Get Organised in 30 Days, Day 8

Organising your Loot!

Ok so today is gong to be a fairly simple task. Time to organise the loot in your Linen closet. Work on 1 shelf at a time and sort through your linen. Sort your towels from your cleaning rags and your sheets from your doonas. 

A great little tip for sheets is to store sets in pillow the matching pillow case, so that you know that you have a complete set. Consider even storing one set of current season sheets in each bedroom for easy access. Nothing worse than hunting for sheets in the middle of the night when the kids have been sick.

Look at what you use and what you have kept just because Aunty gave it to you, even though you cant stand that table cloth. If you don't love it let it go. 

BTW this task should only take 15 to 20 minutes.

If you want to see how I did it a little while ago, check out this post

Have fun and God Bless

Rivkah

Get Organised in 30 Days, Day 7

Getting the House Ship Shape 

Our homes are starting to look a lot neater and tidier now, especially with all that lovely decluttering that you have been getting into. Make sure that you are Emptying your GO basket on a weekly basis to your favourite goodwill or give to a person that needs the item. YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO KEEP IT ALL STORED IN YOUR HOUSE OR SHED! I have filled the boot of my car ready for today's drop off. I like to do this on Tuesday as part of my cleaning day. I get all the junk out of the house and clean the bins. I also like to to my detail cleaning on Tuesday.

So today we are attacking some detail cleaning jobs. Each should only take about 5 minutes. remember to set your timer and have fun with it. Crank up the music and swing those hips, because You need to keep the fun it!

Today's Tasks

1. Grab your Cobweb broom and go after those cobwebs. No Freeloaders allowed on this ship!
2. Grab a feather duster or damp rag and clean the skirting boards. Don't get too fussy, maybe even get the kids to have a game of ship to shore and get them dusting the boards for you ;)
3. Grab a cloth and your all purpose spray and clean off all those finger prints on the light switches. While your at it give the door handle a spit shine (clean) too!

So in 15 minutes, or maybe 30 if the kids are having too much fun, you will have a few more of those tasks done that we all forget about.

Hope you all are taking care in this heat, I know my kids are going to be in the pool again today. Stay safe and have fun, One day at a time

God Bless

Rivkah

Get organised in 30 days, Day 6

Welcome to a new week. I hope that you are all enjoying the challenges so far. We have been busy in the ODAAT house. Over the course of the weekend, we have renewed my husband's wardrobe after he has successfully lost 20 kilograms. He happily announced that he has removed all clothes that have an X on the label. Whilst renewing his wardrobe he even got some M's. We have been busy re organising our daughter's room and doing a spot of gardening. And Yes I did give myself a facial on Friday night!

So onto today's Challenge...

Declutter Mission!! (AKA Stash, Trash or Go)

Time to take your timer, Rubbish bag and 2 containers into the room that is bugging you the most. 

Set your timer for 15 minutes and STASH the stuff that need to be put away in one container, Stuff the TRASH in the bag and stow the stuff that really needs to GO.

My daughter's bedroom has been my Bugbear for the last few weeks. So we have stowed some of the toys that she has outgrown and put them aside, ready for a future addition to the family or a person who is in need. Which ever comes first. I threw out all of the broken toys, or ones that were not worth keeping and then re organised her room so that she can play and so that mummy can get in a vacuum the floor tomorrow. 

even Hunter approves

I have also set up a reading box for her as she is learning to read, right next to her CD player. I am really happy with what was achieved today, as we have one empty storage container in her cubby cubes.
I took a little longer in here as I got on a roll and the kids were happily watching a movie. Hope you can see the changes happening in your home one day at a time

Have Fun and get going!

God Bless,
Rivkah

Get Organised in 30 Days, Day 3

Pamper Mission!

You heard it folks, time to look after yourself!

source

Today you are going to take some time to look after yourself. Time to relax  and unwind with a face mask. If you would like to make your own, you can try one of the recipes I found here.

Nice and easy. Remember also to drink lots of water with the weather heating up in the next few days. 

Have Fun and God Bless

Rivkah

Get Organised in 30 Days Challenge Day 2

 Trash and Treasure Hunt

Yes today we are going on an old fashioned treasure hunt. You have 15 minutes to fill a bag with "Trash" and a container with misplaced "Treasure".

At the end of your 15 minutes you should have 2 full containers, just like this image below.

Then you have another 15 minutes to take out the trash and correctly home the treasure. Have fun with it and even get the kids involved. Grab a couple of small bucket and let them go "treasure hunting" too

Until tomorrow

 Happy hunting and God Bless

Rivkah

Get Organised in 30 Days Challenge, Day 1

Ok here we are and ready to kick it off with a bang!! Are you ready for a little hard work and a lot of reward. We are going to make it fun so we can get it done.  We will have everything from Trash and Treasure hunts, to slipshod scrub and shine, and everything in between.

Ok so those of you who are following me on Facebook already know that today's task is going to be a doozy. I would like to thank my trusty "Challenge Tester", Tash for being my guinea pig over the course of this month. Without her, I wouldn't know how well my instructions all work or how quickly a task can be achieved.

Time to get to it!

