Day 10 - repeated

I know, I know...  15 minutes not that hard to find....  supposedly.  Whoever said that, including me, was wrong.  It helps if you don't want to fall asleep.  I however was utterly exhausted and fell asleep on the couch in front of everyone after I finished my dinner.  kinda embrassing.

soooooo needless to say I am going to attempt everything again tonight.  It is a no children night so I really ought to be able to acheive something.  With the operative words being 'ought' and 'something'.

I hate being tired, but the weather at the moment, isnt lending itself to me being awake when I get home.  Nor is it lending itself to be being awake early and being all chipper either.  Sleep...  I miss you!

So I am going to endeavour to restart Day 10 tonight when I get home.  I miss being so organised, but I also miss my sleep, so here's hoping that I can come to a nice medium.....  or even turn off the internet when I get home so I'm not even tempted to look at the news or anything else like that......

shiny sinks, shiny sinks, really ought to be my mantra....  and I should stick to it!

Day 10 - you can do anything for 15 minutes....

Now this sounds like my kind of day....  I CAN do anything for 15 minutes...  lol, and we all know that I sure as hell don't really want to be doing housework for 15 minutes, but you know what....  I can manage 15 minutes.  If I can finally fold all the laundry before going to bed, I can manage 15 minutes to stay on top of things....  or not.

So anyhow, do I really feel ready to progress past day 9...  not a hope in hell.  However I have done day 9....  a spot got decluttered.  I do believe that it was a spot in my bedroom, namely the laundry pile on my bed....  haha ok, and the coffee table got touched too.  I actually took stuff off it....  and then promptly replaced that clutter with my car keys and wallet.  I am going to find a new home for those things again tonight.

Ok, so I am going to admit this now and not lie.  I did my stuff and then did nothing else last night.  I watched True Blood that I had recorded this weekend and I also sorted through all the coins that I have at home...  turns out that I have a penny for every year dating back 3 decades.  Definitely not housework material at all.

Tonights projects, much to my horror, are to finish restoring the living room back to the fantastic condition that it was in 2 weeks ago, and then attack the kids toys in the basement and give away whats not needed anymore....  btw I love freecycle for that kind of thing  :)

So anyhow my 15 minutes is probably going to be longer than the 15 minutes tonight, but really it does seem like a quite managable amount of time.....  Once my house is all clean and shiny, and as spotless as it can get with all the kids, I think that I am going to be quiet happy and impressed with myself....  but then again the child in me comes out to play and would rather spend time doing anything else BUT housework.  This has been the reason for late night visits to Wal-mart before, just because dishes needed doing.....  I say this hiding in shame.....

But I do love my shiny sinks, so I must continue....  I can do this, no matter how reluctantly it is....  and I will do it, no matter how much I annoy my inner child who wants nothing more than to sit down and turn on a very neglected xbox.

Day 9 -Repeated.... 2 wks later

Ok, so I think its been close to 2 wks since I last updated this...  tbh as of yet we haven't managed to progress past Day 9...  HOWEVER I am back on track again, or so I'm telling myself.  Truth be told 5 kids for 7 days and on summer vacation with no school, really does throw one off their routine, no matter how hard they try.

So, its back at it again, I started again by ending last night with clean shiny sinks again....  tonight MUST be repeated....  it has to be.  The house started to descend into chaos.....  it truly did.  So I really must not get complacent about it.... although that being said, complacency does have its place from time to time....  :)

Tonight, we are down to 2 children, but also have projects galore that MUST get done in the next 2 wks, ok so maybe one of them can wait a little bit longer, but not much longer, but the others must get done.

DF and I are moving downstairs into what WAS the bonus room, its like half the size of the house...  :)  think office, ensuite & walk in wardrobe....  WHEN its all completed...  lol.  This may take awhile.....  thats ok, and ensuite isnt urgent.

Then there are moving the kids around....  paint the walls in our old room, put the baseboards in and change the light fitting (dangly lights aren't the best around the 3yr old boy!), then move the boys in.....  Then there is getting their room all done up, painted, etc and bunk bed purchased so that our 5, almost 6, yr old daughter has a room thats all sorted out.  Now the room switching and painting etc MUST be done by the end of the 2 wks.  Wish me luck.

