The Order Of Things

Imagine yourself taking a shower. (Alone. Imagine yourself alone. This is not THAT kind of blog!) Do you bask in the warm stream of water, soap up, shave your legs, and then wash and condition your hair? If so, you are doing it all wrong.

Okay, I'll admit that I'm a Mrs. Bossy Pants today. I have a cold and The Loki stuck a Lucky Charm up his nose last night, so we were at Urgent Care at 11 p.m. No, it was not a Magic Rainbow marshmallow. It was the boring cereal part that nobody wants anyway, which is probably why he stuck it up his nose. That kid is smart for a five year old! (The VERY CUTE doctor denied The Loki the privilege of a sticker or a sucker, telling him, "I don't want you to think you get rewarded for sticking cereal up your nose." I might have swooned.)

But Mrs. Bossy Pants aside, you are still doing it wrong. :)

You see, the order of things matters. I wash my hair first, leave the conditioner in while I soap up, rinse my hair, and then shave my legs. It's more efficient because the time spent waiting for the conditioner to work is used soaping up and the time spent shaving my legs lets my hair start to air dry, so blow drying it doesn't take as long. 

(As an aside, I am such a lying liar. I am way too lazy to shave my legs and hide my Cajun sasquatch limbs under long pants all winter long.)

I got the idea to do things more efficiently from reading Cheaper by the Dozen as a child. There are tons of things that I do in a certain order so that they are more efficient.

When I cook, I put water on the hot stove to begin boiling for potatoes or pasta before chopping my veggies. The water starts boiling at some point while I'm busy doing other things, and when I need the boiling pot of water, I just throw in the pasta. (Iron Chef America uses my pre-boil technique. I'm not saying they got the idea from me. I'm just saying that I had the idea first!) I also wipe down the kitchen counters, load or unload dishes, or clean the microwave or toaster oven while waiting for food that has to be watched closely to cook.

When I run errands, I often number the errands in my planner in the most efficient order to plan around where I will already be.

Before numbering errands:

After numbering errands more efficiently (the pink numbers, with toy store first, then lab work because it's in the same area of town as the toy store, then produce stand and grocery store near the end of the list to minimize melting of ice cream and frozen foods, and finally the library since it's a quick stop on my way home):

For some routines, I actually write out the most efficient way to do them and keep them in the notes section of my planner until I learn them. For example, in the morning:

1. I wake the kids,

2. I get dressed (while the kids are dressing themselves),

3. I start my coffee brewing then make breakfast (while the kids are brushing teeth and hair), and

4. I grab the snacks, my breakfast (to eat in the car), and fill the water bottles and coffee mug (while the kids eat breakfast).

We've tried other orders in the mornings, but with this one, because the kids know I have to do things while they are getting ready, they leave me alone to do them. Before, when they were eating breakfast first, it was a struggle getting them dressed in the morning.

I am currently planning to have Thanksgiving at my house. In my projects section of my planner, I will list the order of getting the house and food ready. The order matters more than usual for Thanksgiving because I can't prep all the food in one day. A few days before, I'll start defrosting the turkey. Perhaps the day before, I will cut the potatoes, bake the pies and cakes, and get all the food out and on the counter, grouped according to the recipes. On the day of Thanksgiving, I will have a very specific schedule of what to cook when. For example, sweet potato pie can cook early as it stays warm in the casserole dish, but the mac and cheese needs to go in at the last minute so it is perfect and bubbly at dinnertime.

When I fold laundry, I place it in stacks that mirror my dresser drawers. Divided up by family member, with underthings, then socks, then pjs, and then tank tops. That way, when I put away clothes, it only takes seconds and they go in the drawers right in order. This technique saves me tons of time, something that is really evident when my husband folds the clothes in a random stack and I am running around putting the older kid's socks in his middle drawer, then my tank top in another room in another drawer, then The Loki's pjs in another drawer in the other room, then a tank top...you see the problem?

