Tami Fox

Getting Organized This Summer Week 5 Day 1

Posted on June 29, 2015 by Tami

Week 5 – June 29 – July 3

Monday – Set your timer for 15 minutes for the Home Assignment and 15 minutes for the School Assignment. Remember that our Monday schedule is a little more involved than the rest of the week. You can spread the Weekly Home Blessing Hour out over the course of the week, if you like.

Home:

Morning Routine
Make Your Bed
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:

Wash Bedding
Sweep and Mop
Vacuum
Dust
Purge Magazines
Empty Trash
Windows and Mirrors

School:

Look at your overall school schedule and divide the work up monthly and weekly.
Get your weeks of school picked out.
Remember to schedule some breaks.
If you start early in August, you will be able to have a longer Christmas break and end school at the end of May.

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
Exercise
Zone Focus: Spend 15 minutes detail cleaning your Entry

Family Fun: Go to the Library this afternoon to pick out new books.

The FlyLady’s Before Bed Routine

We are going to work on our Before Bed Routine this month. This is the most important routine of the day. It gets you ready for the next day. This will help you start your day off on the right foot. You will start this routine right after dinner each night.

Before Bed:

Check the Calendar for Tomorrow
Lay out Your Clothes for Tomorrow (Have your children lay their clothes out, too.)
Decide on a place in your house where you can put things for the next day. The FlyLady calls this your Launch Pad. It is usually close to your main entry of the house. You are going to use this every night.
Shine Your Sink (Are you enjoying having a Shiny Sink every morning when you get up?)
Clean Off a Hot Spot
Go to Bed at Decent Hour

Slow Cooker Summer – Raspberry Chipotle Chicken

Posted on June 26, 2015 by Tami

Earlier this week, I pulled out the pack to thaw to make Raspberry Chipotle Chicken. We have had Vacation Bible School at our church this week, and I need a time-saver meal plan for each night of the week. What I found with these freezer meals being ready to thaw and cook is that I can have a hot meal on the table each night with little fuss and preparation. I have served fresh salad and fruit with my entrees, so it has been easy-peasy to have a healthy meal before we go to church. One night I timed my prep time, serve time, and clean up time. I was able to get a meal on the table and clean up in less than an hour.

Raspberry Chipotle Chicken

Now, I am sure you want to know how this tastes. My family enjoyed the flavor of the chicken legs. It was sweet from the raspberry jam and had a little heat from the chipotles. It was a good mix for my family. The next time I make these, I need to include more chicken legs. I did prepare these in the slow cooker, but I think they would be delicious prepared on the grill, too.

Prep day a few weeks ago.

So far, I feel like I have saved time and money with this project. I spent $25 last weekend on perishables at the grocery store, and I spent $20 this week so far. These were mostly breakfast items, and I will need to go out this weekend to buy more fresh fruit and veggies.

I hope this inspires you to find ways to save time and money this summer. I am having a great time with it!

Getting Organized Week 4 Day 5

Posted on June 26, 2015 by Tami

Congratulations! You are at the end of week 4! I will be continuing this summer. I will add new things to your routines as we go along. Before you know it, you will have made these routines habits in your life.

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

Home:

Make your bed when you get up.
Brush your teeth and get dressed to the shoes.
Swish and swipe.
Fill your water bottle.
Have a 2 minute Hot Spot Fire Drill.
Start a load of laundry.
Pamper yourself for 15 minutes.
Reboot your laundry.

School:

Research field trips or supplemental activities you want to do during the school year.

Family Fun: Go swimming or do a water activity of some kind.

Getting Organized Week 4 Day 4

Posted on June 25, 2015 by Tami

Start each day with a happy heart and choose to be joyful no matter what happens.

Thursday – Set your timer for 15 minutes for the Home Assignment and 15 minutes for the School assignment

Home:

Make your bed when you get up.
Brush your teeth and get dressed to the shoes.
Swish and swipe.
Fill your water bottle.
Have a 2 minute Hot Spot Fire Drill.
Start a load of laundry.
Pamper yourself for 15 minutes.

School:

Put away books and check on your orders.
Read your homeschool encouragement book.
Purge another drawer in your child’s room for 15 minutes. Be sure to include them. The goal is to go through their drawers and closet before you start school. This will also give you time to make a list of items you might need to buy. I am always surprised at the end of the summer when I see how much the boys have grown.

Family Fun: Pick a water activity to do at home or go on a nature walk. Don’t forget to take your nature journals.

Finding Joy in Everything with The FlyLady

Posted on June 24, 2015 by Tami

This is a speech The FlyLady gave at the Virginia Homeschooling Convention. She had given two other speeches that day, and she was feeling tired. Somehow with the Grace of God this turned out to be one of the best speeches she has ever given. Thank you God for your inspiration. The God Breezes were blowing!

If you are feeling less than joyful in your role at home, you will be blessed by this talk. I was in the audience, and while I am joyful in all I do, I was still blessed by what she shared that day.

