That Post Where I Tell You How {Un}Organized I Really Am

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You know my last post {exactly 12 days ago . . Ahem} about how I was cleaning out this house once and for all on that journey of 40 Bags in 40 Days in an attempt to get organized? Yeah. That one. Well, it seems I'm really good at pulling everything out of it's place {whether it's suppose to be there or not} and digging through it with the purpose of getting rid of stuff and simplifying my life. However, I'm not-so-good at doing ANYTHING else while I'm doing that. So, unfortunately, this little blog here has been neglected. I seriously de-junked most of my upstairs and actually hauled a load of bags to our local thrift store in town. I also had Hubs take a van load of garbage to the dump and I am still wondering where in the world all of it came from. I think about 20% of our garbage comes from Sunday School and School papers that are brought into this home every day but Saturday. The other stuff is still a mystery to me. I'm working on the rest of the upstairs this afternoon and this week and then I'll hit the downstairs. What a job! And like I said, I do this every few months, so I'm really amazed at all the stuff I have to get rid of. During this process, a few thoughts have struck me...

 

1. Isn't it amazing how our perspective changes? One month I'm clinging to an item thinking I'd never get rid of and the next time around, it's the first thing to go. It's a mystery, folks. I can't explain it.

 

2. It feels SOOOOO good to get rid of stuff. There aren't many things that I am sentimental about keeping so it is a liberating feeling to load up my SUV with things to donate, trash, consign and give away. My poor, unsuspecting friends, though. I'm trying not to dump bags and bags of outgrown clothes to them because I know they're trying to dejunk their houses, too. I do hate to just donate nice stuff (that I have absolutely no use for anymore and don't want to go through the hassle of selling) when my friends could use it. So, friends who are reading, feel free to say no when I ask you if you want something. I'm not offended.

 

3. My final conclusion for the moment is that it is IMPOSSIBLE to keep my daughters' rooms organized. I mean, we do live here afterall. Just ask my niece who came to visit during her spring break! She is just a tad bit OCD and couldn't help but re-organize my younger girls' room TWICE during her 2 day/2 night stay. (Yes, the one I had just completely gutted and organized 5 days before.) I've decided the OCD gene skipped my family of 5 so I'm coming to grips with that fact and learning ways to overcome the lack of organization without losing my mind on a daily basis. It's a work in progress.

 

I love the quote above! That really is my goal for becoming more organized. It's not about making the house look like a magazine picture. It's about making life more simple & efficient for the people who live here so that I can better fulfill my role as wife, mom and friend.

 

How do you/did you teach your kids to keep their space organized? Any words for the weary??

 

Thanks again for stopping by! I'm climbing my way out of this mess and I'll be back very soon with more easy sewing tutorials!! Can't wait!

Simple Christmas Decorating

 
In the spirit of Christmas and all the fun things that go along with this most wonderful time of the year, I decided to show you my simple Christmas decor this year. I didn't do a ton of decorating. In fact, I've got about 3 tubs of Christmas decor that I'm not using this year plus 2 artificial trees in the attic. I even debated on whether to put up my dining room tree this year, but I did and I'm so glad I did. The girls are enjoying seeing it lit up in the evenings and so am I! I love looking at all the Christmas home tours on the blogs, (although I haven't gotten around to it yet this year) and seeing how other people decorate their homes. Everyone has a style all their own and I thought I'd show you a quick peek of my very simple Christmas decor this year {I keep adding to mine when a good idea comes my way, but this is what it looks like for now.}

I got this cute Santa Advent thing at Target a few years ago on an after-Christmas clearance deal for just a few bucks. We use it every year and it's one of the girls' favorite pieces. I thought it was appropriate to put him next to our globe on top of the piano so he could go ahead and map out his route. You can find one like it here.

 These little ceramic mice have been in my family for as long as I can remember. I think they came from Home Interiors or something like that decades ago. Still in perfect condition. Another sentimental thing my girls look forward to getting out for Christmas each year. I found the baby mouse here if you are interested.

 It's not possible to have Christmas in this house without Brenda Lee singing to us. My mom let me keep these when I moved away after college. We used to listen to these actual records while decorating the Christmas tree way back when. I have these on my piano during Christmas, but listen to her now on Pandora Radio. I should have put a record player on my Christmas list! Find the Paul & Paula Vinyl here. And the Brenda Lee vinyl here.

 My simple mantle. I'm really loving it this year. I usually have it covered in garland and lights and all kinds of stuff, but this year I just really enjoy looking at the simplicity of it all. The stockings are a Pottery Barn knockoff from a few years ago. You can read about them here. The art on the mantle is part of a set of paintings my artistic friend painted of some of our landmarks in our city. Find more of her art here.

 This small tree is from Hobby Lobby. One of my girls decorated it for me with ribbon and some of my husband's vintage ornaments from when he was little. He made a couple of these with his Nana as a young boy and the others are too tiny for our big tree, but I wanted to display them.

 These are two of my husbands tiny biplane ornaments from his collection. He's in an aviation career and we love these little bitty planes. He has quite a collection of airplane ornaments, but these fit perfectly on our mini tree.

 These are part of my collection of knockoff Anthropologie Mason Jar Snow Globes. Read how I made them here. I just displayed them on one of our bookshelves this year. You can get the Count Your Blessings free printable here.

