"10 things" support thread

[blondie]

We decided to start a support thread for mamas who read this link and got excited about the simple changes to make a home run more smoothly.

http://thestressedmom.com/2012/03/10...well-run-home/

Feel free to share which things you did today, which things you want to do tomorrow, and anything else that helps you! You can go to the link for the full thing, but I just made a list of the 10 things that are suggested.


1. Wake up early

2. Go to bed early

3. Evening Preparations

4. Meal planning

5. 1 load of laundry per day~ Start to finish

6. Dishes done each evening

7. 5 minute bathroom cleaning

8. Have a place for everything

9. Have a bedtime routine of cleaning up

10. Don't say "yes" immediately to new requests

[Can'tTurnLeft]

subbing

[FaithnPraise]

I made it! Thanks for the thread

I did evening prep last night of my lunch and bottles for baby P. Also tucked dishes into dishwasher so sink was clean and stove was bare (put up leftovers, etc).

I need the most work in having a place for everything, but I'm moving soon so that should all fall into place at the new house

[Daria_Aleksandrovna]

I hate meal planning so maybe meal-planning therapy here...

Our normal monthly laundry list for family of 4 looks like this:

From January:

bedsheets - 5x (2x our, 1x T's, 2x guest)
Joseph nappies+clothes - 10x
my dark SAHM wear+J's Tshirts - 2x
T's clothes - 3x
J's work shirts + light tops - 3x
slings - 1x
underwear - 2x
towels - 2x
cleaning rags - 1x (washed at 60C) - this family doesn't have paper towels

Drying function used: once
Number of days not doing laundry: 3

T is my DS1, J is my DH

So only 29 loads. The following months were typical too.

[Can'tTurnLeft]

Lets talk about evening preparations specifically.

What does this look like?

I'm not really able to think beyond setting the coffee pot and getting clothes together for the next day. What else could/should be involved in this?

It might be helpful to me to load the washer every night so I can start it first thing in the morning. I'm already a morning person.

[blondie]

I don't do evening preparations except on the weekends, because I'm mostly a SAHM with no kids in school. On Friday nights, I try to lay out my work clothes for Saturday morning, and get my breast pump parts all together by the back door. Saturday nights, we TRY to get Sunday morning things pulled together so it's not such a mad dash after we oversleep.

[FaithnPraise]

re: evening preparations -

I WOH M-F so the stuff I'd be scrambling for in the mornings would be - pump parts, lunch & breakfast, work clothes, kids clothes, bottles for baby P.

For my work clothes I get them ready Sunday night (at the latest) so I only need to grab them out of the closet each morning. I keep a planner of what I wear to work (yup, I'm crazy like that - this is probably the thing I'm most organized about) so I consult that to see what's next in the rotation. I've also added kids clothes to my notes so it would make sense for me to get their clothes ready then, too...but it just now "hit me"

I was in a weight loss group for work (weigh out was today, that's why I say "was") so I'd been preparing sweet potatoes and chicken thighs/tenderloins on the weekend and packing them for my breakfast (I try to eat paleo). Lunch is soup (can from Aldi) and salad - so I do need to rinse lettuce and slice to package in bowl.

I rinse pump parts immediately after pumping but need clean collection bottles, so I try to have them washed and either on drying rack or waiting in freezer bag.

If enough milk is in the fridge and bottles/nipples are clean I make bottles in the evening so I can "grab and go" in the AM. I did get some additional bottles and nipples from a friend so I need to wash those up this weekend so I can make like 2 days of bottles at a time

Getting up early? That 4:30am alarm (supposed to be for me to get up and pump) seems to get earlier and earlier. We're moving further away from work though so I'll HAVE to get up earlier to get everything done...it's gonna be painful though

[Tandem mama]

Subbing. I might do like I'm doing on our health journey and make one change per month.

[Calliope]

Look! A bandwagon! *jumps on*

[Victorious]

Maybe I can do this. Except for the laundry :hissy. I have to use the laundry mat

[prov31craftymom]

I'll join. My two habits to work on, are going to bed early and waking early. We're not really late sleepers as it is, but I'm going to try to get up when DH leaves for work at 6:15. My only problem is my kids have mom radar, and they get up whenever I get up. So it will take some time to get them used to staying asleep.

[ValiantJoy07]

I am struggling with laundry. I do a load a day (where is that virtuous smiley?)...but it just piles up in 2 laundry baskets my bedroom door practically until the dressers are empty...and then I put it away it takes about 45min every couple of weeks (I am saving a lot of time technically ). But I really want to address this because it lends to my feeling behind which increases my stress levels. I hate sorting laundry. I tunic because of my little "helpers"... they mean well, but nothing stays folded (or i refold the same thing several times ) or sorted with them around. I cant really think of a way to do it with out their help...hence the giant towers of laundry all.the.time. laundry sorting usually ends with my yelling ag someone or with some on racing up on the bed and gleefully rolling around(coughajcough) I have tried to give them a pile on the side to sort...but apparently that isn't good enough. The thought of this daily exercise in futility sounds awful. I could use help / suggestions there.

