The Pre-Holiday Flap

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Thought I'd get this one in well ahead of the weekend, just in case you want to get a head start on yourself!

Last weekend, we travelled to the mountains with some friends to a conference.

One of the most awesome things about preparing for the weekend was the pre-holiday house clean. I like to come back to a relatively tidy house, clean fridge and no massive Mt. Washmore. Its just a thing I have. Go with it.

I usually flap around for days before a weekend cleaning and getting organised so I can feel relaxed while I'm away. Four days cleaning for two days away sounds normal right?

Here's the thing. This time, I didn't have to.

This is how long it took to get the house 'holiday-ready':

An hour and 15 minutes.

Oh. Yeah.

In that time, I caught up the washing, changed the sheets, vacuumed, washed the dishes, cleaned out the fridge, straightened and packed my gear for the weekend. Oh and I took 10 minutes out of that time to quickly sew myself a shoulder bag for the weekend too.

How? How am I, the least organised person ever, becoming... well, organised?

If you haven't checked out the ridiculously difficult to navigate but completely helpful FlyLady site yet, I strongly suggest you do.

Changin' my world.

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[no, I don't get any benefit from referring you, or for plugging the site. I am just sharing what works for me in the name of being a full time worker/wife :)]

Another Great Organisation Tool: Cozi

As part of my venture in to the world of Flylady, I tripped across the application, Cozi. Cozi is an online family calendar system and organisation tool, similar to iCal or Outlook Express.

I signed up, and after spending a bit of time setting things up and getting used to the layout, I now have a functional tool to keep track of my appointments, to do lists and schedules.

Awesome is not really a paper guy, and we had tried paper calendars before with only limited success. To get Awesome to read the calendar, which was on the fridge, I would need to put post-it's on the mirror in the bathroom, on top of his work bag, and on the back of the front door. And most of the time he missed them...

So I decided to meet him where he was at. We switched to google calendar and that has been working well. I set up reminders to pop up oh his iphone and iPad. But I was still using a paper diary and that meant transferring things across regularly. Which required a routine, which I didn't have.... Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the new and slightly easier to use features of the Cozi system really suited me, and flylady has a link up so the master lists for her routines automatically link to your Cozi account. Me likey.

Cozi is a free (ad-supported) site, with the option of a paid account with no ads. Joining is quick and easy and you have instant access to your account and calendar. Cozi synchs up with google calendar as a read-only, which worked for me as Awesome's calendar is already set up there. I can see what he is doing, email him directly from the site, and send him a weekly family schedule via email.

Other benefits of the Cozi system are the Daily journal, where you can record a quick snapshot of your day and turn it into a webpage for others to read, either privately or publicly. This would be great if we had kids, or, you know, a life.
There is a shopping list tool where you can create separate lists for each shop you go to. I have set up an Aldi, Woolworths, Costco (oh yes, did I mention I joined Costco? That's another post altogether!) and a general household list of random things. You can set up as many lists as you like, but weeeelll I really hate shopping so I avoid it at all costs.
You can also link all your facebook events and birthdays automatically. This was a most excellent feature for me as I find I say yes to things and forget to transfer them across to my diary... then I have to run around checking emails and sites to ensure I haven't forgotten anything each day.

What I Would Change
It would be good to be able to automatically have your to do lists appear on the daily page on a weekly basis (you can currently have them set up for a certain day, but not repeated, say every Monday). I would also appreciate being able to email the To Do lists to myself each day, but that would prevent me from needing to visit the site, which would mean I wouldn't see the ads, which is how the site makes their money, so I'm guessing that this is probably intentional.

Overall, I have been using this site for a week and enjoying it immensely. Now we will see how long it lasts?

A warning: the site is easy to set up and play around with once you get the hang of it (the help section is awesome), but I have spent quite a bit of time playing with it (because I am a perfectionist like that) and getting it just the way I like it. Don't blame me if you waste a couple of hours organising your life. You've been warned.

Disclaimer: This is not a paid or requested review, simply sharing the love!

Starting Out With Savings... Part 5

This is our final post (for now) on our savings system. I wanted to make sure that I didn't give anyone the impression that this system would be easy or foolproof.