 This came from my in-laws to my girls as a gift several years ago. It's a Hallmark item and sings Jingle Bells while the dog barks. It's adorable....the first 20 times. After that, we have to limit the number of times the button gets pushed. Ha! You can find one of these here. They are not sold in stores.

 Perhaps my most favorite Christmas item is this small part of the Fontanini Nativity set. My aunt and uncle bought me this as a college graduation gift. I love this and would love to have the whole set one day.

 My wrapping paper colors this year. I love this combo. The little nutcracker men are so cute. I am especially fond of them this season. And the black and white chevron is always my favorite.

 A small glance at our living room decor. The most important part anyway. Maybe I'll show the whole room if I ever finish it the way I want to. For now, this is the happiest part!

 I like to hang some of our Christmas cards on this garland wrapped banister. It's the perfect place for the cards. We pass them everyday and love seeing notes and pictures of friends far and near. {Still waiting on many more to come! hint, hint}

 This is my sparse dining room tree. I love it because it is simple and is just enough decoration to enjoy and not dread having to take it all down and put it away. The paper garland in the tree is from Pottery Barn a few years ago. The handmade angel on top made with a paper plate and gold glitter? Yes, that's from my sweet 5 year old. She was so proud to put that on top of my tree. I think it's the perfect addition.

And last, but not least, is this wonderful smelling candle from Yankee Candle. Mistletoe is the very best Christmas/Winter scent ever! My sister has one every year and last year my husband finally decided he was getting one for us every year. The smell is fantastic! It's our second year of this tradition that will last a long time in this house if I have anything to do with it. Buy one for yourself here.

What are your traditional decorations? Do you use the same decor every year or change it up? If you've written about your decorations this season, please leave a link to it in the comments. I'd love to see yours!

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Merry Christmas!





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The Well Managed Home: How to Delegate

This is a topic Hubs and I have been discussing a lot lately. It's a great idea and even a very welcomed idea, but why is it so hard to do? Just this morning, as we were heading out the door for school and work, Hubs and I noticed a few cheerios on the kitchen floor {clear evidence that the girls had poured their own cereal this morning}. He sighed and said, "Ugh, cheerios on the floor again!" {You can tell this is a common occurrence in our house.} So, I said, "Don't worry about it. I'll get it later." Then, he said to me, "Why you? Why not leave it and let them get it when they get home?" On any other day, there's no way I could leave that. It would be bothering me all day, but today I was leaving and wouldn't be here to look at it. So, that's what I did. And guess what is awaiting them when they get home from school? Cheerios on the kitchen floor.
I don't know what stage of life your kids are in, but mine are very capable of doing some big chores and taking care of their own messes. I just have a hard time letting them do it when I know I can do it faster and without whining {well, most of the time}.
So, in my quest to continue learning ways to delegate to my children and become more of a home manager {and not just the housekeeper, cook, seamstress, kisser of boo boos, homework enforcer, taxi driver}, here are a few things I am going to start around here in addition to Family Dinner responsibilites.
The Daily Work Planner Chart. I got this idea from one of my all-time favorite books ever, More Hours in My Day by Emilie Barnes. My copy is an old one, but she has made revisions recently.
The DWPC is perfect for letting each member of the family know what his/her responsibility of the day is. I love this concept and have tried it with other charts and print outs, etc. But I lack consistency. So, here I am clinging to the end of my rope and tired of doing it all myself and I'm starting this today! Well, I'll make my chart today and start it fresh in the morning. My sweet little minions girls are now going to be team players! {They are usually willing to help, it's just their mom who can't get her act together.}
An example chart {from the book} would be like this:

You could just assign the chores from the week to each person and rotate them OR you can make it fun by writing all the chores for the week on a slip of paper and letting each child pick from the jar. Whatever they pick is the job they get. They can't complain, either, because they picked it - it's their own fault. And they get to live with it for a week. {evil laugh} But doing this is teaching them teamwork. They are part of a family unit and we all work together to accomplish the goals of the family. At the end of the week, if everyone has done their job well, reward the family with a trip for ice cream or a picnic or movie night or something. This builds unity and lets them see there is something worth working for.
Some examples of chores to delegate depending on age of children:

• setting the table
• separating laundry
• folding laundry
• vacuuming
• mopping {mine all fight over this one}
• cleaning bathrooms {or even splitting it up and having one do the sink all week, one do the toilet, one do the bathtub.
• dusting
• water plants
• empty trash cans
• wash windows

I know sometimes the weekdays can be crazy {or Cra-Cray, as my 10 yr old says}, but one chore per day seems very doable. If not, make Saturday your big cleaning day. I personally don't prefer that. The house gets messy during the week. I mean, we LIVE here. So, my house needs rescued just about every day. And boy, am I glad you can't see it right now!

Here are some other helpful chore charts/cleaning schedules I found that you might like. Click the link below each one to print.
Daily Cleaning Checklist - I love this one from Real Simple. It's not a deep cleaning list, but one to help you keep your house surface clean. It gives you a plan instead of being overwhelmed by it all.
Fall Cleaning Checklist - Deep clean this Fall with this great checklist! You'll have it done in no time!
Print these free printables to help you keep that cleaning on track.

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Do you clean once a week? Do you delegate or do it all yourself? Have any great tips for me? I could use them!!

This is part of my 31 Days of Home Economics series.  You can find links to the rest of the series here or at the top of this page titled {Home Economics}.

Thanks for stopping by! I'm sharing this with a few of these friends.