Tami Fox

Zone 3 – The Main Bathroom – Getting Organized

Posted on February 15, 2016 by Tami

Getting Organized:

In your home and homeschool

Welcome to a new week! This week we are going to detail clean our main bathroom, and if you have extra helpers in your home, you can have everyone work together to detail clean all of the bathrooms in your home. We have three bathrooms, and we have 5 males in the house. So detail cleaning is a must for us. We do a quick daily swish and swipe, so the detail cleaning focuses on decluttering and wiping down other surfaces in the bathroom. You can find the weekly plan below, but let’s just focus on today for now.

Today, let’s declutter the tops of the bathroom counter and the cabinets. Spend 15 minutes or less on this. If you have a place for all of your toiletries, this can go very quickly. If you store your toiletries on your counter, this will take longer. Having a place for everything is a good thing. If you stuff things into your drawers, you need to work on stopping that habit. Clean out the drawers and organize the things you must have. Toss expired make-up and lotions. Toss old toothbrushes, even the one you kept for grout cleaning. Go head and get yourself a new toothbrush and relegate your current toothbrush to grout cleaning.

Here are your Zone Missions for the week for

Zone 3 – Main Bathroom:

Monday – Declutter Bathroom Counters and Cabinets

Tuesday – Declutter Bathroom Drawers

Wednesday – Declutter Bathroom Closet or Linen Closet

Thursday – Wipe Down Bathroom Fixtures and Baseboards

Friday – Wipe around and outside of the toilet

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

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

Pantry Declutter Friday – Getting Organized

Posted on February 12, 2016 by Tami

Getting Organized:

In your home and homeschool

Today’s mission is going to challenge you. You are going to use your timer for 15 minutes, and then you are going to STOP. This way you can’t drag out too much stuff. You will likely have to do this same mission again another day, but I want you to see that you can make progress in 15 minutes and not get burned out. When you finish this mission, I want you to do something for yourself that you enjoy. You are going to reward and pamper yourself today.

Are you ready for your mission? Today, we are going to spend 15 minutes decluttering the pantry in the kitchen. This is one of those projects that can quickly escalate, so the key is to do one area at a time and not pull out more than you can put back in 15 minutes. You will want to toss those food items that are stale or have passed their expiration dates, so have a trash can handy. You can also have a box near you to put in items that you can donate to a food pantry. They often need food items this time of year because people slow down on giving and donating after Christmas has passed. As you clear off a shelf, wipe it down. Put items back in a logical order. This will help you when you make your grocery list.

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

Zone Mission: Zone 2 – Kitchen Pantry Clean-out

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

Kitchen Wipe Down Thursday – Getting Organized

Posted on February 11, 2016 by Tami

Getting Organized:

In your home and homeschool

Today we are going to wipe down the appliance surfaces in the kitchen. Let’s wipe the vent over the stove, the stove top, and the microwave. If there are any other surfaces that need to be wiped down, such as the front of the refrigerator or stove, do those as well. Just spend 15 minutes wiping down the surfaces. I use my FlyLady purple cloth for this task, and it cuts right through the grease and dirt.

Zone Mission – Wipe down the outside of your kitchen appliances

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

Junk Drawer Wednesday – Getting Organized

Posted on February 10, 2016 by Tami

Getting Organized:

In your home and homeschool

Today let’s do a 15 minute declutter project with the junk drawer in the kitchen. This is usually a task that gets left off our list because we don’t want to deal with what is in there. It might take too long, or we would rather do something else. Did I hit the nail on the head? To do this project, I do not want you to dump your drawer. Just move a trash can near your junk drawer. Set the timer. Start purging. Toss anything that is trash or unusable. If you have a lot of pens stored in this drawer put them in a cup. You can test them later. Do you have an assortment of stuff in this drawer and can’t find anything? Use some plastic containers to sort what is in there. I have used sorting trays from the dollar store to sort pens, pencils, and screwdrivers. I use shorter containers to sort batteries in that drawer. Find something that works for you. If the timer goes off, just stop the project for now. You can always go back to it later.Zone Mission: Kitchen – Declutter the Kitchen Junk Drawer

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

Kitchen Cabinet Declutter – Getting Organized

Posted on February 9, 2016 by Tami

Getting Organized:

In your home and homeschool

Today let’s tackle one of your kitchen cabinets. I know you have several of them, so pick the one that needs attention the most. Many of us have a cabinet that stores items we don’t use a often, and likely there are items in that cabinet we have not used in years. So set your timer. Open the cabinet and declutter. Donate the kitchen items you are not using. They can bless someone else and open up some storage areas for you in the kitchen.

