Showing posts with label coffee time. Show all posts
Showing posts with label coffee time. Show all posts

Friday

A to Z of Organising our Home!


A little Round-up of things we say, do or use during the organising and housework in our home.









A  -  Accidental Reducing of Articles 

The times when you accidentally break some plates or mugs and they just have to be thrown out.

Funny how I used to be annoyed; now unless it is something special, I just think

 "that's another one of my 365 items to be decluttered in 365 Days"   -   smiley face.







B  -  Beautiful Clearouts

When you get rid of those items in the wardrobes that were there because you had paid money for them and thought you should get the most time out of them but really thought that you didn't look good in them or the wife thought the husband didn't look good in them and he hadn't realised it yet.



C  -  Careful Clearouts

Those times when you are supposed to empty out a cupboard and sort everything out and then return only some of the things but in reality you return all but maybe one!

Now I would never do that!!!!



D  -  To the Dump!

A good phrase in our house because it means something is going out of the house, garage or garden and it is more than can fit in the bin.







E  -  Easier Housework.

Yes there really are some things that help me along the way.

I use them for many, many tasks because anything that makes the work easier and done more quickly is a bonus for me.



F  -  Fred????

There are so many sentences that begin with this word when it comes to the organising of our home and mostly the answer is

"I don't know!!!!!"




G  -  Garden Shed Sort out.

Well in our case it was a bit more than that - Plus we made a video.







H  -  Helping each other?


Where is it?

I don't know.

But you had it last.

No, You had it last.

No I didn't.

Yes you did.

Well where did I have it?

I don't remember.





I  -  Inside & Not on Top of!

You know when you have designated a good drawer or container for an item and the husband comes along and just sets it down on top of the container, or the kitchen worktop.

Enough said!







J  -  Just a Little Time before Bed

That's the time I keep saying I will just do a little tidy up in the bedroom and Fred just laughs - well he has known me for all these years.



K  -  Kitchen Organising

The one place I do like to seriously think about before I move into a house and designate areas to specific tasks.

The Tea & Coffee corner being the top priority of course.






L  -  Leave me some space to sit down!

The words I have often heard when in the middle of sorting out something and I have cluttered up the entire room.

There was an entire table covered as well as the couch.






M  -  The "Man Drawer"

Yes I wrote about that last year, there is one in our kitchen but still his "things" end up in other strange places.  Plus I'm always asking the question "What is that thing?" about most of the things in the drawer.



N  -  Nowhere to put it?

That is definitely not what you hear in our house!

More like - I know I had decided where those were to go but I've forgotten again.



A to Z of Organising in our home? well trying to not fail at organising!




O  -  Opening the Post

Should mean exactly that - you open it and deal with it.
You know - throw it out, respond to it, or file it away for future reference.

In our house it gets opened and looked at and then put back in the envelope!!!



P  -  A "Place for Everything"

Yes I wrote about this one before too.





And we really will get there one day, I'm sure.
Well pretty sure.
Well really hoping!



Q  -  Quite a Productive Day

This is how I feel when I have managed to actually get more than half of my day's ToDo List completed.



R  -  Remembering.

Okay I know that certain people on reading this will just laugh and say:
Some hope!

Yes I may be always saying I forget things but I do have a few things that I need to remember when cleaning the house and not just the fact that having a coffee does not get the house cleaned.







S  -  Spread the work on Spreadsheets.

I have my Organising and Cleaning Schedule for the year on a Spreadsheet.




Fred & I both love Spreadsheets.

Trouble is I could easily get distracted away from the organising of the house once I get on the spreadsheet because it is on the computer.



T  -  Take Time for the Tedious Things Before the Coffee.

The thing we hate to do but often gives us the most sense of satisfaction when we actually get round to it is one of those tedious things that just have to be done but I can always think of another word -

procrastination and it goes well with coffee.







U  -  Unusual Uses for Simple Products.

There are things around our homes that don't only have to be used for one purpose.