Moving to cash is difficult. We have lived a DINK lifestyle (double income, no kids) for two years. We are used to getting what we want when we want it. Not only that, but we drew our own money from our own paychecks. This meant that there was very little accountabilty to each other over what we spent or what we were aiming for. Basically as long as bills were paid, we could each spend whatever we wanted. On what ever we wanted... 


That's not a long-term solution. 


We are already realising the limiting nature that this system will have on our lifestyle. We will have to check if one of us has cash before going out to supper with mates after church. Buying a new album online might not be a spur of the moment purchase... 


The way I see it is this; living this way is freeing. The way we were living, we felt like we were living it up because we could have what ever we wanted. Except, we actually can't achieve our bigger financial goals like buying a house because we haven't saved any money. And if something goes wrong, if one of us looses our job, if our mortgage repayments change, if one of us gets injured or sick, we have a very temporary buffer. Then, we are done. 


By saving, budgeting and managing our money, we might actually have a shot at making our lives easier in a few years. Its short term pain (and really, is waiting a few weeks for new shoes really a pain? If it is, you need a reality check. Sorry, but that's the truth), for long term gain. 


Below of I have listed some sites that make being more thrifty a reality. I hope they are helpful to you.


Finally, a reminder from God's Word:

Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you." so we can confidently say,

   "The Lord is my helper;   I will not fear;what can man do to me?"

~ Hebrews 13:5-6

Helpful Resources

Money Saving Mom - check out her series on paying down 100% of their first home. Lots of other awesome money saving ideas.

Small Notebook - you know how sometimes you read something and go... "hey, that is really sensible. Why didn't I think of that?" This post helped put things in perspective, but there is oodles of interesting and helpful, simple stuff on her site. 

Simple Mom - lots of ways to save, reflect and minimise our impact on the earth.

Starting Out With Savings... Part 4

Over the last few days, I've been focussed on the macro of our budget.


Now I want to look at the micro - my stuff!


I am in charge of groceries, petrol for the car and taking car of any appointments or activities that I want to do.


I now have a system for managing this.


Each week, I have a set amount for 'my stuff'. It looks something like this:


- $100 for groceries and household cleaning etc
- $50 for 'fun' - we can use this to go out for dinner, to see a movie etc.
- $50 for petrol - we both live close to work and only have one car so $50 is enough most weeks to get where we need to go. Any left over grocery money would be diverted here each week.
- $100 for me and $100 for Awesome. This is to pay for phyiso on my back, to buy little bits and pieces that come up each week. If I want something specific, like new shoes, I save what's left each week and go shopping when I have enough.
This is probably the hardest part of this system.


We are a generation of instantaneous gratification.
We love to have stuff.
Now.




I think it is entirely healthy to wait. We learn to appreciate what we have. To take care of it. To make do.


I kind of want an ipad. I've been playing with one for weeks. But the reality is it can only do what my computer already does. Except I can do it in the lounge room. Really? We don't have to be slaves to this stuff. If someone wants to give me their number, I don't have to 'bump' their phone. I can write it down. Call them later. On the phone I already own... hmmm anyway, end rant..


Because I am an extremely visual person, I needed something tangible to help me manage the cash. Enter the cash envelope system. I found these online. They are beautiful, and if I had the money for them, I would have bought them right away. I usually do. But I can sew. So, I made my own. I don't want to steal beauty that moves' thunder though, so if you want them, you can go to her etsy shop.


The idea is that you use what is in the envelope. When it runs out... you stop buying.


Pretty simple concept. Let's see how long we go with this!


Are you a cash person, or do you prefer to whip out the card?

5 Minute Declutter Challenge: Just one shelf....

One shelf in my hall cupboard/pantry.

5 minutes. 

The goal:  To be able to shut the cupboard door and open it again without things getting stuck or falling on my head... 

First this:

Now this: 

First this: (you can not tell that the pile of black things at the front are random socks can you!!!?) 

