Around the House

Photos of Christmas Decorations

2010-12-16T19:05:00.000-08:00

Pumpkins

2010-10-09T12:01:00.000-07:00

Fall Decorating

2010-09-27T09:49:00.000-07:00

See Foxtales for more pictures here, here and here.

Linda

Summer Arrangement

2010-06-21T10:22:00.001-07:00

Sorry it's been a while since I posted here. I've been so happy with the way things look that I haven't wanted to change it. I finally got bored and decided to rearrange the room, but keep my decor. I decided for summer I wanted it to look a little more casual, not so lined up, so I pulled the furniture more into the center of the room away from the windows a little and just sort of made a circle. I pulled the white shelves I have to the place behind the loveseat so it's the first thing you see when you come in. I feel it gives a summery look.

The second picture is where I have my quiet time in the morning.

Photos of Puttering

2010-05-18T19:09:00.000-07:00

The first 3 are to tops of my kitchen cabinets. I took down the country stuff I had up there and tried to do something cleaner and with my kitchen color scheme.

The next one is a bunch of hydrangeas in my bathroom. I cleared off most of the stuff from the counter and just have a few chosen items out.

The last one is in the guest room. These sunflowers were taken off the top of the cabinets in the kitchen. For fake I think they look pretty good. Unfortunately I can't have real flowers in my house.

Housekeeping Book Pt 13 Dividers

2010-04-27T08:25:00.000-07:00

I added dividers to my book so I can find things easier. Here are the sections and what they are for. There are 14.

My mission statement and goals
Schedules and routines
Cleaning recipes and tips
Deep cleaning zones and list of chores
Decluttering tips
To Do Lists
Phone numbers
Rituals
Puttering ideas
Wish List
Journaling
Articles
Printable forms
Decorating ideas

I think I'm going to work with these and see how it goes. Kitchen and food things have there own book. This book really is focused on housekeeping.

Linda

Housekeeping Book Pt 13-Printables

2010-04-24T10:16:00.000-07:00

Organize Your Way has a couple of printables up that I'm going to add to my book and if you follow the link there are more. I've printed up several to try. I think they just make a list look neater, but of course you don't need them or you could make your own.

I'm trying the daily and weekly action plan sheets and also the address sheet for my service provider numbers. I also printed up the master to do list, a weekly menu plan that is by the meal rather than the day, and the daily to do list.

I also printed up the medical info sheet, but I'm not putting it in my housekeeping book. I want to keep this book just about housekeeping as much as possible and I want to do a health info book. I'm the queen of the binders, a binder for every interest. lol

Linda

Housekeeping Book Pt12-More Decluttering Help

2010-04-24T09:41:00.000-07:00

I found another post about decluttering that I think is very helpful, so I'm printing it up and adding it to my housekeeping book. It's from Get Organized Wizard

It talks about letting go of things that represent our past when it is just too much and collections we no longer are interested in. These are two areas I want to work on. I still have stuffed toys and knic knacks that I don't really have room for and they are cluttering up my book shelves in the Children's Library. I would like to make that area look more grown up. My gd's are not little anymore. I also have some country decor that is in boxes because I've moved in a different direction, but I've hung on to it because I still like it. It's very hard for me to get rid of this kind of stuff. So I'm thinking maybe I can at least cull it and just keep a few of the best.

Linda

Housekeeping Book-Pt 11 Puttering Ideas

2010-04-23T17:43:00.001-07:00

I want to start a list of puttering ideas. I just posted two on Foxtales here and here, and plan to write them on my list so that I don't lose the ideas. I might forget what I did. I plan to add ideas as I think of them or as I do them. I might think of something but not be ready to do it.

As I've been puttering I've been doing a lot of organizing. Brocante Home feels you should clean first and then puttering is adding the touches, but for me puttering often means cleaning also. For me it's going into a room and seeing what needs to be done, not major projects but little things. Changing things up seasonally or just because it's not working or you have a better idea.

Linda

Housekeeping Book Pt 10- Decluttering Questions

2010-04-18T13:06:00.000-07:00

I've been doing some decluttering as I putter. I still have trouble actually getting rid of stuff and I saw these questions that I think are pretty good ones. So I'm hoping these will help and I'm printing them off and putting them in my housekeeping book.

Linda

Housekeeping Book Pt 9-Phone Numbers

2010-04-16T08:14:00.000-07:00

When I was making my Master To Do List I started with those maintenance jobs like having the roof cleaned. I want to have a list of who I've used before and their phone numbers and what it cost last time. Also places I call for repairs like a plumber. So I'm going to get together than information and add a page to my housekeeping book for it. This list could be used for other things but for me personally this is the information I think would be useful. I have another address book for personal phone numbers.

I could also add phone numbers for the telephone company and other utilities along with my account number. I always have to dig for an old bill to find this information.

Being this list is for house related items my insurance company would be another good one to add.

