We are having friends over to watch the Super Bowl on Sunday night so I have busied myself with getting the house in tip top shape! A few things (cleaning the glass on our framed prints & photos, for one) have gone on the back burner the last few months. I also spent Sunday afternoon rearranging the living room to make TV viewing easier and love the way it is now. Don't know why I didn't put it that way sooner!
Shelbi over at Keeper of the Chocolates wrote a lovely entry about the things we surrender as mothers. Things that are less than perfect, but in the grand scheme of things are worth surrendering.
There are several things that come to mind for me, but the main one is Olivia's room. Especially her closet & drawers. My closet & drawers are in perfect order most of the time. Each piece of clothing has its place.
I got tired of nagging her about straightening her clothes, and a few years ago I gave up that battle. However, there is a trade off -- she is now responsible for putting away her own clothes and ironing anything that was shoved in a drawer that is too wrinkled to wear. If I find something she has not worn & put in the hamper because it was too wrinkled, I keep it for at least a week. We are both much happier that this issue has been put to rest.
The inside of her drawers can look like this...
One project leads to another!
The basement decluttering has sent me into the kitchen. I am now working on thinning out what we have in one of our cabinets so I can put dishes that were Bob's grandma's into our daily rotation. That, of course, leads to moving some of her items to the corner cabinet in the family room, and that leads to rearranging the things on display on the tops of our cabinets. Oh well, I needed to get those cabinet tops washed off anyway.
I am guessing this project will lead to something else...LOL!!
I am a "declutterer" by nature and Bob is a pack rat. Our basement is packed with things we are NEVER going to use again, but Bob was hesitant to get rid of because we might need it. I think the amount of time we have had to spend in the basement recently because of tornado warnings has opened his eyes to how much stuff is really down there. He has FINALLY agreed that something needs to be done. Woohoo!
I began The Great Declutter yesterday afternoon and have already taken a full load of stuff to Goodwill. And by full load, I mean full load -- back seats of the Blazer down and filled to the top! Had to get it out of here before Bob changed his mind...LOL!!
There is more work to do, but I am well on my way to a decluttered, organized basement.
Today it was the "office supply" drawer & cabinet in the kitchen. We have WAY too many pens, pencils, paper clips, highlighters, post-it notes, etc. I got them under control today (for now). I swear that stuff multiplies in the darkness of drawers & cabinets. I am sending a box of stuff with Olivia to school. Her friends will love it -- much of it was never opened.
A few months ago we decided it was time for Olivia to have more responsibility when it comes to chores around the house. At 14, she is old enough that I shouldn't have to do it all. I wanted to come up with a list. Not necessarily just for Olivia's chores, but some sort of checklist that either one of us could follow. That was when I decided to give motivatedmoms.com a try. Yes, I paid for their printable chore planner. It was $8, but it is some of the best money I have ever spent. (If you want to give it a try, it's only $4 now!)
I changed the format and adapted the list for our family/home. Guess what -- it works! Olivia did the some of the chores on the list, and there was very little reminding that she needed to work on a few things on the list through out the day.
I am a big fan of to do lists and love seeing things crossed off so we will continue to use it during the school year. However, Olivia isn't expected to complete as many of those things during the week.
