Operation: Get It Together {episode three}

Operation: Get it together continues. Today we are on "pretend Wednesday" but I am including Thursday too, for the sake of not dragging this out too much.
 Wednesday and Thursday tasks: 

sweep and vacuum floors

check counters

laundry

clear clutter

water plants

check floors

I also added in dishes, because obviously those need to be done everyday. 

We don't always have to run the dishwasher everyday. But there are dishes used everyday and that means they need to be rinsed and put in the dishwasher. Sitting in the sink being all nasty is not acceptable. Occasionally a few rinsed dishes will sit in the sink until the next day and I'm okay with that if they are rinsed and not getting crusty. Nothing makes a girl crankier than trying to scrub nasty crusty dishes, right?

The floors got swept and vacuumed today. We don't have much area to sweep, just a small kitchen and bathroom. But since our kitchen is right inside our door and people are usually still wearing shoes when they walk though, that needs to be swept pretty often. The bathroom usually goes until scheduled days without much needed in between.

I use a carpet freshener powder before I vacuum. I don't know that it actually does anything beneficial besides making it smell nice, but that's enough for me. The one I use is made by Glade, but I'm sure there are other brands out there.

Counters and clutter are about the same. I am still working on putting away or finding a new (better) home for at least 3 things each day. It's gonna take me a while at this pace, but I'm hoping once I'm out of school for the summer I can kick some serious clutter tuckus. (read: find something without needing an entire search team)

Basically the same story for Thursday, I just added in

I also whipped up another chore chart. I felt like I needed a handy way to track the things that don't need to be done on a certain day, but do need to be done somewhat frequently.

This allows me to track the chores that need to be done weekly, bi-weekly, and monthly but not necessarily in any particular order or on certain days. I just check off what I do and clean the list off at the appropriate intervals.

Also on the docket for the week. ATTACK LAUNDRY MONSTER!! It got a little scary for a while, but in the end I won. That empty spot in the middle is where I sat, through two episodes of Law & Order SVU. uhthankyouverymuch, it took forever!! Now I will just stay ahead of it.

Another project in the kitchen. My freezer got another clean out and reorganization. Actually I was using small trash cans before, but they didn't end up working out as brilliantly as I thought. So I popped in these baskets. The bottom one has meat, the top has potatoes, vegetables and snacks. So far it is working out pretty well.

 

 How is Operation: Get it Together coming along in your lives? What are you working? What new systems are helping your family have a smooth transition into summer??

May Goals Update or Operation: Get it Together v N.1.5

Since its the middle of the month, I thought I would do a little follow up and let you know where I stand. Some good, some in the works and some bad. Here goes:

Home & Organizing Goals:

• Clean & Organize kitchen junk drawer: Not at all. But it's still on the list!
• Declutter and organize coat closet: But I cheated, my aunt came to babysit and she did it. I still need to declutter, but its easier to do now.
• Create chore chart & implement it: This is in the works. I have chores printed out. I decided to go in a different direction. The kids and I are working on this together.
• Tame the laundry monster: Again, cheated. My aunt did this too. But, I've maintained it!
• Drop off Goodwill stuff: Not yet. I keep staring at it though, hoping it will load itself in the Durango for me. I am hoping to get this done by the end of the week, because school is done Thursday!

Lifestyle Goals:

• Be more present with my family: This is a constant goal for me. With so much social media and with it on my phone, its easy to "multi-task". I am trying. I will keep working on it.
• Run 3 miles straight: Haven't ran since our 5K the beginning of the month. FAIL. Still time to recover. I am going to try to get out to run tomorrow school.
• Work on core strength: Not even once. UGH. I have really fallen off the wagon. I am trying to find it again though. 

 And, since you asked, here are some of our #challengespringcolors outfits. I'm a little sad that no one has participated with us.... so get out there and Instagram that outfit!

Summer Goals

I only have a week if school left. My brain is already in summer vacation mode. It's time for the calendar to catch up.

However, summer vacation means its time to complete all those organizing projects that I put on the back burner because we were too busy. And because I am an over sharer I thought you all should know what my plans were. Maybe you can keep me accountable. 

• organize and purge coat closet

• organize and purge toy closet

• organize and purge my closet 

• paint CT's room 

• paint JT's room

• organize and purge kitchen cupboards 

There are only 6 things. So I need to tackle about 2-4 a month to get them all done before going back to school in August. And you know I will be back to blog about what I do, my inspiration and what didn't work. 

Do you have big organizing plans for this summer? Share your to do list for a little accountability.

This post brought to you by Operation: Get it Together. Join us on Instagram and twitter #getittogether.

Making Homemade Laundry Detergent

I am so cheap when it comes to some things. And apparently laundry detergent has been added to the list of things I hate spending money on. So I found this recipe (can you call it a recipe??) on pinterest and went back to the original blog to find out more. Here is the post that I used.

Her recipe is amazingly simple and that's pretty much why I chose it. I had seen a lot of recipes for homemade laundry detergent that are powder form and I just wasn't so sure that I wanted to use a powdered laundry detergent so I kept searching for a liquid version that wasn't ridiculous to make.

Here's what she says to do:

3 Tablespoons Borax
3 Tablespoons Washing Soda
2 Tablespoons Dawn Dish soap

Put these ingredients in a one gallon jug. Pour 4 cups boiling water into the jug. Swirl until ingredients are dissolved in the liquid. Let liquid cool. Then fill almost to the top with cold water. The bubbles will overflow out of the bottle.

Couldn't be an easier, right?

So I snagged up the ingredients I needed. I got them all at WalMart and spent less than $7 on all of it. I used a left over milk jug because I wasn't sure if i was going to continue making this recipe.

