My Current Morning Routine

A routine is defined as a customary or regular course of procedure. Routines are so important in my life; they make up the rhythm of my day. It can take a while to build a routine that works for you; but once you figure it out, life will be so much easier.

As with almost everything in life, routines will change as your seasons of life change.  As a teacher, I have a different morning routine during the school year than I do during the summer.  As a working mom, my weekend morning routine is also different than my week day morning routing.  

My favorite thing about my morning routine is that I don't have to use any energy deciding what to do when I wake up.  That has already been figured out.  I can use my mornings to slowly wake up and save my energy for more important work - raising my kids, being a great wife, and supporting my co-workers and students at school.  

With out further ado, here is my current week day morning routine.

1. Wake up between 4:45 am and 5:00 am.  
2. Get ready for work - I brush my teeth, do my skin care, hair, and end with putting on my make-up.  
3. Grab a cup a warm coffee
4. Read my daily devotional - I am currently reading through the The Message: Solo: An Uncommon Devotional
5. Write in my prayer journal - Watch for a future post on what I include in this.
6. Write in my Flecks of Gold journal - This is a three year journal where I record something that happened the day before (an event, funny thing my kids said, struggle I worked through, etc.) 
7. Wake up the girls
8. Make all the beds
9. Get the girls breakfast
10. Pack backpacks and lunches (including my own)
11. Say my good-byes and head out the door around 6:45 am. 

It took a couple weeks to develop and refine this routine. To help me create my routine I made a list of what was important for me to accomplish in the morning. I also watch several morning routine YouTube videos to get ideas of how to fit it all in.  

I hope that this inspires you to create a fantastic morning routine.  If you already have one, what do you include in your morning routine?

Weekly Cleaning Routine

I love routines!  A routine helps me to get things done without really having to think about it; it is just part of my life. Once you figure out a good weekly cleaning routine, your house always looks clean! A cleaning routine also allows your family members to help with cleaning - they know exactly what gets cleaned on each day.  

Over the years my weekly cleaning routine has changed due to the season of life I am currently in.  Being a teacher means my cleaning routine usually also changes from school year to summer.  When creating my cleaning routine, I keep in mind what really needs to be cleaned on a weekly basis (and what can be cleaned on a monthly basis) and when throughout the week do I have time to fit in these cleaning tasks. Right now, we are in the middle of a school year so most of my cleaning is done on the weekends.  However, I also want to enjoy time with family and friends on the weekend so I sprinkle a few tasks throughout the week.  

My School Year Cleaning Routine

Here is what my weekly cleaning routine currently looks like:

Monday

• Wash Towels

Tuesday

• No Cleaning Tasks

Wednesday

• Load of Laundry

Thursday

• Wash Sheets

Friday

• No Cleaning Tasks

Saturday

• Clean Bathrooms
• Dust
• Mop
• Vacuum
• Kitchen
• Laundry (Usually 4 loads)

Sunday

• Clean Out Car 
• Clean Out Purse

I keep my weekly cleaning routine in the "Routines" section of my planner.  This way I have a master list that I can refer back to as I am planning my week.  

This routine took me a few weeks to figure out what works best for me.  There are occasions where I will move something from one day to another due to what we have going on that week.  I also find comfort in the fact that because this is such a routine for me, if I have to skip something one week due to being too busy, I know that it will get done the next week. 

What does your current cleaning routine look like?

What is saving my life right now? My planner!

What planner do I use? 

I have tried several planners over the years.  Last year I tried out a Happy Planner and my heart fell in love!  I like the ability to easily customize what is in my planner from month to month. I girls are also fascinated with the ability to "tear" the pages out and put them back in again.  

What is in my planner?

I use the vertical layout.  Each week has its own two-page spread.  Each day has three large boxes that allow you to divide up your day in a variety of ways: morning, afternoon, night; a box for each member of your family; or possibly work items vs home items.  

I use the top box for each day to record events/appointments for that day.  I also write down what we are having for dinner that night.  The other two boxes I use to create to-do lists for that day.  Sometimes both boxes are used, however, most days only one of the boxes is use.  

