What is about this time of year and the anticipation of fall that just brings out the organizational guru (ha! Let's not push it, Jessica....) in me? I strongly believe it's the 'back to school mentality' and I still get the itch to sharpen some No. 2 pencils and line up my pens and rulers and markers in a straight line on my desk.
However, now that I'm an adult (say whaaaa?) and way past school (12 years ago this past May! Ack!) I'm always scheming new ways to put my 'back to school mode' to good use in my home and life. And by scheming I mean 'scouring Pinterest.'. Just keepin' it real. :) Good gravy, I love that site.
Enter: The Command Centre:
A one-stop-shop to make me feel like I'm more in control of my life than I actually am. Haha.. just kidding.. kinda.. :)
Basically I just wanted a system to house the two things I struggle at keeping organized and on top of the most: housecleaning and menu planning
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| Let the research begin... can I say for the record that this is my kind of research? Pinterest, a cup of tea and a whole evening... Yes. Please. |
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| Couldn't find exactly what I was looking for, so I stole bits and pieces from each of the ones I liked and started drafting my own.. |
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| Measuring and list making |
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| Supplies bought and now to figure out arrangements! PS I love my CRAP list. So much. |
My supplies included a magnetic white board, 2 medium sized clips, 2 4x6 white frames (all from WalMart), cardstock pockets (pre-made... I got mine at Michaels), little patterned note cards (Michaels) , a lined notepad (with a magnet already! Whoot! Also from Michaels..) and my CRAP notepad (a splurge from Chapters). I also got loads of magnets, big and small and some super glue from Michaels. I'm not sure why I was so bent on having it hang on the fridge... its working ok for now, but I may move it to a more stable spot on the wall eventually.
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| Cutest little cards ever.. |
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Layout determined and stickies to prove it :)
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| The gluing of magnets begins |
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| Oh these polka dot pockets! |
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| So. many. magnets. |
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| Love it so far! |
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| I took some of my scrapbooking paper and used it as a mat for my 'daily cleaning list' frame and 'additional daily chore' frame (more on that below). |
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| So. Many. Magnets. |
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| Its not falling off so I guess the magnets are working! |
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| The final result! And I just love love love it! |
Ok, so here is the breakdown of my board and what I wanted it to do for me. It's been about 3 weeks of using my new system and I need to make some tweaks to a few little details, but overall its working very very well!
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| First and foremost, the main thing I wanted to keep track of on this board is my daily cleaning. Although I should really call it '4 days a week' cleaning because I have decided that these tasks are only going to be done on the days I work, which are Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. My days off (Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays) are full enough and we're only 2 people... we don't create that much mess! I am trying to get in the habit of setting the timer for 20 minutes when I get home from work and just giv'er and get them done. My 6 daily tasks are make the bed, general kitchen clean up/dishes (this one usually doesn't get done in my 20 minute cleaning spree as it's an ongoing thing through the day), 1 load of laundry (this definitely doesn't happen daily, but I at least try to take stock of where I am in my laundry world), swifter/sweep the main traffic areas (basically wherever there is laminate.. kitchen, front entry, back entry, bedroom and eating area), wipe down bathroom counters (and wherever else hairspray hits.. haha) and lastly, cleaning the bathroom floors of my hairs (#1 cause of dissention in our marriage.. haha). Tyler and I actually brainstormed together about what the most important daily cleaning chores are for our life and household and this is what we come up with. Guess who come up the 'clean the bathroom floors' task? ;) |
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| The second frame I have on my board is for 1 additional daily chore. This is where some adjustments are going to made. Monday, Tuesday and Friday are fine, but Wednesday and Thursday need some tweaking. Wednesday's chores are menu plan, wash bed linens, full bathroom clean, grocery shop, other errands and pay bills. That, my friends, is a full day. I thought I could get all that done in the morning and then relax in the afternoon, but nope, no way. These tasks take me right to supper with about zero down time, so something is going to need to change. The point of this board is to make my cleaning more efficient so it feels like I'm doing less of it, but instead I feel like (on Wednesday) that's all I'm doing is cleaning. Anyway, I'll have to check back in on this one because I'm not too sure how I'm going to arrange my precious