Organization Evaluation

I am forever looking for ways to sort, categorize, and label my life. Pinterest and the endless photos of perfectly stacked and labeled containers for everything under the sun serves to both inspire and infuriate me.

This year I decided to take on getting organized in a new way. We are starting fresh in our home this year in so many different ways, so I wanted to make the most of it from the very beginning.

I saw several ideas that were genius, but wasn't able to put them into practice like I may want so they got modified.

I decided that, first and foremost, we needed a command center for our kitchen so that everyone would be on the same page. We had a little mail sorter that I had purchased for my first apartment in grad school, but it really wasn't serving much of a purpose for us except to take up space, so it had to go. Then I had to decide what to use to replace it. I looked at making various magnetic and/or dry erase boards but nothing seemed to fit. I did see an idea for making a folder for each week of the year to keep up with things. Between that and some great "family planner" printables I'd had taking up space on my hard drive, I decided to give it a shot.

I had seen a really neat hanging organizer that had a very large pocket on top specifically designed for holding file folders, two smaller pockets on the front, and four large hooks along the bottom. I filled the top pocket with my weekly folders, designated one small pocket for our various coupons, and used the hooks on the bottom for holding two key note pads. One had "to do" and 'to buy" lists on it. The other I used for my weekly meal plan.

The folders haven't worked as well as I had hoped. Maybe if we had kids with homework and a reason to get into the folders every day it would work better. But since it's just the two of us, I don't need the calendar pages to keep up with what's going on with us (and Jeff doesn't ever look at it!)

The one thing that has worked great for us has been the monthly budget accountability sheet I made up for us. That does get updated at least once a week! I think having maybe two folders (one for current/upcoming months and one for completed months) will serve us best.

The meal plan pad has been helpful, if not always accurate. I'm doing a better job about being aware of what I can and can't do on certain days and making it work for me, like making crock pot meals on the nights when Jeff will beat me home because that way dinner will be waiting for him! Otherwise, he'll eat salad and I'll just say "what's the point?" and make a sandwich!

The "to do" and "to buy" lists haven't worked as well as I'd hoped either. I generally keep my shopping list on my phone, but I definitely see the advantage of doing it both ways so if Jeff decides to go for me sometime he has the list!

I have an idea for the "to do" list, especially as it relates to household chores. I'm really digging the idea of laminated cards for each room that can be put on a metal ring and hung from one of our hooks. Actually, I'd probably get two rings - one for "to do" and one for "done"

Next on the agenda is getting my closet more organized, then the pantry and freezer! What sort of system have you devised for keeping yourself and your family in order?

Friday Five - Clutter

Today's Friday Five is about something that is a very familiar part of my life - clutter. Right now, my little corner of our bedroom is clutter free. It will probably stay this way for at least a couple more weeks, but I doubt much more than that. Then, slowly, things will start to pile up and up until I get around to de-cluttering (or at least moving) the clutter.

What things do you like to hang on to? - Things with comforting memories attached, things I think may one day be special to other members of my family, things that have been given to me.

What is hard to let go of? - Anything that was a gift, especially if I liked it; anything that reminds me of my family, especially those who are now deceased; anything that I may not be able to replace

What is easy to give away? - Clothes and shoes are the easiest, books I've already read, large items that are no longer useful and are taking up too much space

Is there any kind of stumbling block connected with cleaning out? - Yes! Memories! Cleaning out always takes me twice as long because I have to sit and reminisce about everything! And then I get attached to the items all over again and have a hard time giving them away!

What do you like to collect, hoard, or admire? - I guess the closest thing to an "active" collection I have now are my Madame Alexander dolls. I have some old figurines my mother got for me as a child that I won't get rid of. My current weaknesses are bibles, purses, and kitchen tools.