Now this:

5 Minutes a day to order from chaos. Don't bite off more than you can chew :) 

Project:Simplify - Master Closet Results

Ahh... but you will say "Girl, you do not have many clothes!"

And I will say: "That is because some are on the bed..."

"And on the floor in the other room..."

"And on these here shelves"

"And mostly because this is only my clothes, and Awesome has his own closet in the Man Cave."

"Right" You will say. "That is a mess. You had better get to work."

And I will agree and get cracking on the challenge set up here:

  

And it will be a couple of hours, because I become distracted with finding my colours and generally interrupting myself with other jobs like making my own washing powder... 

BUT THEN, I will finish. One double wardrobe and 5 drawers later.... here are some of the highlights:

The neatness of shoes and threw out 3.5 pairs of shoes (yes, 3.5)

Turns out I only have one belt out of 10 that will ever come close to going around me again... 

Every earring has a pair, every necklace is knot-less and clean, every section of the jewellery hangers are colour and style coded... the clothes are organised by type and length... oh yes, a day at home can be well spent! 

During the week, I placed a random comment on Facebook about the sinking feeling I get most mornings upon waking as I suddenly remember all the things I didn't get done yesterday. 


Remembering things I haven't done sometimes wakes me up in the middle of the night! Have you experienced that guilt/regret/cold sweat panic that comes from forgetting things? 


A couple of hours later a friend sent me an encouraging reply.  You, know the 'buck up, you'll be right' type of post that we crave when we leave these self-pitying messages. But there was one thing in particular that jumped out at me...


"Make Shorter Lists"




Make shorter lists? Genius!  I don't know why, but I have never, never thought of doing that!


At work (which is where I have the most problem with this), I keep a running list in a daily diary pad. That list can go for pages and is endless. Each day I write down all the things I want to get done in a day and cross them off as I go. 


There are two minor problems with this:


1. I do a host of other things as well that aren't on the list that prevent me from getting the list done. 
2. There are too many things on the daily list to ever be done in a day - meaning I always feel like I failed.


Every day. 


So, here is my new focus over Christmas as my mind runs away with a million plans to clean out every space in my house and repaint things and sew things and bake things and visit people and... (mind you, I am working full time right through the Christmas and January holiday period, so I'm not sure when I think I'm going to do all this...) - MAKE SHORTER LISTS.


Feel free to bumble along with me as I figure this out! 

Challenges Update!

After a very busy week visiting family and celebrating the life of my dear Grandfather who went to glory last week, I am back into the swing of things. 

I am working on Courtney's challenge to create a harmonious home.  This week, the focus is on music. I thought I'd break our usual habit of sitting on the lounge and eating over the coffee table (yes, I know), and set the 'big' table, complete with my week 1 challenge candle. I popped on my ipod for some quiet background music.


We said grace.

We started to eat.


There was a sense of peace in the house


and then...


"Hun, do you mind if I put the news on?"


I stopped myself from laughing out loud!  Oh well, I tried!  Maybe tomorrow!


Do you ever plan something to benefit your spouse or family and then realise it might not be something that they value? 

I had a little more luck with my declutter challenges this week.  I started with my bookshelf. Here is the 'before':

Yes, there are books stacked on the floor. And everywhere else!  I pulled out everything and wiped it down, one shelf at a time. I have a large number of children's books that I use for work that have been in the wrong spot for years. I wanted them lower so the books I use all the time (my Christian books, exercise books and reference books) were at a more logical height. Doing one shelf at a time (that is, taking out what didn't belong and stacking in what I wanted there before moving on) made it a much easier process than pulling everything off and getting overwhelmed!


I was surprised how many bible study books and devotionals I had multiple copies of. Here are a few other surprises I found: 

• A folder (that I thought was long gone) containing every bank statement I had ever received for an account from kindergarten to the end of university!!
• Three years worth of sermon notes from university bible lectures. I thought I would look at them again some day, but I realised that without the sermon context most of my notes don't make any sense! They also had pictures of birds and elephants and stars drawn all over them... to help me concentrate I guess... The whole folder went in the bin!
• 4 years worth of subscriptions to a Christian apologetics and theology magazine. While this might 'one day' be useful to me, it will 'right now' be more useful to people who borrow them from our church library. 
• 20 or so Bible study leader books (copies!) which would be far more useful to our churches current youth and children's ministry than to my book shelf... 
• 4 bibles that don't belong to us!  Going back to their rightful owners!