But all that aside I'm going to continue with the daily plan again....  I had really really hoped that I'd be almost finished my 30-days challenge...  but truth be told, its going, but it sure as hell isn't happening in the 30 days that I'd read that it should happen in.   It hasn't been for lack of wanting it either, just lack of energy, time & motivation for anything other than lying in bed after 9 or 10pm at night after a day at work then doing stuff with the kids in the evenings.

So here's to being a mom, never having enough time in the day, or coffee or energy in a day, and nice shiny sinks.

Day 9 - Declutter

It sounds scary doesn't it.  De-clutter.  But there is just sooooo much clutter to 'de-'clutter' its a task that kinda makes me want to turn tail & hide.  I'm not kidding.  I am NOT looking forward to this.  That was until I read the next bit under what I should be doing today....  thankfully it just said 'a few minutes at a time'.  You know what, thats sounds much more achievable and alot less scary.  However, the most daunting bit has now changed from 'decluttter' to 'where do I start?'.

There are some fantastic tips on how to 'declutter' here http://flylady.net/pages/FLYingLessons_Declutter.asp  Now to be honest, I know that I don't have time for this step tonight.  It just isn't going to happen tonight, or tomorrow night.  This I know due to the schedule... maybe on Saturday I can find the time to add this to my routine.

I bought my binder yesterday and the paper...  YAY for the dollar store, $3 later I had all that I needed.  I even put the paper in it...  :) ok, so I didn't write in it yet....  that will come, tonight I'm hoping.  Last night once I got home, we took the 3 kids we had with us out for the evening to go swimming at the local rec centre.  They are on school holidays, so if they don't get the chance to do much during the day we try to make up for it that night.

Tonight, I am going to settle for doing my 'basics'.  Clean sinks, hot spot clean up and make my own lunch.  Not to mention do the dishes...  lol.  Once I finish work, I am off to pick up the youngest of the 3 (5), and then head back to work for some stuff that has to be done after hours, my fiance is taking the other 2 older kids (12 & 9) to the waterpark at the mall for some 'big kid' fun, instead of them always being limited by the younger 3 kids.

Tomorrow evening is definitely going to be a write off....  after work, I have to get the 2 boys from daycare (6 & 3), then pick up my fiance & the 3 other kids and then drive 3 hrs (one way) to drop our step-daughter (9) off so she can spend the weekend with her bio dad (then get her again on Sunday).  I'm anticpating that if its like last time, its going to be mid-night before we get home, so I'm not going to be getting a single thing done that night, since I wont even be going home at all after I leave to go to work.....  lol.

Anyhow, back to this de-clutter thing.  As scary as it sounds I think that I am going to be able to survive it.  I've done well so far.  I will immediately list stuff on Freecycle and if its not picked up or spoken for very quickly (within 12-24hrs) I will just pack it up to go to Goodwill.  But where do I start....???  Something for me to think about over the next day or two........  in the meantime, thank god, that I'm managing to keep on top of the basics so far.  This is really working, just gotta keep sticking to it, admitting my faults, accepting them and moving on......  and keep cleaning.

Day 8 - Get a binder, put paper in it.

Ok, this sounds simple enough, right?  Well I have to admit that technically I have failed this.  Although I guess I still have time before I hit the bed to do this.

I'm sure that your all asking yourselves WHY on earth does she need to get a 3 ring binder (ok, they just don't do the normal 2 ring binders in Canada...  dont ask, I dont know why...  they dont know why you'd have a 2 ring binder....) and put some paper in it.

well here is a full explanation of WHY I need this binder...  http://www.flylady.net/pages/bbd8.asp  Although we aren't going to argue about why I can't find a 2 ring binder in canada, let alone what would actually happen if I used a 2-ring binder, would it be classed as failing the days task....  A binder is just a binder but they did specify a 3-ring binder not a 2....  I probably ought to stop being pedantic.

So anyhow, I am to write down my routines in this, and ensure that I actually read it and do whats on it.  Also if its written down, it also means that OTHERS know what to do......  other than tear the page out and throw it in the garbage.  If anyone was to do that I really know if I'd be sad, angry or quiet happy while feigning anger.......  lol. 

