Day 13

Well it's actually Day 15 but I didn't want to ruin the flow of the post titles.  I haven't actually stopped working, I was just too busy fighting with build your own website stuff.  On Friday I only kept up with everything (which is still fabulous progress and I am not ashamed).  Saturday, which is reserved for "family day" was a little more productive.  I don't think this is a bad thing from the perspective of those who work outside of the home.  Keeping up will allow you to eventually have that weekend family day, but for major work, like the garage thing, well that's just going to have to be done when you have more time.  Little by little though, those precious days together will become more fun - not that there were any complaints at all from anyone :)

In my house we have certain... areas.  Though I used to complain about what I felt was some sort of male chores vs. female chores thing that Geoff kind of made me feel existed in the home, eventually I took on the responsibility - prompting my Organization Evolution.  We still sort of have this, but I must say that he has been super helpful in the last couple of weeks, at first with little things like helping to clear up after dinner.  And he totally cleared off his dresser on Saturday night. I'm not saying there's a pattern emerging, I'm just putting this out there. 

On Saturday Geoff built some stuff in the garage, with the boys' help of course.  I organized my linen closet for some reason.  I say "some reason" because there was a weird push to suddenly do this.  It took forty five minutes and I was able to remove a reasonable amount of old towels, baby blankets (that the kids never attached to - I kept the rest) and some sheet sets that we don't use.  Well that made a difference.

There are two reasons I was able to actually clear out this closet.  One, I'm keeping up with laundry so I noticed that we didn't actually go through all of the towels - therefore we don't need them all.  Two, everything else was kept up so starting something that wasn't screaming to be done - haha, other than the complete disarray which would have given the most organized of people a panic attack upon discovery - could be done.  And who knows, maybe it was in the back of my mind because it was beginning to look so out of place compared to the rest of my house.  In either case, it's done.

I also made my dinner menu for the week. That was a lot more planning than perhaps it was supposed to be, but I'm only recently becoming interested in eating better and trying new things.  Hunter and Aaron will take some work - neither of them ate last night's dish.  Unfortunate because it was pretty good.  I'm working out of cookbooks mostly because I really wanted to try some new stuff. 

Have you ever watched an episode of Til Debt do us Part? One of the first things she always does when trying to get people on a budget is forcing them to meal plan and only shop once a week.  With four kids, you know I'm going to be out again for milk and the like but I've done my best to stay away from convenience stores anyhow because milk is about $7 there and I can get it for $5 at any other store.  A week's worth of groceries, plus a couple of extra things that I knew we needed, like ketchup and syrup (and something we didn't like raisin bread), my total cost was $129.  For a family of six, I saved twenty bucks.  And there are some things I picked up that will last a little longer, like cheese - I will be able to use those again for meal planning next week without having to buy more.  However, it wasn't all unicorns and rainbows and you can read that on Facebook at the Mom Evolution page.  I'm not a professional yet; I'm creating new habits.

This week with FlyLady we are in the "bathroom(s) and one other room".  I still need to declutter my own drawers and closet.  I'm not procrastinating, it will get done... but I know I don't need so much of what I have for clothes.  I don't wear much of it.  I know this... I will get to it.  And I have a drawer in my dresser that is filled with ... stuff.  Not clothes, but pictures and I don't even know what else.  Clutter, I assume.

For anyone dealing with this clutter issue, FlyLady posted an email she'd received about the same. The woman writing in was asking what do with all the "leftovers"; stuff that didn't have a home.  FlyLady's response was "if it doesn't have a home then get rid of it." End of story.  I know that's what's coming for me too - if I haven't opened that drawer in, oh let's say six years, then do I have any sort of attachment for what's inside?  Probably not.  Yet there it sits.  And I will agonize over where to put things.  Maybe.  I'm just being presumptuous here. I will get to it.  The kids go back to school in the last week of August so I don't have much time.  Everything must be done in order to begin our new organized lives.  Fifteen minutes at a time.  Happy organizing!