A long time ago, I was talking about redoing my household notebook and making it prettier and more useful to my current life situation.
Well, that did not happen. I just did not get around to making it super pretty. And then I went and got myself a job, which means I have even less time to be creative with my notebook.
What I did get around to doing to was to re-do my daily and weekly chores quite a bit on a piece of notebook paper. I wrote down my daily chores, and then my weekly chores in a separate area. I've been intending on fixing it up to put in my notebook with my other stuff, like our house and pet sitter section, our "emergency evacuation" section, and our frugal ideas section, but I just have not done it.
Yesterday I realized we've been doing quite well just using the piece of paper, which is posted on the fridge. So I've decided that, for this season in my life, I'm going to leave it at that. The chores are getting done, I am not stressing about making it look better, and it's in a place where I see it every day. Hey, it works for me!
Showing posts with label housekeeping notebook. Show all posts
Showing posts with label housekeeping notebook. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Friday, May 04, 2007
Housekeeping Notebook and Pictures of My Clutter!
Wow- I got a huge response (for this blog, anyway!) about my housekeeping notebook! I am in the process of revamping it to fit my life now, vs. when I was a full time graduate student and college instructor, so I don't have any pictures of mine to share right now, but I will when it is done! Since I have more time to put it together than I did when I first did, I'm making it more "pretty" and adding quotes, pictures, etc. I figure if it is pretty, I am more likely to want to look at it.
I used Flylady's directions. She calls hers a control journal, and has step by step directions on how to make one. If you are really busy, she sells them as well. I know that many other people have household notebooks, and directions on how to make them are all over the internet.
The thing I feel like I need to tackle most right now is the closet. Or rather the closets. When we moved here, I threw a bunch of stuff in them, thinking I'd deal with it later. Well friends, later is here! I'm posting my before pictures today, and will work on them this weekend. After pictures will come next week. Without further ado:
This is my guest room/office closet. I'm having a guest next week and would like her to be able to *use* the closet. The animal supplies are kept here, but I may transfer them to the garage. There's also a lot of hay on the floor. Oh, and assorted random stuff.
More guest room closet. The white tubs have my husband's computer stuff, and the wood thing has my stationary and assorted random stuff in it. There's also my husband's glass chess board which I want to display in some way, but I can't figure out where, and it is a pain to dust. Very pretty though.
Another random shot of the guest room closet. Those boxes in the corner are mostly flat rate boxes for my e-bay items.
This is my hall closet floor. Let's see, a bag, a bike helmet, a big bottle of bubbles (very stress reliving!) and other assorted stuff.
Shot 2 of my hall closet. Not as bad as it could be, but there is a lot of stuff I need to go through. The red bag has a very messy pair of homemade ruby red slippers that my mom made for me as a going away present when I moved to Kansas. It's pretty much tons of red glitter glued to a pair of dress shoes. Think that will sell on e-bay?
We go through tons of plastic bags at my house, as we scoop out the rabbit litter box and the guinea shavings every single day. Still, there has to be a neater, prettier way to save them. We used to stuff them into tissue boxes, but we could never keep up with how many we had and also had to have several tissue boxes to keep up with how many we go through. Gah.
I will be doing the guest closet this weekend for sure. We'll see about the hall closet. Once those two are done, I need to tackle the laundry room.
I used Flylady's directions. She calls hers a control journal, and has step by step directions on how to make one. If you are really busy, she sells them as well. I know that many other people have household notebooks, and directions on how to make them are all over the internet.
The thing I feel like I need to tackle most right now is the closet. Or rather the closets. When we moved here, I threw a bunch of stuff in them, thinking I'd deal with it later. Well friends, later is here! I'm posting my before pictures today, and will work on them this weekend. After pictures will come next week. Without further ado:
This is my guest room/office closet. I'm having a guest next week and would like her to be able to *use* the closet. The animal supplies are kept here, but I may transfer them to the garage. There's also a lot of hay on the floor. Oh, and assorted random stuff.
More guest room closet. The white tubs have my husband's computer stuff, and the wood thing has my stationary and assorted random stuff in it. There's also my husband's glass chess board which I want to display in some way, but I can't figure out where, and it is a pain to dust. Very pretty though.
Another random shot of the guest room closet. Those boxes in the corner are mostly flat rate boxes for my e-bay items.
This is my hall closet floor. Let's see, a bag, a bike helmet, a big bottle of bubbles (very stress reliving!) and other assorted stuff.
Shot 2 of my hall closet. Not as bad as it could be, but there is a lot of stuff I need to go through. The red bag has a very messy pair of homemade ruby red slippers that my mom made for me as a going away present when I moved to Kansas. It's pretty much tons of red glitter glued to a pair of dress shoes. Think that will sell on e-bay?