We need to be a bit more imaginative and find other uses for them.
Which can actually be more interesting than using them!








V  -  Very Good Ideas

Unfortunately those are the ones that I have when I am in the middle of doing something else, or just about to fall asleep and I'm sure I will remember them because they are so good but then I have forgotten them the very next day or hour or even in 5 minutes time.




W  -   Do Without It?

The Housework?          Yes! Please!

But what about those things in the Kitchen that you just feel you can't do without.

They may be small but they are so useful.







X  -  Xtra Special Days 

The times when you get away from the house for a really enjoyable time and are completely refreshed and ready to tackle the house again.

Those breaks are xtra important in the better weather because the sun is tempting you, or in the cold dark weather when you need something to brighten up your day, or just any time because you can always find some excuse.







Y  -  YOU didn't put it away AGAIN!

Those times when we get fed up because something is not in the place we actually do have allotted for it because neither of us have put it away yet again.

How will we ever be organised?



Z  -  ZZZZZ when it's all done.

Or when we are just too tired to do any more.

Just kidding with this one because it is never done and I would claim to be tired at any time to get out of the housework and on to the funwork.



But there is always




to keep me going.







Do you have any great ideas to add that just keep your house organised or are you more disorganised like me?




How to get the Housework Organised.



What has to be done on a regular basis to keep the home neat and tidy?

How to get organised with the housework for me means schedules, lists and plans.

It also means making it easier, throughout the year with less time & effort where possible.







I'm talking here of just being neat and tidy for us not particularly for guests arriving, but hey if some did we would want it to be good enough.




Well there is always the general tidy up of the kitchen
                        which (for us) as well as being an eat-in kitchen also functions as



1. A charging station for all things electronic



This area is always getting messed up.

Then my husband Fred had added his new shaver here to charge after Christmas but had just left it there, so it had to go.
He also liked to use the tissue box and the decorative boxes to rest phones, kindles, ipods on while charging so to stop him doing that I placed his bits and pieces organiser (which he never used in the bedroom anyway) behind the ipad charger and there are sections in it which will hold the kindle and phones etc. nicely.
There was also a pile of CDs in the back right corner but our CD player is not here so they were taken away as well.

I have to add that the decorative boxes do serve another purpose - one holds coins that would otherwise be found lying around in another corner and the other two hold all the little bits and pieces that appear out of no-where (well at least they are supposed to).



2. A sitting area
















The Christmas Decorations had been taken down and packed into their boxes but then had been left here so now they have been placed back in the garage.

Some things we had bought a few days before had been put down and not lifted away again so they have now been put away and Fred's belongings which had accumulated on the chair to the right have now gone to the bedroom.

I know other people relate to this setting down of items when we come home and not getting round to putting them in their correct places until a few days later.



3. A "this is where we throw all our receipts, business cards, post and whatever is in our hands when we come in from the car" area




After I had done the clearing up and sorting out of this part of the kitchen I realized that I had forgotten to take the before picture so just image it all covered in supermarket receipts, petrol receipts, more pens, business cards, envelopes from opening post, etc.

A determined effort must now be made so that all things similar to those which were taken away do not mess it up again.

I revived my old Tickler File system in my Roll top Desk filing drawer and the post to be dealt with, bank statements to be checked off and other things for filing have gone in there to be dealt with on specific days of the week - to yet be determined.

I took all the extra pens, pencils and odds and end that had just accumulated to my study as that is a more suitable place for them.



So with the kitchen back in order & the dishwasher on,  it was






That wasn't toooooo much to have to do and
 I was happy with the result.


Now back to thinking some more about fitting in all the regular housework jobs with the overhauls and inventories etc.   So time really to think on a monthly basis and prepare a spreadsheet because I know I want to overhaul (spring clean - but not necessarily in the spring time) and have a good home inventory for each room once a year. 


What jobs do we need to do at other times that may also be part of the overhauls?
  The inventories can just be checked through each year but things like windows will need to be cleaned more than once a year.



