6:45am Roll over in bed and say, "Oh, no! Could that really be Ellis? Already?"
7:00am Give in, get up, go downstairs with Ellis. Attempt to mix scripture study with catering to Ellis' grumpy morning wishes. Read a sentence. Get up and get some more Life cereal [side note: he calls it "die" instead of Life, which I find to be hilariously ironic]. Read another sentence. Get up and get a sippy cup and fill it with milk. Read a few sentences. Make cinnamon toast and break it into pieces. Read a little more. Pick up the toast and crushed Life cereal that is now all over the floor. Wipe up the spilled milk trail following the flung sippy cup. Repeat several times.
7:45am Breakfast with the boys; fill breakfast bowls with water to soak, then:
turn on the computer
check email
check all the stuff related to the emails I got
see if there's anything else to check
check the weather
get Ellis dressed
do stuff (who knows what it is?)
attempt to exercise (M, W, F)
attempt my goal of 20 minutes of morning cleaning (maybe)
check email again
talk to boys
look at stuff
9:30 take shower, get dressed
10:45 Aah! I'm supposed to be somewhere at 11:00! Do hair, do makeup, get shoes on, get boys' shoes on, gather stuff for diaper bag, get mad at Henry for being so SLOW, rush out to car, run back into house to get glasses, get to "somewhere" at least 15 minutes late.
The rest of the day:
try to tackle to-do list
check lots of stuff on the computer
take care of boys, alternating with ignoring the boys so I can get stuff done
feel guilty for not reading stories
wonder why Ellis is so ornery
5:15pm think about making dinner, scramble something together while fighting off the fussy kids
5:45pm Ben is home!
6:15 eat dinner, tackle the huge pile of dishes from the day
7:25 finish dishes -- aah! It's jammie time already? Feel guilty for not having any family fun time before bed. Sometimes do the family fun time and get the kids to bed late; sometimes skip family fun and just work on bedtime. Spend at least 20 minutes cleaning up the toys that are scattered EVERYWHERE.
8:00-8:45 tuck Henry in bed
sit on the couch, exhausted, for a while
play with Ben
realize I have a bunch of stuff to do that I never did get done during the day
work on "stuff" until way too late
go to bed, feeling guilty and knowing that it's going to be really hard to wake up tomorrow
OKAY, so maybe when I lay it all out there before you, it's easy for you to see what all of my problems were. But it took me a couple of years to figure it out!
Anyway, thanks to a motherhood workshop at my church, talking to friends, reading ideas from flylady.net, and what I believe to be personal revelation, I have finally had my wake-up call and REVOLUTION! Goodbye to crazy life; hello to organization, peace, and lots more fun.
Here's my new schedule:
10:30 the night before: GO TO BED!!!! NO MATTER WHAT!!!
6:15am wake up
get dressed ALL THE WAY TO TYING MY SHOES (on M, W, F I dress in workout clothes)
daily devotional: prayer and gospel study (hopefully without Ellis)
7:00am breakfast with my boys (Henry is required to be dressed!)
do breakfast dishes, then:
* Make daily to-do list and prioritize goals
*20 minute clean-up (set timer for 20 minutes and first de-clutter everywhere; if there's extra time I do one extra thing, like dusting, sweeping, mopping, vacuuming, etc. Sometimes I do 30 minutes)
*MAKE DINNER (at least as much as possible)
*Shower, do hair and make-up
RULE: ALL OF THESE THINGS MUST BE DONE BEFORE TURNING ON THE COMPUTER! I cannot face my computer until I'm ready to face the world AND have dinner, clean-up, and to-do list done!
The rest of the day:
Go about daily to-do list, knowing that the essentials are already done
take regular breaks to enjoy being with the boys
12:ish Have lunch and then clean up dishes immediately
3:00ish (and one other time, earlier, if we are home): the bell rings and it is CLEAN-UP time! We set the timer for 6-8 minutes, and anything we don't clean up in that time will be eaten by the Gunny Bag (thank you, Joy School!). Henry is amazing at clean-up help under this plan, and then immediately afterward, both boys get to choose a book or two to read
STORY TIME!
Play together, read, work on more to-do's.
Put prepared dinner in the oven
5:00 play with Ellis at his cranky time, read more books
5:45 Ben is home! Dinner is ready and the house is not a disaster!
5:50 eat dinner, do dishes (they take half as long as they used to)
Family Fun time!
7:25 Bell rings; Gunny Bag coming in 10 minutes -- clean up!
7:35 Bedtime routine
Before 8:00 Both boys are in bed
Relax together, finish up "stuff," and of course,
BE SURE TO GO TO BED ON TIME (this is the hardest part, but it is the one that makes everything else work)!
Maybe most of you were already following a pattern similar to this, but it has been revolutionary for me. I feel so good and feel such a difference in the feeling in our home. The elements that are making the most difference are:
1. Getting dressed first thing, all the way to the shoes, is a big deal. It means that I immediately start my day ready to tackle it. I am not lounging around in my pajamas, and therefore I don't act like I'm having a pajama party! My shoes are on, so I have no excuses for why I can't take the garbage out or change a load of laundry in the basement.
2. Having solitude for my daily devotional (thanks to waking up early) makes it more effective and thus makes me a better person throughout the day.
3. Having a clean start to the day feels so good! 20 minutes in the morning makes it so the clutter never gets out of control.
