Day Two: Planning and Prep

Checklist:

Dishes:
when I got up?
weeeeell. OK. A couple of hours after I woke up, but still before brunch.

after breakfast?
no.

after lunch?
YES. Just now. So I could say so.

(last night)
after supper?
Yes, yes, yes. I had to bribe my son to dry a rack-full for me, so I could finish every last one, and hubby was waiting for me to join him in the living room for a video--but I did it! (I even took a second and swept the floor. Yay me.)

Laundry: Day off! Hooray.

This is new to me actually. I used to just keep doing it in perpetuity--one load a day, some days more, some days (many days) less. But I like this--even though it nearly killed me yesterday--not only do I get a day off, but I now know to gather up all the towels and kitchen linens and give them a quick wash on Saturday! Otherwise, I look at the towels in the bathroom and wonder when they were last cleaned.

Made Bed?
Yes. 3pm still counts!
Just out of curiosity: how often do you change the sheets?


Sunday is the day of the week I take to plan. Today, as it is the first Sunday of the month, has almost too much to figure out!

1. Menus.

I plan my suppers for the whole month on the weekend before the first Tuesday of the month so we can stock up and save on meat and pantry items--our local stores offer 10% off the entire grocery bill. I wrote out how I do that here. I will take both today and tomorrow to work on this.

I've been meaning to change over to an on-line version of this for ages. The ones on my list to check out include:

Monthly Meal Planner
Kitchen Monki
How Does She Do It
Shop'n'Cook and
Ziplist.

The key is to find a program which not only lets me create my own recipes to generate the shopping list, but also lets me upload everything I've already typed out into the computer already and lets me import from other recipe sites. That--and the ability to combine those ten cloves of garlic from those ten different recipes into one line item instead of ten. Some of you might want an app for your phone so you can access the list from anywhere. I'm still a Luddite when it comes to cell phones, so I'm spared figuring that out!

2. Projects for October.

There are two HUMONGOUS house projects scheduled for this month--both for the week my husband has off. Plus, I have a few to complete from September.

Done! I wrote it all up in this post this morning.
What I haven't done, I just realised, is figured out exactly when I will work on these (and other) projects. For example: should I work on the slip cover all in one day? Or should I do a bit here and there?

3. Plan and prepare homeschooling for the week.

I have one student: my 13 year old son. I need to mark his stuff (though I don't like doing it on a "day off.") I have no idea where his stuff is, either. I hope it's all in that pile up there somewhere.

It was!


We're back on track. I hate doing this--and I feel so great when the schedule is done. There's both relief and a sense of feeling ready to go. I like it. Procrastination just prolongs the yucky feeling--and makes the good feeling take longer to arrive. Huh. I've never thought of it that way before.

4. Plan lunches for this week.

I know, I know, but my daughter goes to school and my hubby goes to work and I am watching my weight and my son doesn't like what I eat, so there's four different lunches to think about five days a week and it's all so much to figure out I think my head will explode.