Check Out Family Podcasts at Blog Talk Radio with FlyLady on BlogTalkRadio

Getting Organized Week 4 Day 3

Posted on June 24, 2015 by Tami

Let’s make this a great day! Are you forming habits yet? Don’t beat yourself up if you miss something one day. Just start fresh the next day.

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

Home:

Make your bed when you get up.
Brush your teeth and get dressed to the shoes.
Swish and swipe.
Fill your water bottle.
Have a 2 minute Hot Spot Fire Drill.
Start a load of laundry.
Pamper yourself for 15 minutes.

Our bin of things to donate.

School:

Put away books that have arrived from your orders.
Purge one drawer in your child’s room for 15 minutes.
Have them work with you.
Throw out torn clothing.
Make a donate box for clothing that needs to be given away.
Reboot your laundry.

Family Fun: Fold or hang your laundry and put it away before you leave the house. Pick an activity to do on your way to the grocery store. Use your cooler and ice. Pack snacks and water bottles. Go by the library if you have not been there this week.

Slow Cooker Summer Zesty Pork Ribs

Posted on June 23, 2015 by Tami

Zesty BBQ Ribs

The Zesty BBQ Pork Ribs from the recipe on Who Needs a Cape is delicious. We did fix it a little differently than the recipe called for. Since it was a Saturday when we fixed this, my son opted to use the smoker instead of the slow cooker. That is his favorite thing to do, and he has to do it on a day when we are home all day. We made the marinade and let the ribs sit in it for about 3 hours. Then he prepared the smoker and got the ribs going. Since he was going to be outside anyway, I soaked whole ears of corn in water for about 2 hours. Then he grilled them on the grill that is a part of our smoker unit. It took about 3 hours to cook the ribs, and it took about 35 minutes to grill the corn. If I were to lok at this from the time-saving aspect, this is certainly not a time-saving way to cook. But it was something my son wanted to do, and it took minimal supervision on my part for him to cook for us. I would say this is a part of Giving Your Children Wings that I talk about in my book. He is learning skills to last a lifetime.

Getting Organized Week 4 Day 2

Posted on June 23, 2015 by Tami

Let’s make Tuesday a great day in our homes!

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

Home:

Make your bed when you get up.
Brush your teeth and get dressed to the shoes. Swish and swipe.
Fill your water bottle.
Have a 2 minute Hot Spot Fire Drill.
Start a load of laundry.
Pamper yourself for 15 minutes.
Do a 27 Fling Boogie. (Go through the house and get rid of 27 things. They can be things you throw away or give away. It just needs to be 27 things that are leaving your house for good.)
Start your menu planning and grocery list. Watch for my additional posts on how I am using my slow cooker this summer.

School:

Read your homeschool encouragement book
Spend 15 minutes of planning for week one of your school year.
Reboot your laundry.

Family Fun: Go to the library and switch out your books or go to the science center. In my state, it has been very hot, so I am giving you ideas of things to do that will keep you and the kids cool. You can always come up with a fun activity that I haven’t mentioned. I am just giving you some ideas as a spring board.

Getting Organized this Summer Week 4 Day 1

Posted on June 22, 2015 by Tami

Welcome to the fourth week of Getting Organized! I have tried to keep these short and sweet for you. I hope you are seeing a difference.

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

Home:

Make your bed when you get up.
Have breakfast.
Brush your teeth and get dressed to the shoes.
Swish and swipe your bathroom.
Fill your water bottle.
Do the Weekly Home Blessing Hour as a family.
Start a load of laundry.
Pamper yourself for 15 minutes.
Reboot the laundry and keep it moving today. Monday is the day we wash the bedding.

School:

Put away the books that have come in from your orders.
Start planning the first week of school.

Family Fun: Reward everyone for a job well done. Pick an activity that everyone loves to do. I usually reward with a trip to the bowling alley, park, or swimming when we have all worked hard on the Weekly Home Blessing Hour.

Starting with the July postings, I will include the Zone of the Week, where you will do some more detailed cleaning. If you want to take a look at The FlyLady’s Zones, check out this page on her site.

Enjoy your week!

Slow Cooker Summer – Hot Roast Beef Sandwiches

Posted on June 22, 2015 by Tami

The second meal for Slow Cooker Summer was Hot Roast Beef for sandwiches. I actually assembled these right into the slow cooker versus putting the roast beef in the freezer. I knew this was a meal we wanted to try soon when I was assembling the packs. We were not disappointed with the meal. It was delicious. When I make this again, I will likely add a few hot peppers to the slow cooker. The pepperoncini peppers gave it a nice flavor, but we like a little more spice with our roast. I purchased the sliced roast beef at Sam’s club, but I think this would also be excellent done with a full roast and then slice it.

Hot Roast Beef for Sandwiches

We have a busy couple of weeks, and I will try to post the slow cooker meals as I can. I am seeing it as a time saver, and I only spent $25 this week on perishables at the grocery store.