4. Dinner in the morning -- I used to make fun of people who did this. Now I LOVE it! Of course it makes sense to make dinner when the kids are not cranky yet. It is so liberating to not be scrambling at 5:00 every night! I feel like I have a personal chef putting ready-made meals in my fridge every day. Not sure how it feels like that, but it does.
5. The no-computer rule is making a huge difference! It is SO hard for me to not turn it on. A couple of times I have asked Ben to please check my email because I desperately needed to know something. BUT, that motivates me to work faster. And I find that once my essentials are done and my task list is made, I am much more efficient with my computer time when I do get on. Not nearly as much meaningless clicking.
6. Doing the dishes after each meal is so much easier than I ever thought it would be! Our deal when we got married was that Ben would do the dishes and I would do the cooking. I have taken full advantage of that and formed a nasty habit of leaving huge piles of dishes for Ben to do in the evenings. The result of doing a little after each meal is that we have more family fun time at night, and the boys get to bed on time. And doing a few dishes is NOT hard! So worth it!
7. Likewise, cleaning up toys a little at a time is so beautiful. When Henry was about 18 months, I gave up on cleaning up during the day and decided it wasn't worth following him around all day. We formed the habit of just letting all of the toys pile up and then having 30 minutes' worth of clean-up at night. Not fun! I LOVE having a set time of day and a set routine for clean-up time. I am amazed that ringing a bell is enough of a signal and that no one argues that they don't want to clean up. It feels good to clean up, and the best part of it is . . . clean up time is linked to story time! So we all know we will be rewarded for cleaning. So lovely. And again . . . this leads to much more family fun time at night!
Again, I realize that most of my discoveries will seem primitive to you wonderful home organizers out there, which is probably everyone but me. But I wondered if someone out there might benefit from a few simple ideas that have been working for me. Oh, and I thought I owed an explanation to anyone who expects me to answer an email before 10:00 in the morning. Not gonna happen anymore, people! I'm a new woman!
14 comments:
Jenn, you are awesome. I have had many of these thoughts, but never got with it enough to tackle them. Way to go!
Jenn - That plan is motivating! I think we all have some reorganizing to do to make our lives more efficient, but when you make this all happen it sounds like it will make major changes in your daily routine. Hope it all goes as planned!
Wow, I'm impressed. Way to be super efficient!
Jenn--thanks for sharing. I have been feeling majorly disorganized after having my second kid. There's always something that needs cleaning and I never have enough time in the day (except to periodically check my email...) and I too have been wanting to find a more efficient way to go throughout my day...getting my housework done and also having some fun kids time too. I spend so much time trying to get dishes, laundry and other cleaning done that I'm too exhausted to play with abby. I'm going to look to you as an example! Thanks for sharing. This might be a start of a whole new me as well. And you inspired it!
Ahhh. (sigh of relief.)
I'm wondering if you could like tell me all of this again. And then maybe go over it one more time. REAL SLOW. Because I think I need this in my life. Thanks.
Jenn, you are so inspiring! I've always thought of you as one of the most together and organized people I've ever known!
Awesome! It makes so much sense! If I ever find myself at home with little kids, I hope I can remember this post!
Jenn, thanks for the post. I waste so much time, and the heart of my problem is the computer. I use it as a substitute friend because I am home alone all day (I quit working in anticipation of the baby a little too early). I am now trying to follow your example and muster the will power to give myself a no-computer-until-after-12:00 rule. I've also been thinking about the getting dressed thing, and I'm convinced brushing my teeth earlier in the day will help me feel more ready to be productive.
Also, I am STILL working on making practice CDs for our primary. How did you do the labels for yours?
Jenn, You are truly an inspiration! I know I am not a mom yet, but I can still improve right now. I really need to work on the computer thing too. I turn it on to do homework and end up looking around for a long time before I actually get something done. Love ya girl!
The 20-minute daily cleaning routine has really improved my life, bytheway. It has helped me make time to sit down and play with my kids. Who knew that actually cleaning every day would end up saving time in the long run? Thanks for passing along that great idea.
It sounds like your new organization plan will work really well for you! Let us know how it goes. You truly are awesome.
very cool Jenn. It's always so nice to make a big change like that and feel so good about it. Personal revelation is the best! I'm stealing your "cleanup before storytime" idea. And I too have found that playing with my kids during usual problem times makes such a difference! And I've come up with plans for activities for my kids while I'm making dinner, it's great. coloring or listening to Wee Sing and Learn at the bar in our kitchen are our favorites. Oh and reading scriptures before they wake up has made a huge difference for me too.
Congrats on your new life :)
Jenn, THANK YOU for sharing. These are the VERY things I've been struggling with and your "before" is exactly how its been for me. My new year's resolution has been to figure out how to get myself more organized and productive with the important things...and I love all your ideas. I'm totally copying you. I just need to DO it now. I've known for a while if I would just get to bed so I could get early and start the day right it would help so much, I just can't ever make myself do it. Thanks for the jumpstart! I'll report back and let you know how things are going. Thank you thank you!
We must be living parallel lives! Your before matches how I have been living but I too have felt the urge and even the need to change. I love so many of your ideas and I've even started implementing a couple of them since I first read this post a couple of days ago. I've known for some time that I really need to get to bed earlier, but it is really hard for me. But I went to bed at 10:30 last night and this morning Kaia asked me, "Why are you so cheerful, Mom?" And I have felt awesome today thanks to getting enough sleep. And I read scriptures, exercised, did school with kids, and started dinner prep all by lunchtime. I feel great!! Thank you so much for sharing your ideas and being an inspiration!
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