Monday, September 22, 2014

Balancing Things I Want to Do With Things I Need to Do

My house is a wreck. 

I'm a notorious piler and stacker.  I love to get rid of trash and any recycling that I come across.  But, the things that I need or might need get shuffled into piles.  My pile, kid's piles, to do piles, DH's pile, etc.  I've got all the piles. 

What I don't have is a filing system or any organizational skills.  Don't get me started on things that I need to put away but don't have a home or things we have too many of but are still useful. My daughter's giant piles of shoes is coming to mind. 

It's overwhelming.  So, I've neglected doing anything other than the bare minimum of dumping trash, a little laundry, and keeping up with the dishes (most of the time).   We really need to have people over soon for meetings, playdates, a Halloween party the kid's are wanting.  I need to get on the ball. 

But, there's so much I want to do that isn't going to help straighten the house.  I want to make muffins.  I want to organize my girly stuff in the bedroom.  I want to declutter my bottom dresser drawer where I keep my tank tops because it's hard to open.  I want to read some magazines that I'm storing.  I want to sit down and finish a library book before it's overdue. 

Being a stay at home wife affords me a great amount of free time but it's one of those things that go hand in hand with being organizationally challenged.  I never know how to make the best use of my hours.  I end up going from one thing to another, always busy but never having much to show for it in the long run. 

So, I'm getting out my flylady timer and giving my self 15 minute increments to do one thing I want and one thing that needs to be tackled.  I have a rare treat tonight where I get to leave the kids with my sweetheart and go to the library for an adult program.   I'm looking forward to it but I want to feel like I earned my time away. 
First up is 15 minutes in my kitchen doing dishes general clearing.  After that I'm going to whip up a batch of Bisquick Blueberry muffins because I have frozen blueberries to use and milk that is soon to expire. Then 15 minutes of clearing off the kitchen table and sweeping.  Then 15 minutes of hanging laundry and starting another load which I actually enjoy.  Etc. 

I'm lighting a candle and put on some music because I might as well enjoy the process.  I'm a big fan of the $5 True Living tri-scented candles from Dollar General.   I've had excellent luck ordering DG stuff to be mailed to my home.  They even give you 4.5% back on ebates.

Thursday, September 18, 2014

Hey September! Hey Fall! Hey Rambling!

Hello my woefully neglected little blog.  I'm too scattered right now to type out a decent length and entirely coherent post.  So, I'll just give a you a little peak into my current stream of ideas. 

Well, that whole make up hiatus didn't last long.  I tend to rebel against any harsh rulings and decrees even when self imposed.  I'm back to the reigning it in portion of my rebellion.  Yesterday I took my oldest to Dollar Tree to get poster board for a project and picked up some Physician's Formula organic lip veil.  For one dollar in a pretty neutral color- how could I resist?  Well, sometimes stuff ends up at the Dollar Tree when it should go to the dumpster.  This stuff was gross and rough. 

We have been so busy with the school year that I am constantly thwarted in my pantry clean out quest.  We have martial arts twice a week, and soccer practice, and confirmations classes and scouts and whatever else happens upon us.  I am really missing family dinners.  It's either a quickly scrambled microwave meal or a drive thru dinner in the backseat.  I really look forward to Friday nights so I can see my family together.  Of course, not this Friday as DH has plans but I get the kids to myself!  Last week I did manage to make homemade pizza and hamburger buns with my bread machine though.  I need to figure out some scratch freezable make ahead meals for our busy nights.  I am quite sick of Taco Bell, Little Caesars and BK veggie burgers.  I just ran across Heather's post on Make Ahead Mixes and I'm inspired to make some mixes of corn bread and cookies for the cold weather.   I did not order premade cookie mix from the school fund raiser because I rationalized I could make the cookies for a tenth of the cost.  I'd love to load up my freezer with bags of ready to go scratch mix for gingerbread, chocolate chip, and snickerdoodle cookies for Christmas.

I've been doing a bit more couponing.  But, mostly I'm going to coupons.com before I shop so I can print out what's on my shopping list.  It beats clipping every coupon I might use and sorting them and dragging the hole binder to the store.  I might miss out on a few deals with way but I can't see the back of my pantry right now anyway.  I haven't been in Target for a few months.  I got burned out on the whole cartwheel app, plus Target printable coupons, plus text coupons, plus MFR coupons combo.  I can save a ton of money but it takes a lot of time and effort.  If you're interested, check out Hip2Save.com. 

Thredup.com is now on ebates.com for 7.5% back.   If you haven't used Ebates and you shop online it's such an easy way to get money back!  All you have to do is go through their website and look for the shop you want and use that link.  I get a nice check from them every few months.  If you haven't used Thredup.com before it's a nice way to shop for second hand clothes.  Some of them even have the tags still attached.  I sent my son to school today in a brand new pair of Kitestrings khakis that cost me $9.   If you're interested in trying Thredup.com go through my link and you'll get $10 to spend.  Also, use the code 40SNP and get 40% off your purchase.  Combine that with 7.5% back on ebates, and it's quite a deal.  I've been stocking up on winter clothes for my son.  You get free shipping if you spend more than $50.  They also have women's clothing and accessories.  I haven't had the best of luck in selling my items there but I did make $28 on a Nieman Marcus cashmere sweater (Goodwill) that I never wore.

I'm behind on laundry and my house needs a quick clean.  See you in a few months?  ; )
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