So along came another time to sit down and think this out resulting in:



1.  Changing the Bed.

I do not change our bed every month, every other month is fine.
So I put changing our bed down for every other month starting with the assumption that it would also be on the overhaul list for Jan and then the next time would be March and so on.  

The only other beds that are not sofa beds etc. are in the Guest room but they will be taken care of when guests are coming and after they leave.



2.  Cleaning Windows.

The cleaning of the bathroom and Master Bedroom Ensuite windows will be included in the cleaning of these rooms every other month.

The Hall windows means the front door and adjacent window & I will clean these every 3 months.
The kitchen windows will also be cleaned every 3 months.

I chose to clean the windows of the remaining rooms just twice a year.   
This meant that I chose to put cleaning windows of each room in 6 months after that room had its overhaul. Then I can review this if there are ones which seem to need done more often. 



3.  Cleaning Bathrooms.

In this house I have a bathroom, 2 ensuites & a toilet which means I could be kept very busy so I had to think about this carefully.  

I decided that our ensuite and the main bathroom were the ones most used so should be done every other month.
The Guest room ensuite would be okay twice a year and then also any time we know someone is coming to stay. 
Lastly the toilet is rarely used so twice a year would look after that and any time we know we are going to have a full house I can clean in preparation for that.  
(You need to remember that there is normally only the two of us and I have never believed in cleaning for the sake of cleaning, only cleaning because there is a need for it.)







4.  Washing Floors.

Downstairs the rooms all have either hard wood flooring or tiles.  
Upstairs the rooms all have carpet except for the Master Bedroom Ensuite.

The washing of the Bathroom and Ensuite floors will be included in the cleaning of these two rooms every other month.
The Kitchen Floor & Utility Room Floor will need to be washed at least once a month so I can start with that and review later.
The Hall floor will be washed every 3 months

The other rooms with floors to be washed will be washed twice a year so that ties in with the windows of those rooms.



5.  Storage Room Tidy Up.

This is the walk-in cupboard off our Dressing Room which has bedclothes, shoes, handbags, scarves, tablecloths, towels, travel needs etc. 

Obviously the storage room will not remain completely sorted for a whole year, unless I am a perfect person and so is my husband, so half way through it will need a serious tidy up.

No washing involved as there are no windows.



6.  Dusting & Hoovering.

Upstairs every 2 months starting with January.
Downstairs every 2 months starting with February.
Dividing this nicely between the two levels of the house will hopefully ensure that I do not get fed-up with it.

Of course this will also be supplemented with the times we know people will be coming to our home but then only a quick run round with duster and hoover should be needed.



7.  Wardrobes clothes & Cloakroom Coats Seasonal Changeover 

This will be done twice a year and the obvious times would be March and September I think.




So this is what I came up with next.






NOTES:

I chose March for the Sun Room because we usually move into it from the lounge around Easter Time so getting it ready in March would be perfect timing.
I chose December for the Dining Room because this would mean it was ready for the more frequent use around Christmas.
I chose April for the Guest Room because that would leave it ready for the more predictable summer time visits.
I chose September for the Study because the new curriculum year of Kids' Work starts then.

Next I slotted in the other main rooms and then picked the ensuites to naturally go along with the Master Bedroom and the Guest bedroom and the storage room to go along with the Dressing Room.

Finally I was left with Fred's Office, the Hall & Stairs and the Shed so I chose the other monthas that had already not got what I considered to be a very heavy load.



So with the kitchen back in order, the dishwasher on & all this planning completed, it was now time for another COFFEE.


And the consideration  -   Have I made it  more Funwork than Housework?

My answer was - It's getting there because I had a satisfied look on my face and I was happy with what I had achieved so far.   But!  Boy did this take a lot of time!






And the other questions floating through my mind:

I wonder what I have not thought about yet?

Is this only almost fun for me because I love lists and spreadsheets and planning?

Is this too serious a schedule?