Tag: simplify

Baby Step #7: Before Bed Routine

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The last couple of weeks have been wonkier than usual. Normally, I would let the wonkiness of life get me off track. This time around, the wonkier it gets the more I strive for routine.

If you’ve read last week’s post, Baby Step#5, you read about life in my home state of California lately. Crazy. So I haven’t been going through the baby steps as quickly as I planned.

Today I took my dad to the hospital for his hernia surgery. Because of Covid, I couldn’t go in with him. While I’m waiting to get him and my in-laws have my kiddos, I’m taking a few minutes to write about the next baby step: Evening Routines or Before Bed Routines.

My point is, life is full of disruptions; but if I stick to these routines, I really think it will make my life more peaceful and less stressful. So I keep plugging ahead.

I think that I will actually have two night-time routines. The Evening Routine (and the one I’m talking about today) would be what I would do after dinner time and before the kids go to bed. My Before Bed Routine would be just that, before bed. I’m not there yet, though. That might sound too complicated for some. I’ll just call it my Evening Routine for this post.

Why am I starting with my Evening Routine and not the Morning Routine? First, this is how the Fly Lady does it!! Second, I think a good evening routine will set me up for a successful morning.

Here’s my Evening Routine so far. I put it in my control journal. I just wrote it out simply on a piece of binder paper. Nothing fancy here!

EVENING ROUTINE:

  • Shine Sink
  • Sweep
  • Living Room Pick Up
  • Fold and Deliver Laundry
  • 2 Minute Hot Spot
  • Check Tomorrow’s Calendar

*I’m usually folding laundry at night. So what I’ve been doing is putting any laundry that I fold of the kids into a basket and leave it by their door. Then they put away their own laundry in the morning. I’ve been doing this for a few weeks and it’s been working really well. Yay!

** Today I got dressed down to the actual shoes since I was taking my dad to the hospital. Everyday, I’ve been getting dressed before I start my day. It has made a positive difference.

Baby Step #2 Get Dressed To Your Shoes

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So, today’s habit was really easy and you may already do this. I do this MOST days; but what made the difference for me was getting up, taking my shower right away, and getting dressed BEFORE breakfast.

I’ve been lazy all summer and now that school has started up again, I’m having to get up earlier. I’ll be honest. Getting up earlier kicked my butt this week. Starting home school kicked my butt! I was just plum tuckered by Saturday.

Here’s me dressed to shoes. I didn’t take a pic of my outfit; but trust me. I was dressed.

BTW, these Sketchers from Costco are so darn comfortable. They are my favorite.

You can read all about the mindset magic of wearing your shoes first thing in the morning from The Fly Lady herself here.

I’ll be honest, though. I hate wearing shoes in the house. It’s been 102 degrees plus this weekend and we don’t have AC. Wearing shoes in the house makes me so hot. So most days I will not wear shoes in my house, just being genuine. I do think there is merit to it, though.

For me, like I said above, the habit I’m working on is getting up earlier, getting showered and dressed to my slippers or flip flops first thing in the morning. After coffee, of course.

DAY TWO RECAP:

  • Sink is still shiny.
  • Got dressed to the shoes.

2 Steps Down. 29 To Go.

I’m posting Step #2 today, which is Sunday. I wrote the post yesterday, and think that is how I’ll proceed. I’ll work on a step and write about it; but I’ll post it the following day. Sound good? Good.

Baby Step #1: Shine Your Sink

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Today I shined my sink. I mean I really got in there and cleaned it.

My house is old. As in built in the 1960’s old.

It was a rental for all that time before we bought it 4 years ago. The sink is old and porcelain. It’s cracked and chipping; and it’s seen better days.

I scrubbed that bad boy and did the best I could.

The Fly Lady is right. There is something about a clean sink. I thought ahead and emptied the dishwasher so that after I cleaned the sink, there would be no reason for dirty dishes to sit in my sparkling sink.

You guessed it. Two minutes after I scrubbed and sprayed and scrubbed some more, someone sneakily left a dish in the sink. It didn’t stay there long, though.

It felt good taking the first step. It’s an old sink, so I didn’t get every stain and scuff. It looks a million times better and I’m ready for Baby Step Two.

How I cleaned my sink:

1.) Wiped it out with soapy sponge.

2.) Sprinkled baking soda all over and spritzed with cleaner (vinegar and water).

3.) I scrubbed and scrubbed and scrubbed. Then I scrubbed some more.

4.) I rinsed out the baking soda, sprayed with vinegar/water, and scrubbed again. Rinse.

