Tami Fox

Wipe Down The Microwave – Getting Organized

Posted on April 8, 2016 by Tami

Getting Organized:

In your home and homeschool

It’s the last day in Zone 2 – The Kitchen. Today I want you to wipe down your microwave inside and out, and if you have time wipe down your stove top well. I try to wipe my microwave down at least monthly, but I will wipe it down anytime I see that someone has splattered in it. I put water in a coffee mug and add a little lemon juice. I microwave it for 30 to 45 seconds to steam the inside of the microwave, and then I wipe it down with a FlyLady purple cloth. To clean my flattop stove, I wet a purple cloth and wipe it down. Easy Peasy.

Have a great week-end!

If you have any questions or tips, please email me. I enjoy hearing from my readers.

Zone Mission: Detail Clean and Declutter Your Entryway

Here is your downloadable April 2016 Calendar with Zone Missions.

Routines:

Home:

Make Your Bed (Do this as soon as you get up.)
Get Dressed Down to Your Shoes
Swish and Swipe
Start Your Laundry
Decide on Dinner
Check Your Calendar
Start the Day off with a Shiny Sink. Don’t leave the breakfast dishes sitting.

School:

Schedule a field trip for this winter. If you can’t think of one, do some research. See what’s going on close to you.

Afternoon Routine:

Eat Lunch
Clear off One Hot Spot
Reboot the Laundry
Declutter for 15 Minutes (Be sure to have your children declutter, too.)
Drink Your Water

Before Bed: (This starts right after dinner.)

Check the Calendar for Tomorrow
Lay out Your Clothes for Tomorrow (Have your children lay their clothes out, too.)
Put things at your launch pad
Shine Your Sink
Clean Off a Hot Spot
Go to Bed at Decent Hour

Declutter One Kitchen Drawer – Getting Organized

Posted on April 7, 2016 by Tami

Getting Organized:

In your home and homeschool

Let’s declutter one drawer in the kitchen today. The picture above is actually my junk drawer. It is not a stock photo. I am being real with this pic. It is organized, but it still has too much stuff in it. My rule of thumb is that it must open and close easily, and it does. So I am not going to be a perfectionist with it. I have several items in it that we like to have handy in the kitchen versus somewhere else in the house. Set your timer for 15 minutes and declutter one drawer. You pick the one that needs the attention. In actuality, I should probably work in my drawer of flatware. The boys help put things away, and it gets a little jumbled.

Zone Mission – Declutter One Kitchen Drawer

Routines:

Home:

Make Your Bed (Do this as soon as you get up.)
Get Dressed Down to Your Shoes
Swish and Swipe
Start Your Laundry
Decide on Dinner
Check Your Calendar
Start the Day off with a Shiny Sink. Don’t leave the breakfast dishes sitting.

School:

Look at your bookshelves. Do you need to do some reorganizing or purging?

Afternoon Routine:

Eat Lunch
Clear off One Hot Spot
Reboot the Laundry
Declutter for 15 Minutes (Be sure to have your children declutter, too.)
Drink Your Water

Before Bed: (This starts right after dinner.)

Check the Calendar for Tomorrow
Lay out Your Clothes for Tomorrow (Have your children lay their clothes out, too.)
Put things at your launch pad
Shine Your Sink
Clean Off a Hot Spot
Go to Bed at Decent Hour

Declutter One Kitchen Cabinet – Getting Organized

Posted on April 6, 2016 by Tami

Getting Organized:

In your home and homeschool

Today I want you to pick one kitchen cabinet to declutter and organize. I don’t want you to obsess about this. I know the picture above shows a really orderly spice cabinet, and if you like that, then great. But if it is more than you can handle, then just declutter. Throw out old spices, if that is the area you pick to work in. I actually keep my spices in a plastic bin in my cabinet. I pull it out when I need it. If I have too many spices to fit, then I have to think down what I have. The goal is to use the space you have wisely without things falling out when you open the door. Some people like to keep spices in a drawer, and that is fine, too. If you have a plastic container cabinet that is overflowing, that might be the area you want to focus on this week. Just pick the cabinet that gives you the most grief when you open it or try to get something out of it. You can make it better in just 15 minutes.