Now I'm also not meant to let my perfectionist side come out to play whilst doing this, and its recommended to just use a pencil while doing it....  I think that I can live with that.  truly.  I can still draw & doodle in pencil....  Ok, I will write down all the stuff that I need to first, then I can doodle!

So anyhow I guess before I get home for the evening I really ought to just hit up the dollar store.  Gotta love that place, it is as its name says, the Dollar Store, although some things are just a little more than a dollar and sometimes you can get several things for a dollar, but the basic concept is enough.  Its cheap, a great bargain, has stuff I always need and lets me indulge in frivolous shopping without spending a fortune.  That being said I have spent $60 there before.

Yesterdays challenge of putting my clothes out the night before, was a 50/50 success.  You may ask why, well I got my pants out and they were ready, as for the shirt I had to dig around this morning for that.....  I didn't finish putting away the laundry.  whoops!  I even got the boys clothes out for the day...  :D  Dominic (3) wore what he was meant to, however Gabriel (now 6) decided that he didn't like that and chose something else.  Why do I bother???  Although that being said, he got another spiderman sticker to go on this calendar for doing his chores!!!!!!  He is really getting into this all now too.  YAY!!!!  maybe, just maybe I can instill good cleaning behaviours into him.  Or not.....  he is only 6.

Anyhow I went to bed with shiny sinks, dishes done, clothes ready for the morning (kinda), lunches ready, I even mopped the hardwood flooring in the living room...  and I still somehow accidentally left the left over ribs from that nights bbq out on top of the stove....  *hanging my head in shame*.  It will get better.  Its already a huge improvement on what there was.

Day 7 - Get clothes ready

Getting your clothes sorted the night before... you'd think that this should be common sense...  but nope.  its often thought of, and then the following offending thought comes along of 'really? do I have do, I'll just pick something tomorrow morning, it wont take long....' 

So todays addition to everything, the shiny sink, reading and actually following through on my post it notes (ie change the toilet roll), and the hot spot thing......  IS getting clothes picked out and ready for the next day BEFORE i go to bed, and not just pick them out in my head.  I'm also going to do this for the boys too, since they have to go to daycare when I'm my way into work.

I can do this.....  I can and I will..  and to boot, I'm going to do it for more than 2 days in a row.....  I hope.  No, no I will and I can.  I am going to ignore that little voice that wants me to just forget about it and do it in the morning.

Surprisingly enough, that little voice is actually starting to change.  From 'do it in the morning' to 'its ok, take 5 minutes or less and do it now, your enjoying this tidy thing, don't ruin it! for gods sake don't ruin it now!!!'.  Who would have thought.  Certainly not me.

ok, so truth be told we all know that I'm going to fall apart again soon enough.  But like last week I'm going to just pick up where I left off, acknowledge that I failed miserably, supposedly learn from my mistakes (ok, who am I kidding there.  I wont learn!!!  I'll repeat it several times over because I've done so in the past no matter how vehemently I have sworn not to).

Now here's a small feat...  I've managed to convince my 6yr old son that he can now have an allowance...  or so there was no convincing with that part, he asked me first.  The conniving part came next, when I went 'yes! yes you can have an allowance BUT you will have to work for it just like mommy, daddy & john all work for their money.  You will have to make your bed every morning AND put away your toys every night before bed, and you will have to do this every night to get your $5'.  To which his reply was immediate & 'yes mommy.  I love it'.  Talk about floored.  I almost passed out where I was standing....  which just so happened to be in the checkout line at the local supermarket whilst holding a rather heavy basket of fruit.... and a severely ripe watermelon.  imagine the mess had I actually done that.

So now, each night I have to clean my sink till its shiny, wipe down the bathroom surfaces, do the dishes of course otherwise how am I going to get the shiny sink, do lunches, get daycare bags ready for the next day AND now, pick out tomorrows clothes for me & 2 little boys.  Oh, best ought not to forget about putting stickers onto the yet-to-be-made-sticker-chart for allowances.......

