SAHM's getting organised in 2009!

mOZzy_2

mummy2 seems like you are doing just fine!! :T


well, monsters are in bed - played longer than usual due to playing so nicely with each other! both had a bath (they bath seperatly now because it's just too small and they will start to fight :rolleyes: ), bedtime story each and lights off .... aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh

got the lunchboxes out (to remind me tomorrow): do you prepare the sandwiches too? don't they get soggy? - still progress so far: at least i just have to make the sandwiches, fill all the boxes and job done!
clothes are ready too :j

i even put some cereals and juice on the table for when they get up before me - which happens more and more often :T:D


so i'll have 6 hours without kids tomorrow and will go to aldi/lidl and do some shopping on my own!!! bliss!

mummy2mygirls

mOZzy wrote: »

well, monsters are in bed - played longer than usual due to playing so nicely with each other! both had a bath (they bath seperatly now because it's just too small and they will start to fight :rolleyes: ), bedtime story each and lights off .... aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh

quote]

Wish mine did this tonight dd2 took nearly a hr before she stopped running back and forward to her sisters bed!!!! lots of angry daddy and when i went up dd1 asked me if i was going ' to flush dd2 down the plug hole' because she was being naughty!!! And she was really scared that i would!! Dont know where she got it from bless her....


And oh no i can hear movement up there again!!!! It had been so quiet for a long time i thought they was asleep....

money_saving_diva

Hi all, Sorry I haven't posted for a while but I have been reading the thread every day
I am soooo happy as I am feeling more organised :j

I have made small changes which are making me happier, house tidier etc.

I have been planning meals more and starting to make things like cassaroles during lo's afternoon nap. I have also been carrying something up the stairs that needs to be put away up there every time I go. - a tip but you prob all do this already?? You all seem more organised than me.
Another tip that I was going to suggest is during lo's nap do just one more chore than you had planned before going on the PC for 'internet time' but scrap that .... cos I tried it today - I made myself empty all the bins in the house before going on the internet and lo woke just as I was about to put PC on :rotfl: so I didn't get on here but I got more jobs done

I am going to be without a car for a few weeks so I need to be more organised. It will do me good - I am too use to being able to pop to the shops! I will use the bus to get to town/groups that are not within walking distance and walk everywhere else. Does anyone else have any tips about coping without a car? (I am only without a car during the day - I can use our car when DH gets home from work/weekends etc)
Also I want to ask for more tips:
Do you all have fortnightly wheely bin collections? How do you do it? We have just taken several bags to local tip cos we fill our bin every fortnight and have more rubbish we need to get rid of. We have a compost bin so compost what we can and we recycle what we can. We do use disposable nappies - so this is some of the problem but how do you all do when you have a few children??
And how do you keep bits of toys together - like toys that need certain balls etc/ shapes for certain shape sorters/ bits of wooden jigsaws ?? I do try and keep them in the right place but when he comes to play with certain toys I can never find all the bits??? Any tips anyone??

Thanks all for inspriring me and making me feel like I am not the only one with an untidy house some of the time and unironed clothes :rotfl: and bed sheets :eek: :rotfl: :rotfl:

greent

money_saving_diva wrote: »

I have also been carrying something up the stairs that needs to be put away up there every time I go. - a tip but you prob all do this already??

Also I want to ask for more tips:
Do you all have fortnightly wheely bin collections? How do you do it? We have just taken several bags to local tip cos we fill our bin every fortnight and have more rubbish we need to get rid of. We have a compost bin so compost what we can and we recycle what we can. We do use disposable nappies - so this is some of the problem but how do you all do when you have a few children??


And how do you keep bits of toys together - like toys that need certain balls etc/ shapes for certain shape sorters/ bits of wooden jigsaws ?? I do try and keep them in the right place but when he comes to play with certain toys I can never find all the bits??? Any tips anyone??