Bonus: Here are a few thoughts on de-cluttering - One thing that sticks in my mind about the "stuff" in my life is the questions "Do you need it? Do you love it? Does it make you money?" and the assumption was that if it didn't do one of those three things it didn't need to be a part of your life. On the one hand I agree. On the other hand I feel like there is something missing from this assessment. I think the thing that it is trying to get at is passion - there isn't room in life for things that don't inspire or involve passion. But there is still a little room to refine this. I'm not exactly sure how this should be refined, but I'm open to suggestions!

Alarming

During our semi-horrible visit to the home and garden show (that was incredibly disappointing, by the way) Jeff decided we needed to register for every giveaway going on. Well, I knew exactly where this would lead. One of these included information for an alarm company. Of course they called and scheduled an appointment to come give us a free estimate for an alarm system. Jeff fielded the phone calls so it wasn't a huge concern of mine.

I didn't think much about it until one Tuesday afternoon a few weeks ago. I came home from a long shift at the hospital rather tired and cranky. I immediately start dinner because I'm hungry and looking forward to relaxing that evening when the doorbell rings and sure enough the woman from the alarm company was here to do our estimate. FRICK!

She was really nice and I liked her a lot, but I really didn't think this was the time for us to be buying alarm equipment or signing a service contract. I let Jeff do the house tour because he knew all about alarms (having had alarms before and worked at an alarm company) so I just stayed in the kitchen and tended to my macaroni from a box. The next thing I know they're in the kitchen and contracts are coming out and he's holding a pen!

I knew he really wanted an alarm and I don't mind having one, so we went ahead and got it since the equipment and installation was free.

I guess it's just because I'm not used to having an alarm but it makes me really nervous! I'm afraid of setting it off, even though I can give them our password and I won't have my house swarmed by police! I know it's a good thing to have and is saving us money on our insurance and all that, but I'm still not sure whether or not I like it.

I guess the monitored smoke detectors are nice. I think that's one of my biggest fears - the house catching fire and something happening to the dogs. I'm still tempted to get one of those "pet alert" stickers to go on the door.

Who would have thought that home security equipment would make me so insecure?

Domestic Engineering

When I was a senior in high school, one of my teachers did a quick poll to see who was going to college (I think just about everyone) and what we were going to study or what we thought we would do after school. And one of the first questions he asked was "Does anyone want to be a domestic engineer?" I knew exactly what that meant and was tempted to raise my hand, but at the time thought that was mutually exclusive to a career (and in the context of his question, it kind of was) so I didn't vote for that option.

I've started thinking about it and if that was your goal, what would you study in college to achieve that, regardless of whether you're a male or female? Of course, the first thing that came to mind was the repressed home economics teacher from Mona Lisa Smile and her class where they were discussing the finer points of a last-minute dinner party to impress the boss of one's husband. This is clearly not necessarily what the modern domestic engineer would need in terms of basic education, but home economics isn't a bad place to start. The one thing I dislike about the home ec. education of yester-year is the assumption that 1) the student is female 2) she plans to marry 3) she will have children. Because none of these can or should be assumed.

I'm not aware of a degree program that even comes close to what I am envisioning, but if one existed, what would it look like? I think the question is ultimately "what are the skills required to effectively maintain a home that is both comfortable and functional?" Here are some classes I think would be beneficial in creating a well-rounded domestic engineer.

Basic Psychology and Sociology - particularly developmental psychology and/or family systems theory along with general studies on social interaction

Nutrition and/or basic food preparation

Business - particularly basic accounting and/or personal finance

Art and Design - any type of introductory course that deals with the basics of color, light, and composition

Intro to Horticulture

Basic First Aid and CPR

If I were to create this as a degree program (that would obviously be in addition to basic education requirements) one thing I would not require, is childcare or education. As I said before, those are no longer assumptions that can or should be made about the modern domestic engineer. However, electives in things like education and childcare should certainly be available to those interested.

So what have I left out? What should I change?