I also found 6 items that would be useful for other people I know so they have been bagged up to be passed on as gifts too. 

So.... 50 mins later (yes, I was astonished how quick it really was!)

Oh how I love challenges that make me focus on getting things done! 
The second week of the challenge (I'm a bit behind) is to look at the master bedroom. I have only recently reorganised the bedroom, however this week is our churches annual spring clothing collection for Anglicare. So I took the opportunity to go through my cupboards, and despite having only recently sorted my clothes I still found some items I no longer need. Mr. Awesome has agreed to go through his clothes later this week. I will report on his progress! 


It is wonderful not to be so tied to our things that we hoard them. Giving things away to be used by someone else (rather than just sitting around!) is a great feeling! 


What 'one day' things could be more useful to someone you know right now?

Declutter, Beautify and Create Challenge!

Yep, I'm all up for challenges at the moment!


So here is yet another that I have joined!  


I am committing to the 10 week challenge to declutter, beautify and create in various spaces around our home. As the end of the year is approaching, and it is spring here in Australia, its time to clean the cupboards out!


I will be sure to take some before and after pictures for you. Want to join me on this challenge? Please do! You can link up on the Sunflower Schoolhouse page!


Here is this week's challenge:

Week 1
Front Hall Closet and Extra Closets

• go through your front hall closet and any hall closets.
• get rid of as much clutter as possible
• organize what’s left
• make your closets look more beautiful
• is there anything stashed in there that could be used to make a Christmas gift for someone? (pull it out and put it aside)
• share your ideas for frugal decorating and organizing
• tell us what you are getting rid of
• write a blog post and come back and link it up next week
• include before and after pictures of your hall closets if you can

My Personal Goals For Week 1

• Our hallway cupboard doubles as our pantry. So this week I will post pictures of how I have created 'sugarless' spaces for the food I can eat, and 'sugary' spaces for Mr. Awesome!
• As my pantry is 'up to date', I am also going to focus on my bookshelf (one of 4 bookshelves in our house!), and apply the same principles here!. 

Finding my space!

I just finished reading Lessons in Letting Go: Confessions of a hoarder, by Corinne Grant. I thought it was an excellent read and it made me reflect a lot on my habit of "piling not filing".


Earlier today I was revisiting Elisabeth George's Life Management for Busy Women, and I realised that getting half way was not really getting the job done.  My desk had already been 'tidied' and had gone from something like this: 

To something more like this:

I had chucked out all the rubbish but hadn't actually dealt with anything. The desk was still unusable. 


So when I got home today I decided enough was enough. I resorted all the items and made boxes:


1. Things that don't belong in this room and need to be put away (then I walked around with the box and actually put them away!)


2. Things that need to be filed (then I actually filed them!) 


3. Things that needed to be dealt with.


Then I sat down and dealt with the 'deal with' box!


Now my desk looks more like this: 

Sorry about the lack of actual photos, our camera is playing up.


Now I can actually sit at my desk to do my Bible reading in the morning and can use my desk for what its really for! 


What have you recently finished that you have been putting off?


I am linking up for Courtney's Making Your Home A Haven for the next 5 weeks. Check it out here. 

20 Minute Laundry Makeover

You might remember that I have mentioned before that Mr. Awesome does the majority of the washing and ironing around here.  That's what works for us right now, so that's how we roll...!

Lately though the laundry has been a bit neglected in my housecleaning schedule.

Pretty much it constantly looks like this:

And we pretty much can't take it anymore! So this afternoon when out shopping I purchased a $5.99 plastic bucket so I could make a cleaning bucket like this.

And then it was on! I reorganised shelves to put the things we use everyday on the most logical shelves and put the less used items on a different shelf.  Then I cleaned everything off, went through all the old clothes I was saving for rags, and cut them into usable pieces. Then - get this - I threw the rest out!! They were the wrong kind of fabric for rags or had massive holes etc that made them difficult to use. I moved all the beach towels to another part of the house where they could be with the swimmers (and be friends yeah?!).