The othernhabit Evening prep: I thought as a SAHM I didnt need to think about this...but we do make changes here. Our kids get up at around 6 daily...dh has to leave for work by 7:30...since I am home with them 11 hours a day and dh only gets an hour in the evening w the kiddies..he gets up w them and gets them a snack and usually has time to cook up some oatmeal or reheat some rice for them. but if the kids sleep until 6-7 he is rushed and running late.

evening prep:
cofffee in maker set to timer.
hard boiling eggs for me and dd2 so he doesn't have scramble them every morning (he makes me food too most mornings if I don't get a shot of protein first thing I am a bear )
baked oatmeal or baked pancake batter (sans baking powder) in fridge the night before so all he has to do is pop stuff in the oven.those things would make his morning go more smoothly.also unloading the dishwasher after dinner and starting to load it again so that is ready...as of right now the unloading and catch up is about 20 min of my morning routine (while I eat my cold scrambled eggs...).

we already do a general pick up after the kids go to bed (I have a hard time relaxing when its a mess)

I think my biggest deterrent is that in the evenings I am tired. I want to do as little as possible after the kids are in bed. BUT the evening prep habit would benefit our family the most.

perhaps I will clean out the one side of my closet and use that for the laundry piles.

---------- Post added at 01:26 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:15 PM ----------

1. Wake up early: I do...it is just filled w nursing so I can dive into the morning w a happy full baby ..or better, a still sleeping baby.

2. Go to bed early
dependent on Pip but often by 10.

3. Evening Preparations
my main focus
4. Meal planning
I have a list of 7 meals to choose from weekly

5. 1 load of laundry per day~ Start to finish
ugh

6. Dishes done each evening
...
7. 5 minute bathroom cleaning
yes...I take lysol spay down toilet and sink and wipe b4 my shower

8. Have a place for everything
I am a t4 and infj...I am always coming up w better "places" but I am almost ocd-ishly organized.

9. Have a bedtime routine of cleaning up

working on this

10. Don't say "yes" immediately to new requests

[mamaeffie]

this is something i can do!

1. Wake up early -- i do this already

2. Go to bed early -- i do NOT do this.

3. Evening Preparations -- for me, this looks like a quick tidy-up of the main rooms, printing off and prepping the next day's school work, setting the coffee pot & prepping a load of laundry to dump in the washer first thing in the a.m.

4. Meal planning -- yea...i was really good at this before i got pregnant. need to reestablish this routine ASAP.

5. 1 load of laundry per day~ Start to finish -- i am pretty good at keeping up with the laundry, but i slack off on weekends.

6. Dishes done each evening -- this is so bad. my husband used to do the dinner dishes, but now that he is in the busy season, he's working until sun-down and leaving before the sun comes up. so i'm not cooking as much which leads to lots of snacking and lots of random dishes instead of big meal to clean up. plus i don't have a dishwasher and my baby belly is now making it quite painful to lean forward and lean over to wash the dishes in our tiny sink...WOW i'm good at making excuses haha but i am going to be very intentional about this one!

7. 5 minute bathroom cleaning - the "swish and swipe" was the only thing i latched onto from my flylady days, so i'm good here

8. Have a place for everything -- LOL.

9. Have a bedtime routine of cleaning up -- this is good... i hate stuff on the floor, so we do a run through with baskets before bed.

10. Don't say "yes" immediately to new requests -- oh man. the word "no" causes me physical pain, but i'll try.

[Lily]

[DoulaClara]

1. Wake up early: I did it! I was up at 6:15, which ended up being only thirty minutes before Pugsley woke up, but eating something without stopping a dozen times was good. It was hard to do because of #2...

2. Go to bed early: I had every intention, but then DH and I had an argument that lasted until after midnight. We'll try again tonight.

3. Evening Preparations: I did get clothing ready for the next day, and prepped breakfast.

4. Meal planning: This is something I ordinarily do, and tonight is going to be a quick meal because the realtor is coming this afternoon.

5. 1 load of laundry per day~ Start to finish: In progress!

6. Dishes done each evening: Did it last night. This is also one I like to usually do, as dishes in the sink first thing in the AM screw me up something fierce.

7. 5 minute bathroom cleaning:

8. Have a place for everything

9. Have a bedtime routine of cleaning up

10. Don't say "yes" immediately to new requests