Single, six kids and going to be debt free!

Seasidegal58

Pleased to read you're feeling better MO4K - and well done on cracking ahead with the covers and shorts!  I hope the first day of the cleaning project goes well.🧹🧹🧹

Another here who loved 'Luther' and Iris Elba!😍. Ruth Wilson was great in it too and her interaction with Idris was so good. 

Have a lovely planting day!

Mumoffourkids

Thanks SSG, I did have a good day today. I didn’t do any planting but I definitely cracked on with cleaning. I started with my bedroom and en suite and even though it isn’t cleared, it does look clearer. My bedroom is also my work room and so I have a lot of fabric and stuff in progress in my room which doesn’t help. I did complete another set of shorts, but didn’t reach my target unfortunately.

I then went onto the kitchen and living room which is one big room. I cleaned all the kitchen and did as much washing up as I could, but then my eldest cooked dinner and promptly made loads more mess. I will have to catch up on that tomorrow. I did sort out the sauces and spices shelf of my cupboard today and ended up doing three loads of washing. The sheets that had been washed yesterday went out on the line to dry. There is a load in the tumble dryer of small items and some ready to go out on the line tomorrow. I also put a load of towels on tonight which will go in the dryer tomorrow. I haven’t done all the washing but I have got a load done today. The living room looks so much better today as well. The only room I didn’t tackle was the main bathroom but I am sure that will get done tomorrow. My house didn’t get the way it is in a day, so it is going to take a lot longer than a day to sort it out.

Now to my weekly list
- make cushion covers 5/5 - done
- make pairs of shorts 3/5 - could do better but it is a start and I did do a lot of cleaning today
- plant tomato seeds 15/15 - done. In fact I think I did more than 15 but I am happy with what I did
- sort out toy boxes 1/5 - this is one I have failed on dramatically but it is on the kids lists tomorrow to do it with me, so hopefully will get two done tomorrow.

Weekly list for next week until sunday
- seven days of 30 days to an organised house 0/7
- make cushion covers 0/5
- make shorts 0/3
- make t-shirts 0/3
- plant lettuce seeds 0/10
- plant pea seeds 0/10

A bit of a longer list this time but I am determined to be focused next week. I have sorted out the kids work for tomorrow for three of the kids. The eldest is hopefully going to have the two youngest for me for an hour in the morning so I can help the middle two. Fingers crossed school work get done in the morning and then I can get my stuff done in the afternoon each day!

Mumoffourkids

Ok so today has been an up and down day. It started ok, but then went downhill, but got better at the end of the day. My eldest and myself had an argument the night before and so she isn’t helping with the youngest two at all now and isn’t speaking to me. It’s starting to get me down as she only seems to be nice to me when she wants something. And I can never tell what kind of mood she is going to be in. Last night it really affected my mental health but this morning I decided it was a new day and I wasn’t going to let it get me down. 

It started off ok but oldest boy got in a strop as everything was too loud and he couldn’t concentrate on his work. He went off and did very little. Middle girl did some work but got bored easily. I tried doing some of my list but found that I had the four youngest kids all needing me for some reason at the same time and none of them seemed able to wait. Eventually middle girl did her work and oldest boy managed to do most of his. But tomorrow I have decided we are going to have an easier day and hopefully get finished by lunchtime so the kids can do what they want for the afternoon and I get some time sewing.

On the plus side, the main areas of my house are looking so much cleaner and tidier. I still haven’t tackled the conservatory, the landings or the stairs or the kids rooms for that matter. But the eldest two girls tend to tidy their own rooms so it’s only eldest boy’s room that I need to sort out really. Middle girl has a den in the corner of my room so that stays pretty tidy. Oh and I have been hanging out the washing for the last couple of days so I have caught up on a lot of washing and haven’t had to use the tumble dryer as much. It does mean I have a load of clothes to sort and put away though. But I can do that tomorrow.

Onto the weekly list
- seven days of 30 days to an organised house 2/7
- make cushion covers 0/5
- make shorts 0/3
- make t-shirts 0/3
- plant lettuce seeds 10/10
- plant pea seeds 0/10

So I’ve done the daily tasks so far and kept up the cleaning routine. I have also planted a load of lettuce seeds. I want to get some shorts and t-shirts made tomorrow afternoon and maybe a cushion cover and that will feel like I have had a good day.