Thanks all for inspriring me and making me feel like I am not the only one with an untidy house some of the time and unironed clothes :rotfl: and bed sheets :eek: :rotfl: :rotfl:

We are terrible in this house for using the stairs as a dumping ground - and I seem to be the only one who takes stuff upstairs without being told :mad: (that includes DH!) I have been making a real effort today to take stuff up each time I go upstairs - and the reverse when necessary too.

in a standard week, we use about a kitchen bin and a half of rubbish a week for 5 of us (1 in disposables) I could reduce this further if I tried, but I'm too lazy We compost loo roll tubes, veg/ fruit stuff, shredded paper, guinea pig waste, teabags etc and kitchen roll used for wiping up ok spills (like water) I recycle paper (everything - receipts etc), glass, cardboard, plastic bottles, batteries, milk bottle tops, cans, cards, clothes too manky for freecycling, ink toner cartridges, garden waste which isn't composted (eg: branches, xmas tree, ivy, grass cuttings - we have too many). I freecycle what I don't want and isn't worth selling on ebay/ NCT sales. (Tomorrow I am getting rid of a 17 year old fridge freezer - yippee!) I give yogurt pots (not that we have many) to playgroup, along with kitchen roll inners and small cardboard boxes. Small toys from McD and magazine gifts are saved for Operation Xmas child collections locally.

The rest of our waste?
Nappies (about 3 a day, I suppose)
Food scraps (by which I mean the last couple of spoonfuls of soggy cornflakes from breakfast bowls, an occasional chewed soggy bread crust, the carcass of a chicken once I've stripped it and used it for stock) (not much food gets wasted - I'll freeze bits and bobs/ make soup etc)
Windows from window envelopes (I recycle the envelopes)
Snotty tissues if not flushed away
non recyclable plastic bags (although I reuse for sandwiches if I can)
plastic lids which don't fall into the milk bottle category
crisp packets (although pringles tubs get reused as soap mould sometimes before chucking!)
plastic wrap from things like cucumbers

A good website for ideas on redusing waste is www.myzerowaste.com - set up by a friend of mine, admittedly, but lots of ideas and support on there! I'm signed up to our local council's zero waste week for a fortnight's time - so


Toys etc:
Wooden jigsaws are all kept in one box - and all put together before putting away - that way I know straight away if a piece is misplaced! I keep different toys in different boxes for the 3 year old (the 8 year old keeps all his things muddled in his bedroom - but that's his problem! Every so often we blitz it. The 11 year old is a neat freak and totally goes through her bedroom about 3x a year to sort it/ get rid of things)
I have to admit to being a tad OCD about some things - I had my record collection in alphabetical order as a child - and CDs are still kept like that now :rotfl: I also decided when in primary school that I really liked the idea of the Dewey(sp) system used in libraries for reference books - so went home and organised all our books to suit! (I was about 9?!) And my Sindy dolls each had their own clothes and weren't allowed to wear each others - so I used to get stressed if someone else played with them and messed it up!!:rotfl: :rotfl: Things like glasses and mugs are arranged in my cupboards in a particular order too.

On a more serious note, ziplock bags/ those resealable freezer bags from supermarkets are great for puzzle bits/ small toy pieces. We also have toys that are 'downstairs', 'upstairs' and 'outside' - and if they move places are taken back after playing with to ensure stuff is where it should be (It's honestly not as regimented as it sounds!)


I'm off to bed in a mo - in my newly changed bedding with ironed sheets and duvet cover :rotfl: :rotfl: I haven't done any ironing tonight though - shall do some tomorrow when CSI is on instead (I always iron to tv, makes me feel like I'm multitasking then!!:D )


greent
x

fernliebee

I'm chuckling about the OCD comments above! I'm a bit the same, but seemingly for things that don't really matter. My house can look like a bomb has hit, but my glasses will be arranged in size order, the rest of the house goes to pot, but my LO's toy's are always put away in set's! I'm also a bit OTT with my sink,(before I had even heard of flylady) I hate bit's in the plughole or water left in the bowl, or bubbles not washed down- I'll have a days worth of washing up but can't have bubbles in the sink! ha ha ha!

