Organized??? UGGG!

Are you organized?? I am SO not! I have never been good at being organized. I always have really good intentions and some really "fun" ideas on how to get organized but I am really terrible at keeping at it.

One of my New Years resolutions this year was to get my "life" organized. Well sadly enough I am just getting started on that one. Hey, don't judge me at least it is not like November. Yet!

So I made a list of things that I thought would help me to become more organized. Here is part of it. I am sure that more will come in another post. (aren't you so excited??)

#1: Make a chore chart for my Kiddo's.

A friend of mine had girls night last month and we made these way cute clip boards. I thought that it would work great for the kids chore charts. They turned out so cute. And the kids love them. I wrote down some different chores for them to do and pasted them on cute scrapbook paper. Each week they have 5 chores to do (one of them is an everyday chore).

In the process, I am trying to help them to be organized now while they are young and then maybe they won't struggle with it when they are older. Like me. They get to choose which chore they want to do and when they want to do it. But they all have to be done before they get to play with friends on Saturday. They can choose to do all of them on one day or spread it out through the week. With the exception of the "Everyday Chore". So far so good. Kaiden actually gets excited when he comes home from school to choose his next chore. And yesterday Keira did three of her chores just because she wanted to. I will be surprised if the excitement lasts but hey, I will take it.

#2: Make a chore chart for me.

I know pathetic hu. I have to make myself a chore chart. If I don't, it just doesn't get done. I found this really cute idea on one of the sites that I visit.

I just took a storage bin that was just laying around, not doing anything useful, and decorated it all cute and stuff. Then I made these cute little dividers.
I did it like the girls on the website did. The first 1 a Week is for easier stuff to do. (example: sanitizing the remote controls) The next 1 a Week is for harder stuff to do (example: cleaning out window seals) and he 1 a Month is for stuff that will just keep getting put off (example: organizing the pantry or cleaning behind the oven). It is working pretty good so far. I have realized that I am so fixed on ALL of the stuff that I need to do that I get overwhelmed and then don't get anything done. This has helped a lot.


#3: Make a weekly schedule.


I had to break up my week into a day by day schedule. That way I am able to just do ONLY the things that need done today. And not worry about everything else that needs done. Oh, it makes things so much easier for me to do.


I have been a lot more relaxed. I just have to make sure that everything for that day is done by 3:00 (my boy get off the bus just after that). If it is not done then I move it to the next week. I have had a lot more time to spend with my kids. And amazingly enough they have been so much more enjoyable. (Imagine that, who knew?)
Here is my schedule for the AVERAGE week. (so far, things might change a little bit)

Daily: (except Tuesday)
Vacuum (with a 1 year old in the house it is needed on a daily basis)

Make my bed (In the past I have been terrible at this one)

Empty the sink (for some reason when I have no dishes in the sink, it makes me happy and things feel a lot cleaner)
Wipe Counter and Table (this is needed continually. I am kinda struggling with this one)
Work on Keira's alphabets (she is doing awesome and can't wait for Kindergarten in 5 months!!)
Practice Piano (for some reason this has been a really hard one for me, I will do better, I hope!)

Monday:
Pay Check (when you own your own company it pretty much consumes your life)
Laundry (never ending)
Bathrooms (My most dreaded job, but it is so nice to have clean bathrooms)
Family Home Evening (My kids would have FHE every night of the week if I would do it. They love it and Keira won't let me forget it when Monday comes around. I have A LOT of links for awesome FHE's on the left side of my blog if you need some new ideas.
Tuesday:
Work Day (I decided that I needed just one full day to keep up on our books for the company. I don't do anything else that day other than plan a simple dinner and get Keira off to pre-school.) It is defiantly hard to do work all day with Kelsey but it is a ton better to get it done in one day rather that try to do a little bit everyday (which really was not working for me).

Wednesday:
Chore Day for me
I draw one of the 1 a week tabs if it is the 1st, 2nd or 4th Wednesday and one of the 1 a month tabs if it is the 3rd Wednesday. Today was wash the window seals. Ugg, what a mess but sooo worth it.
Then I pick an activity that I have been wanting to get done. Like to day way to organized this massive Family Home Evening bin. Which I am still in the middle of and probably won't finish today. Mainly because I am sitting here typing this excessively long post instead of working on it. See how unmotivated I can become.
Thursday:
Piano Lessons
Grocery Shopping Day (I am trying to limit the time I am out of the house. If I try to get everything that needs to be done in town on one day I am hoping that it can save me some $$)
Laundry Day (Yep, another one)

Friday:
Change and Wash Bedding (Yes, that means more laundry)
Eric usually has Friday's off so I try not to plan too much when he is home. I love spending time with my family and if they are here the last thing I want to be doing is work.


#4: Plan weekly or monthly meals.


I have been stuck in such a rut lately with meals. I am not a good cook and honestly don't enjoy cooking. And because of this we usually end up eating the same things each month just rotated around on different days.
Lately I have been trying new recipes. We have already found some that the whole family loves. (except for Kaiden who I swear would only eat Mashed Potatoes and Corn everyday if he could) If you have any really good menus please let me know. I have devoted this Month to new recipes and I am hoping to find some more family favorites.
I do want to share these three recipes that I found the other day. They are awesome. I found them over at Sister's Stuff.
This BBQ Chicken is amazing!! We have a recipe that is kinda like it for dutch oven cooking during the summer but I think that this one is great for anytime of year.

BBQ Chicken
1 C. ketchup
1/2 C. vinegar
1 C. sugar
6 TBSP soy sauce
1 TBSP mustard
1 TBSP cornstarch (possibly more)
Brown the chicken. Combine ingredients and pour over the chicken in covered baking dish. Bake @300 for about 1 1/2 hours. Then enjoy! I would just use about three chicken breasts for the recipe above, but I like a lot of sauce.
I added some McCormick's BBQ Chicken seasoning to the flour before I browned the chicken. It smelled so good when it was cooking.


Onion Soup Potatoes
1/3 c. vegetable oil
onion soup mix packet
5-7 red potatoes (cut into chunks)
In a large baggie shake ingredients well. Put into a dish and bake @ 350 degrees for about 1 hour.
Next time I will cover these and maybe add some more seasoning to the mix but these were really good!!

Skillet Lasagna
1 pound ground beef
1 small onion, chopped
1 clove minced garlic
1 1/2 cups diced tomatoes, undrained
1 1/4 cups water
1 8-ounce can tomato sauce
1 tablespoon dried parsley flakes
1 teaspoon dried basil leaves
1 teaspoon dried oregano leaves
1 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups bow tie pasta, uncooked
1 cup cottage cheese
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Dash basil
pepper
In large skillet, brown beef with onions and garlic; drain. Add tomatoes, water, tomato sauce, parsley, basil, oregano, and salt. Mix well. Stir in uncooked pasta. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat; cover, simmer for 20 minutes or until pasta is tender, stirring once. Stir in cottage cheese. Cover with and Parmesan cheese, and sprinkle in basil and pepper to taste if desired. Cover and cook for 5 minutes.
I only used about 1 tsp of oregano and next time I will add more cheese. We love cheesy Lasagna! This recipe is really, really good. My husband couldn't stop telling me how good it was. YAY!!
Well there you have it. If you have any organization tips please let me know. What is your daily schedule and what works best for you. I really could use some new ideas!!
Anyway, I better get back to my FHE bin. Hopefully, I can get it done!!