The Bathroom

If I were to design a house I would design it around two rooms - the kitchen and the bathroom. No matter what else happens, you have to eat and you have to potty. Sure you have to sleep too, but I have been know to do that in either of those rooms! (those are other stories for another day)

I don't think nearly enough people invest enough time or energy thinking about their bathroom. It is probably the most personal, private, intimate room of the house. Unless you have small children, the goings-on behind closed doors are rarely documented. It's just a personal space.
Because it is so personal, I don't feel like I can really comment on what is "necessary" in a good bathroom for anyone buy myself. Even my husband and I have different ideas about what is essential and what is optional.
The only universal essential in my mind (aside from the obvious hardware) is comfort! You want to enjoy your time in your bathroom. Our master bathroom is ultimately what sold the house to me, although the kitchen was a very close second. The bottom line was that I knew I would enjoy this bathroom. We put more hard work in this room than any other. And this will continue to be a work in progress for both of us.

The thing I love most about the bathroom is obviously the great big tub. The hot water heater isn't QUITE large enough to fill it all the way up with super-hot water (which I know is probably not super healthy anyway, but I love it!) but it is still lovely for soaking. There is more than enough room for all of our stuff without feeling like it's crammed everywhere. There is still room to turn around. And if Jeff and I need to get in there at the same time, we can.

The thing I hate is that it's really cold. It's on the corner of the house. It kind of sticks out and isn't very well insulated. The floor is ceramic tile and it has two big single-pane windows. It doesn't matter what you do, it stays very very cold. We put in a small space heater which only helps a tiny bit. We're working on it.

My biggest word of advice when it comes to outfitting your bathroom is don't skimp on quality. Sure, know your budget. But maintain high standards! Choose a color your enjoy, you'll be staring at it a while. Buy good towels. Even if it means you buy fewer and wash them more often, it's worth it (and if they're quality, they'll hold up to the washing!) Make it a place you enjoy!

Buying in Bulk

I must admit, I get a certain thrill from buying in large quantities. I'm not talking 50 lb bags of flour large, but I do appreciate the knowledge that I won't have to buy green beans for another 4 - 6 months!

The biggest thing that has kept me from doing more of this since getting married was the ability to store the things that I purchase! Our freezer at the condo was rather tiny. We were doing good to fit all of our monthly groceries in at once. But our new freezer has remedied that problem. We have one bin for our meats, another for the vegetables, a top rack for ice cream and fruits, and another for assorted small products like butter, cheese, bread, nuts, and more. And if it doesn't fit in its designated category, we must eat it immediately.

Most "big box" stores are now much better at packaging things in ways that are most convenient for the average family. Instead of buying the lunchroom-sized cans of green beans and corn, you can buy a case with 12 "regular" sized cans in it. Instead of the bag of chips you could crawl inside (and will probably go stale before you eat them all), you may get a box with two individually sealed bags.

One thing I have learned from my bulk buying is the art of re-packaging. I know it's probably not the most eco-friendly way of doing things to take a bunch of chicken breasts out of a single package and put them into individual plastic bags, but it makes life SO much easier when I want to cook and helps me reduce waste, so no chickens had to die in vain. Vacuum sealers are excellent for these endeavors. If you don't have one yet, at least look into a Handi-Vac or something similar. They aren't exactly professional quality, but they definitely do better than trying to squeeze the baggie! And with dry goods, you can often re-use the bags!

For the most part, bulk buying is great. But it does require a certain amount of attention and detective work. You have to know what you normally pay for the stuff you buy! For example, I know I normally pay somewhere between 89 and 99 cents for a box of onion soup mix. So a pack of 3 boxes for $3.64 is available, I know it's not such a great deal!

Some things it's not worth buying in bulk unless you're feeding a group. Produce is one of these. Unless of course you plan to do some canning. I really should look into that...

Stuff that doesn't spoil like household products, paper goods, pantry staples, and the like are perfect for buying in large quantities. Just make sure you know that you like whatever it is you're buying. Otherwise the process of getting it all out of your house without going nuts can prove somewhat daunting.

