happy 4th of July

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Getting Organized:
In your home and homeschool

 

Dear Friends,

Today’s email will be short and sweet. Go and enjoy your day with your family. Make memories. Have fun.

Tell everyone what the plan is. Divide and conquer what needs to be done in order to accomplish your plan.

Eat breakfast. Do the dishes, so you have a shiny sink. Do a QUICK swish and swipe in the bathroom. Make your bed. Get dressed down to the shoes. Brush your hair and brush your teeth.

There is your QUICK Morning Routine in a nutshell. Don’t make it complicated. You have time for fun with your family.

Most of our 4th of July celebrations involve water and fishing. Big surprise, huh?

Tell me what you did to celebrate today.

Your Zone Mission today is to spend 2 minutes decluttering the Entryway.

Your Home Blessing for today is to dust and vacuum.

My menu plan for Tuesday is fish and shrimp.

Have a blessed day!

Celebrating Holidays

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Getting Organized:
In Your Home and Homeschool

Dear Friends,

Many of you are in the midst of a long weekend with the 4th of July coming tomorrow. You have probably had a cookout (or you will be having one) and relaxed your routines. That is okay. Your routines are not a straight-jacket. They are there to give you freedom to have fun.
Enjoy this Holiday with your family. Invite friends or family over to your home.
Pack up a picnic and go on an adventure. Look for events in your town. Many have parades and celebrations going on. Check to see where there will be a fireworks display.
You can make homemade ice cream and have water games at home. It does not have to be complicated.
This is a time to make memories and enjoy your family.
Talk about WHY we celebrate Independence Day every year. Start a tradition to do something to commemorate the Holiday. You are tying heart strings when you do this.
A little over a month ago my son was in a terrible car accident. Since then, I have had friends lose their young adult children. I have had friends whose child was in a terrible car accident like my son. I am grateful for each day with my family. I do not take the time we have together for granted.
My routines help me have peace, and they allow me to enjoy Holidays and have fun with my family.
Your Zone Mission today is to declutter and sweep the front porch.
Your Home Blessing for today is to wash sheets.
My menu plan for Monday is paella (Spanish version of chicken and rice with a few other things, too.).
Have a great day!

Five Things I Love About Being a Mom

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Getting Organized:
In your home and homeschool

 

Dear Friends,

Last week I read an article that was designed to be an honest opinion on how someone felt about being a mom. It had a very negative tone to it. It made me feel sad when I read it. I wanted to put together an article that is equally as honest and much more encouraging.

Here are 5 Things I Love About Being a Mom:

Playing with my Kids

Being a mom is a blessing. I am able to spend a lot of time with my kids. I love playing with them and enjoy our time together. There is always something fun going on with a house full of boys. They come up with some interesting games, and they can turn anything into a competition.

When they were little, learning was playing, and now that they are bigger, we still play games that teach them things. My day is always made better by spending time with my boys. They make me laugh until I cry many days.

This week alone I have been swimming with them twice, and I took them kayaking. While they were in their kayaks, I was on a paddle board.

Developing Life Long Relationships with my Kids

From the many hours I have spent with my kids, I have developed deep relationships with them. I do not take for granted that I am with my kids a lot. Even though I work from home, I make time to talk to my kids daily. For the two who do not live at home, I text and talk to them regularly.

Time spent working alongside my children as they learn tasks helped build our relationships, too. Sometimes, we can look back as they were learning a skill, and it was hard at first. But we can see the fruits of it as they get better at the skill.

There are also times when we end up laughing at how a skill was learned through trial and error. It is okay to make mistakes in learning, and I have learned with my children that it is okay to laugh about those mistakes later.

Teaching My Kids Good Habits – Eating, Exercise, and Rest

For good or bad, our children learn habits from us. I strive to model good habits for my children in the hopes that they will take these good habits with them into adulthood. I encourage my children to try different foods, and sometimes this means I am also trying new foods. As a former picky eater, this has been a huge thing for me.

My children see me exercising daily, and sometimes they join me. Mostly, they are active all on their own. Some days I wish I could bottle up all of their energy. We had a bedtime for both the children and adults in our home. On the nights that we have stayed up too late, they have learned what it feels like to get up the next day.

Learning Alongside my Kids

Being a mom has taught me a lot! I have learned alongside my children from the time they were babies. When we started homeschooling, I found a new love for learning as I was teaching them. I so appreciate this time I have had to learn with them. I am blessed that I have been a part of their learning process. There are so many little trivial facts that I know now. Maybe I need to be in a trivia contest and put all this information to use. Learning is fun!

Finding Joy on the Hard Days

Not every day is sunshine and roses. On the hard days, I have to look for joy. With a large family, there are plenty of difficult days, but they are greatly outnumbered by the great days. Any day that I am upright and able to move is a great day.

Looking for joy can feel like a scavenger hunt some days. Like the rainbow at the end of a summer rain, the joy can be found. Looking back on the years of potty training and sleepless nights, they passed swiftly. My new normal with three teens in the house means different kinds of stress. The hard days need to be met with grace and a little humor.

Today’s Zone Mission is to have a Hot Spot Fire Drill.

Your Home Blessing for today is to empty the trash, sweep, and mop.

My menu plan for Friday is pizza and a salad.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Rainy Day Activities

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Getting Organized:
In your home and homeschool

What do you do for fun on rainy days?

The late spring and early summer have been very wet in Western North Carolina. We have had lots of afternoons of pop up thunderstorms. This inhibits some of our outdoor activities. I need a plan B for the rainy days because I do not want the boys to spend lots of time on their electronics.

Do you have a list of rainy day activities? (This could be for any kind of inclimate weather.)

We love board games. A long version of Monopoly can make a rainy afternoon pass quickly. We also enjoy playing Rummicub, Uno, Sequence, Yahtzee, Sorry, Trouble, and more!

We have also worked on jigsaw puzzles and played with Playdough and Legos on rainy days.

If it is just a rain, the boys love to play in mud puddles. It’s not safe to do this during a thunderstorm though.

We also enjoy arts and crafts to pass the time on a rainy day. I keep a supply of markers, paper, paint, brushes, and more on hand.

Rainy days do not have to mean lots of TV time or electronics.

Today’s Zone Mission is to have a 27 Fling Boogie. Find 27 things to throw away or give away.

Your Home Blessing for today is to declutter paper and magazines.

My menu plan for Thursday is chicken and a salad.

Have a great day!