Another list that might be useful is web addresses of places I order from. I keep them on my laptop, but in case I ever lost the info. it would be nice to have it somewhere else.

Linda

Housekeeping Book Pt 8- Master To Do List

2010-04-15T17:06:00.000-07:00

So my idea of the Master To Do List is to list first all the maintenance jobs like having the roof cleaned of moss and dating when I last had it done. With less money I can't do everything every year now, so it will help me to see actually how long it's been.

After I listed all that stuff I listed chores that I need to do that are not on my weekly or daily lists. I can look at this list each week and pick a few things to do.

I can't decide how I want to handle the deep cleaning or zone chores. I degrease the kitchen fairly often but I would like to know when I last did it and I don't remember. If I could write on this list when I do a chore I could keep better track of these chores. I like checking things off of a list and I think I would do more deep cleaning if I had a check list for each room or a general list that could be use for every room. So I may add that on to this Master To Do List.

In addition to maintenance jobs and deep cleaning there are regular jobs that don't make it on to the daily or weekly lists, the monthly or one time jobs for instance, so those can be put on this list.

Checking this list would be part of my planning session on Sundays. I've never really liked these kinds of lists because they can get too long and too overwhelming. I'd rather wing it, so we will see how it goes. I'm making this list because I want to see what I'm really doing and not be in denial about what I'm not doing, but to be realistic and find solutions.

Linda

Linda

Housekeeping Book Pt 7- Wish List

2010-04-14T08:32:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking I should do one of these for some time. That's one of the things I like about this housekeeping book, it's some place to keep things like this so you can find them.

The idea of the Wish List is to make a list of the things you need or want to purchase. Then when you get the desire to buy something you add it to the list.

You prioritize your list and start working on being able to purchase the most important item. It's suppose to stop you from impulse buying. I suppose there are exceptions, like when you see a killer deal on something on the list.

I think for me, I don't go shopping a lot, it will encourage me to research and figure out what is the best product and where I can get the best deal. Right now a high priority is a mattress. I don't really have any extra money, but my mattress 20+ years old so I think I need to get a new one for my backs sake. I keep procrastinating because I don't know what kind I want, air or regular, or foam.

Anyway I've done my list and hopefully it will motivate me to do my research and not spend money on little things that I don't really need. I also like the idea of being able to write down those things I think I need on the list instead of saying I can't afford it.

Linda

Housekeeping Book Pt 6- Rituals

2010-04-11T09:36:00.000-07:00

I have a binder of print outs from Brocante Home. I printed them up about 5 years ago when she was doing a Vintage housekeeping group. She talks a lot about rituals and I was thinking I would like to have a page in my Housekeeping book of suggestions for rituals.

The first one I though of is afternoon tea. Now I have a cup of tea most afternoons, but what makes it a ritual? I think the tea tray and fancy china is what makes afternoon tea into a ritual as opposed to just having a cup of tea in a mug. So that gave me a clue as to what a ritual is.

It's taking something ordinary and making it something special. Many people retualize their Journaling time or Quiet Time by having a special spot and time, special pens and notebook, their favorite cup and so on. So my next page is going to be ideas for how I can do this and I'm excited to see what I can do.

I started with the afternoon tea. Last year when I was doing my Tasha Tudor posts I started using my tea pot and good china cups, but I get in a rush and don't remember. I decided to help me remember I would put out my tea pot with tea leaves in the bottom ready for hot water on a tray with my china cup, a napkin, sweetener, and a dish for a treat. Then at about 3:30 I will boil the water, put the creamer that is in the frig on the tray and find a treat for my plate. I'm going to make Tuesday my Baking Day and so I will make treats for my afternoon tea on that day. Friday I made shortbread with the almond flour. My dd and gd were coming over and we had afternoon tea together.

Another similar one I thought of is After Dinner Coffee and Dessert. Same idea I put it all on a tray and serve it in the living room. You could add an after dinner cordial. We use to do this when we had company, but why wait for company.

So I'm still looking for rituals that are housekeeping in nature. I think the puttering sort of falls into this catagory. Any ideas?

I'll post my ideas as I come up with them. Look for them here or on my main blog Foxtales

Housekeeping Book Pt 5 Mission Statement

2010-04-09T08:28:00.000-07:00

I've been working on this. I'm not very good at mission statements, but I read at
Inspired to Action about doing one Passionate Homemaking had her as a guest poster. So I've been praying about it and I realized you have to know what you want your home to be, a haven and a place of enrichment and restoration are some of the things I came up with. I realized as I was thinking about this that hospitality is important but I also need to fill my own tank and so my schedule and my home need to reflect that. So my mission statement is-

to make my home a haven, a place of enrichment and restoration, a place that says I love you and care about you, and a place to fill my own tank and to maintain this atmosphere-

this will be the first page of my housekeeping book. One of the purposes of the mission statement is to set goals so that is next.