If you have the space and the time, it is a practice I highly recommend. If you don't have the space on your own, consider splitting a membership with a friend. It's worth it!

This week's list

Last week was not nearly as productive as I had hoped it would be. Because Sunday is a work day for me, I count it as the start of my week. So let's see what the coming week has in store for me, shall we?

Sunday - Church. I really won't have time for much else. I'll be doing good if we make it home between morning and evening services. We may just go visit with Jeff's grandparents for a little while, I'm not sure.

Monday - Wash towels, go to the bank, pay bills. Maybe clean the bathrooms. Almost certainly do some cooking.

Tuesday - I have a meeting in the afternoon. In theory the morning will be slightly productive, but I doubt it!

Wednesday - Church in the morning. I may try to make up my hospital time that I will probably miss because of my meeting. I need to dust, too.

Thursday - Grocery Shopping. I don't know why, but I like grocery shopping so much better on Thursday than on Monday. I'm a strange creature like that. I think Jeff and I are going to try to have a date night of pizza and a movie, but we'll see.

Friday - Probably little things around the house like vacuuming. The boat show is in town and I promised Jeff I'd go with him at some point. I'd also like to sit and work on my crocheting for a bit. I screwed up the last one but I'm going to try again.

Saturday - Hopefully I can finish up some stuff for the church. If we haven't already made it to the boat show, we will.

As for meal plans, it'll really depend on what is on sale and what I get at the store. I really don't know what I'll do between Monday and Thursday. We still have some leftovers in the fridge (although we're very close to having them all eaten up) and I can always do the old standby of chicken and rice. I REALLY want to roast chicken breasts and try making a baked lemon pasta I found a recipe for, so we'll have to see where that works itself in.

Groovy

I'm slowly getting back into the swing of things domestically. The house and the move and the holidays have had my life and my routine turned upside down for far too long, but thankfully that is changing. I'm so glad I finally have a groove I can settle into.

Here is a peek into the new schedule at Casa de la Herren for the rest of this week and next week

Thursday - laundry and possibly some dusting. Dinner will probably be honey mustard pork loin, broccoli, and baked rice (if we don't get snowed in!)

Friday - clean the bathrooms and possibly wash a load of towels. I think I'm going to make risotto, although I don't know what we'll have to go with it. Maybe turkey.

Saturday - probably heading down to Montgomery if the weather isn't too bad. Dinner is to be decided based on the day's activities. If we get home in time, I'm thinking pancakes and bacon for dinner!

Sunday - church. Housework just isn't happening! Dinner will be leftovers.

Monday - vacuum and sweep. Dinner will probably be chili.

Tuesday - volunteer at the hospital. Housework may or may not happen. Dinner may be jambalaya and green beans

Wednesday - dust and change the sheets. Dinner will be roasted chicken breasts with mashed potatoes and english peas

Thursday - laundry day again. Dinner will be teriyaki beef and I may try my hand at fried rice.

Friday - bathrooms. I may also try to do some baking. Dinner may be mexican (we have a gift certificate)

Saturday - no house cleaning (here at least). We're going to celebrate his mom's birthday a couple of weeks late with a fondue party.

Sunday - church. Dinner will just be whatever is quick and easy.

So there you have it. We'll see how well I do at following this (especially when it's so flipping cold outside I don't want to leave my bed!) but I feel good about it because I have some direction and won't spend the day wandering aimlessly through the house. One day is going to become my craft day, where I can work on all the little projects that I really enjoy but haven't been making time for. I'm thinking maybe Thursday, but we'll have to wait and see. That is still a few weeks in the making.

Nomad No More

Friday is moving day. I can't believe it's finally here, but at the end of this week Jeff and I will be living in OUR house. And my life as a nomad will be ending.

I feel like my life has been a six and a half year long game of the hokey pokey. I can't remember how many times I've moved in and out and had to shake it all about! The best count I can come up with is at least ten different times in the past six years. It stinks. It truly does. And I'm over it. It may have been an exciting adventure a while ago, but no more.

