Schedules

Summertime is a bittersweet season for me.  My Southern California-raised self thrives in the warm sunshine, and I enjoy the kids being out of school.  But I also thrive on a schedule, and the long unorganized days can start to stress me out.  I guess I'm kind of a control freak.  I need structure, but not too much.  There is an art to using a schedule to one's advantage, but not allowing it to rule and burden and cause stress.

I am a firm believer that adults and children thrive when their environment is not chaotic.  Some days it's fun to laze and be tossed with the winds of whim, but on a regular basis, our home operates with organization, even in the summer.  Here are some ideas that have proven helpful in our family:

• While we don't have a set bedtime, we do have a regular bedtime.  It ebbs and flows with our activities, but doesn't vary greatly.
• As much as I'd like to sleep in without an alarm every day, I don't.  I need to get my exercise in early so it isn't superseded by other demands on my time.  My hubby and I allow ourselves a couple of days each week to sleep as long as we want, but the other days we get up at a reasonable hour and get going.  Why waste the beautiful summer weather in bed?  My kids wake up at their leisure, but due to our bedtime, no one sleeps very late.
• We don't eat according to the clock, but we have regular meals as a family (whoever is home).  Nutrition is improved, kitchen order is improved, and we can connect every few hours between all the activity.
• Children must have their chores, music practice, and morning routine finished before they can go anywhere, and usually before lunchtime if they are staying home.
• I devise a loose schedule at the beginning of the summer to guide our activities, prevent sameness and boredom, and have the kids pitch in at home more since they have more free time.  Each day is assigned a simple theme that we follow as long as there isn't another big event at the same time, like out-of-town visitors or summer camp. (More on this schedule next time)
• Sunday evening is our family planning meeting.  We talk about what is scheduled for the week and who needs to be where and when.  We can also make any extra plans we want, and get organized for upcoming events.  When everyone is aware ahead of time, we can avoid scheduling conflicts and surprises.
• I allow my children to make most of their own decisions about how they spend their time.  There are some days when we have a family outing or family movie party for example, that each child is required to participate without friends.  I also occasionally ask the younger ones to grab a book and go relax with it.  When these things happen, no one complains even if it wasn't what they would have chosen.  It affirms to me that they thrive on a little bit of structure, especially when they've had their freedom.
• When our days become too busy and I feel my stress level rising, I let go of the scheduled stuff a little.  If my schedule isn't being a positive in our family life, then I let it go for awhile and pick it back up when things slow down.  When my schedule is driving me, then I know it's too much.  When I'm feeling like we're getting the most out of our time and enjoying each other, then I know the schedule is in its proper place.

So, I'm anxious for your ideas on how you deal with the change from school year to summertime?

Laundry

I recently heard a woman lament over her daily tasks, one of which was to throw in a load of laundry--every day.  I was shocked.  I realized that I have a great laundry system.  I learned by example while growing up and have added some of my own ideas.

1. Do laundry only once a week.  Pick a day and set it in stone.  Unless someone has an accident or we make an unusually messy mess, everything goes in our dirty clothes baskets and stays there until Tuesday.  I also keep a smaller basket with large holes all over it for ventilation in the laundry room for wet dirty things to avoid mold in the bedroom baskets.   BENEFITS:  1: Doing laundry only weekly reduces the volume of laundry because doing it more often gives you a chance to go looking for things to clean in order to make a full load.  2: You will also save energy because you are washing full loads rather than daily small loads.  3: More household order because when laundry is a daily event, it is always in some part of the process, which means you always have laundry out, which means a mess.  4: Children learn to economize by not changing clothes multiple times per day or throwing clean clothes in the laundry basket to avoid putting it away when they know they have a whole week before it will be returned to them.
2. Allow your children to fold their own laundry and put it away.  Pick an age when your children are old enough to start folding their own laundry and deliver them a pile of freshly washed laundry.  They need to fold it and put it away.  We started this at age 6 in our family.  Teach them the basics and then let them do it even if it's not 'right' or 'good.'  Be patient.  The goal is not to have picturesque dresser drawers.  The goal is to raise independent children.  BENEFITS:  1: Children learn life skills and gain confidence as they master those skills.  2: Children gain a sense of ownership and pride in their possessions and management of life.  3: Your workload is lightened.
3. Allow your children to wash their own laundry when they are mature enough.  This isn't always an age-based decision.  Some of my children were ready to start doing their own laundry at age 11 and some not until 13.  Just like me, they get one day a week to do their laundry.  BENEFITS:  1: Children learn to use the laundry machines and basic laundry principles.  (My daughter learned this lesson the hard way recently when she washed new jeans with something white and had to figure out how to reverse the damage).  2:  Again, children take ownership.  They learn that there is no laundry fairy.  3:  Again, children learn to economize by not producing more laundry than they are willing to wash and put away.
4. To work up to #3, allow your children to wash a load of something a couple of years before they are ready to do laundry.  We started with the throw rugs and towels.  One child is responsible for washing all the bathroom towels or all the throw rugs once a week and putting them away neatly.  BENEFITS:  1: They learn laundry basics in a simple setting.  It's hard to mess up towels.  2: Your load is lightened. 
5. Develop a system and teach your family to use it.  Have a designated place for dirty clothes, sorting laundry, clean laundry (I have a dirty basket in each bedroom and a 4-bag sorter in the laundry room and two baskets for clean things).  Make policies about how and where laundry is to be folded.  (My pet peeve is laundry in the living room so we have a rule that they have to fold it in their bedrooms or in the laundry room.  My other pet peeve was piles of clothes all over the floor during laundry day, which motivated me to buy the laundry sorter and additional baskets)  BENEFITS:  1: You don't have to wander the house looking for stray laundry on laundry day.  2: Clean and dirty clothes aren't getting mixed up.  3: Regular systems streamline the time you spend on chores because you aren't thinking and solving problems as you go along.  Decide once how it's done and then turn on auto-pilot.