Im off to catch up with another episode of Luther now in bed and then off to sleep.

Seasidegal58

You're  doing fantastically well so far MO4K. You put me to shame with the cleaning. I don't think I would do so well with six children to cope with!😱. And the sewing as well!  I take my hat off to you. 👍

Drawingaline

My conservatory is a state atm too!!! Everything else has been visited for cleaning and sorting, but I keep putting the conservatory off. 

Mumoffourkids

Seasidegal58 said:

You're  doing fantastically well so far MO4K. You put me to shame with the cleaning. I don't think I would do so well with six children to cope with!😱. And the sewing as well!  I take my hat off to you. 👍

Drawing Aline said:

My conservatory is a state atm too!!! Everything else has been visited for cleaning and sorting, but I keep putting the conservatory off. 

I’m not so sure about that SSG. I didn’t do too well yesterday. I still did the main bits of cleaning in the main areas but didn’t organise and tidy anything extra. Again today I’ve done the main bits of cleaning but the only extra I have managed is to put some oven pride I had in the oven overnight to soak. I really need to get on with the extra tasks although I suppose at the moment, the fact that I am keeping up with the daily cleaning routine is good. I probably need to focus on one extra thing a day to get sorted and then slowly build in the extra cleaning tasks. It is so hard doing it with the kids off school. I tend to do the kitchen and living room in the evening when they have gone to bed as if I did it during the day, it would just get messy again.

My conservatory turned into the toy room as I wanted the toys out of my living room. Consequently the youngest two get all the toys out and spread them around the floor. It really needs sorting out yet again, I’m sure I sorted it out not that long ago as well!

Another area that needs a load of work is my landing. It is quite large and because we just have too much stuff, there are three bookcases, a shoe cupboard and a towels and sheets cupboard on the landing. I really need to sort out the landing at some point. I need to add it in to my never ending to do list!

I didn’t get any of my weekly list done today but yesterday I did make up 2 t-shirts and a cushion cover. I have been asked to make some cushion covers for someone so I wanted to have a practise run before I cut into their fabric. It came out really well. I have done piping around the edges of the cushion cover and it just looks so beautiful. 

Over the next few days I am also going to be making some scrubs bags for our local hospital. They shouldn’t take me too long to make but I do need to get going on them. I seem to spend most of the day sorting the kids out and then find myself cleaning and tidying in the evenings so run out of time to sew. This weekend I will definitely do some sewing as I’m going to give the kids the weekend off doing school work unless they ask to do some!

Drawingaline

Our conservatory was also a toy room for years. It is now a lego/games workshop room. I try and ignore it as much as possible. 

Mumoffourkids

I wish I could ignore mine but unfortunately I have to go through it to get to the garden or the garage where the washing machine and tumble dryer are located. Every couple of evenings, I send a child in there to clear the floor of toys which helps a bit but it does need a good sort out!

In other news, my kids school arranged a food parcel for us which I am very grateful for. That got delivered yesterday. I then got a delivery of food stocks today from a supplier who usually only does businesses but since the virus, have now extended it to homes as well. They are a local business not a big national one so I feel like I am supporting a local business as well. Then I am planning a fresh fruit and veg delivery on Thursday and I should have enough food apart from milk and bread for two weeks! I have planned dinners and lunches for this week, and did a complete audit of my freezer and cupboards so I know what is in there.

Cleaning is still on going but I have to be realistic I think with all of us being at home. I can’t do as much organising and decluttering as I would like as 1) the local tip is closed and I have nowhere to store all the rubbish until I can get to the tip and 2) the kids being home and having to school them is taking up a lot of time. I find that I have to spend time with the 9 year old and then with the 11 year old and then with the youngest two as they all need my help. 

I do however have a very clean oven. It’s not perfect but it is a lot cleaner. I also sorted out my freezer and tins cupboard yesterday so that feels more organised. I need to check out the book and see what is next to clean/organise!

I also have some cushions to make for someone so I need to do that today. The kids aren’t doing any schooling so in theory I will have more time for me over the weekend to get on with my list.

Drawingaline

Booking someone to clean our oven is one of the first things I will do once it's safe! I normally get it done in March so it's overdue and I just won't do it myself. £60 well spent in my eyes 😂

Mumoffourkids

I couldn’t endure the embarrassment of someone seeing how dirty my oven was. I’d had to clean it before they came round!