Does anyone else have funny quirks or pet cleaning hates? I bet we all have something!

mOZzy_2

money_saving_diva wrote: »

I am going to be without a car for a few weeks so I need to be more organised. It will do me good - I am too use to being able to pop to the shops! I will use the bus to get to town/groups that are not within walking distance and walk everywhere else. Does anyone else have any tips about coping without a car? (I am only without a car during the day - I can use our car when DH gets home from work/weekends etc)
Also I want to ask for more tips:
Do you all have fortnightly wheely bin collections? How do you do it? We have just taken several bags to local tip cos we fill our bin every fortnight and have more rubbish we need to get rid of. We have a compost bin so compost what we can and we recycle what we can. We do use disposable nappies - so this is some of the problem but how do you all do when you have a few children??
And how do you keep bits of toys together - like toys that need certain balls etc/ shapes for certain shape sorters/ bits of wooden jigsaws ?? I do try and keep them in the right place but when he comes to play with certain toys I can never find all the bits??? Any tips anyone??

Thanks all for inspriring me and making me feel like I am not the only one with an untidy house some of the time and unironed clothes and bed sheets

yep bin collection every 2 weeks (which is rubbish ( ) in my eyes!)
we recycle as much as possible and that just gets us through - but others (i don't mention any names [greent ] recycle even more!!) - we fill the bottle/can bin every 2 weeks, recycle all paper/cardboard - that just leaves us enough space in the waste bin :rolleyes: - it happened before that i get up in the mornings/late evenings and and sneak a bag in somone elses bin (but generally they are all full!!)

toys: i don't know how old yours are but lately i had enough and i make them now put toys away before they can get another one - if i am around :rolleyes: !
dd is not so bad (she's 3) but ds moans every time (he's 4.5 :eek: )
and i agree the resealable plastic bags for puzzles or small bits or i've got from a cheapy shop some plastic boxes with lid (for food) and they are very handy too.
funnily enough the playroom is one of my next projects. i've moved the furniture already but need more storage so we'll be off to ikea on thursday

no car: get a backpack! online shopping? get all the timetables in buses/trains etc.
get a prepaid travelcard (cheaper and less fuffing about with kids)

mummy2mygirls wrote: »

Wish mine did this tonight dd2 took nearly a hr before she stopped running back and forward to her sisters bed!!!! lots of angry daddy and when i went up dd1 asked me if i was going ' to flush dd2 down the plug hole' because she was being naughty!!! And she was really scared that i would!! Dont know where she got it from bless her....


And oh no i can hear movement up there again!!!! It had been so quiet for a long time i thought they was asleep....

:rotfl: sorry, but i had to laugh at the plughole!!

it was not always easy to keep them in their rooms but we've been quite strict at some point; even sat in the hall for a few evening and whenever they moved told them off! - they are really good now! ds sometimes tries the sneaking about but as soon as i hear him i just tell him to go to bed and that's it ... well, maybe i have to tell him 2 more times -
we also tried bribery for good behaviour or consequences for bad behaviour (taking teddy away for a certain time)

hope you'll find something that'll help you!



well, i am up since 6.30 and ds has only just emerged! dd is still in bed :shocked:
they are both at nursery today (9-3 :j ) - it's only the 2nd week they both have their 5sessions so it's still new to me to be childless for some time
i hope to be able to go to the sportscenter and do an hour exercise (i quite like the shound of 'bodycombat'!) - and i also need to go to aldi/lidl, we buy our coke their (much cheaper the own brand and tastes just the same!!!!) and i always find other bits and pieces :rolleyes:

so kids need breakfast, get washed and dressed, lunchboxes need doing and then we'll be off ....

sarahsarah

Morning All!!!

Can I just say I'm loving this thread, everyone is giving fab tips and it sounds like everyone is making some progress?

We did alright yesterday, DH sorted all his work kit out and reorganised all the top cupboards which I can't reach (above our fitted wardrobes) He discovered loads of storage space we didn't even know we had, by fitting the cardboard boxes in better!
So now DD's too small clothes which we are saving for next LO can be moved up to top section and she's got more room for stuff thats in use now at the bottom of her wardrobe. It bugs me big time that her wardrobe is full of DH's work clothes though, but there's not really anything we can do about that, he's just got too many different types of uniform!!
I WISH we had brought our own bed out here to GIb, but it's in storage instead and we've got a divan one instead. If we had ours we could fit 6 or 8 underbed storage boxes under it!