Ever notice that if you put a load of laundry in first thing in the morning, load the dishes and run the dishwasher, take out supper to defrost, and spend 15 minutes cleaning, your day goes much better?

Ever notice that spending a few moments after school going through schoolbags or a few minutes after nighttime prayer putting things in a tote bag for tomorrow's errands makes your day easier?

The order of things does matter.

As you go through your day today, think about the order of things. Is there something you can do more efficiently, just by swapping or planning the order? If so, why not do it? It'll save you more time for fun!

Etcetera

 

Video: Top Twenty Planner Tips And Tricks

I am a cheating cheater. (Plus, we've already established that I confess to every small offense, so here goes.) Today's You Tube video (click HERE to watch it) is a rerun. Well, sort of a rerun. In it, I go over 20 planner hacks that make using my planner more efficient.

The cheater part? Well, I've mentioned these tips and tricks before in old posts. Basically, I'm a total copy cat. But it's not plagiarism if it's my idea, right? I'll spare you the hyperlinks, but go ahead and read old posts, especially from July 2013 on, in order to find details about most of these suggestions.

Here's a photo that I've used before for your viewing pleasure. (Also, because if I am going to be a cheating cheater, I might as well recycle an old photo for the sake of consistency.)

Giftie Etcetera's Top Twenty Planner Hacks:

1. Use the outside edge of the inner pockets of your planner to hold your ink pens.

2. Use erasable ink. (There is a link to the right where you can purchase Frixion pens.) If it disappears in heat, pop it in the freezer to bring it right back.

3. Use two main colors - a writing color and a highlighting color.

4. Use the inside pockets. They are the main advantage of a binder style paper planner.

5. Keep a blank dashboard, preferably of graph paper, on the first page of the planner.

6. No need for fancy tools. Cut pages with a pair of scissors and punch holes with a single hole punch.

7. Make an index for your active projects and inactive notes.

8. Draw a small monthly calendar on graph paper to track goals.

9. Use the graph paper to make charts for tracking things like chores.

10. Put washi tape on the blank days at the beginning and end of your monthly pages.

11. Cross out old entries.

12. Keep appointments separate from tasks.

13. Doodle, but only doodle on past entries.

14. Track other's stuff on your weekly pages, but in a separate area.

15. Write down due dates.

16. Use columns on your weekly pages to sort by priority (due, must do today, and should do today) and codes to sort by context (E for errands, C for at computer, and so on).

17. Use a future page to jot things coming up after your calendar ends.

18. Use magnetic bookmarks (available on Amazon) to find important pages.

19. Have a locations page so that your turkey pan or Christmas wrapping paper is hidden away, but you can still find it.

20. Use decorative post-its instead of a traditional notepad.

Add your favorite suggestions in the comments!

Etcetera.

Systems Or Stress: It's Your Call

Here's our family system for handling school uniforms:

1. A grownup washes the uniform.

2. A child puts the uniform shorts away, but a grownup puts pants (required on Mass days or when it's cold outside) away because the kids cannot reach the hangers.

3. Every evening, while Mom deals with water bottles, snacks, and signing papers or sending notes to the teacher, Dad sets out uniforms for tomorrow morning, based on whether Mass is scheduled and checking the next day's weather forecast.

4. In the morning, kids dress themselves. They never think about whether they wear pants or shorts. They simply dress in whatever Dad sat out.

It's a good system. There is no need to write anything (other than the Mass schedule) in my planner, since the backpacks are processed upon entering the house after school and since my husband takes care of putting the clothes out.

Since the system is so good, you'll be SHOCKED to know that I found myself in the carpool line, blathering to principal that the mistake of my children wearing shorts on a very chilly fall day was ALL MY HUSBAND'S FAULT. What is it about school principals that makes a 38 year old school teacher and lawyer confess to every minor slip-up? (Also, I totally threw my husband under the bus. :) )

The principal is kind of an exceptional dude. He smiled and assured me that "everybody makes mistakes." I adore him. But I'm a perfectionist, so I FELT JUDGMENT ANYWAY. I need to work on that little problem of mine. OCD a bit?