Zone Mission: Declutter one kitchen cabinet

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. If it snows where you live, do some science experiments with snow. Make learning fun!

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 Cleaning the Kitchen – Getting Organized

Posted on February 8, 2016 by Tami

Getting Organized:

In your home and homeschool

We are going to spend some time detail cleaning in our kitchens this week. Each daily mission is designed to take you 15 minutes or less. If you have more time to devote to your cleaning, make sure you have done your Weekly Home Blessings and have the laundry caught up. These missions help you keep your home tidy in small amounts of time. Some of them will even take less than 15 minutes. If you have another area that needs immediate attention, set your timer and take care of it, too. I know that immediate needs sometimes pop up when you have children at home. Be sure you are including them in picking up behind themselves and teach them how to take care of their home. You are not doing them any favors by doing it all yourself. They need to know how to function in their own homes when they grow up and move out.

Here are your Zone Missions for the week for

Zone 2 – Kitchen:

Monday – Clean Hot Spots & Wipe Counters

Tuesday – Declutter 1 Cabinet

Wednesday – Declutter Junk Drawer

Thursday – Wipe Vent Over Stove & Wipe Microwave

Friday – Have a 15 Minute Pantry Clean Out

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

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

Stash and Dash in the Dining Room – Getting Organized

Posted on February 5, 2016 by Tami

Getting Organized:

In your home and homeschool

You probably didn’t think I would have one more mission in the dining room, but I know many of you like to keep your stash and dash in the dining room. Today we are going to spend 15 minutes dealing with the stuff we have been storing in the dining room. Decide if it is something you want to keep, and then find a place for it. If it needs to be donated, go put it in your car as soon as your 15 minutes are up. If you have boxes, bags, or piles, tackle them now. Take one last look at your dining room and see if there is anything else you need to do it. We did not detail clean the floor in the dining room this week, so make sure you get it when you do your Weekly Home Blessing. Have a wonderful weekend!If you have any questions or tips, please email me. I enjoy hearing from my readers.

Zone Mission: Zone 1 – The Dining Room – clear out any clutter from your stash and dash in the dining roomRoutines:

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 the China Cabinet – Getting Organized

Posted on February 4, 2016 by Tami

Getting Organized:

In your home and homeschool

How’s your dining room looking? Today, we are going to tackle the china cabinet or hutch. Many times this becomes a place to stash things. It is also not detail dusted often because there is often a lot of little stuff. Let’s start at the top of the china cabinet and work out way down. Spend 5 to 15 minutes per shelf or drawer. This might take more than one or two sessions, so break it down. I want you to be happy with the results without burning out from doing a long project. If you have stuff in the cabinet or drawers that you are not using and have not used for years, find a new home for it. Bless someone else with your abundance.

Zone Mission – Detail clean your china cabinet or hutch in your Dining Room.

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 and Decorate the Dining Room – Getting Organized

Posted on February 3, 2016 by Tami

Getting Organized:

In your home and homeschool

How are you doing with your Zone Missions this week? Even if you have not done them all, you can start today with this one. Today, let’s declutter the Dining Room Table. Most of us do not use the dining table on a daily basis, and it tends to collect clutter. So we are doing to tackle the clutter on top of the Dining Room Table and then put on a nice table cloth. If you have a centerpiece, put it out, too. If not, just put a candle on the table. Make it pretty, so you think twice about putting clutter on the table again. If you have china that you like to see, then set your table with it. It doesn’t have to stay put away or in the china cabinet. Get it out and enjoy it. When you see your Dining Room Table, I want you to smile and enjoy it. If you do not have a formal dining room and dining table, then set your kitchen table with a tablecloth and put out your pretty dishes and use them for dinner tonight.

Zone Mission: Dining Room – Declutter and Decorate the Dining Table (or Kitchen Table)

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

Declutter and Decorate Your Entryway – Getting Organized

Posted on February 2, 2016 by Tami

Getting Organized:

In your home and homeschool

Walk outside of your house. Now walk in the main entryway into your home. Stop and look. What do you see? Is it cluttered or welcoming? Spend 15 minutes decluttering and making your main entryway look peaceful and inviting. Tuesday is also our plan and play day each week. Spend some time today planning you menu, planning for school, planning field trips, etc. I have been busy with wedding plans for our daughter’s wedding later this month, so I have a daily planning session, and I have a daily mission for the wedding details. I am getting there one step at a time. If you haven’t done anything fun with your kids this week, plan something fun and do it!

Zone Mission: Declutter and decorate your entryway into your home.

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