TO DO LIST:

Before Playgroup:
Wash and put away breakfast pots
Tidy living room floor of toys
Hang washing to Dry
Put away 10 items from clean washbasket

PM When DD Napping:
Wash Lunch Pots
Swish and Swipe Kitchen and Bathroom
Make meatballs for freezer
Declutter living room drawers

sarahsarah

money_saving_diva wrote: »

I am going to be without a car for a few weeks so I need to be more organised. It will do me good - I am too use to being able to pop to the shops! I will use the bus to get to town/groups that are not within walking distance and walk everywhere else. Does anyone else have any tips about coping without a car? (I am only without a car during the day - I can use our car when DH gets home from work/weekends etc)

I can't drive, and until we moved here in August DH was away for 6 weeks out of every 12. I used to get out as much as possible on the bus, there was a playgroup in the next village on a Tuesday so I used to go to that and then go to iceland or sainsbury's afterwards if I needed any bits, and the village the opposite way had market day on a Friday so I used to go to the library there and then go round the market. I made sure the pram I got for DD had a HUGE shopping basket, it was easy enough to get on and off the bus even though it was a huge buggy, and I only ever had to fold it up once or twice when there were wheelchair users got on the bus.
If I were you I'd get shopping delivered from Tesco or Asda in the week, then when it's the weekend and you've got the car you can go out somewhere good like a country park or softplay area or swimming, instead of DH's time of being taken up by shopping?

mummy2mygirls

mOZzy wrote: »

:rotfl: sorry, but i had to laugh at the plughole!!

it was not always easy to keep them in their rooms but we've been quite strict at some point; even sat in the hall for a few evening and whenever they moved told them off! - they are really good now! ds sometimes tries the sneaking about but as soon as i hear him i just tell him to go to bed and that's it ... well, maybe i have to tell him 2 more times -
we also tried bribery for good behaviour or consequences for bad behaviour (taking teddy away for a certain time)

hope you'll find something that'll help you!

She went to sleep in the end as the last time when she moved she went to her sisters bed and she was asleep so i think she realised there was nothing to stay up for!!! they have both been really good with sleeping but dd2 (just turned two the other day) has just been moved into her sisters room (ready for when baby comes) and so its all exciting - i hope it will wear off soon!!! I think she is also at the really hard stage in between needing a nap and not needing one!! When she has one she is wide awake at bedtime but if she doesnt have one she is really grumpy from about 4.......

Hope everyone is having a good day today! I have been to tesco which has tired me out! Got to much really and the trolly was really hard to push (got spd) - so now i could do with a nap myself!!!lol. Have only unpacked the frozen and fridge stuff have left the rest till i have had my cup of tea!!!

Money saving diva - i can treally help with the no car - i would go mad without mine, we live in a little village where the bus service is rubbish!! And there is a little spar/post officce but thats it in the village!!
The bins are collected every 2 weeks here aswell and the oposite week is the recycle bin - both are always full to the brim!! And if we have any other bags the bin men wont take them!! So we find xmas/ birthdays hard!! We have a garage full of boxes that dh has to take to the tip when he can!!


Mozzy how do you get up before the kids!! i find it sooo hard in the mornings and always wait till they wake up (unless its really late!!) Really need to start doing this though.............

have a good day everyone......better go and put the shopping away...

mOZzy_2

sarah it's always nice discovering some 'new' storage space :T - there is never enough
shame about the bed? how long will you have to stay in gib?

mummy2 yes the naps!! dd was 3 in october and is slowly stopping them. but she's just the same: grumpy without and not very tired with! :rolleyes:
i mostly let her have a very short one - but not later than 4.30!

getting up before them? i had to today (nature called ) - but lately my monsters sleep till 7am which is absolutly amazing - mine always were early birds and till about 3 months ago got up at 6am and a few months before 5am was very well known too
so i normally do enjoy not having to get up; i can hear them 'tiptoeing' downstairs and settling in and wait for me, but i like to get just those 10 minutes more ... :j