Zone Mission: Declutter and organize one cabinet in your kitchen.

Grocery Shopping and Errand Day – Take your list, pack snacks, and water bottles.

Home:

Make Your Bed (Do this as soon as you get up.)
Get Dressed Down to Your Shoes
Swish and Swipe
Start Your Laundry
Decide on Dinner
Check Your Calendar
Start the Day off with a Shiny Sink. Don’t leave the breakfast dishes sitting.

School: Are you doing a read aloud book for the whole family? If not, pick one out and read at lunch time or in the evening. It will bring a new dimension to your school day.

Afternoon Routine:

Eat Lunch
Clear off One Hot Spot
Reboot the Laundry
Declutter for 15 Minutes (Be sure to have your children declutter, too.)
Drink Your Water
Errand day: Make your plan for grocery shopping and errands. Pack water bottles and snacks for everyone. Pack up your library books that need to be turned in.

Family Fun: Plan a fun activity while you are out. I am in the habit of checking for free activities that are going on while we are out doing errands.

When you get home from doing errands, have everyone work together to unload and put away everything.

Before Bed: (This starts right after dinner.)

Check the Calendar for Tomorrow
Lay out Your Clothes for Tomorrow (Have your children lay their clothes out, too.)
Put things at the Launch Pad that you will need first thing in the morning
Shine Your Sink
Clean Off a Hot Spot
Go to Bed at Decent Hour

Clean the Toaster Tuesday – Getting Organized

Posted on April 5, 2016 by Tami

Getting Organized:

In your home and homeschool

Today we are going to detail clean the toaster. It’s one of those appliances that does not get a lot of cleaning attention. Unplug it first. Then check the crumb pan, if it has one. Dump it and hand wash it. While it dries, take your toaster outside and dump it. Jiggle it around and get all of the loose crumbs out of it. Next, take it back into the kitchen and use a wet purple cloth to wipe it thoroughly. Dry the crumb tray and replace it. Then put it back in place. Once the crumb tray is in place, plug it back up. This task should not take the full 15 minutes, so do a quick Hot Spot Fire Drill in the kitchen after you finish with the toaster.

Zone Mission: Detail clean your toaster.

Download the April Missions HERE.

If you need more help with organizing your home and homeschool, you can download The FlyLady’s Homeschool Teacher and Homeschool Student Control Journals for free.

Set your timer for 15 minutes for the Home Assignment and 15 minutes for the School Assignment

Home:

Make Your Bed (Do this as soon as you get up.)
Get Dressed Down to Your Shoes
Swish and Swipe
Start Your Laundry
Decide on Dinner
Check Your Calendar
Start the Day off with a Shiny Sink. Don’t leave the breakfast dishes sitting.
Clean out your refrigerator. Toss the science experiments.

School: How’s the weather where you are? Add some weather tracking to your school day for the rest of the month. Track high temperature and low temperature. Track precipitation. Track the sunrise and sunset.

Afternoon Routine:

Eat Lunch
Clear off One Hot Spot
Reboot the Laundry
Declutter for 15 Minutes (Be sure to have your children declutter, too.)
Drink Your Water
Write up a menu plan for the next 7 days. Check your pantry and freezer and make a grocery list. This habit will save you time and money. Try out some new recipes with the slow cooker. It will save you time once you start back to your school schedule.

Family Fun: Take your children for a walk.

Before Bed: (This starts right after dinner.)