I'm ready to be settled. I'm ready to give away all the boxes. I'm ready to recycle all the paper. I'm ready to throw out the foam. I'm ready to put nail holes in the walls and make height marks on door frames and carve our initials into a tree. I'm ready to have a place that truly feels like home!

And as much as I'm looking forward to being in our new home, the process of getting there is making me nuts. I HATE packing. Unpacking I actually enjoy because I can organize as I go. There is nothing more exciting to me than a set of empty shelves or a wall of empty cabinets. But a stack of empty boxes? That is the stuff nightmares are made of. I am haunted by thoughts of flat cardboard and packing paper and foam wrap and that awful tape!

Right now it's a tease. We have new furniture for the dining room and the living room. The dining room was a good find at a secondhand store. We got a nice oval table, the pad, 2 arm chairs, and 4 side chairs. The living room furniture is our Christmas gift from both sets of parents. We got a couch, a chair, a coffee table, and 2 end tables. All this stuff is in the house. The living room furniture still needs to be moved, but at least it's there. The fridge, washer, and dryer are all there. The house is liveable. We just aren't there yet!

Thankfully, we have hired movers this time. They can do all the heavy lifting and the hauling up and down stairs. I can smile, direct traffic, and start unpacking the moment the right boxes hit my kitchen!

Cleaning

While I can be very OCD about organization (some types of organization more than others), cleaning is not something I am terribly passionate about or enjoy very much. But now that I really have a home to take care of and am taking a little pride in it, I'm sort of enjoying it. It really does help to have someone to help me keep everything up. 

One task I know Jeff wishes I were better about is making the bed. I usually forget about it at least once a week. I appreciate that he lets me sleep when he leaves for work and I know that's the price I pay for that. But half the time I will get up and take the dog(s) out for a walk, and then I may or may not go back in the bedroom for quite some time. Usually I make the bed when I take a shower/get dressed. And on the days when I am lazy and want a bubble bath or just to hang out in my t-shirt and sweatpants, then I usually forget about the bed. We are compromising - Jeff does it on the weekends when he's home and will sometimes make it if I've forgotten it after he gets home (and is learning to do it without making smart comments!), but he can also just leave it on occasion which is nice. I'm trying to do better about remembering it, but at least I have stopped napping in the afternoon which is a step in the right direction I suppose!

Doing the dishes has become an interesting endeavor for us. On the one hand, I absolutely despise doing dishes, but since it mostly means just rinsing plates and loading the dishwasher, I'm taking ownership for it as one of "my" jobs, and am therefore picky about the way it is done. Bill Engvall has done several little bits about his wife and the dishes and the way the dishwasher is loaded. And I have always and will always laugh at them, but I am now that wife! Rather than getting on to Jeff for the way he does it, I just go behind him and fix it. He is slowly learning the way I like it and is trying, and I am learning to work around the way he does it. I still maintain the rule that if you don't want something in the dishwasher, you have to wash it by hand yourself, which seems fair.

I really dislike vacuuming, so that is Jeff's only major regular housekeeping job. He doesn't really mind it, so it works out pretty well. We share laundry duty and he is slowly learning what "delicate" means. I'm learning how he likes his socks folded. We still need an iron, but we're moving in the right directions. Dusting is one of those jobs neither of us likes so it usually only gets done once a month or whenever we have company (whichever comes first). I keep the bathrooms clean, but it's really not too terrible. The master shower has one of those scrubbing bubbles auto shower things so that kind of does itself. The tub/shower in the hall bathroom only gets used when we're in a hurry and both want to get ready at the same time or I want a bubble bath (that is "my" bathroom). Everything else is pretty easy to maintain.

I will be very glad when summer is over and Patches isn't shedding so we don't have black dog hair all over everything in our world!

I doubt I will ever actually like cleaning, but I am learning to appreciate the results enough to desire them!