My Countrol Journal & Routines

Laney from Crash Test Mummy is having a little competition with Jodie from Muddled Up Mumma. And are trying to get their homes more organised, Laney is using Flylady and posted her routines for the world to see. Which i think is very brave, and it has been on my mind to post my Control Journal as well. I have mine in a black A4 folder that sits on my coffee table/Master A's new drawing station. It holds all my important phone numbers and the way I like the house to be run, which has helped hubby while i have been sick this past week.


Being sick has made me realise how being on top of the housework meant much more less stress than there could have been, there was still stress of course but I wasn't still trying to play catch up which was a wonderful feeling. My Control Journal is constantly being tweaked as i figure out things could work better this way or as Master A grows and things need changing. I'm sure I will re-edit this entry every so often as I think of new things, and what works for me won't work for every other person.

Daily

• 6am Get up, Make bed, Swish shower (its part of Flylady's Swish & Swipe but i prefer to do the toilet and sink at night while my son is in the bath)

• 6.15am Make cup of tea, Shower, Moisturise, Get dressed to shoes

• 7am Master A up, Check nappy, Breakfast

• 7.30am Teeth, Hair, Check Kitty Litter, Feed Cats, Hang laundry out

• 8am Wash breakfast dishes, Tidy kitchen, Sweep kitchen

• 9am Walk for a hour, leave 8.45am

• Brush Cleo & clean eyes, Check rabbits & garden

• 2 bottles of water before lunch

• 5 min hot spot fire drill

• 5 min pick up in each room

• Steralise change table, Put dry clothes away, Smudge Check (what I like to call getting rid of handprints and puppy nose prints around the house)

• 2 bottles of water before dinner

• 5pm Dinner

• 6pm Master A bath

• Sink & toilet S&S

• 7pm Master A bedtime

•  Put load of laundry and dishwasher on

• What's for lunch? What's for dinner?

• 7.30pm Dr Who (I'm a Dr Who fan only got hooked a few weeks ago)

• 8.30pm Me time (blog, FB, emails, reading, recorded tv shows)

• Check calander, birthdays and launch pad for tomorrow

• 9.30pm Bed 

Disclaimer: Of course days where nothing goes to plan happens and especially having a baby will throw everything in to chaos. But if I have a rough plan of attack I can start to tick things off and it answers the hubbys dreaded question..." What have you been doing today?" I always seem to go blank even though i know iv been busy -.-

Weekly

Mon- Clean car & purse
empty & clean rubbish, recycling bins
Shine mirrors, door knobs, taps & clean light panels
Bath Cleo
Change sheets & bath towels

Tues- File Papers
Empty & clean fridge
Clean pet dishes

Wed- Menu plan
Errand day
Vacuum
Call dad

Thur-Baking day
Call nan


Fri- Ironing
Dust
27 Fling Boogie


Sat-Vacuum
Steam mop
Call mum

Sun-Rest

Also each week I will concentrate on one area for the week, then the next week another area so over the month the house will get a good clean.

Zone 1- Entance, Living room and Garden

Zone 2- Kitchen and Dinning Room

Zone 3- Bedrooms

Zone 4- Office, Laundry and Bathroom


My Control Journal also has things like;

• things i am procrastinating on
• Garden ideas
• Blog & Facebook page ideas
• Monthly, quarterly, half yearly and yearly to-dos

What I do when I'm having a bad day

I'm having a sad, bad day today. Instead of feeling miserable all day I decided to do something about it. Hellooo new blog post :)

Bad days happen to everyone, no one can be happy 24/7, 365 days a year. It may be something or nothing that has made you angry, sad, frustrated, dissapointed or whatever feeling you are feeling.

But you still have to get up and do the mummy, housewife & work (if you work outside the home as well) jobs while trying to not let your bad mood effect your kids, other half and colleagues.