We go through tons of plastic bags at my house, as we scoop out the rabbit litter box and the guinea shavings every single day. Still, there has to be a neater, prettier way to save them. We used to stuff them into tissue boxes, but we could never keep up with how many we had and also had to have several tissue boxes to keep up with how many we go through. Gah. I will be doing the guest closet this weekend for sure. We'll see about the hall closet. Once those two are done, I need to tackle the laundry room.
Thursday, May 03, 2007
Reflections on Housekeeping
When I was a professional cleaner, it was pounded into me that details can make or break how clean a home looks. We had to make sure the house looked clean and smelled fresh. Notice that there was nothing in that statement about the house actually being clean. When our boss evaluated a home I had just cleaned, the first thing she looked at was the corners of the ceilings- did I get the cobwebs? Did I wash out the soap dish in the bathroom? Could she smell the service's signature scent? These small details did not take long to do, but often made all the difference in how the house looked.
I've not been a very good homemaker lately. The house is looking a big shabby, and the details I used to pay attention to have been neglected. My hardwood floor is dusty and covered in dog hair. Don't even get me started on the closet in the guestroom- that's where we keep our small animal supplies and there are pine shavings everywhere! The top of my fridge, once a sacred empty space, has become a clutter catch all, and I've not taken the time to fold the blankets on the chairs and couch or organize the library shelf in quite some time. My house is not dirty exactly- the kitchens and bathrooms are sanitized and look pretty nice other than the stuff that has accumulated on the counter, you can see the floor, it does not smell like rotting food or anything like that, but it sure can use some gussying up.
I really felt the shabbiness of my home yesterday when the roommate came home early from work-unexpecitly -with guests! He may have his own "apartment" downstairs to entertain in, but they still have to walk through my area of our home. I was so embarrassed, and silently lamenting- why did he bring company on a day when my house was a wreck? But of course, it had been kind of yucky for awhile. I had been blaming the fact that I had been working a lot lately as a substitute teacher, so I was out of my home more...but I managed to keep my home together when I was out of the house for 50-80 hours a week. What had changed?
...and then it hit me. My housekeeping notebook was gathering dust in its place in the kitchen. I faithfully used my housekeeping notebook when I was out of the house all the time, but since I had become a SAHW, I had abandoned it for the most part, thinking that I no longer really needed the routine, since I was home all the time anyway. I still figure out what is for dinner the night before, but I am definitely neglecting things like dust mopping the wood floors. Last night when I could not sleep, I took it off the shelf and flipped through it. I could see another reason it was no longer working for me- when I designed the routine, I was at a very different point in my life, and the routine worked for that time. It no longer works for the way I live now. I need to revamp my routine to have it work for me now.
So over the next few days, I am going to start paying attention to those details in my home again. I'm going to figure out a routine that works for me now. And I'm going to clean out the guest room closet- we have a guest coming next week and I want her to be able to use it! Keep an eye out for before and after pictures!
I've not been a very good homemaker lately. The house is looking a big shabby, and the details I used to pay attention to have been neglected. My hardwood floor is dusty and covered in dog hair. Don't even get me started on the closet in the guestroom- that's where we keep our small animal supplies and there are pine shavings everywhere! The top of my fridge, once a sacred empty space, has become a clutter catch all, and I've not taken the time to fold the blankets on the chairs and couch or organize the library shelf in quite some time. My house is not dirty exactly- the kitchens and bathrooms are sanitized and look pretty nice other than the stuff that has accumulated on the counter, you can see the floor, it does not smell like rotting food or anything like that, but it sure can use some gussying up.
I really felt the shabbiness of my home yesterday when the roommate came home early from work-unexpecitly -with guests! He may have his own "apartment" downstairs to entertain in, but they still have to walk through my area of our home. I was so embarrassed, and silently lamenting- why did he bring company on a day when my house was a wreck? But of course, it had been kind of yucky for awhile. I had been blaming the fact that I had been working a lot lately as a substitute teacher, so I was out of my home more...but I managed to keep my home together when I was out of the house for 50-80 hours a week. What had changed?
...and then it hit me. My housekeeping notebook was gathering dust in its place in the kitchen. I faithfully used my housekeeping notebook when I was out of the house all the time, but since I had become a SAHW, I had abandoned it for the most part, thinking that I no longer really needed the routine, since I was home all the time anyway. I still figure out what is for dinner the night before, but I am definitely neglecting things like dust mopping the wood floors. Last night when I could not sleep, I took it off the shelf and flipped through it. I could see another reason it was no longer working for me- when I designed the routine, I was at a very different point in my life, and the routine worked for that time. It no longer works for the way I live now. I need to revamp my routine to have it work for me now.
So over the next few days, I am going to start paying attention to those details in my home again. I'm going to figure out a routine that works for me now. And I'm going to clean out the guest room closet- we have a guest coming next week and I want her to be able to use it! Keep an eye out for before and after pictures!
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