I currently have added to my planner the following sections:

• Quarterly: This contains my goal planning and brain dump for the current quarter.  More to come on this process later!
• Routines: Here I create pages for each of my routines including my planner routine, cleaning routine, and meal routine.  More to come on these as well.
• Entertainment: Right now, all this section contains is my list of movies and TV shows I would like to watch.  

My Planning Routine

I usually sit down every Sunday morning with a cup of coffee and all of my planner supplies and calendars to plan out the upcoming week.  

The first thing I go is choose the stickers and color scheme for the week.  I don't use a lot of stickers, but I like to have just a few to give a little decoration.  The stickers I am currently using are Bloom Daily Planner Seasonal Sticker Pack , Bloom Daily Planners Inspirational & Motivational Quotes Planner Stickers, and Dot Stickers.  I then take out my favorite Flair pens and highlighters and pick a color that matches these stickers.  I plan out the week using a black pen, but then use this colored pen to make adjustments as the week go and to check off my to-do list.  

Next, I use my dot stickers to add in the events and appointments for the week.  I gather most of these items from our shared family Google Calendar however I do look at my girls classroom calendars as well. I also add in our meals for the week. 

Finally, I add in my to-dos for each day.  This list is determined by what events are happening that week and my daily to-do list.  I also include a post-in note on the bookmark in my planner titled "Next Week" where I can record things that pop into my brain that I need to do, but can wait until next week.  One more spot I check is my email for additional to-dos. 

As I am listing out my to-dos I keep in mind everything that is already happening that day and I try to be realistic with how much energy and extra time I am going to have that day.  For example, Tuesdays are extremely busy with with dance for my girls and meetings for my husband.  It is all on me to get the kids back and forth from three different dance classes and to find a way to feed them some dinner.  I don't have much time or energy left once we get home for the night!

I hope that you have gather some ideas for your planner or if you don't use one currently will think about giving one a try!

I'm Back!

Wow! It is has been a long time since I have posted!  Well, I'm back and hope to be back posting on a more consistent basis.  

Here is a little update on what has been going on...

We welcomed our second daughter into the world.  She is now 7, almost 8 years old.  We are very busy several times a week with dance lessons for both girls and my oldest has starting attending youth group once a week.  I am still a teacher, however, I now teach middle school students and work in the technology department of my school district.  To add more to our already crazy life, my husband was recently elected as mayor!

About a year ago, I really became interested in minimalism and started learning as much as I could about about it.  I decided that parts of this lifestyle could really help me get the craziness of my house and life under control.  I started the process of looking at what was in our house and what did we really need.  Since then I have made about two rounds through each room of the house decluttering what we did not need and being more intentional about what I am bringing into our home.  

My hope is to share my process of decluttering and how I am living more intentionally through this blog.  I plan on continuing to share organizing tips, decluttering of my house, how I use planning and routines to be intentional with my time, and what ever else I find helpful when life has me at the corner of calm and crazy.  

Big Girl Room Makeover

My husband and I wanted to make sure that our daughter was excited about having new sister.  Therefore, I decided to give her a big girl room makeover (we also needed to get her out of the toddler bed so we could use it as a crib again :) )

I didn't want to paint her room because I loved the gray walls with the green strip, so those colors where our jumping off point.  My daughter also loves the colors pink and purple, just like every little girl, so we added those to the mix.  The first thing I did was find a poka-dot bedspread from Target that had some of our colors that got a thumbs up from my daughter.

Next we needed curtains.  I couldn't find anything that I liked so I asked my mom to make some.  I found some cute fabric that was white and had gray/silver poka-dots on it.  My mom also added some pink ball fringe to add a girly touch.

At the state fair I found a neat lantern that lights up and changes colors.  I also decided to hang two metal plant hangers on the wall to hold some of her toys.

We finished off the room with a new big girl bed, some wall art that I made, and an old dresser and night stand set that I used when I was in college.  All I did to those was spray paint the knobs silver to give it a little update.

Here are the before and afters...