I appreciate my mom's example of laundry once a week.  It makes my laundry day full, but it frees up the rest of the week for other tasks.  One thing I wish she had done was to allow me to do my own laundry.  We had to fold all the household laundry once it was washed, but I had to call her when I went away to college to figure out the washing machine.  One of my favorite things to say to kids when they complain about helping with the laundry (because they will at first) is "You don't have to do it as long as you don't wear clothes."  So far no one's taken me up on that.

Labeling

Labeling is one way in which I save myself a lot of time and frustration.  I like to use a labeler that prints out little stickers because of the neatness, but you can just as effectively label with a marker, masking tape or other adhesive labels.  Why label?

1. I live with lots of other people.  They don't all share my "a place for everything and everything in its place" philosophy.  When I label it makes the odds that they'll return an object to its place a little more likely because it is obvious where it belongs.

2. I can't count on my hands how many "Mom, where is the...?" questions I receive each day.  It has been even more frequent lately because of our recent move.  I save myself the time of showing someone where something is when I can simply point them toward the right closet and they can do the rest.

3. I really can't remember where I decided to store each and every little thing all the time.  Labeling saves me the time of opening several drawers or boxes to figure out which one contains what I'm trying to put away.  It also saves me the search time when I need it.  I'm more likely to put things away right now when I know exactly where it goes. 

Here is an example of one part of my closet:

I had to make an intial investment of time and money to get my closet organized to my liking, but I know it has saved me more time than I initially spent to set it up.  I'd love to see your ideas or suggestions on keeping your stuff where you want it.

Little Things

It's time to get practical.  I have generalized and philosophized thus far and wanted to start talking about some great ideas that have simplified my daily life.  You'll either realize at this point what a big nerd I am or say to yourself, "why didn't I think of that?"  I hope it is the latter reaction, but at this point in my blogging, I'll pretty much take any reaction I can get because that means someone is reading this.

If I can save 3 minutes today and every day, I save 21 minutes a week.  That adds up fast to give me an extra day each year.  And it's much easier to find ways to save several minutes rather than bigger chunks of time.
For example, my spice racks.  A small part of my life, but ripe with extra minutes to shave off.  Yes I had multiple spice racks.  One was a wedding gift that had preprinted jar lids.  About a quarter of them we never used; one we hadn't even heard of 16 years ago--fenugreek (we threw it into soup once in awhile just for kicks).  Not wanting to be wasteful, I used the 'useless' spice jars anyway, filling them with the spices I use and hoping to remember that the fenugreek jar really had ground sage in it.  One rack was a mother's day gift with jars that weren't labeled and kept me guessing.  When we moved I finally threw away the contents of several that I simply couldn't remember what they were.  Then I got a set of jars sans rack for another gift that I stored in my cupboard next to my stove.  I had to pull out several in order to retrieve the one in the back.  I also am prepared for emergencies like the one I had last time I made a turkey and stuffing when I had no rubbed sage and the stores were sold out--seriously.  Hubby went on a search to no avail and my neighbors didn't have any either.  I know I know.  This is why we moved actually.  So I have a box of spices down in my basement food storage room.  Which adds to the mystery of what is where and what is in that container? 

I cook a lot and make nearly everything from scratch.  I hope I have painted a clear picture of my fiasco of a spice system so you understand when I tell you now how much time I wasted looking for seasonings at dinner time.  Those recipes that are supposed to be 20-minute endeavors took way too long. 

I took the opportunity of a new kitchen to get organized in this failing area of my life and bought new spice jars.  They all match this time.  I have a wide drawer next to my range that was going to be my spice central.  I figured out how many spice jars would fit in that drawer.  I labeled the tops of the jars so I can see them upon opening the drawer and only pull out the one I want.  And, get this:  I alphabetized them.  I know.

I wish I was smart enough to have known what a good system I have before I started, but I really learned the benefits of my good idea after I did it. 

--Spices are in a dark drawer rather than on the countertop which prolongs the shelf life of the spices.

--Spice jars have wide mouths for dipping a teaspoon in.  No more trying to pour out the powdered stuff and have the whole clumpy lot fall out.

--Spices are protected from the greasy kitchen dust in an enclosed location.

I am sure I save myself at least 3 minutes every time I cook and plan on doing some Christmas baking with all the time I accumuluate.  How do you save yourself time in the kitchen?  What are you going to do with your extra time?