Ok, so for today's task you will need; cleaning cloths, gumption or similar, non abrasive scourer, tea towels, all purpose spray and your timer.

We are going to transform our kitchen in under an hour.

Set your timer for 15 minutes and start on the left side of your kitchen. Get rid of the rubbish, clear any hotspot (pile of clutter), remove all loose items and then give your benches a really good scrub. You

may need to give it a couple of washes to remove all powdery residues. Clean down any appliances and replace only the most necessary items. If you have time left on your timer, spray and wipe down cupboard doors and handles. 

Repeat this for your entire kitchen for no more than an hour. When you get to your sink clear it and scrub the bench, use the gumption and scourer to really polish up your sink (please if you have a ceramic sink, do not do this, instead use some vinegar and bicarb to soften and safely remove residues.) Then you can rinse and towel dry. You should have a really lovely shine in your sink. It you want to help repel messes even further, try a little Windex before towel drying ;)

Here are our before and After shots of our Test Kitchen.

Before

Before

Scrub that bench!

Post scrubbing, Note that it needs another wipe over.

Clean cupboard fronts

After 15 minutes

Shiny Sink and Windows

1 hour in!

1 hour in

1 hour in! 

1 hour in!

The conclusion

Now we discovered that in 1 hour, Tash didn't get to the stove top or fridge doors. Nor did she take the rubbish out in that time. Please remember to give yourself a 10 minute rest break at the 30 minute point. The aim isn't to burn out. This kitchen is not finished yet, but it will be by the time our challenge is over.

Have fun with this, turn some music on and go for it! Until tomorrow,
God Bless

Rivkah.

Goal Setting

Where do you want to be in a day, week, month, 6 months or a year?

This is probably one of the most daunting questions for an disorganised person. Why? Because they have to take stock of where they are and where they want to be.

For me, my initial goal was to never move house with 5, 90L containers of paper clutter EVER AGAIN! When I first realised my life was out of control and that I had no idea of what I owned or what we owed, I was a mental wreck. Friends wouldn't visit me, I didn't want to be home to face the mess and my 2 very young children really needed a safe environment to grow up in. 

So I set myself the goal of finding a system that would teach me how to get organised and learn to love myself and Love my family through my actions. For 2 years off and on, I used the FLYLADY method. It was a great starting point, BUT I felt like I could get overwhelmed quite easily and that I was always working on "cleaning house". Needless to say I did improve my ways and my family were the ones most surprised. When they would come to visit, they used to dread what they would find, until I set goals and stuck to them. Today they love to visit and see I am more relaxed.

Ok time to set goals, from the longest to the shortest.

A Year

Where do you want to be from a year from now? My guess is that because you are reading my blog, you want to get organised, have less stress and feel comfortable having people over, because you know the toilet is clean, the kitchen is tidy and Mt Washmore isn't taking over the house. Well those were my goals. I wanted to be able to buy a home and know that our finances were in order and could feel comfortable to invite someone over at the drop of a hat.

6 Months

By the 6 month mark, having good regular routines in place and getting the right amount of rest were my goals. I knew that if my routines were in place and the house was decluttered, that I could feel more rested, plan, make and eat better and more regular meals and even know what I was going to be wearing tomorrow.

A Month

By the end of a month, our goal is to see a change in our homes and our own attitudes. Others may start to notice a shift in you by the 1 month mark. Routines will be starting to fall in place. Even if it is just a small one, like taking the dirty laundry to be sorted every night. Each month we can extend ourselves a little further. The common theory is that it takes 21 days to form a habit. Disorganised people tend to take 28 to 31 days, continuous effort in a habit to keep it for a lifetime. This is where I am going to tell you one thing. DON'T BEAT YOURSELF UP IF YOU FAIL THE FIRST TIME. It took me 3 or 4 go's on some routines to make them a habit. Others I am still working on.

A Week

What do you want to see happen by the end of the week? In my first week, I discovered my sink could be shiny and stay clean. By doing the dishes every night and clearing and wiping the bench, we started to win the battle against some yucky household pests (German Cockroaches). My kitchen was my very first goal. I cleaned it from top to bottom. Although it did take me 2 weeks to completely clean it. I did it with one constant thing, my timer. I worked on my kitchen for 15 minutes twice a day. Once my kitchen was clean, the Cleaning bug got me. Each week I wrote a to do list and set about ticking off each item as I achieved it. P.S. I LOVE TO DO LISTS!

1 Day

This may be the most important goal. You see, very can have all the long term vision we like, but if we don't plan to succeed, one day at a time, we won't succeed. This is the reason my blog is called One Day at a time. Planning to keep it simple and set manageable goals, one day at a time, we don't bur out and fall back into our old ways. Trust me, I have learned from experience.

Conclusion

So now that you have seen how I break down goals, I challenge you to sit down with a piece of paper, a cuppa and set your goals. Remember that we are starting our challenge on January 1st. A good diary or daily planner will help you heaps with planning and goal setting. I have tried many different types over the years and have now settled on one that works for me. GO on have fun with it and don't over set goals. Keep them simple and remember to be nice to yourself in the process.

Til next time,

God Bless

Rivkah