My daughter really loves her new room.  I like the fact that I was able to update it with out spending a lot of money.  I also like the fact that the decor items are not too trendy and I don't have to worry about redoing it again in a year when she no longer likes Frozen :)

Kitchen Drawer Organization

Who doesn't need a little organization in their kitchen drawers?  I need to organize/reorganize mine at least twice a year.  I most recently organized my junk drawer and utensil drawer.

Our junk drawer, like I am sure all of your's, is a catch all for everything left on the counters that I don't know where else to put.  Here is the drawer before:

You can see that on one of my organizings, I started to use silverware tray to house different items.  This works great, it just needs to be cleaned out.  For example, one area of the tray is used to house different size batteries.  When we purchased more, we didn't talk them out of the cardboard container they came in.  We just stuck the entire thing in the drawer.  Well, the cardboard container doesn't fit in the tray so then we had batteries all over.  This is something that we are going to have to work on.  

To reorganize this drawer, first I took everything out and put them in different groups on the counter.  I had a trash pile and then I grouped like items together.  I ended up throwing a lot out!  Here is the finished, newly organized drawer:

The next drawer to be reorganized was one of the kitchen utensil drawers.  This drawer holds different kitchen items such as the can opener, measuring cups, measuring spoons, whisks, etc.  Here is the before:

At one time I tried to organize this with little black baskets.  This worked for a short time, but then either the baskets where too small or I still had too much stuff.  I ended up with a very disorganized drawer where I had to dig around to find anything.

I again took everything out of the drawer and put them in piles with like items.  As I was taking the item out, I thought about when was the last time I used that utensil.  If it has been over year, I really thought hard on if I needed to keep it.  I also go rid of duplicate items.  If they were still in good condition, they went into a donation pile.  I was able to really pare down the items I had.  Here is the finished drawer:

I continued to use the black baskets, but hopefully I have gotten rid of enough stuff that they will work and will be able to keep the items in them contained.

What kitchen drawers do feel always need to be reorganized?

April Recipes

Here are the new recipes that I tried this month...

Peanut Butter Banana Muffins
I love peanut butter and banana smoothies and I am getting tired the the basic banana muffin so I gave this one a try.  They were very easy to make.  I did mine in a mixing bowl inside of a blender and I think they turned out fine.  I also topped my with chocolate chips.  I tried them right out of the oven and did not like them.  Once they cooled however, they were delicious!

Baked Ziti
Who can pass up a good, comforting, baked pasta?  When I made this recipe I cut it in half.  The original is for 12 people; a little much for my family of 4 (1 being a small child and 1 being a newborn).  My husband loves Italian sausage so I didn't use any hamburger and used all Italian sausage.  He really enjoyed it.  It tasted very much like lasagna to me.  It was very good.  The next time I make it, I will make the full recipe, but put half in the freezer for another night.

Cheesy Hasselback Chicken
This chicken is another take on Chicken Cordon Blue.  It was very easy to make and very good.  I think it would be fun to play with the types of cheese used.  My grocery store was out of Colby Jack so I used Monterey Jack cheese.  I think a sharp cheddar would also be very good.

I try very hard to not cook the same things over and over.  Of course we have our family favorites, but I also enjoy cooking new things.  I try to cook something new each week.  In the past, I have subscribed to many cooking magazines to get new ideas.  I would tear out recipes that interested me.  Just recently I create a new organized way to store and save these recipes.  You can read about that here - Recipe Binder.  Now I have Pinterest :) The nice thing about Pinterest is I don't have to print off the recipes.  I can pin them to my boards and quickly access them on my iPad when I am meal planning and cooking.  Here are my recipe boards if you want to take a look:

• Yummy Snacks                       
• Slow Cooker
• Delicious Desserts                     
• Soups
• Drinks                                       
• Daily Dinners
• Good Morning Breakfast             
• Lunches
• Smoothies
• Recipes to Try

** Image from freedigitaphotos.net.  Photo by Sicha Pongjivanich. 
Published on 20 November 2011  Stock photo - Image ID: 10065169