It's time I went back to trying to organize my life. By life I mean:
My time
Kids' time
Work
home
family
health
meals
finances...
Yup a complete overhaul. I read somewhere that if you want to lose weight, you should first declutter your surroundings. I don't want to wait, but I can see that feeling surrounded by mess, I feel less motivated and overwhelmed. I then feel guilty when I spend time on me instead of spending time on the house or the kids.
So I've made a plan. Decided to overhaul myself, the boys, the family's health, and the house all at the same time. Concentration is mainly on the house, and in turn, the boys, with small steps towards the health changes. Well, big steps, but not the quite the focus that I plan to give it later in the year.
Food/Nutrition/Health:
I'll start with the food and health, since that will be faster to cover. It's summer, so we're busier out of the house more often than during the school year. We're a very impulsive and spur of the moment type of family. We can all be lazying around and suddenly someone says, I want to see a movie. Then someone says, what's playing? Another looks it up on their phone, and 10 mins later we are jumping in the car. Once we're out of the house, we end up not only at the movies, but also taking care of an errand or two and then go out to dinner.
It's hot. I mean it's really hot this year in California. We do NOT want to run the oven or a hot stove. I've also been working an insane amount of hours on a work project (which is finally starting to wind down - hallelujah), and by the time I take a break for dinner, I just don't feel like cooking, or am way too exhausted, or the rest of the family is famished, so it's a drive to Mexican or to pick a pizza.
All day while I work, the boys need to fend for themselves and I'm just shoveling whatever I can grab out of the fridge in a second and then jump back to work. The best choices of what to put in my mouth are not made at these times, and really, what 13 year old will choose carrots over chips?
Step 1 - get rid of the crap.
That was easy. The kids and us ate the crap so fast, just because it was there.
Step 2 - Buy healthier grocery "fast food"
When shopping, I didn't buy more crap. I bought more greek yogurt, more fruit, no soda, no white bread, veggies I know Hunter will eat.
Step 3 - Clean and organize the fridge.
Lots of food was thrown out monthly because we couldn't see it and forgot it was there. I moved the healthy snacks to a door shelf, so it's easy to find and grab on the go. Also one shelf, the one right at eye level is serving that same purpose.
Step 4 - Plan at least 3 meals a work week at home.
the hardest part about cooking is deciding what to make. So I look in the fridge, see what we have, and plan my meals around that for 3 meals out of the week. I plan on that increasing as the year goes on, but I have to be realistic. We eat out on Fridays or fend for ourselves. I don't cook on Fridays. One other day can be a restaurant or pizza day. Weekends, I generally cook a big Linner (late lunch, early dinner) on Sundays. Saturdays can be whatever, I'll cook or we'll fend for ourselves, or go out, depending on where we are and what we're doing.
That's it for now. As time goes on, I'll work on cooking more days out of the week, working more on the nutrition, and teaching the boys to cook. Baby steps.
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Organizing time and life:
I'm a list maker. I make a To Do list everyday. If I do something not on my list, I write it on there and then cross it off as completed. I love the sense of accomplishment. I used to write on a day planner calendar, but never seemed to have the room I wanted and it was boring to look at (yes I like to go back and look at what I've done). Then I wrote them on a list pad, but the papers would detach and then I couldn't look at them. When I was minus any steno notebooks, I'd write my lists on index cards, but I would misplace the list I was working on, and again, not good to refer back to. I really wanted to use my lists as sort of a diary.
I make lists for the boys. If I don't make them a list, it doesn't get done unless I nag or yell. I want to teach by example, and this is something I can excel at. When their list is done, they get free time for computer or video games. I notice, especially with AJ, the sense of excitement and accomplishment they get when they're getting things on their lists crossed off.
How I did it:
Mike and I have really gotten it together on our iPhone calendars. The cloud syncs the calendar to each other's phones, so we always know what is planned for a day. That is really helpful since I am the one that is generally making all the appts for the family. I only have to add to one calendar and we all get it.
I decided to use a K&Co Smash book as a personal To Do book and love love love it. I dedicate a page per day, and random pages will include other stuff that I just feel like adding. Example one page can include my list of things to do that day that are non-work related, an occasional work related item -like a presentation, and other details about the day, such as if we went to a movie I will note what we saw and if we enjoyed it.
Created a daily list for the boys for chores and must dos and another list for day to day activities for the summer.
Example for daily chore list includes personal hygiene, room clean up, kitchen chores. I list out everything, like hygiene includes
shower
wash face
do hair
brush teeth
deodorant
foot care
sun protection
The daily chores get done, but not all the hygiene items daily. They are 13 year old boys after all.
Example for daily summer activities is:
Make Something Monday (cook or bake from a recipe, create something artistic, etc)
Technology Tuesday (make a ppt, online tech related research,
You get the picture. This one, we really didn't stick to. My fault. I was a way the first week of summer and so slammed with work, I didn't stick to enforcing it. If I don't make them do it (which they love this stuff once they start on it) then they'll just not do it.
My favorite thing I did is made a house overall to do list.
I dedicated a notebook to just this. Every room has a page. Example of a page for a boy's bedroom:
Clean out dresser
- purge clothes that don't fit
- purge clothes that don't get worn
- purge clothes that are too trashed
Clean off shelves
- Sort books
- donate
- gift
- save for grandchildren
Clean under bed
Clean out closet
- Sort hanging clothes
- Sort shoes
- Sort legos by color
- Sort misc crap to keep
Clean out desk
- Purchase desk drawer tray
- Call Geek Squad for system check-up and clean-up
- Create charging station for hand helds
Touch up paint
Spot clean carpets
I also added a need to buy section. AS we clean stuff out, I'm sure there will be things I need to replace, like sock, church shirts, etc, desk supplies
I added a non-room related page which includes things like, replace slider screen, wash windows inside and out, clean off garage door, create living room picture wall...
Every room, one by one will get handled. It won't happen overnight, but it will happen.
Ever since the flood I've been really concentrated on getting the house all set. Things I've wanted to do for years is finally getting done, but more on that to follow.
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In making all these changes, I see how it affects the boys. How they feel accomplished when completing a To Do list. How they check the calendar on our phones to see when they're open for an activity, or when they have an appt. AJ asked if he helps on some of the other harder chores, if I'd consider paying him, like cleaning the windows inside and out. Today, Hunter wanted a snack and reached for an apple.
Life is good and it's getting better.