Check the Calendar for Tomorrow
Lay out Your Clothes for Tomorrow (Have your children lay their clothes out, too.)
Put things at the Launch Pad that you will need first thing in the morning
Shine Your Sink
Clean Off a Hot Spot
Go to Bed at Decent Hour

New week and new zone – Getting Organized

Posted on April 4, 2016 by Tami

Getting Organized:

In your home and homeschool

Welcome to a new week and a new Zone. This week we are working in our kitchens. The kitchen is the heart of your home. If it is cluttered, it is going to be hard to prepare meals. It is also harder to keep track of what you have and what you need. So let’s work daily to get rid of clutter in our kitchens.

Here are your Zone Missions for the week for

this week’s zone: Zone 2 – The Kitchen

Monday – Clean off the Counters and Wipe Them Down

Tuesday – Clean Out Your Toaster

Wednesday – Declutter 1 Kitchen Cabinet

Thursday – Declutter 1 Kitchen Drawer

Friday – Wipe Down Microwave and Stovetop

I still have 3 homeschool conferences on my schedule this spring. I will be in Atlanta, GA; Sandusky, OH, and Winston-Salem, NC.

Read HERE about the events I will be attending this Spring.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Home:

Make Your Bed (Do this as soon as you get up.)
Get Dressed Down to Your Shoes
Swish and Swipe
Start Your Laundry
Decide on Dinner
Check Your Calendar
Start the Day off with a Shiny Sink. Don’t leave the breakfast dishes sitting.

Weekly Home Blessing Hour:

Spread these out over the course of the week. Put a note on each day of the week with one or two of these per day.

7 Parts of the Weekly Home Blessing Hour from The FlyLady:

Quick Dust
Sweep/Mop
Purge Magazines or Paper Clutter
Change Bedding
Empty Trash
Clean Windows/Mirrors
Vacuum

School:

Plan one fun activity for this week.

Afternoon Routine:

Eat Lunch
Clear off One Hot Spot
Reboot the Laundry
Declutter for 15 Minutes (Be sure to have your children declutter, too.)
Drink Your Water

Family Fun: Have some outdoor time with your children today. Play. Do some nature journaling. The point is to add some movement to your day.

Before Bed: (This starts right after dinner.)

Check the Calendar for Tomorrow
Lay out Your Clothes for Tomorrow (Have your children lay their clothes out, too.)
Lay anything out that you will need first thing in the morning
Shine Your Sink
Clean Off a Hot Spot
Go to Bed at Decent Hour

Detail Cleaning the Entryway – Getting Organized

Posted on April 1, 2016 by Tami

Getting Organized:

In your home and homeschool

We have one day in Zone 1, so let’s check the details of the entryway into our home and declutter. We want our home to be inviting to all who enter it, this includes family and friends. Give your porch a quick sweep if it needs it. Make sure you have taken down your winter door decorations and replace them with a spring decoration. Put anything away that has been piled beside the door. Involve your kids and make it fun. If your launch pad is at the front door, make sure you have it set up so it is easy to use and as clutter-free as possible. Since we spent several days in the living room this week, you should have a clean and pretty area to entertain guests.

Have a great week-end!

If you have any questions or tips, please email me. I enjoy hearing from my readers.

Zone Mission: Detail Clean and Declutter Your Entryway

april-2016

Routines:

Home:

Make Your Bed (Do this as soon as you get up.)
Get Dressed Down to Your Shoes
Swish and Swipe
Start Your Laundry
Decide on Dinner
Check Your Calendar
Start the Day off with a Shiny Sink. Don’t leave the breakfast dishes sitting.

School:

Schedule a field trip for this winter. If you can’t think of one, do some research. See what’s going on close to you.

Afternoon Routine:

Eat Lunch
Clear off One Hot Spot
Reboot the Laundry
Declutter for 15 Minutes (Be sure to have your children declutter, too.)
Drink Your Water

Before Bed: (This starts right after dinner.)

