elfgivas Posted January 13, 2013 Share Posted January 13, 2013 i think one piece is to make what i try to do fit who i am. i'm not a list person. at all. reading about all these lists makes me twitchy. that said, there are times for it. so, for example, a few weeks before a new school year starts, i start scheduling. (notice i don't call it a list ;) ) i start with our mornings, decide what needs to happen in the mornings and then start tweaking it until it flows. that is for me. then i add the kids in. just for the mornings, from when we wake up until 15 minutes after breakfast. then we start living it, to see how it works. and tweak it. once i have that going, i do the time around lunch, and the time around dinner, and then the time around bed. this leaves huge swaths of time between meals to put in school work. i get the anchors working for me, then i add in the kids, then we tweak. what that means is that when school starts, all we're adding is school. so after new years, that looked like: is morning routine working? what needs to be tweaked? so i figured out that i get up, empty the dishwasher while the coffee perks, have coffee and computers with dh. then it turns out i want to change what was happening (which involved dishes and laundry before breakfast). so i move on to breakfast, and then everyone does 15 minutes tidying in their rooms. then, dd in grade 9 starts math at the kitchen counter with me. i teach the lesson, we do the classroom exercises, and i gradually drift away to load the dishwasher and tidy around her. it means i am accessible for questions, and she is there to keep her extroverted momma company while i'm doing chores. 15 minutes in, next dd starts in on something that doesn't require me (her choice). lately it is keyboarding followed by music practice. so i have an hour in the kitchen while dd does math, and manage to get all daily jobs done + one weekly/occasional job done + start a load of laundry (which is right off the kitchen). this is a new tahing, and last week it worked so well i couldn't believe i hadn't figured this out earlier. for me, i need to "set the stage" and then all things are possible. what it means is that things i need to do get done without me having to think about it too much, because that's just what i do at that moment every day. that's a really long way of saying that personality does factor in to what approach will work for different ones of us, and i'd really encourage folks who run screaming into the streets at the thought of lists to realize that a "list" can take different forms and is really just a method for achieving a goal. hth, ann Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LMD Posted January 13, 2013 Share Posted January 13, 2013 Today is our first day back for 2013! It's nearly 11 am and things have gone PERFECTLY. I couldn't be happier! All that organising really did pay off! Now to finish off our day strongly. Thanks so much everyone for this thread! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MelAR05 Posted January 14, 2013 Share Posted January 14, 2013 Ok, I have been reading this thread, read GTD and am currently in the middle of Switch. I have started my Tickler files and reference files. No more papers scattered everywhere! Yay! I hope this a good start to being more organized. Still a long way to go. The biggest accomplishment from it all is the cleaning out of my emails. I started with 62,000 dating from 2010. Yes, 62,000! It has taken me several days but I am now under 2,000! Such a huge weight off my shoulders and out of my head. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mystie Posted January 14, 2013 Share Posted January 14, 2013 For anyone interested in setting up their lists and reference electronically and using their tablet or phone or laptop instead of paper, I just TODAY published my eBook on how to get such a system up and running, from square-one, using 3 free sites/apps: Evernote, Remember the Milk, and Google Calendar. Monday only it's $1.99. For January it's $2.99. Then it goes to its normal price of $7.99. By next week I hope to have a Kindle version available, also. For more information, you can check out the site: Paperless Home Organization: A How-To Guide to Creating a Homemaking Binder Thanks for the nudgings I got from this thread for tackling the topic! It gave me the excuse and motivation to clean up my own accounts and get them humming. I love it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fraidycat Posted January 14, 2013 Share Posted January 14, 2013 You get double credit for that! It means you inspired somebody else to get rid of their junk, which, as we've seen on other threads, is a rare thing for husbands to do. Either that, or you lucked out and married a man who doesn't like clutter. How's this for inspiring? Yesterday, I may have possibly inspired someone else's husband to finally let go of some stuff. :laugh: Let me preface this by saying, that I've grown tired of trying to fit myself (square peg) into the conventional (round hole) way of living in and furnishing a house. We're not at a point in our lives where we can build/furnish our "dream" house, so I've gotten creative - or unconventional, in any case. Conventional = couch, love seat, armchairs in a living room, beds in a bedroom, etc. I've wasted a lot of