You see, Loyal Readers, we did not work the system.

Instead of trusting that our system was reliable, my husband felt the temp outside at 6 a.m., decided it was hot, and asked me to change the shorts out for pants while he left for work. I was sleepy and barely awake, so I just did as I was told. (I know better than to mindlessly obey. There's a reason obedience was not in our wedding vows.) The added stress of changing out the clothes had a snowball effect, making us run a little late. (Any rumors of Loki, age 5, and Mommy, age 38, getting into a screaming argument over a book will remain unconfirmed. *Ahem*) In fact, we were too late to go back inside and change at 6:45 a.m., when I realized that sometime between 6 a.m. and 45 minutes later, a cold front had swept through the town.

Lately, we've had some other issues from either not working the systems that we have in place or not having systems in place. My husband lost his XBox One preorder receipt. (Surely Best Buy can just look that up, right?) He thought he kept it in his wallet. But his wallet is not a good filing system, so it is lost. He also forgot to give me my August paycheck when he checked the mail. (It's November.) The system is to bring the mail inside and put it on my purse when he sorts it. He held on to the check, instead, thinking he would (somehow, without my signature) deposit it himself. Once, in college, my husband threw away $800 worth of checks in the dumpster. (Okay, when I said "we" had issues, I meant that HE had issues. Love you, Sweetheart!) You'd think he would learn to work the systems, but no.

In contrast, my friend Michelle is completely organized, without even carrying a planner. She uses Outlook and a bunch of excellent systems to stay ahead of things.

Obviously, my planner is the key system that keeps me organized.

But I also have a system for laundry (start a load every morning that I am home; stack clothes in the order of the drawers and shelves that they are stored on; hang hanging clothes and, when put away those clothes, grab hangers to bring to laundry closet). I have a system for dinner (menu, start water boiling before starting any other part of the meal, cook while I chop, and clean as I go). I have a system for clearing the table after dinner (oldest kid puts away dirty dishes, husband puts away condiments and clears the table, and I store leftovers).

Systems make things routine, puts them in the proper order to maximize efficiency, and eliminates errors.

A peek at my system for marking things done and undone (a pink or red box around the scratched-out, completed tasks and a circle with an arrow and a star moving things from Wednesday to Thursday's to do list):

Doctors use systems (and checklists) to do surgery.

Businesses use systems to make sure things get done timely and well.

Individuals need systems to stay free of unnecessary stress.

Tell me about your systems. What works for you?

Etcetera.

Simple Budgeting With A Planner

I've hinted about how I budget before, but today's blog entry is much more detailed than anything I have written before about how we control spending in the Giftie Household. This is going to get a little complicated. Hang in there. It's worth it in the end. Or just skip down to The Part Wherein I Talk About My Planner (aka The Good Part).

Kids are expensive. Now that Loki and Ander are eating real meals, I can barely afford to feed them. Add in private school (our local school is not so good), sports (Ander is a member of the black belt club where you work towards getting a black belt), and clothes...and I'm seriously thinking my husband needs a second job.

(Not me, of course. I blog. You wouldn't want me to waste my time at a real job and not have time to write this, right? Support Team Husband-Gets-A-Second-Job, people!)

(Of course, if you have the perfect job for me, I am well-trained, witty, and pretty darn available. The perfect job has good hours, high pay, and interesting assignments. It's not too much to ask.)

Anyway, since I am a stay at home mom now, we are on a tight budget. My husband happens to be a budget analyst, so we canceled cable (praise my deity of choice for Netflix!), the family started eating at home more often, and he made a spreadsheet to track where our money was going.

I love the spreadsheet. (Okay, I can't read it. It makes no sense to my lawyer/school teacher/NOT an accountant brain.) But I do know that most of the numbers on it - once we cut out extras like a cleaning service (yes, staying home does mean I clean my own toilets...unless the kids mouth off and give me the opportunity to DELEGATE :) ) and cable - are beyond our control. The electricity bill is what it is. The mortgage and student loan payments are always the same.