Check the Calendar for Tomorrow
Lay out Your Clothes for Tomorrow (Have your children lay their clothes out, too.)
Put things at your launch pad
Shine Your Sink
Clean Off a Hot Spot
Go to Bed at Decent Hour

Living Room Windows – Getting Organized

Posted on March 31, 2016 by Tami

Getting Organized:

In your home and homeschool

Take a look at your living room window. Do you need to wash the curtains or windows? If it’s been a while, pull down your curtains and put them in the wash. While they are in the wash, you can clean your windows on the inside and outside. This might take a little longer than our usual 15 minutes, but you can stage it out in a couple of 15 minute sessions today. The spring is my favorite time of the year to clean the windows and open up the house after the winter.

Zone Mission – Wash your living room curtains and living room windows

Routines:

Home:

Make Your Bed (Do this as soon as you get up.)
Get Dressed Down to Your Shoes
Swish and Swipe
Start Your Laundry
Decide on Dinner
Check Your Calendar
Start the Day off with a Shiny Sink. Don’t leave the breakfast dishes sitting.

School:

Look at your bookshelves. Do you need to do some reorganizing or purging?

Afternoon Routine:

Eat Lunch
Clear off One Hot Spot
Reboot the Laundry
Declutter for 15 Minutes (Be sure to have your children declutter, too.)
Drink Your Water

Before Bed: (This starts right after dinner.)

Check the Calendar for Tomorrow
Lay out Your Clothes for Tomorrow (Have your children lay their clothes out, too.)
Put things at your launch pad
Shine Your Sink
Clean Off a Hot Spot
Go to Bed at Decent Hour

Clean under the furniture – getting organized

Posted on March 30, 2016 by Tami

Getting Organized:

In your home and homeschool

Do you have a dust bunny colony living under your living room furniture? Today I want you to move the living room furniture and clean under it. Enlist the help of someone if you need help moving it. Don’t attempt this alone. We have laminate flooring, so our furniture moves easily for us to clean under it. That also means it is easy for things to slide under there. It is always interesting to see what comes out from under our sofa. Tell me the most interesting or unusual thing you have found under your sofa.

Zone Mission: Move your living room furniture and clean under it.

Grocery Shopping and Errand Day – Take your list, pack snacks, and water bottles.

Home:

Make Your Bed (Do this as soon as you get up.)
Get Dressed Down to Your Shoes
Swish and Swipe
Start Your Laundry
Decide on Dinner
Check Your Calendar
Start the Day off with a Shiny Sink. Don’t leave the breakfast dishes sitting.

School: Are you doing a read aloud book for the whole family? If not, pick one out and read at lunch time or in the evening. It will bring a new dimension to your school day.

Afternoon Routine:

Eat Lunch
Clear off One Hot Spot
Reboot the Laundry
Declutter for 15 Minutes (Be sure to have your children declutter, too.)
Drink Your Water
Errand day: Make your plan for grocery shopping and errands. Pack water bottles and snacks for everyone. Pack up your library books that need to be turned in.

Family Fun: Plan a fun activity while you are out. I am in the habit of checking for free activities that are going on while we are out doing errands.

When you get home from doing errands, have everyone work together to unload and put away everything.

Before Bed: (This starts right after dinner.)

Check the Calendar for Tomorrow
Lay out Your Clothes for Tomorrow (Have your children lay their clothes out, too.)
Put things at the Launch Pad that you will need first thing in the morning
Shine Your Sink
Clean Off a Hot Spot
Go to Bed at Decent Hour

Detail Dust in the Living Room – Getting Organized

Posted on March 29, 2016 by Tami

Getting Organized:

In your home and homeschool

Get ready and set your timer for 15 minutes. Today we are going to detail dust the living room. This probably won’t take the full 15 minutes, so you can try to beat the clock and see how long it takes you to detail dust. If you are doing a quick dusting each week, you should not have a lot to detail dust. Check your ceiling fan and around the baseboards. I am using the new Multi Wand from The FlyLady to help me detail clean in high or low places. It is flexible and can be bent to dust the top side of your fan blades on a ceiling fan. It is a new tool from her, and I love how versatile it is.