Oh and just so you all know, even if you don't really care, everything that was cleaned on the weekend is still CLEAN!!!!!!!!!  OMG, its happening.....  I could have people over and not be horribly embarrassed, until they walked into the kitchen and saw the pile of appliances on the floor that I haven't put away yet.  So maybe I was getting a little ahead of myself there.....  but I AM getting there!!!  :D

Day 6.. Hot Spots

whoop whoop!  Hot spots!!!!  I can do this!!!!  lol, spend 2 minutes, just 2 minutes cleaning up hot spots.  2 minutes I can manage, on top of all the other minutes....  biggest hot spot for us...  THE COFFEE TABLE, followed by any other flat (or not so flat) surface, that will hold anything without it falling off.

Ok, so we had a long weekend here, and truth be told I followed the first few steps quite well, I ensured that I had clean sinks in the kitchen & bathroom before hitting the bed each night...  but however Friday held an interesting activity...  CLEANING!  it wasn't just the pick things up and move it around kind either.  It was the sort it out and throw stuff out, freecycle stuff, etc kind of clean.  And for the first time since we moved into the house, I'd say that its like 90% CLEAN!!!!!!!!!  The 2% I'm alotting to the hoard of stuff that is in the kitchen that I need to find homes for, such as the breadmaker, etc....  that and the box of food that needs to go and be put into the cold store room.  3% for the mess by the big freezer & under the stairs in the basement...  and the last 5% happens to belong to the master bedroom.....  where so much stuff ends up....  the bed is clean though!!!!  :)

and low and behold, we've managed to maintain the cleanliness..... in the living room and kids bedrooms have managed to maintain this 'clean'....  some carpet even got washed & some of the hardwood got a nice drink of oil yesterday too.....  even the yard was mowed.

Ok, for those of you that know me...  and know my house cleaning abilities & nightmares, you'd be surprised that I actually got this accomplished. But I have!!!!!!!  worst bit is that I've managed to do it before, but I listen to that little voice...  the one that goes 'Jenny..... you know it can wait until morning....  ooooh look! shiny object! knitting.... you can do the unfun stuff later'.......  and then nothing gets done.... lol.  I am endeavouring to not listen quite so much.

John, as always THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!  You help so much and keep us on task when neither of us wants to be doing it.  But we did fantastic honey!!!!!!!!!  :D  I'm so proud of us.

Soooooo anyhow, tonight its back to hot spots...  I can do this, the house is currently a testiment to the fact that once its clean I can actually keep it that way with very little effort.....  I just need to take the time and that little bit of effort to start it.  :)

next big mission, sorting through kids clothing.....  3 kids.....  1 girl, keep summer & too big stuff, freecycle the rest; the boys, keep the big stuff and put away winter stuff & freecycle the small stuff.......  I will get there.  I will.

Day 5 - Attempt number, I've lost count!

Ok, so I never got past day 5......  however there are post it notes around the kitchen & bathroom now....  but however I have failed miserably.  I guess that all isn't really lost.  I plan to get back on track when I get home tonight.

So far, I'm blaming not being home until severely late (try after midnight), a broken glass in the sink (seriously I keep cutting myself when picking the damn thing up) and just pure exhaustion.

I'm coming to the conclusion that I stick to this better when the house is FULL of children.  Don't ask, I have no idea why.

Now I'm going to stop making excuses with everything, I truly do want everything clean & tidy....  so I am going to start again from day 5.  Minus the make up thing, my skin HATED wearing makeup all day....  and tbh I'd rather be sans-makeup than with loads of pimples & loads of makeup on.....

today's motto, when I'm not trying to grab 2 minutes for a nap, is going to be....  I can do this, I can do this, I can do this....  I can keep a clean house and I can continue reversing the chaos.....

Heaven help me, I'm going to need all the luck & motivation that I can get!!!!!!!!!

Day 5 - Faultering.... badly

I admit it.  I'm faultering.  More so because I'm tired rather than lack of motivation... ok so maybe its lack of motivation too...  lack of motivation to do anything other than want to sleep.

Yesterday I started off with the best of intentions, sink done, makeup done, post it notes in my bag to go home and be filled out and 'posted everywhere'....  truly I did have the best of intentions.

But of course, my normal avoidance of housework kicked in.....  and I didn't have the energy to fight it....  instead I had the energy to put together a BBQ for my Fiance (belated fathers day gift to get around his $100 limit; that and I haven't had a bbq for the last 2 y rs)......  and then take the girls to Baseball, as this was the last game and my Fiance was stuck at a golf tournament.

