HHP-Week 2-Calendar & Creative Spaces

[kringle]

Thank you for the encouragement. The water has receded, the floors are dry and the walls are getting there, just need to scrub everything down. Nothing precious has been lost but my mom's paperwork project, which was already huge, got even bigger with all of it stuck together. She used to be very organized about filing but when I moved her to a higher level of care last month, I found boxes and boxes of paperwork that was never dealt with. I'm finding all sorts of things that need to be dealt with mixed in with junk mail. So my week one continues.

My hubby is going ahead with the flooring project in the kids' room which is doubling the mess but I'm not going to complain about mess when he's getting diy projects done.

Ellen, I'm sorry you've had to deal with flooding damage and the loss of precious mementos. I understand there's quite a risk of that in your neck of the woods. Somebody said what hit us was the tail of a storm that passed by you all. I've never seen anything like it here.

Adrienne, I think KMart has already started. Don't know about anyone else.

Keep up the great work, y'all!

Chris

 

[Holiday_Mom]

Chris, Sorry to hear about the flooding. We've had flooding in our basement with hurricanes and other bad storms. It is not fun to deal with. We have everything up on bricks and almost everything is in a plastic bins now.

Ellen, I love the idea of cup hooks and dowels. That's clever.

My craft area, well, it became an even bigger project. I decided that the kitchen cabinet that was storing the papers would better serve me up in the kitchen as storage and a kitchen work table. So I cleared everything out of it and put it in plastic bins on another shelf. That shelf will need a good bit of organizing at some point again. I ran out of time for this week. I have other obligations to deal with for the next few days. The cabinet is sitting at the bottom of the basement stairs and will need sprucing up. That is going to be a project to work with dh on.

It's good to read what everyone is doing. It's keeping me motivated. Thanks!

 

[nursemomtothree]

I've made a very large dent in my scrap booking organization. I'm ready to start scrapping in Jan. I've also finished some continuing education articles ( 2 more large ones to go before Dec. 31) and I purchased 2 gift cards for my parents that will go in the "gift closet"

I'm tired, it's time for bed, and I work the next 2 days. I just wanted to get on here quickly and tell everyone how much I enjoy going through this process with you. Having you do this with me makes it so much more bearable.

 

[ejagno]

Way to go Rebecca and NMto3!

My biggest issue at the moment is that as I get each area cleaned and organized I want to enjoy my hobbies. With all of the clutter I haven't been able to enjoy them in quite some time. I look over at my beautiful sewing center and I want to sit down and sew so bad that I can taste it. No time though. If I start sewing now nothing will ever get finished. This is cruel because if these were things I didn't enjoy doing then I wouldn't have it. Now that it's ready to go, so am I. LOL

 

[kringle]

Ellen, I'm with you on the whole hey-now-it's-all-ready-I-wanna-play thing. I keep looking longingly at my craft things as I walk past.

Mary, don't ya love how one thing can so easily lead to another? What kind of cabinet is it?

I have bought a couple more gifts and I'm working on a few more. I also have decided on a fall back plan in case I don't get everything made. By ranking projects in order of importance, I know what I can work on first and what I can leave til later. That takes a little pressure off and makes me feel much better.

Keep on trucking, ladies.

 

[happy2bme]

I have finished my tasks for the week - yay me!!

I have my gift closet organized and the gifts that I have bought so far are in it. Normally, I would use empty rubbermaid bins in my basement storage, but there isn't much room there this year. I have a large wardrobe in my bedroom and 1/3 of it is shelves, so I have cleared the two bottom shelves and that is where the gifts will go.

I have updated my gift lists and am waiting for some more ideas. DD's birthday is later this month, so we are focusing on that, but once October comes I am sure she will have some ideas.

How is everyone doing as we get ready to wrap up week two?

 

[Cindylouwho]

Kringle, Ejagno et al about the flooding - With you on the bins of paper. When I was going through my mom's office after she died a few years back there were boxes and boxes of paper to go through. So many photos and endless amounts and family genealogy, old letters and such. I got several sets of those clear rubber bins from Costco (got 1 set on each visit to my Dad) and finally got it sorted into broad categories. They are still there -- waiting for me to muster the strength to go through them. G'yall, what to do with it all.

Luludou ~ You asked about my lightning bolt moment reading the Cynthia Ewer Book --
It was that everything I do really well when it comes to housekeeping has been put into a routine. I've been doing Flylady for almost 10 years now, so my basic household runs pretty smoothly (though I do struggle with my clutter piles in my more challenging areas). But one area I have really really struggled with is paper. With the taxes, medical and all that stuff associated with my parents' health it is hard to keep up. I scan as much as I can and that makes a huge difference. My own family's life I run in Evernote -- but medical, financial, and tax items force me to continue in the land of paper. Ugh!

So here I am, on that sleepy night, reading these first few pages of Cynthia's book and suddenly it hits me that for years I have been trying to manage my biggest organizational challenge (paper) during my "everyday life hours". That is the WRONG time for me. How have I not SEEN this?? My most successful routines do NOT take place during those hours - because daily life brings surprises and schedule changes. My most successful routines happen 5am-9:30am (because my morning routines rarely change). My morning flylady routine is so automatic now I'm really barely conscious I'm even doing it (dishwasher unloaded, animals fed, kids lunches made, breakfast on the table etc). I've recently committed to a fixed schedule of going to the nearby gym in the morning (30 min only, so totally doable) which leaves me with a little window of coffee and computer time in the morning afterwards. Ta Da!!! This will now be my paper time: specifically for filing and tossing paper. Twenty minutes. Every weekday.

I've test driven this new routine all this past week and it WORKS. And it feels natural and relaxed and in flow with the morning.

Week 2 Progress: Will post tomorrow. A little more to finish off before starting Week 3 on Monday. But I have gotten a LOT done! Think I feel a couple more epiphanies coming on.

 

[Cindylouwho]

Followup:
Week 2 To-dos for: Creativity Spaces, Storage and Supplies Week

• Finish from Week 1: Office Papers organized (a big big job) -- DONE!!
• Schedule: wood stove cleaning, carpets, and family photo session. Sorta done.
• Make shopping list portable. - Might hide it in Email Drafts as suggested DONE.
• Inventory unfinished house projects and do sit down with DH by end of the week.
Moves to Week 3 since he was busy last week.
• Begin a "Gifts to Make" list with the kids. -- DONE.
• Adding: Figure out a new photo management system. iCloud or other alternative? In process.

 

[aggy]

My job had the shredder people come out on Friday, so I brought in all of my papers and had them shred that too. So glad to be rid of that stuff.

 

[luludou]

Thanks for the info Cindylouwho.

I think paperwork is the downfall of lots of people!