one day off a week, but I'm sure I'll think of something.. :) Thursday (which is iron 3 items {my ironing basket is overflowing. I need a better system} and hand wash any necessary items) was one of those days that I thought I would love (because I love laundry, ironing and all things related to caring for my clothes) but in the scheme of my week, Thursday is a nutty day at work and plus I have bootcamp that evening and bahhhhhh - its just kind of insanity all around. So, ya. That's Thursday. Friday is vacuuming the whole main level.. which is actually not that much space. I'm usually done in about 25 minutes and that includes our sectional couch and chair in the living room. What also helps - we still have boxes and tubs covering a good portion of floor space in the dining room and also a little in the living room.. haha. What can I say; we like to unpack slowly. :) I like vacuuming on Friday because if we are going to have company, it will most likely be on the weekend, so a nice clean floor and a couch minus dog hair are sure fire ways to make sure our friends come back to visit us again. So to wrap up this novel, I basically don't really know what's going on with my "additional chore" board quite yet, but I'm getting there. And I feel much more in control of my cleaning than I did yesterday. :) |
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| The note card pockets are probably my most favourite part of the whole board. Mostly because they're pretty, but also because their functional. I guess I have to give function some credit.. although it's BORing. :) The three that I have on my board are for fun stuff (date night & spa night ideas), coupon storage & Saturday chores (more on that below). I love actually having date night ideas written on a card. That way both Tyler and I can contribute ideas and the way that we've worked the system so far is we fan them out like a deck of playing cards and we randomly pick one and voila - that's date night! And it's a nice visual reminder that we should take date nights.. life gets busy - you know the drill. I think we all know the value of taking breathers and just having a fun night with your friends or significant other. :) |
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| The cheery yellow, blue and red notepad is my menu plan.. It's gotta be cheery, because let's face it - I do not like menu planning. It's this art of getting the perfect balance of time management (unless I have a whole day to prepare for a dinner party, it needs to be fast for me!), flavour, healthy-ness and not the same-ol-same-ol all the time. Whew! That's tough! Oh, and of course, making sure it's something everyone loves... oh the joys of a picky husband! Anyway, it just seems to be one of those things where practise makes perfect, so I guess I'll just keep plugging along! (I should give a big shout out to Pinterest for being a massive inspiration to my meals! Thanks, P!) |
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| This section is two-fold. The top row is my Saturday chore for that week and then extra Saturday chores are stored in the red polka dot pocket. The row below is coupon storage in the brown polka dot pocket and the note card clipped in place holds a blank card that I write down little things that come to me during the day or week that maybe I'd like to get done on my Wednesday off or on the weekend (for example: drop off dry cleaning or tailoring, get dog food, wash car, etc, etc). Each week a fresh note card gets put in place for whatever little things/errands/chores might pop up that I don't want to forget. |
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| Ok, my Saturday chore pocket! I love this pocket, I really do! I started writing down ideas that I thought would good little (or big) tasks to do on a Saturday. I didn't want them to take more than an hour and I really wanted a sense of accomplishment when I finished said task. These task are on little note cards with all the details of what the chore entails. I have things like "deep clean kitchen", "change out seasonal wardrobe", "wash and windex all windows inside", "help Tyler with yard work or snow clearing", "file bills and organize stacks of paper around the house", etc, etc stored in this pouch. I like plan my Saturday chore a week in advance and I will usually consult Tyler to see if he might need my help with anything (like yard work.. that's his baby, but sometimes it's nice to get out and get some dirt under the fingernails). :) This is usually my only household task to do on Saturdays and it's nice because it doesn't take up my whole day and I still have time to go do something fun like browse Target, take a walk, hang out with Tyler, blog, craft, etc. Plus it still feels like I accomplished something so no guilt either! |
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| And just one final over shot of my baby! I loved creating this project, start to finish! This is seriously what I love about fall... establishing a good routine that works for everyone and encompasses a bit of fun and bit of work. |
So that wraps up my Command Centre board and how it came into existence! Life is an evolving thing and things are always getting tweaked here and there to find just the right balance. What about you guys? What do you do to organize your household? I can imagine that having little ones would add a whole new dimension! A fun one though! :) Laundry would probably increase pretty significantly.. haha.. Let me know if you have any additional suggestions for my board (or a more efficient way to run it) or what you do!
Until next time!
xo ~ Jessca