Tidying up made things easier to store - and to get to.  So here is the final result!

For the first time in weeks we actually caught up on the washing too!  Twenty minutes and using only one new bucket and we have a room that almost feels new!

30 Excellent Books Update

Back in January I decided to read 30 excellent books in 2010. The point was to stretch my mind and spend time focussed on things that would pull me forward, majorly in the areas of Christian living and spiritual discipline. Its time to review the list and see how I'm doing!

I originally only chose 21 books so that I was open to reading other books that crossed my path throughout the year. It seems that so far I have read more "other" books than those on the original list! 

My 2010 30 Excellent Books List (in no particular order)

1. Disciplines of a Godly Woman by Barbara Hughes
2. A Call to Spiritual Reformation by D.A Carson
3. According to Plan by Graeme Goldsworthy
4. From Clutter To Clarity by Nancy Twigg
5. The Excellent Wife by Martha Peace
6. The Lion Handbook to the Bible by David and Pat Alexander
7. The Love Dare by Stephen and Alex Kendrick
8. Feminine Appeal by Carolyn Mahaney
9. Power of a Praying Wife by Stormie Omartin
10. Power of Praying Through the Bible by Stormie Omartin
11. The Plight of Man and The Power of God by Martin Lloyd-Jones
12. How Should We Then Live by Frances A. Schaeffer
13. Guidance and the Voice of God by Phillip D. Jensen and Tony Payne
14. Knowing God by J.I. Packer
15. Knowledge of the Holy by A.W Tozer
16. The Pursuit of God by A.W.Tozer
17. Commentary on Romans by Martin Luther
18. My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers
19. The Cross by Martyn Lloyd-Jones
20. Spiritual Blessing by Martyn Lloyd-Jones
21. Hind's Feet on High Places by Hannah Hurnard
22. Sheet Music by Dr. Kevin Leman
23. The Birth Order Book by Dr. Kevin Leman
24. How Women Help Men Find God by David Morrow
25. Finding God by Larry Crabb
26. Home Court Advantage by Dr. Kevin Leman
27. Hungry for God by John Piper

Some of the reason for my slowness has been the difficulty of finding the books I originally set out to read - most of these were recommendations so I didn't actually own them (note to self: next year I will pick all the books on my shelf I haven't read yet!). I also have had a number of work related books to read this year which have devoured some of my time and energy. I currently have about 4 of these books on the go (I have a very distractable personality so I like to have different options at anyone time!!) and I intend to blog about several of these that I have recently finished reading also. 

I thought it was probably also time to have a quick reflect on the goals I set for 2010. 

• Find time to have quiet time with God everyday - I am still working on this but at the moment I am managing around 3-4 days a week
• Use less internet each day - create stillness in the home - hmmm..this one needs work...!
• Have less junk in my life - physically and spiritually -physically I have been through 3 of the 6 rooms in our home so far and have been ruthless in riding us of the excess junk we just don't need - typically I have saved the harder rooms for last!!
• Read 30 excellent books
• Complete the first level of the Preliminary Theological Certificate - I am hoping that now that work has settled down I will be able to enroll for the next intake of subjects in the series.
• Plan meals to manage the budget more effectively - we are finally starting to save more effectively through managing our budget and particularly our food. I am learning to use my freezer and slow cooker to help keep the costs down and not throw out so much food. 
• Memorise Ephesians this year- oh dear - this is one I haven't even STARTED yet!
• Remember more and forget less! hmmm.... only those around me can tell me if this is working! I am trying very hard to return phone calls emails and messages in reasonable time frames and to remember the things that I promise people I will do for them! 
• Complete sewing projects for gifts and for the house - is a sewing list ever complete? I think that's a whole blog post in itself!

Overall, I have perhaps been a little ambitious in my goal setting for this year - but on the positive side we are only half way through! Praying that God will give me the strength to prioritise. 

How are your goals going this year?