money over the years trying to make that work for me and countless hours rearranging whole rooms of furniture because it wasn't "quite right yet". Homeschooling was the first step against "the norm" and now the real "hippy/rebel" me is coming out in droves! Our living room is furnished with four CordaRoy's, a homemade padded bench, and this past weekend also held DS's "bed" - a brazilian hammock - leftover from when he wasn't feeling well and we put it out in the LR so he could rest and still be with the family during the day. We usually trade beds at night anyway - he sleeps with DH and I sleep in the hammock, so I'd been sleeping in it in the LR and leaving it there for him for daytime rests. Anyway, I'm getting long winded. DH's co-worker and his wife came over on Saturday. They loved our beanbag furniture and my "open, spacious" looking LR, and he loved the hammock - made himself right at home in it. LOL They were both intrigued with our lack of cable t.v. because they mentioned an ad and we had no idea what they were talking about, and he mentioned that he really likes the idea of homeschooling, too. I'm not sure what her thoughts were on that :). We got to discussing decluttering because they are getting ready to move to Japan and she said he always wants to keep stuff "just in case". I had one of those kinds of husbands, too. I told her that my "cure" was to only unpack the things I absolutely wanted, needed, or loved in our last two moves and leave the rest for him to deal with + vowed not to move again until we had downsized by approximately 50%. Since then, DH is quite often MY motivator to clean out a closet or area, instead of the other way around. By the end of the visit, DH's coworker was insisting that his wife and I needed to trade ideas and he would be "picking DH's brain" at work re: getting rid of stuff (his words) and living with hammocks and beanbags. LOL It's been a long road for me, trying to get DH on board with living with less stuff, but now that he's on board with it, he's almost evangelical about it and was quite happy to help us women out and preach the benefits to his coworker. It makes me giggle. I love it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CandaceC Posted January 14, 2013 Share Posted January 14, 2013 I haven't been posting but just wanted to jump in and say thank you for this thread and everyone sharing your progress!! It has been so inspiring and helpful!! I started in my closet and only went through 2 shelves and had 2 trash bags full! Whew!! And I didn't think I had too much stuff! Ha! I also started in the kitchen decluttering cabinets - this has been sooook helpful!! At the same time we are trying really hard to stick to our new budget and so menu planning, cooking more, stocking up on deals - all of thisady the need for more cabinet space more urgent. :) Thank you, everyone, for a great thread!! I've been reading a little bit each day for motivation!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
linguistmama Posted January 14, 2013 Share Posted January 14, 2013 Mystie, how does the detail in your ebook compare to your gtd series? I'm thinking about it, but we are also in stick to the budget mode so I make sure to research every little bit :). I'm part way through my braindump and am rereading gtd to make sure I understand everything. I can't say enough about how much better I feel having done a partial braindump! I am more present and in the moment with my kids which is often a struggle for me. My brain just had so many things going on all the time. I'm going to work on the brain dump, processing it and updating our filing system. One of my bright spots is that I bought the home routines app, even though we almost never buy apps. I love checking the box! I even set up a checklist for each girl's morning routine and they love getting stars. I also like how it lines up with the flylady zones, but also lets you modify them. I need some outside motivation like someone else setting up the basic zone structure, but it is just a jumping off point since I need to modify it for my own life. Another bright spot was organizing the toys and cleaning out the girl's rooms. They like being able to get out the bin with dolls and clothes instead of everything being randomly shoved in a bin. And we managed to get our weekly cleaning done even though several of us have colds. Even vacuuming the stairs which is my nemesis. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
linguistmama Posted January 14, 2013 Share Posted January 14, 2013 I don't remember daily goals being addressed in the book. I'm thinking of having a daily goals list in evernote with things like; make sure everyone picks up after themselves right away, remember to notice when I feel full/control my portions to help me loose weight etc. I would probably put a note on my daily schedule to check the goal list at each mealtime. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mystie Posted January 14, 2013 Share Posted January 14, 2013 I don't remember daily goals being addressed in the book. I'm thinking of having a daily goals list in evernote with things like; make sure everyone picks up after themselves right away, remember to notice when I feel full/control my portions to help me loose weight etc. I would probably put a note on my daily schedule to check the goal list at each mealtime. Daily goals are oddly not addressed much in GTD. It's in the "checklists" section. GTD focuses most on clearing your head (brain dump & ubiquitous capture) and on making progress on projects rather than the daily routine. But moms, especially homeschooling moms, have more routine tasks than project tasks. My eBook out today on setting up a digital organization and management system is not about GTD methods, but more of a step-by-step guide to getting a home management binder running and working for you. So it's more a thorough development & tutorial for the digital homemaking series I wrote a year ago more than a rehash of the GTD series. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elfgivas Posted January 14, 2013 Share Posted January 14, 2013 Interesting bump in the road. Why is it I can jump right in and start clearing things out, writing down the things that pop into my mind of should do's but the thought of creating a home notebook has me hitting a wall of "nuh uh, not gonna do it" ? I have most of what I want to put into it, I jsut need to do so, but the thought of it is making me feel sick to my stomach. Haul a dryer outside by myself with no appliance dolly (which I did this morning) no problem, 3 days of doing a complete overhaul of a room peice of cake, rip out a carpet and start a reno one day just because I was sick of the room sure why not. Put paper in a notebook in an organized way, oh h*ll no. I think I am broken or something. could you make your home notebook on your computer and then print it out and put it in book/file folder (or even ask a dc to do that bit)? then you would have paper in a book : ) i recognize the problem. good luck! ann Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
linguistmama Posted January 14, 2013 Share Posted January 14, 2013 Misty kindly gave me a free copy of her ebook :). Definately worth $2! Many things I already knew, but lots of good new tips and instructions. We have a yucky cold and my oldest was too sick to do school. Baby and I are doing a little better so I went through our files. It is so nice to have a usable, decluttered file cabinet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cin Posted January 15, 2013 Share Posted January 15, 2013 I need some time alone so I can process all of this! I've got the GTD book and I'm going to download Misty's. So now I 'just' need to read, jot down some notes, and process everything. And THEN do it. Doesn't sound like much, right?!?! I'm almost overwhelmed just by that! Baby Steps. Baby Steps. Baby Steps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
linguistmama Posted January 15, 2013 Share Posted January 15, 2013 I have a big church binder that I hate because I hate to carry heavy stuff and a big bag around. My bag already has indispensable things like snacks, water, coloring books, toys and diapers. I'm so excited to scan all the pages in the church binder into Evernote! This will make my life so much easier. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LifeLovePassion Posted January 15, 2013 Share Posted January 15, 2013 Misty kindly gave me a free copy of her ebook :). Definately worth $2! Many things I already knew, but lots of good new tips and instructions. We have a yucky cold and my oldest was too sick to do school. Baby and I are doing a little better so I went through our files. It is so nice to have a usable, decluttered file cabinet. Nice! I'm trying to decide if I can truely be a paperless gal with some things. I still might have to get it for $3 later in the month when my fun money refreshes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cin Posted January 15, 2013 Share Posted January 15, 2013 Swellmomma, you are a force of nature. Truly. I *might* take some before and afters of my storage room if I am brave enough. *gulp* I did not get it all done today. The oldest daughter of the family with the very sick 23yo son called me. I had offered to help the family however I can. She is almost due with Baby #7 and she has been going to her parents' house three times a day to let the dogs out and feed them. I am now going to do this until they get back. It's not such a big thing because I can get to their house in two minutes. The dad and youngest daughter (teen) have been the only ones living there for about two months now. They left yesterday in a hurry, so when I went today I washed dishes that they had left, and my dd21 picked up and swept their living room and family room. Whatever the outcome for their very ill son, they will all be tired when they come home and don't need the added stress of dirty dishes, etc. So...back to some storage room sorting before I go to bed. Onward! You did the right thing. Clutter can wait, but when they come home, they will be exhausted, and dirty dishes will be the last thing they want to see. Especially if they have been there for while. Bless you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LMD Posted January 19, 2013 Share Posted January 19, 2013 BUMP! How is everyone going? We just finished our first week of school for the year. It was amazing! This thread helped me so much! THANKYOU! :wub: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laughing lioness Posted January 19, 2013 Share Posted January 19, 2013 Finished Switch and the Power of Less by Babatou. Babatou takes GTD and distills it to the bare essence (the zen of GTD). Good, simple. Ds and I are gonig to start selling stuff on area FB page. I am so ready to get rid of clutter and move along. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Critterfixer Posted January 20, 2013 Share Posted January 20, 2013 Let's see. I implemented my Spring Cleaning Chores this past week. My goal is to have this list cycle back through around July or August so that the decluttering/sorting/keeping up and replacing/ etc goes in a year round fashion without being overwhelming. Still working out the details, but the idea came from my year in preview list by month. I simply wrote down what I thought would be the best month to do some of these major chores (repainting, repairs, gutters, the chimney, baseboards etc, pressure washing the house...you get the idea!) At least in my climate, you don't want to be wet in the month of February, but neither would you want to wash the house in May, when the pine pollen is at it's peak!) Anyway, I hope that it will help. I'm taking 20 minutes of regular cleaning time to accomplish organizing and decluttering of closets, drawers and cabinets. For example, on Monday I clean for two hours in four rooms: Master Bedroom and Bath, and two bedrooms. All Mondays in January will focus on the Master Bed and Bath, February will be the Bedrooms. On the first week in January I did drawers for twenty minutes; then I did windows the second week, fans and fixtures are coming up this week, and the last week I'll go after a cabinet or closet. Tuesdays I'll cycle the same way in the Kitchen, Dining Room and Laundry. Wednesday the same thing through the Hall, Living Room and Office and Boy's Bathroom. Thursday the same thing outside in the garage/garden shed. We'll see how it works. At any rate it is pretty easy for me to remember what I'm supposed to be doing. If I do drawers on Monday in my room, I know I'm doing drawers in the kitchen on Tuesday and in the Living Room on Wednesday ( and on Thurday boxes in the garage.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cin Posted January 21, 2013 Share Posted January 21, 2013 I was sick over the weekend, so I put myself into isolation--it was just a bad head cold. ; ) BUT, I worked for 1 FULL day and a good 3/4 of Sunday on ONLINE organization. I set up my phone, tablet and computer onto google drive. I have my email, calendar, grocery list, menus, and a school schedule all on there. I am also in the process of moving most of our reading material there, so that we can ALL access it. Getting the menus organized was somewhat time consuming, as we juice and do smoothies. I searched and found 25 recipes for each. For each week I have 5 recipes to do. My recipes will be scanned in the weekend DH takes the girls to Great Wolf Lodge. I will move the scanner to the kitchen table, which is in CLEAR VIEW of the TV. Not sure what marathon we will have that weekend. But I can't wait! I am toying with scanning some of the TM also. I think the CLE ones will definitely be scanned. I wish there was more curriculum that was online. Even from Memoria Press--I just ordered there Latin DVD and it was a hard copy. BLAH. Not that I would put those on google drive, but I could download them onto DD's reader. It sucks to be ahead of the crowd :laugh: . Now, to clean the house. Since mama wasn't around, the house went to pieces! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cin Posted January 21, 2013 Share Posted January 21, 2013 My goal today is set up folders and rules for my gmail inbox. Posting for accountability. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
linguistmama Posted January 21, 2013 Share Posted January 21, 2013 Good for you! I love having folders in my gmail. I'm putting The Power of Less in my Books to Read note in Evernote. :coolgleamA: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
linguistmama Posted January 21, 2013 Share Posted January 21, 2013 Good for you! I love having folders in my gmail. I'm putting The Power of Less in my Books to Read note in Evernote. :coolgleamA: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swellmomma Posted January 21, 2013 Share Posted January 21, 2013 Update on my ever growing list. Livingroom reno update: This has been my focus project, something I started last aug and then never finished. Last week I primed and painted the walls. I did a lazure technique so it took 6 coats over teh course of a few days but it is done. I have purchased the new sofa set, the laminate flooring and new baseboards. The flooring is now acclimating to my room before installation. Other areas, well new dryer arrived last week as well, so catching up on laundry, and sorting what to send to goodwill. With the mountain of laundry we created in the 2 weeks without a dryer, yeah it's time to purge, we have way too much. We created a feeding schedule for all the animals, since some eat once a week, some 2-3 times and some daily, and there is some prep needed for some of the food (thawing, or dusting with vitamin powder, or gut loading etc). Today I will be caulking the bay window again (dog scraped it all off when I did it this summer) prepping, priming, painting the trim in the room, and measuring/cutting the baseboards. If there is time I will paint them too. My project to do list is nearly finished, I can see the end of the tunnel, and soon I will have a beautiful place to sit and relax while creating my next plans for being better organized. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laughing lioness Posted January 22, 2013 Share Posted January 22, 2013 We filled (cemented) holes in floor, water proofed it and paper bagged ds's bedroom floor (basement bedroom). There are some globs of glue on the paper bagging this morning and it doesn't feel like it's sealed very well. I'll be researching this a bit more before we poly the floor. The look is cool- and it went pretty fast. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swellmomma Posted January 22, 2013 Share Posted January 22, 2013 We filled (cemented) holes in floor, water proofed it and paper bagged ds's bedroom floor (basement bedroom). There are some globs of glue on the paper bagging this morning and it doesn't feel like it's sealed very well. I'll be researching this a bit more before we poly the floor. The look is cool- and it went pretty fast. That sucks. I caulked the bay window but apparently there is too much moisture coming in. It was supposed to be paintable and washable within 3 hours, it has been like 19 hours and it is still tacky. Think I will blow dry it today and see if that finally sets it. Otherwise I finished prepping and priming the rest of the trim. Today I have to try and set that caulking, prime trim on the bay window and paint the rest of the trim in the room. And put on all the new outlet plates and lightswitch plate. The room is really coming together. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
linguistmama Posted January 23, 2013 Share Posted January 23, 2013 Swellmomma, you are awesome! I finished my brain dump and processed it into my Evernote GTD system. I did a weekly review last week also and am really liking the system so far. I have my daily routines in the home routines app because we get stars and we are getting a lot done! The house and everything is running more smoothly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pod's mum Posted January 26, 2013 Share Posted January 26, 2013 Well we ran away again and spent a few days tenting and sitting by, swimming in, yabbying, fishing and kayaking on a big brown river. I did a lot of sitting, watching, and reading. And then some more sitting and watching. So nothing achieved, but a car full of sandy camping gear to add to the list. Good though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alte Veste Academy Posted January 26, 2013 Share Posted January 26, 2013 Well we ran away again and spent a few days tenting and sitting by, swimming in, yabbying, fishing and kayaking on a big brown river. I did a lot of sitting, watching, and reading. And then some more sitting and watching. So nothing achieved, but a car full of sandy camping gear to add to the list. Good though. Now see, I would say, "Relaxation achieved!" We all need to relax more, I think. That was the point of the whole thing for me; I wanted to have more time to relax. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HollyBee Posted February 2, 2013 Share Posted February 2, 2013 I've been following this thread with interest, as I need a major overhaul of my (nonexistent) organizational systems. I've read Switch, I'm reading Getting Things Done, and I downloaded Mystie's ebook about setting up an electronic system. Here's my question: Has anyone ever used the app "2do"? I downloaded it some time ago, and I've played with it a bit, but I know I'm not utilizing it properly. It seems to be similar to Remember the Milk, though without the online component. Anyone know if 2do would be able to be used instead of RtM? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swellmomma Posted February 2, 2013 Share Posted February 2, 2013 Okay so I have hit a part in this process that I always struggle with. I busted my butt getting the livingroom done before the couches arrived. It is not finished, I need to make some minor adjustments to the floor, still have to buy thresholds, still need to install baseboards etc. BUT the couches are here and they are so comfy and often when I get to this point I stall out on progress. It gets done, but at a snails pace not like before the couches arrived when in just under 2 weeks I painted the room, installed the flooring etc. If I remain stalled on this the rest of the house suffers because many things that need to be put in the livingroom can not be until I finish the floors and baseboards and they are filling up my dd13's bedroom. Until I get those out I can not buy a mattress for dd5 and get her out of my bed. I can not buy a new mattress for me and install my new bed (which has been sitting in the garage for 2 years) and have my own sanctuary at the end of each day etc. Instead I have this old used lumpy bumpy mattress on the floor because I do not want to use a brand new one with a kid that sometimes still wets the bed. So it all comes back to motivation, but I am tired and the couches are so pretty and comfy and I would much rather use them and sit and read, and lesson plan and knit etc and rest from all my hard work. But the work is not done and I have to keep pushing through, but I don't wanna. I want to rest. Today is a regular cleaning day and sterilization of the boys room due to a sicky. But when that is done I would rather rest then work on the stupid livingroom anymore kwim. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PrairieSong Posted February 2, 2013 Share Posted February 2, 2013 Hi everyone! I was wondering whether this thread was still active. I'm glad it is! We are doing a major kitchen remodel and putting wood floors in kitchen, living room, and dining room so the house is in a major upheaval, with furniture and boxes stuffed in the basement family room and in odd corners of the house. I am just trying to keep up with cooking, dishes, and laundry without a functioning kitchen atm. I still have a fridge, crock pot, rice cooker, microwave, and electric skillet so it isn't too bad. I did take two loads of stuff to our local thrift store--yay!! I very much look forward to moving back into the main living area. It won't be for at least two more weeks though. Oh, and the kitchen will have a built in desk! I plan to use that for organizing the household with a message board, notebooks, space for bills and other paperwork, etc. Hope everyone else is doing well! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joannqn Posted February 3, 2013 Share Posted February 3, 2013 For some reason this thread didn't pop on my content for new posts until today, so I've missed about two weeks worth of posts. 2. Colorful Wall Charts--We used one last year with such success that over the holiday break I declared it a bright spot. We now have charts for multiple subjects to keep track of where we are and where we need to be. (This also falls under Script the Critical Moves and Point to the Destination.) It's set up like a detailed planner of sorts for a child who thrives with having a plan and colors--a colorful plan. ;) Anyway you'd share a photo and detailed explanation of your charts? And we also started a Google email/forum group to talk about setting up GTD at Home. So far it's fairly quiet, but I hope involvement will start picking up. I don't have any other reason to go to Google forums so I always forget to go there, and when I remember, I have to figure out how to get there again. Bright Spots: I'm still using Evernote, though not at the capacity I original had hoped. It's definitely a brain dump. I save my recipes for the week in there so I don't have to remember where I found them when it comes time to cook that meal. I have the rest of my history/lit for the year planned there. As I use new addresses, I've been creating a notebook of addresses in there as well. I started menu-planning in mid-December. I plan a week at a time: breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Then I create a shopping list, and DH and I go shopping together every Saturday. Between the plan and the weekly shopping at a cheaper store, we are saving between $400 and $700 on groceries each month. We started following a cash budget in mid-December too. That first month brought tears on my part because without every category being funded, I felt like we couldn't buy anything. Now we have around $500 over the various categories saved for future needs. We told the kids any money left over in the eating out category at the end of the month would be saved for a Disney trip. We now have over $400 saved for that. With the budget, we were able to give DD13 a great birthday present, which included new clothing. We also had the money to buy DS11 new clothes. I took an afternoon and made the boys try on every item of clothing in their closets. I gave away a lot of DS11's too small clothes, and the mom who took them brought some clothes for DS5. I also found a bunch of pants in perfect condition that we had saved when DS11 outgrew them, and they now fit DS5. While it might sound like our closets are more cluttered with all this new clothing, this is actually a good thing as we usually survive off of 2-3 pairs of pants each, and DS11 had gotten down to just a single pair of pants. DD3 is next. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Critterfixer Posted February 3, 2013 Share Posted February 3, 2013 Attacked the old potting shed this week. Did a ton of major trash removal. Thinking about repainting some things and some home repair tasks that should be done this spring. That to me was always the thing that could trip me up when it came to housekeeping. It cuts into my day so badly, and since I work on the weekends I don't really have a "day off" to do it on. So I'm thinking of assigning days per month as project days depending on what needs to be done. That way I won't feel rushed, and if I plan it toward the end of the month then I'll have all month to accumulate supplies as the budget allows and the boys will have two days off of school to look forward to at the end of the month. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LifeLovePassion Posted February 4, 2013 Share Posted February 4, 2013 I'm still plugging away. my files are 95% in order with no duplicates in a second spot as before. The toys are going to get another overhaul soon I think. They have gotten crazy again. I will say with the filesin order and having a better mail processing process the kitchen counter has stayed cleaner lately. And I trained my girls (ages 6 and 4) to clean the bathroom counter/sink so we now rotate that task and it has stayed cleaner as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mystie Posted February 4, 2013 Share Posted February 4, 2013 I don't have any other reason to go to Google forums so I always forget to go there, and when I remember, I have to figure out how to get there again. You can set it to email you postings and you can post by email. That's how I do it. I don't need another site to go check, either. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodland Mist Academy Posted February 4, 2013 Share Posted February 4, 2013 Anyway you'd share a photo and detailed explanation of your charts? Here is a link to one of the charts we use. We have different ones for various subjects. (Yes, it's a little silly, but that is part of the point--adding whimsy to our day. :biggrinjester: ) http://www.trendente...ge#.URAB0_LIuSo We write the weeks along the top and lessons/chapters/units (depending on the resource we use) down the left side. She puts a sticker in the week that she completes that lesson/chapter/unit/etc. Some weeks have a few stickers on a chart, some might have none if it is a tough section. At a glance she can see how far she is in the book and how far she needs to go before the semester is over. This is helping her manage time without me constantly reminding her to stay on track. She's not quite ready to have her own planner with no one checking in on her progress. For us this is a good in-between step. Actually, some people always prefer wall charts of some sort to measure progress. (Think of a paper tacked to the wall in a cubicle to keep track of the time frame of a big project with small deadlines before the big one.) This is working even in subjects such as AoPS in which she works at whatever pace she needs to. It becomes easy to slip into not truly applying oneself for the hour or hour and a half for the subject, but still checking off that the subject was done. The chart is a tool to help her keep herself in check and evaluate if she really is working steadily, slacking off, just at a tough chapter, or if she is so lost it's time to ask for help. I hope that makes at least a little sense. Basically the charts are used more as planners as opposed to incentives, although she does find them encouraging. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
linguistmama Posted February 5, 2013 Share Posted February 5, 2013 Having my notes in Evernote out of my head is helping me so much. I have always wanted to read aloud more and it has always been a struggle. I look longingly at the Sonlight and Angelicum book lists. I have been able to focus on it more now that my brain has some space and it is getting done! DD1 was sick for several days last week and instead of me checking out I put on The Blue Fairy Book audiobook and we got through the whole thing. We also read aloud more. I've also wanted to delve into the Circe threads and have been able to start doing that too. It is wonderful to see how much better this system is making my life. I feel so much more in control. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joannqn Posted February 5, 2013 Share Posted February 5, 2013 Here is a link to one of the charts we use. We have different ones for various subjects. (Yes, it's a little silly, but that is part of the point--adding whimsy to our day. :biggrinjester: ) http://www.trendente...ge#.URAB0_LIuSo Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mystie Posted February 5, 2013 Share Posted February 5, 2013 I was just browsing what books Amazon recommended as related to my eBook (I got it on the Kindle store!) and saw that this one titled Attack Your Day Before It Attacks You is also a print book and retails for $20 and has good reviews, but the Kindle version is free right now! I now know that to get into Amazon's Kindle select program, you have to offer your Kindle book for free for a couple days. So I wouldn't count on it being free longer than today or tomorrow. If it looks interesting, snatch it up! I love a good productivity book. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Critterfixer Posted February 6, 2013 Share Posted February 6, 2013 Today's project is to sit down this evening and write out the school-day routine. I've got to be out of town one day when we would be doing school and I'd like to have the DH complete the major subjects with the boys. But most of the proceedings and how I approach review of previous material and presentation of new is in my head. I'm thinking I need to have things laid out for my "substitute" teacher! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joules Posted February 10, 2013 Share Posted February 10, 2013 I was just browsing what books Amazon recommended as related to my eBook (I got it on the Kindle store!) and saw that this one titled Attack Your Day Before It Attacks You is also a print book and retails for $20 and has good reviews, but the Kindle version is free right now! Thanks Mystie! I have said more than once: I don't plan my day, I just get out of bed in the morning and it attacks me. Maybe the book will help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Holly IN Posted February 25, 2013 Share Posted February 25, 2013 I am loving this thread! Awesome!! I am going over my copy and paste notes of this thread. I have searched in this thread the video link but can't find it. I also can't find who said it. It is in this thread and here is the quote" I set up all the GTD notebooks from the videos linked earlier. Now I'm working on other notebooks. I have a stack of notebooks called "Brain Dump." My notebooks in that stack are: Blogging, Church, Family, Friends, House, Kids, Lynnae, Marriage. So far I don't have much in any of my notebooks, as I haven't done my brain dump yet." I can't find the video link this person is talking about. Thanks! Holly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodland Mist Academy Posted February 25, 2013 Share Posted February 25, 2013 I've been working on learning and setting up Evernote. The more I learn, the more I realize that probably no other thing is needed for GTD. You can create grocery lists with this thing, errand reminders, projects lists, everything. I'm finding the website, The Secret Weapon, very helpful. It has a series of short videos that take you step by step through setting of Evernote to use with GTD. It covers everything from setting of Notebooks (think filing cabinets) to setting up tags (think file folders where one piece of information can be in multiple folders at once) to how to use it daily and weekly to know what to get done. It's been so helpful that I wanted to share. Without it, I'd be hopelessly lost. One of my biggest problems is that I can't ever figure out how to set up an organizational system because I get bogged down on knowing what categories to use. Is this the link? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodland Mist Academy Posted February 25, 2013 Share Posted February 25, 2013 Updates anyone? Hmm....should we start a new thread? This one is getting long. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joannqn Posted February 25, 2013 Share Posted February 25, 2013 I'm happy with my progress so far. I had to go into Evernote the other day and clean up my notebooks because they had gotten messy. I've been making weekly menus since mid-December. From that, I make a shopping list. Then DH and I go shopping together. This is saving us between $400 and $700 a month over almost daily shopping at the closest, but more expensive store. More often than not, I stick with the menu, though I sometimes move things around within the week. This is dropped our eating out costs considerable. In November, we spend $300+ eating out. I know that we've gone way there before. Now, we're generally under $100 a month. I budgeted $300, and the leftover money goes into a Disneyland fund at the end of the month. I also just created an Excel spreadsheet for myself to track the expenses in each category so I can a better average over time. I've managed to track every single purchase for two months now. In the home, I've completed a major culling of the boys' clothes. I need to finish decluttering their room so we can pick them up new beds. I moved furniture in the girls' room; it feels much roomier now. I've started a declutter and furniture move in the school room. I've been making more time for reading. I just drew and painted the first piece of art I've done in a very long time that wasn't school-related. It was quick and easy, but satisfying. My knitting has taken a back burner, but I'm trying to pick that up again too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
linguistmama Posted February 26, 2013 Share Posted February 26, 2013 I have been able to organize my time much better and I love using Evernote and other apps on my phone to help keep me organized. It's been going so well that I have started working out everyday and we are doing a lot of reading out loud and audiobooks. Each of those things is a MAJOR accomplishment for me as they have always been a struggle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swellmomma Posted February 26, 2013 Share Posted February 26, 2013 I was going strong and then I backslid. I hit a wall with my health from pushing too hard. Just starting to deal with everything again. I had finished a huge chunk of my livingroom renovations, but in the time that I was too ill to continue a large piece of it was damaged so I am preparing to replace that section and complete the room before anything else get wrecked. I have managed to get most of the school stuff back out of the girls room and plan to finish that off sooner rather than later and then I will have space to actually do a declutter. My project list is growing faster than I can complete it but I am getting better. I have not started menu planning yet but my household management notebook gets used daily. I am not done filling out forms and organizing things but I have it with me at all times, and refer to the calendar in it daily etc. Which reminds me, it's time to create my March calendar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodland Mist Academy Posted February 27, 2013 Share Posted February 27, 2013 Clear expectations and boundaries are our current bright spots that deserve replicating. We've been applying them to our school days with excellent results. I recently read The Myth of the Garage by the authors of Switch. It sheds an interesting light on "thinking outside the box". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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