Add in the borax, washing soda and dawn....

Then the hot water...

Swirl it around to get it nice and mixed up, then let it cool.

After it has cooled, you just fill it up the rest of the way with cool water. Since my soap is light pink, it really looks almost clear in the jug, but I promise that there is soap in there and it works.

So far I am really happy with it. Plus it's so incredibly cheap! Our clothes get clean and they still smell nice too! 

What homemade cleaners and products do you make??

Operation: Get it Together

My motto for Operation: Get it Together is Contain the Chaos! The last couple weeks have been crazy between concerts, recitals, practices, my sister-in-law visiting, and just general end of the school year business.
When Shannon started Operation: Get it Together, I knew I had to jump onboard. I talk a good game, and start out strong, but soon my ADHD/Perfectionism take over and if it takes more than 30 seconds and I can't do it perfectly, I'm not going to do it at all. That is no good.
I already shared my May goals, but I also have some everyday things I need to accomplish.

• Start dishwasher every night, empty it every morning
• One load of laundry a day. Complete. Washed, dried, folded, put away. 

That's all for now. Too often I start out with a crazy list and I get burnt out after just a few days.

One other really important thing Tim and I are working on (again) is making our children accountable for their own stuff. I have started making the big kids daily to-do lists. I am also in the process of creating a rotating chore chart.
So often it is easier to do a task yourself then teach someone else to do it. And inevitably they will do it wrong (at least in your mind). I am taking the approach that if I don't have to do it, it is done right. I am also teaching my kids valuable life skills. Yes, it might take longer, and yes it might not be done perfectly, but they are slowly taking ownership of our home.

What are you doing for Operation: Get it Together?

April Accomplishments and May Aspirations

Niki posted about how she was doing on her April goals so I figured I should share what I got accomplished in April. 
Time management and obligations:
 1. survive prom-- check. I only forgot to have the pastor say the prayer before I sent the first table, so only a minor glitch, but otherwise it went great and the food was Amazing!
2. Get bridesmaid dress altered- check. I am currently awaiting it's return. Wedding weekend is coming fast! 
3. register for summer classes- half check. I haven't registered yet because none of the classes I need are available until fall, but I am able to take them in the town I live in through a local university, so that's a bonus. And since I have to wait to take those, I'm looking in to a sped endorsement to start too. Might as well pile on the debt right? 

Home and Organizing.
1. get all labels printed, laminated, and put up. check.  
2. finish up spring cleaning. mostly check. I'm still coming up with a few more random things to purge, or reorganize, or sort through. But as far as my actual cleaning, I've made it through the whole apartment.
3. purge, declutter, and organize coat closet- well since we still had snow in May, I put a halt on this one. But I think we might finally be clear of the snow...so we'll put this back on the list for May.
4. store seasonal winter clothes- see above.
5. new desk area-  whomp, whomp. still failing at this one. I may have just started avoiding it. 

Blog and Etsy.
1. Update items in the shop-check. I've even finally listed our planners!
2. Get my posts written before the day they go live-  half check- this usually happens.
3. do some projects- mostly fail. moving this to May's list.

So I did eh, sort of okay in April. Not a complete success, but hey things come up and we have lives and {multiple} jobs, it happens.
So for May, when I in theory have a bit more free time. I'm hoping to kick some mega butt. And my biggest goal for May is...

1. Operation: Get It Together. This is kind of a big project that isn't really a project at all. I already started posting about it actually and then decided to keep it going until things truly become a habit for me and I really do feel like I have it together. This started with a simple cleaning plan from clean mama and I'm hoping that by the end of summer I will have the whole apartment de-cluttered and cleaned and rolling in my new habits and systems. This is going to be the biggest goal to complete for me.

2. Make a weekly meal and plan and stick to it. No pizza rolls and other kid foods because I didn't plan anything and have no brilliant ideas!! (also, excellent excuse to try pinterest recipes??)

3.  Make our little brother's planner. His runs out at the end of May.  He has ADHD and uses the same planner at I do and he says it really helps him to manage his time and schedule. (here's a peek at mine)

4. Finish April's not completed items---coat closet and packing winter clothes. I bought ziplock space bags to stash winter bedding and coats in. I"m thinking of just swapping around some hanging and tub things in the closet and only actually packing up the super warm things.

5. Go through closet. Find massive amounts of clothes to give to Niki??? Seriously that thing is so stuffed you can't even find anything.

6. Complete Jillian Michael's 30 day shred....I already started, just have to commit to finishing it! (even if she kicks my butt!!!)

What are you aspiring to do in May??

High Five for Friday

Hey everyone, we hope you all had a great week! We are both getting close to the end of the school year (Shannon is closer than Niki) Woo Hoo! I think teachers get just as excited for the end of the year as the kids do! They get so antsy and ridiculous towards the end and makes me a little bit nuts!!
Of course we are linking up with Lauren again, so be sure to hop over to her blog and check out everyone else's Friday Five.

1. We started off our week running our very first 5K together! It was such a great day and we loved it!

2. Niki's daughter Faith had her music concert on Monday night and she did great!

3. We sponsored a giveaway on another blog, challenge accepted. Allison was our lucky winner! We love doing giveaways! We even offered a coupon code to her readers, so if you're looking to order something be sure to hop over to her blog first :)

4. I brought brownies for my seniors' last day today and cupcakes yesterday. I'm like MarthaFreakingStewart lately. However I must confess, the cupcakes were an impulse purchase at WalMart. But I made those brownies fresh this morning!!

5. We got our Advocare Spark energy drink mixes this morning. We are so excited for them. We love that they are sugar free and provide a great energy boost! Can't wait to put them to good use this summer!

Have a great weekend everyone!!