You can find the prompt post here
I’ve only got a few things to do to finish up in the master bedroom, so I thought I’d give you a little sneak peek at what I’ve been doing:
It used to look like this
And now parts look like this:
Another couple of days and I’ll be 100% finished with my first full room of this challenge!
So, the other day I posted how I was starting work in the laundry. A large amount of it is complete, though now I need to do some sewing and other craft (and we need to buy a new sink) to finish up.
I didn’t want to wait until I was able to get all of that done, so I thought I’d post about my progress so far.
Let’s remember what it looked like . . .
The first thing I did was to move out all of the loose stuff.
I then cleaned everything down – well as well as you can when you have a baby strapped to your front. (For some reason Squirm hates the laundry, so doing anything in there can be a battle). The next day, after a visit to the shops, I organised the items on the shelf into decorated boxes and added a little decoration to the wall . . .
My Laundry To-Do List
So, other than the sink (which will require time to get), everything else is a craft thing. I’m going to aim to get them finished by the end of next week. Wish me luck!
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When I was at work, I was never that concerned with how the house looked. I wanted it to be neat and tidy (well most of the house), but I wasn’t all that worried about making it look beautiful. Now I’m at home, I want to live in a house that make me feel good and makes me smile 🙂 I’m also aware that I’ve only got so much time to decorate and organise before Squirm becomes mobile. So, there’s probably some safety issues to consider too.
While I was thinking about decorating, I came across A Bowl Full of Lemons and the Home Organisation 101 Challenge. The challenge spreads over 14 weeks (with the understanding that you can take as much time as you need) with a different part of the house being targeted each time. There’s an example (with lots of detail) posted on A Bowl Full of Lemons, and you’re encouraged to share your own creations. This would work particularly well for me, as the current week is the laundry, which was exactly where I wanted to start.
There’s a few challenges with decorating our house. It wasn’t new when we bought it – it’s about 30 years old. The owners before us painted the whole inside of the house pale pink with pink trim, and since we currently have an 8 week old, we’re not in the position to repaint it. They also weren’t always careful with their painting, so we’ve had some trouble when we’ve had to change light switches and power points. Underneath our house has been built in, but it can be a bit dingy and dark down there, and some parts are unfinished.
We’ve done little bits and pieces around the place. Most of the work has been done in the front garden, where Mr Pilot has completely revamped it – removing all but one of the trees (one removed itself when we got the fence done), putting in a row of garden beds along the side and front of the yard and planting a range of beautiful Australian natives. Now, a year or so after we started, we always have beautiful colour out the front, and more lovely birds than we thought we’d ever have.
Other than that, we’ve done up the nursery for Squirm and done little things like hanging pictures and changing the handles in the kitchen. Mr Pilot has also done heaps to make the bathroom look better – putting in a new sink and taps. But the overall house is still undecorated and now seems like a good time to jump into it.
We’re looking at a relaxed country style in the house. We have some lovely handmade quilts and blankets, and we love things like cushions and rugs. We’re going to have lots of photos around the walls – of places we’ve traveled and family. And flowers – real and unreal – will probably make an appearance. We’re not looking to repaint or change carpet or do big jobs like that (yet) but we’ll probably do some smaller things we’ve been looking to do for quite a while.
I’ll be posting the results here, of course, starting with the laundry and moving on from there. But here’s a sneak peak of our laundry before photos 🙂
A little while ago I talked about the difficulty of fitting any kind of housework in around a baby. While it would be easy to say that housework shouldn’t matter when you’ve got a baby, the lack of it was starting to drive me to distraction. Also, Squirm’s eight weeks old now, and becoming more predictable even if he has absolutely no daytime routine inclinations. Not to mention, at some time I have to start getting housework done again, so I may as well start now since I’m motivated.
Just after I posted the entry about getting organised, I found an iPad app that actually has helped me do so. Normally I wouldn’t rave on about apps here, but this one has made such a difference that I have to share it. It’s called Home Routines and it costs a few dollars, but is totally worth it. It comes with an editable list of household tasks split into morning, evening and weekly. It also has more focused areas – much like – which you can either have in 5,6 or 7 groups and you can focus on one each day or one each week. Each time you finish a task, you can tap the star next to it and the app compiles a list of tasks you finish each day.
The best part of it is how much you can edit it – I have quite specific tasks on mine. I also like how the stars can reset each day, so you don’t have undone tasks hanging over your head – it’s a new day to get things done. There’s also a timer you can use to complete 15 minutes in ‘focus areas’ – the timer’s also editable and can be paused if you need to.
So far (I’ve been using it for over a week now) I’ve had a great success with it. The daily jobs are getting done because I remember them ( my memories not the best on reduced sleep) and I’m getting bigger tasks done that I may not think of without the app. I love seeing how much I’ve done each day, so all those stars motivate me to get more done.
As a teacher, I had a plan for every day. I knew what the day would hold, mostly, and how I’d go about getting things done.
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