Zone Mission: Detail dust your living room.

If you need more help with organizing your home and homeschool, you can download The FlyLady’s Homeschool Teacher and Homeschool Student Control Journals for free.

Set your timer for 15 minutes for the Home Assignment and 15 minutes for the School Assignment

Home:

Make Your Bed (Do this as soon as you get up.)
Get Dressed Down to Your Shoes
Swish and Swipe
Start Your Laundry
Decide on Dinner
Check Your Calendar
Start the Day off with a Shiny Sink. Don’t leave the breakfast dishes sitting.
Clean out your refrigerator. Toss the science experiments.

Afternoon Routine:

Eat Lunch
Clear off One Hot Spot
Reboot the Laundry
Declutter for 15 Minutes (Be sure to have your children declutter, too.)
Drink Your Water
Write up a menu plan for the next 7 days. Check your pantry and freezer and make a grocery list. This habit will save you time and money. Try out some new recipes with the slow cooker. It will save you time once you start back to your school schedule.

Family Fun: Take your children for a walk.

Before Bed: (This starts right after dinner.)

Check the Calendar for Tomorrow
Lay out Your Clothes for Tomorrow (Have your children lay their clothes out, too.)
Put things at the Launch Pad that you will need first thing in the morning
Shine Your Sink
Clean Off a Hot Spot
Go to Bed at Decent Hour

Detail Clean and Decorate Your Living Room – Getting Organized

Posted on March 28, 2016 by Tami

Getting Organized:

In your home and homeschool

This week we will work in two zones. We will finish out the month of March detail cleaning and decorating our living rooms. On Friday, we will work in Zone 1 and make our entryway inviting to guests and our family. We want our homes to have peace and be welcoming to all who come in the door. That is not just for visitors, but our family members who live in the home are blessed when we take the time to detail clean and decorate. It’s spring now, and it is time to switch out our winter decorations and put out some spring flowers and decorations.

If you have not filed your taxes, start collecting information this week and set your appointment to get your taxes filled out. April 15 will be here before you know it.

Here are your Zone Missions for the week for

this week’s zone: Zone 5 & Zone 1 – Living Room, Front Porch, Entryway, and Dining Room

Monday – Declutter flat surfaces in Living Room

Tuesday – Detail dust from ceiling to baseboards

Wednesday – Vacuum under furniture

Thursday – Wash living room curtains and blinds and decorate

Friday – Declutter the entryway into your home

Read HERE about the events I will be attending this Spring.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Home:

Make Your Bed (Do this as soon as you get up.)
Get Dressed Down to Your Shoes
Swish and Swipe
Start Your Laundry
Decide on Dinner
Check Your Calendar
Start the Day off with a Shiny Sink. Don’t leave the breakfast dishes sitting.

Weekly Home Blessing Hour:

Spread these out over the course of the week. Put a note on each day of the week with one or two of these per day.

7 Parts of the Weekly Home Blessing Hour from The FlyLady:

Quick Dust
Sweep/Mop
Purge Magazines or Paper Clutter
Change Bedding
Empty Trash
Clean Windows/Mirrors
Vacuum

School:

Plan one fun activity for this week.

Afternoon Routine:

Eat Lunch
Clear off One Hot Spot
Reboot the Laundry
Declutter for 15 Minutes (Be sure to have your children declutter, too.)
Drink Your Water

Family Fun: Have some outdoor time with your children today. Play. Do some nature journaling. The point is to add some movement to your day.

Before Bed: (This starts right after dinner.)

Check the Calendar for Tomorrow
Lay out Your Clothes for Tomorrow (Have your children lay their clothes out, too.)
Lay anything out that you will need first thing in the morning
Shine Your Sink
Clean Off a Hot Spot
Go to Bed at Decent Hour