So we got home, met my Fiance there, the girls showed him his surprise and then it was time for them to go to bed, and then time for me, since the toothpicks holding my eyes open were no longer working.

Needless to say.....  the PostIt notes never made it out of my bag and onto the walls in the kitchen & bathroom....  I am going to write them up at work today and make up for lost time, and I'm going to put them on the walls when I get home.  Just in time to get changed, load all the kids in the car and head out on a long journey to drop our step daughter off to spend time with her bio-dad.  I'm not sure if I'll get Day 5 challenges completed today..... 

Actually just having read on what day 5 is....  I can do that while I'm at work too....  I also need to write down everything that I tell myself when I look around the kitchen and bathroom....  that I can do...  :)  I already know most of what that will be as I tell myself that all the time.

Then again, my makeup isn't done yet....  my skin is going stupid as its not used to makeup and I'm not impressed.  I might just keep the makeup for special occassions again.  But I do have it with me in case I need it for some reason.

Surprisingly enough, writing this has provided me with that little bit of motivation thats needed to push on through my exhaustion....  and I'm hoping that it lasts until I get home tonight.....

Day 4 - Post-Its

Yip, Day 4 requires PostIts... of course I don't have any at home, but thats something that can easily be fixed by the time that I get home today  :)

I am meant to be putting them in the kitchen & bathroom, so now the cleaning has expanded to the bathroom....  I've told my fiance about this, and he is more than happy and is even offering to do whats written on the Post Its.....  So I'm hoping that this goes well.....  and that the kids don't pull them down and ditch them....  I mean really, from a kids point of view, what the **** are Post Its meant to be in the bathroom for???

Well last night I got the dishes all sorted, shined my sink up again and felt quite proud of my achievement...  sure its only been 3 days...  but thats 3 days longer than its ever stayed like that before.....  until this morning when I got up and someone had left water stains in it....  then I realised that before I'd never really cared about it and laughed at myself for something so 'stupid' and then promptly shined it up again and then left the kitchen feeling proud of my achievement.

So today I was meant to do make up again.....  as far as I got with that task was making sure that my face was still clean and put on lip gloss......  I did however tie my hair back differently today.....  the small things.  I really think that I am going to struggle with the make up thing the most....  but I swear I will get used to it at some point.  one day.....  far far far away from this one......

This make sound fairly stupid, but just by starting on this journey and doing these small little things each day, I'm finding that I'm also then taking just a few minutes out to do other stuff...  like fold the laundry straight away.....  vaccum pack up the last of the packet of pasta and the chocolate chips that have been sitting on the kitchen bench/counter for over a week, as part of my 'when I get a round to it' pile........

Now i mustn't get a head of myself....  this is only Day 4, and its only just started......  Also I know that I'm going to have restrain myself from leaving Post It notes like 'for gods sake rinse the sink', 'Shut the door, you weren't born in a tent', 'what part of No Dishes in the Sink wasn't understood'......  but thankfully the majority of the kids at home cant really read yet.......  but I am going to refrain myself to things such as 'wipe the sink', 'replace the toilet roll' (this one purely because it seems that the toilet roll holder is going to eat everyone else in the house alive if they touch an empty roll........).

I can do this, and I am going to do this...  CHOAS will eventually be a thing of the past, just like my santity.....  :)

Day 3- Exhaustion Hits

Alright its Day 3 now.........  I do believe that todays lesson, is of the 'Rinse & Repeat' kind....  complete with some surfing of the FlyLady's BigTent website.......  well Yay for extra surfing, and tbh I'm glad that its that kind of day.....  Didn't get the kids into bed until 10pm!!!!  (I know the horror and on a school night to boot!)  Baseball ran late (9pm), so lets just say 'not impressed'.......

The sink is still clean and shiny and I even got my dishes done and a load of laundry folded & put away before bed last night.....  and yes I left the sink all shiny!!!  :)

Here's a small dilemma that I faced today, as I rushed to get hte boys out of the hosue this morning.....  What to do with the bowl of cereal that still has milk in it.  I am refusing to put it INTO the sink...  my quick compromise, put it beside the sink...  lol.  But however I know that I am going to face this more often than just today and must come up with some other solution...  like flushing the contents of the bowl.