What varies every month are checks for unusual purchases (for example, school lunches are already budgeted but a check for a field trip is not) and the spending we do on our credit card (food, groceries, and other wants and necessities). That seemed like the right place to cut our budget. So we looked at what we spent last year and decided to cut our credit card/check spending by 4%. We picked 4% because that was the amount (4% of the credit card bill) by which we went into debt instead of living within our means last year. So I needed a way to track my spending on the credit card and unusual check purchases.

The Part Wherein I Talk About My Planner

We both know that you were waiting for this. 

I made a simple insert in my planner for each month, right behind the monthly/weekly calendar. (I could have also done a budget project, but I felt strongly that budgeting was important enough to live in the meat of the planner.)

I hole-punched an envelope to hold any important receipts. If it gets thick or at the end of the month, I pull those receipts and put them in a receipt binder (the plastic kind with twelve months). I only keep receipts for things that I might return or tax deductions (and those receipts go in this year's tax folder).

I simply write the budget (last year's credit card bill minus 4%) during my monthly review on the top right hand corner of the page. Then I subtract as I spend money. If I run out of money, I don't get to spend anymore.

I only write the date, the vendor, and the amount spent. My husband gives me his receipts, too.

That's it. We have come under budget every month since putting this system in place. I work the system and we are able to pay off debt. As a bonus, it forces me to look in my planner (and notice other things that need to be done).

Etcetera.

P.S. Ignore the ugly fingernails. Blech.

Handling Household Chores: Planner Ideas

Check out today's You Tube video explaining how I handle household chores in my planner:

Using Your Planner To Handle Household Chores

Some of the highlights:

1. A reusable checklist, created with a business card holder, works well for those who do chores daily.

2. For those who do chores on a nonregular schedule (say, because of shift work, childcare, or *ahem* laziness), I recommend a graph chart in your project section of your planner.

3. Recurring chores only belong on your weekly task list if: 1) they only happen occasionally (like taking out the trash on Tuesdays), 2) there is a special reason they must be done by a certain date (like a house guest visiting), or they are unusual and inappropriate for the checklist (like storing Halloween decorations).

4. Don't forget to have your kids and spouse do chores, too. My kids do the dishes, clean their rooms, straighten the living room, and put away their own laundry. (They are 5 and 7 years old.)

5. The reason I don't put chores on the regular task list is because, if I did, there wouldn't be room for anything else.

Etcetera.

Mad World: Planning For Imperfection

People assume that because I carry a planner and blog about being organized, I must have my act together.

They couldn't be more wrong.

This morning, I forgot to feed Loki and Ander breakfast. I stepped on (and thought I had crushed) my husband's eye glasses. I couldn't find my wedding ring. (No worries. I found it under a mountain of Halloween candy. Come on, do you think I would admit that I lost it on a blog that my husband reads?!?)

Add in the almost wreck on the interstate, the bleeding lip (mine...don't ask), and The Loki (who refused to get out of the car at Kindergarten drop-off), and you can see that my day was just peachy.

I hate peaches.

People don't carry planners because they do everything perfectly. They carry planners to compensate for their imperfections.

My planner reminds me that as stressful as today looks and feels, everyday this week will be worse, so I need to get some things done today (even if Louisiana is having its first cool front of the year and all I want to do is crawl under the covers in complete denial).

I gives me a place to dump all my panicky thoughts. 

I forgot to buy a gift for my godchild. Wrote it in the planner.

I need to clean off the island in my kitchen so I don't lose my rings again. Wrote it in my planner.

I need to get a new script from my doctor. Wrote it in my planner.

I needed to blog. Jotted notes in my planner. Now, I'm sitting here, sipping coffee and listening to Adam Lambert sing "Mad World," and writing to you. Thanks for listening.  (That thanks is dedicated to my Loyal Readers and my planner.)

Etcetera.