5.) I got out my magic eraser and got at those tough spots. Rinsed and dried with a paper towel.

Here are my before and after pictures.

You can read in more detail about how and why to shine your sink on her website here.

If you missed my intro posts to why I’m describing cleaning my sink, you can read those here and here.

See you tomorow!

SPECIAL NOTE: I’m posting this on Sunday. I actually shined my sink on Friday and tried with all my might to post on Saturday. WordPress had other ideas and would not upload my pictures. Grrrr!!!!! (That’s the sound I make when I’m frustrated.) My post is up now and it’s all good. I’m posting Baby Step #2 today as well because I did that step yesterday. Ahh….. technology. We just do the best we can, right?

Let’s Get Started:: Baby Steps

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In my last post here, September is the new January, I talked about why I’m posting and sharing about getting my house in order and what that means.

Before I set out some main goals for this journey, I will share what my goals are NOT:

MY GOAL IS NOT:

A house that is always spic and span, eat off the floor clean.

I do not enjoy cleaning; but I really love it when the house is clean or looks picked up. I absolutely do not want to spend big chunks of my day cleaning. Nope. No sireee. No thank you. Also, we are home alllll day. I have two kids and two dogs. Perfectly clean is not even an option here.

Perfection.

This is a hard one for me. This, I believe, is one of the reasons I’ve failed at keeping things up before.

Making my goals too big or complicated.

Simple. Baby Steps. Routines that will stick.

MY GOAL IS TO:

To be honest and genuine on this blog.

So, get ready. You might be grossed out or have a different view of me if you know me in real life.

Make and keep good habits that will help my life and home run more smoothly and give me more time for the things that are really important.

This is totally a peace of mind thing more than it is physical thing.

Declutter and Simplify.

I don’t know about you; but this crazy year has completely overwhelmed and overstimulated my mind. My house has these pockets of clutter and when I see them, it adds to the overwhelm I already feel.

Accomplish goals and projects

This is probably my biggest reason for a (re) Start of my getting my home in order. I’m sure I’ll talk more about this in future blog posts.

Baby Steps

I’ve been reading and rereading a lot of resources, some inspirational blogs, IG accounts and books to get me motivated. I’ll share those along the way. What I’m doing this month is the Fly Lady’s Baby Steps. It’s simple and I did this years ago; so I’m familiar with it.

I know there is not a “one size fits all” system. I’m sure as I read and get inspiration from others along the way, it will all meld into my own unique way that will work for me, my season of life and my family.

Why the blog? Really to keep myself accountable. There is not a plethora of people who read my blog and that’s okay . It’s a space where I can record my progress along the way.

31 Days of Baby Steps

First of all, I wanted to post day #1 of this journey on September 1st. That didn’t happen obviously and Perfectionist Jen started thinking about postponing this till October 1st (and October has 31 days-perfect!!) I’m fighting my perfectionist tendencies so I am starting tomorrow.

I would love to post everyday documenting my progress and I will try my best but……….. real life.

I will post imperfect posts and pictures that may not look great (or they will look awesome if I have time to edit); but the goal here is not perfection.

Baby Step #1 Shine your sink.

I’ll tell you how I did in the next post here

If you have no flipping idea who The Fly Lady is, here are some links:

Fly Lady’s Sink Reflections

The Fly Lady’s Website

Let’s Start Over: September is the new January

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It all started in January. My word for the year was START. (You can read that post here.) I’m laughing while typing this because just two months after the year began our world STOPPED. It stopped like “came to standstill”, “came to screeching halt”, “ran into a brick wall” kind of stop.

It’s been quite a year and honestly, keeps getting more interesting; but not in a good way.

So while life has definitely not gone back to normal, it turns out I picked the right word after all because this mama is rebooting.

I need to get back to a normal routine even if life isn’t normal.

While my house is not a disaster and stays pretty clean, I really desire to declutter and simplify.

I’m really, really tired of setting goals and almost never meeting them. *Sigh*

Basically, I need to get my house in order (and me!).

This is not about PERFECTION! Oh, heavens no. For me, this is about routines, new habits, peace in my home and peace of mind.

While 2020 has been a virus wielding, mask wearing, murder hornet threatening, riot frenzied, smoke filled (That’s just for us, NORCAL), thunderbolts, political mess of a year, God has taught me some really hard and important lessons. I’m taking that into my new year.

I’m staring over. I’m rebooting. I’m inviting you on my journey.

It’s time to (re)START.

Follow me on my journey. Start Here.