Well anyhow, this morning my hair & makeup was done in the car.  Its the only time that I can say that I am happy for road construction when I'm stuck sitting perfectly still....  previously doing nothing.  Although does it count as my make up is done when I'm not wearing mascara....?????

I'm tired.....  I'm worn out and the late night last night did not help things.  I'm hoping to keep the motivation going...  I do love that shiny sink.....  but I am tired, if not purely exhausted.  Now if only I could schedule a nap at work..........

Day Two.....

Ok, so the kitchen sink survived the first night, and the first lot of breakfast dishes.  Namely because, as suggested by flylady.com, the dirty dishes werent put into the sink, but instead of something else, namely a box in the kitchen....  and I will do those when I return home from work.  Needless to say, I'm still a little stupid protective over my currently clean sink.

Anyhow Day Two was meant to start off with me getting dressed, doing my hair & makeup....  and lets just day this...  my hair is tied back (as always for work) and I got dressed in my work clothes....  and yes thankfully it was a work day and not a saturday.  I threw my make up into my handbag as I rushed out the door....  it wasn't until 12pm that I actually finally put it on....  but, you know what....  its ON!!!  :)  and tbh with the self pic that I just took before, I obviously didn't put enough on!!!!  lol  and NO I am not going to be posting a pic of that today.

I'm normally a sans-makeup kinda girl....  it takes time, time that I'd rather spend in bed, cuddling with the kids or my Fiance....  anything but put on makeup.....  its alot like my dislike of housework.....  So I guess I'm learning to put on my 'face' every day too, as well as learning to clean the house and keep it that way.

Tonight, is going to be a hectic night for us.....  My Step-Daughter (9) has baseball from 6:30pm until probably 8:30pm.....  then its get home and get the kids into bed, asap.....  and I always feel worn out after it. But its a Tuesday so it means that this is happening again.  I will learn to adjust.  Its also the last Tuesday game, so its ok I've decided.

I am looking forward to seeing my shiny sink when I get home today.

Day 1 - Shiny Sink

Well the first challenge for day was to have end up with a shiny sink....  with the aim of making sure that at the end of each day its still nice and shiny.  Wish me luck!!!!!

I will readily admit that I am NOT the biggest fan of housework.  Quite frankly if there is something else that I can do to avoid doing housework, I WILL do it.....  lol.  What more can I say.  I really don't like it but I love the result.

My Fiance is helping with this challenge too, even if his part is keeping the kids occupied while I do something...  :)

As I am typing this, I have one side of my sink completed, and Im currently waiting for the hot water & bleach to do their thing on the remainding side of the sink.  So for some veiwing pleasure, here are some photos.......

Before I did the dishes....  so yip, this is as bad as it can look.

Its clean, but is it really clean?????

OMG!!!!  Its a half shiny sink!!!!!  :O

Well its time to go and finish off the other side of the sink....  I will be back to post a final pic of both sides of the sink...  :)  So far I'm feeling quite chuffed with my little achievement for the day, although I do have umpteen loads of laundry to go and fold (thanks to John for washing & drying it all).

Ok, so here it is.........  the final product.

Now this is how my kitchen sink is meant to look each evening before I go to bed.......  EEEK!!!!  the pressure is huge.....  so until tomorrow.....

btw, Laurel I only used the bleach as a once off....  and yes I'm going to be looking into norwex stuff to help me, I figured the first day I had best follow the instructions.

The CHAOS theory..... and reversal

Ok, so my Fiance are setting out on a 31 day challenge that we have set ourselves to change our house from CHAOS (Can't Have People Over Syndrome) into an organised and tidy little place.

Its not such an easy task as you'd like to think.  We both work full time and have 6 kids in total between us, with 4 of them with us most of the time, 1 in hospital and 1 child living in another province.  Not to mention 1 rather large dog.  The age ranges are 16 to 3.

We have a small house, that has been in pure chaos since we moved in, and no matter how hard we have tried it just hasn't gotten any easier or any cleaner.  lol, ok so its gotten cleaner for a short while and then its just destroyed.

Thanks to Flylady.com, we are trying the 31 day get your house in order.....  each day we are going to do what is assigned for the day.

Wish us luck!!!!!!!