These are the steps I take to lift my mood:

1- Accept your mood:

Fighting a bad mood and not dealing with your feelings only prolongs it and frustrates you. I know beacuse today i tried ignoring it and i felt worse for it. I allowed myself to have a 15 minute Pity Party woe is me! Had a good cry, sometimes a good cry just makes you feel better I don't know why it just does. And it helps to remember that this feeling will pass. Also it helps me to warn my husband when i'm having a bad day and all i have to say is, "i'm not sure why i feel like this, i'm just having a bad day." for him to leave it at that.

2- Change your viewpoint

• Will this matter in five years?
• Who cares?
• What can i learn from this?
• What is the silver lining (the positives) in the situation?

If a situation or person has made you upset it is helpful to write out what you are going to say before you actually say it to make sure your standing up for yourself but not stepping on other peoples feelings and making them feel like you feel, as tempting as it is, it is much nicer to be the bigger person. And it lets you say everything you want to say in the one moment. Nothing worse than saying what your piece then five minutes later thinking "Darn!! I wanted to say that and this!" Its so much better to say everything at once then it will hopefully be over and done with.

And remember you can't change other people but you can change your perception of the situation. If someone cuts you off in traffic, instead of thinking "what a jerk!" and fuming all the way to work or  to the park. Think what if they were in a emergency and had to rush to get to the hospital? It may not be true and they may just be a jerk but they are gone and haven't even noticed you and its not making you feel any better fuming and getting cranky.

3- List all the things you appreciate and are thankful for, often called a gratitude journal. But you don't have to have a journal whatever you feel more comfortable with. Re-read it when you are having a bad day and try to remember to add things that made you smile throughout the day

4-Write down or keep a journal of inspirational quotes. I had a lovely list on my computer, my poor computer died and went to electronic heaven and I lost all my quotes, sometimes paper is best!

5-Have a Pick Me Up Jar

I used a little box my step mum gave me to keep my little slips of paper in, each one has a little something nice that is easy to do. If you have nice paper around you can use that or decorate a old jar with some fabric or paint. Whatever will make you smile when you look at it.

Here is my list, i am sure i'l keep adding to it and the things that fill my tank up and make me happy may not be the same for you and that is ok, add your own things that make you happy.

• snuggle in bed with a book
• snuggle the baby, hopefully he wants to have a cuddle most times hes to busy getting into everything
• bake a cake
• a pedicure or manicure and new nail polish
• cuddle the dog or cat- studies have shown petting animals lowers blood pressure
• burn scented candles or your favorite essential oil
• take a bubble or milk bath
• bring in flowers 
• have screen free time
• read your favourite magazine
• go for a 30 minute brisk walk, bundle the baby into the stroller and let those endorphin's out!
• watch a funny movie, I think il start a list of funny movies to stock up on
• Remember to BREATH
• watch the sunset
• drop something from your schedule
• look at old photos and reminisce
• wear your favorite piece of  jewelry or clothing, I have a lovely electric blue pair of slipper socks with white wild threads, my lovely neighbor knitted me.
• Read your favourite, uplifting blog
• Wear your favourite perfume or piece of jewellery or outfit
• Blow bubbles outside
• If you can, put a hammock in your garden or on your patio, nothing like having a 15 minute swing.
•  Have a nap

• If overwhelmed, make a list of all the things you need to do and do the easiest first
• Make sure you eat and drink properly. You need to fuel your body 

Week 3 SYL: Family Mission Statement

I have a lot to catch up in regards to SYL challenge I hope to do two weeks a day, but with a 10 month old i know not to be to hard on myself if i don't achieve this goal. Remember- it doesnt matter how slow you go, so long as you do not stop <3
This week is all about your family mission statement, I used http://wwwfranklincovey.com/msb/ to help with mine.
Our Family Mission Statement:
As a family we are at our best when we communicate with each other.We will try to prevent times when we add to each others stress.We will find more time and more activites to do outside as a family.We will help each other by using constructive cristicisim.We will help others by volunteering and getting to know others in the community.We will stop procrastinationg and start planning more family activites.We weill be viewed as a family that loves each other and who try our best to help others and the community, that our house is always open to others and we always have a kind word to say.We will fill our home with LOVE.We will make choices and decisions based on: kindess, honesty, love and service to others and the environment.We will constantly renew ourselves by focusing on:

• drinking 2L of water a day

• walking 3x a week and taking the dogs to the park 3x a week

• try a new physical experinece a month

• being open to other religions and researching them before judging them

• Do brain teasers, play board games together once a week and read a book together every night

• catching up with friends and family or ring them once a week and we will surround ourselves with positiveness and look for the silver lining in every bad situation.

We envision success for each family member:Mummy: Being able to stay at home, having more children, being involved in the community and surrounding myself with friends and family and living in a lovely home with a self sufficient garden with more than enough to share with others.Daddy: A Registered Nurse who wont have to work as hard and can spend more time with his family and gets a little fitterAshton: a polite and helpful 10 year old who is happy and healthy and who can do anything he sets his mind to.
Have a great day! <3

SYL wk2 My Values

Simplify Your Life Week 2:

What are your values? What do you stand for?

I value:

• Family and my animals...nicknamed The Zoo by friends
• Sustainability: I don't want to add to the worlds problems, I want to live simply and teach my son about the joys of sustainability.
• Peace, Calm and trying to live Stress free: The first step is to declutter my house, I have started this by re-starting Flylady.  http://www.flylady.net/ Yesterday I created My Control Journal: a handbook for the way your house runs, every ones is different as no household or person is the same. Mine is in a A4 folder, the flimsy kind and it sits in the middle of my dinning table so I see it when i first get up instead of ignoring it
• Love: Creating strong bonds with my family, neighbours and friends
• Fun: Making sure I have fun with my family and not be so serious and grown up all of the time
• Positivity: Life is what you make it, what you see in others is what you want to see. I try to see the silver lining of every situation and to take deep breaths sometimes when it is hard to see the silver lining.
• My community and the people who try so hard to make things better.

<3 Melissa

My new blog direction & simplify your life challange wk1

so this is my 14th, maybe (iv lost count) attempt at blogging lol. Me and blogging has never lasted more than a month but i have had this niggling, nagging thought in the back of my mind these past few weeks that I should start to blog again so I turned to trusty Google about blogging and I read,

"There are a lot of bloggers on the web already. If you want to attract readers, you are going to need to establish your credibility. Don't just blog about anything. Pick a topic you are are passionate about. Something that you have lots of experience with."

http://www.howtostartablog.org/

Honestly, I dont have much experiance about sustainablility or being a mother, I feel like most days i just wing it. But this is something I am passionate about, so I am halfway there.

My mum always used to tell me, "if you are not quaking in your boots, its not important enough."

And I believe this, I hovered and nearly clicked on FB create a page five or six times... my heart in my throat and feeling like a needed to put my head between my legs very nearly overtaking me.  Why was i so nervous this time around? I had tried blogging before and never felt like this? And then I realised!

Because it is important to me.


I can't promise I will be a amazing, funny or witty blog. I'm only starting out and its all a bit double dutch to me. But passion for what you are writing in must account for something and i hope you will catch a little of my passion for yourself. Not necessarily about sustainability or the other things that may creep in, but I hope you find a passion in your own life, because really, what is life without something to be passionate about?

I will also be following Deb from home life simplified, although i do have a little catching up to do due to no internet while we moved.

Her first post asks you to think about what went right for you in 2011...http://www.homelifesimplified.com.au/52-weeks-to-simplify-your-life-syl-week-1/

So what went right for me in 2011?

• I got married in January was a amazing day, everything i had dreamed :)
• I had my beautiful, healthy, amazing son Ashton :)
• I was very lucky and became a stay at home mummy thanks to hubby being able to support us :)
• Moving in with family made me realise how much i love my independance and own space, we moved back into our little house in Feb and it is amazing the amount of clutter we let go of and how different our house feels