Day 14 ask us to read an essay that Kelly wrote (Kelly it seems is FlyLady's right hand woman) about using a calendar. This is right up my alley. You wouldn't think so considering how disorganized I am, but I LOVE calendars. I love planners. I'm pretty much an office supply junkie. I can't tell you how much time I have wasted in the planner section of Office Max, Office Depot, Staples, even Borders and Barnes and Nobel. I have even trolled through DIYPlanner.com in the hopes of finding the "perfect" planner that will magically make me use it. Because that is the problem, just because I love them doesn't mean they get used, at all, ever.
So I really did appreciate the essay. Now that I have a working smart phone (you can find my iPhone rant below somewhere if you really want to) that syncs with my Google calendar. I have two places (online, and on my phone) to look at one calendar. That should make things pretty easy. When I'm done typing this up, I will be adding to my calendar.
The only downside, is that Kelly mentions a Basically Weekly Plan. Which, as a Fly Baby, I don't have yet. Although I have kind of started. I did put in my calendar yesterday a repeating event for Sundays - Water Plants. Beyond that though - an errand day, a desk day etc. I have yet to work out. I know that it will come in time. I guess I just wish I could be 100% organized right now! But I know it will come with time and patience.
Bedroom
I am continuing my 15 minute declutter on my bedroom. Last time (working clockwise around the room) I got about 1/2 of my desk done. It was piled with items that I didn't really know what to do with. I had two boxes full of "keep" stuff that I had sorted out of even bigger boxes (some as old as 10 years!) about 6 to 8 months ago. Of course what does "keep" mean, other than, "I don't want to throw this out, but I don't really know what to do with it." Now, according to FlyLady decluttering instructions there should be a "put away" box, not a keep box. And there really is a big difference between put away and keep. So, with that in mind, I set my timer to 15 minutes and went through 1 box, set my timer for 15 minutes and relaxed with the tv, and then did the same for box number 2.
What I did find, is that there are some mementos that just don't have "home" right now. I'm not into scrapbooking like i know alot of people are, but I have all of these ticket stubs and other bits of memories that I think would be perfect for a scrapbook. A coworker of mine does alot of scrapbooking. So, I did pare down my boxes quite a bit. I did end up getting rid of even more stuff than 8 months ago, and I know have a very small box of "to be scrapbooked" that did in fact get put away with my other crafting/sewing items. I am putting scrapbooking on my list of rewards for meeting certain goals. I think this will also help me when it comes time go through all of my old photographs, which are currently sitting in a box under a chair in my home "office"
So, here it is, 2 more 15 minute sessions on my bedroom and the desk is done!
Room Rescue
A couple of days ago, I found myself wanting to pick up my bathroom a little bit. Since I am using my 15 minutes a day to work on my bedroom, and the bathroom is so small, I decided 5 minutes would be enough. I also realized, that if I was honest with myself. My bathroom really can turn into my worst room. Mostly it's because of clothes. When I change after work, or when I'm taking a shower after a workout, my clothes end up in a heap in the bathroom. Then there's the "why should I put this away now, I'm just going to use it again tonight or tomorrow morning" mentality. That meant my bathroom was always in disarray. I was amazed at what 5 minutes could do. This is after picture is from only three 5 minute rescues! I'm going to have to switch to the home "office" for my "worst" room and 5 minute room rescue. Yep, you heard me. I'm on the bandwagon for the 5 minute room rescue. I will though, be doing it in my afternoon/afterwork routine, instead of the morning, because I can't get up early enough and still be awake for work.
Check out this post to see the bathroom before.
You can still see that there are few bits that need to be taken care of, and my reminder notes are up there on the mirror. The yellow one is an inspirational quote about life, one is a sink reminder, a get dressed to shoes reminder, and the bright pink is reminder to floss. Yeah, I need to be reminded to floss :/ But, still I am already proud of myself. But I'll be even more so if I can keep it this clean most of the time.
So I really did appreciate the essay. Now that I have a working smart phone (you can find my iPhone rant below somewhere if you really want to) that syncs with my Google calendar. I have two places (online, and on my phone) to look at one calendar. That should make things pretty easy. When I'm done typing this up, I will be adding to my calendar.
The only downside, is that Kelly mentions a Basically Weekly Plan. Which, as a Fly Baby, I don't have yet. Although I have kind of started. I did put in my calendar yesterday a repeating event for Sundays - Water Plants. Beyond that though - an errand day, a desk day etc. I have yet to work out. I know that it will come in time. I guess I just wish I could be 100% organized right now! But I know it will come with time and patience.
Bedroom
I am continuing my 15 minute declutter on my bedroom. Last time (working clockwise around the room) I got about 1/2 of my desk done. It was piled with items that I didn't really know what to do with. I had two boxes full of "keep" stuff that I had sorted out of even bigger boxes (some as old as 10 years!) about 6 to 8 months ago. Of course what does "keep" mean, other than, "I don't want to throw this out, but I don't really know what to do with it." Now, according to FlyLady decluttering instructions there should be a "put away" box, not a keep box. And there really is a big difference between put away and keep. So, with that in mind, I set my timer to 15 minutes and went through 1 box, set my timer for 15 minutes and relaxed with the tv, and then did the same for box number 2.
What I did find, is that there are some mementos that just don't have "home" right now. I'm not into scrapbooking like i know alot of people are, but I have all of these ticket stubs and other bits of memories that I think would be perfect for a scrapbook. A coworker of mine does alot of scrapbooking. So, I did pare down my boxes quite a bit. I did end up getting rid of even more stuff than 8 months ago, and I know have a very small box of "to be scrapbooked" that did in fact get put away with my other crafting/sewing items. I am putting scrapbooking on my list of rewards for meeting certain goals. I think this will also help me when it comes time go through all of my old photographs, which are currently sitting in a box under a chair in my home "office"
So, here it is, 2 more 15 minute sessions on my bedroom and the desk is done!
Room Rescue
A couple of days ago, I found myself wanting to pick up my bathroom a little bit. Since I am using my 15 minutes a day to work on my bedroom, and the bathroom is so small, I decided 5 minutes would be enough. I also realized, that if I was honest with myself. My bathroom really can turn into my worst room. Mostly it's because of clothes. When I change after work, or when I'm taking a shower after a workout, my clothes end up in a heap in the bathroom. Then there's the "why should I put this away now, I'm just going to use it again tonight or tomorrow morning" mentality. That meant my bathroom was always in disarray. I was amazed at what 5 minutes could do. This is after picture is from only three 5 minute rescues! I'm going to have to switch to the home "office" for my "worst" room and 5 minute room rescue. Yep, you heard me. I'm on the bandwagon for the 5 minute room rescue. I will though, be doing it in my afternoon/afterwork routine, instead of the morning, because I can't get up early enough and still be awake for work.
Check out this post to see the bathroom before.
You can still see that there are few bits that need to be taken care of, and my reminder notes are up there on the mirror. The yellow one is an inspirational quote about life, one is a sink reminder, a get dressed to shoes reminder, and the bright pink is reminder to floss. Yeah, I need to be reminded to floss :/ But, still I am already proud of myself. But I'll be even more so if I can keep it this clean most of the time.