Just wanted to add this is primarily a housekeeping mission, not a mission for my whole life. You can have more than one mission statement for different parts of your life.
Linda

Housekeeping Book Pt 4- Homemade Cleaning Formula's

2010-04-05T06:49:00.000-07:00

My next page is the formula's that I'm using for my green cleaning. I've started with these and will see how they work.

All Purpose Cleaner-

3 drops (or a splash) of dish soap

2 drops of lavender oil

1/2 c. vinegar

water

Glass Cleaner-

4 to 1 water to vinegar

Lemon Scrub-

Baking Soda

Lemon oil

Tolet Bowl Cleaner-

1/4c. baking soda

1 c. vinegar

Let sit 1 hour and scrub

Lavender spray-

2 c. water

1 tsp. lavender oil

Laundry Soap

1 bar soap grated, ivory, Dr. Bronner's, Felt's

1 cup borax

1 cup washing soda

Use 1 - 2 tabs. per load

The first 3 I got from my dd, she has been doing this for a while. I've tried before, but end up going back to chemicals.

Linda

Housekeeping Book Pt 3 Zones

2010-04-05T06:35:00.000-07:00

Now that I'm looking at my schedule as something I'm aiming at I decided to add Zones. This is a term FlyLady uses for doing deep cleaning. You divide your home into zones and work on one zone each month. I never seem to get to this and have always done the deep cleaning when I rearrange a room, but I would like to be more organized about it and so I'm adding a page to my housekeeping book right behind my schedule with my zones. I'm doing 6 zones so that I can do them two times a year. The sixth zone is garage and porches and I'm only doing it once a year because I want to leave Dec. free of zone work. So here are my zones-

Jan. & July- Office, Powder Room, Laundry
Feb. & Aug.- Master Bedroom and Bath, Guest Bedroom and Bath
Mar. & Sept.- Living Room, Dining Room, Hall
Apr. & Oct.- Craft Room, Children's Library
May & Nov.- Kitchen
June- Garage, Porches

Housekeeping Book Pt 2 Schedule

2010-03-31T14:23:00.000-07:00

Well I looked at my old schedule and what I'm actually doing now and thought about a new schedule. I felt that the old schedule was more than I could do right now, but I decided to keep it as something to aspire to, it's a good schedule and something to work towards.

So I'm putting a copy of it on the front page of my housekeeping book and another copy on my frig. I've checked off the things I'm doing now and determined that I want to work on adding the drinking water to what I'm doing, so that is what I'll be working on. I do better with goals. My weekly schedule is pretty much the same as what I do, it's more that daily schedule that was different.

Some of the things that I think are good in this schedule are

I try to do all the work in the morning
I plan the times I'm going to eat
I have health habits integrated in (drinking water, and exercise)
It includes planning ahead
It includes afternoon tea
It has me time
It's flexible and not overly ambitious really

Schedule here

Housekeeping Book Pt 1 Intro

2010-03-31T11:15:00.000-07:00

Was looking at schedule posted last July here. I wish I could say I was doing all of that. I think that schedule was a bit optimistic but maybe I was in a better place then. Anyway I think it's time to make a new schedule. I wrote a post on main blog about my housekeeping book and plan to work on that book and post changes and additions here. So I'm going to start with a new schedule. I'll post it as soon as I figure it out and add it to my book.

Front Porch Photos

2010-03-18T15:19:00.000-07:00

Finished up porch. Bench unusable because it is broken so I was looking for a solution and this is what I came up with for now. I rearranged the furniture and washed down the floor.

New Photos Upstairs

2010-02-03T10:19:00.000-08:00

The top 2 are the Children's Library, the next 3 are the Guest Room and the last 3 are the Master Bedroom.

Office Closet

2010-01-20T10:21:00.000-08:00

Not so pretty, but nice and tidy. I found new homes for some of the stuff I was keeping in here. As you can see I keep my overflow pantry items in here. Puzzles and tapes I just don't know where to put and so they stayed here. I read the other day that clutter is things without a home. It could also be that an item doesn't have a home because another item that really is clutter is taking it's place. I'm not ready to let go of the puzzles and tapes yet, but I'm not really using them. I think if I find some item that needs a home that might be the motivation to pass these things on to someone else like the Goodwill.

Linda

Rearranged Upstairs Rooms

2010-01-11T12:02:00.000-08:00

So the top 4 photos are the new children's library use to be guest room. The next 2 photos are the new craft/sewing room use to be children's library and the last 2 photos are the new guest room use to be craft/sewing room. I'm not through with these rooms but they are good enough for now I've got other things I need to do. I'm really liking the new spaces though. The old ones weren't working for me for various reasons.

Decluttering and Organization Inspiration

2010-01-05T12:08:00.000-08:00

Inspiration for decluttering and organizing. A 170 sq. ft. studio in NYC here. The photo is her tiny kitchen. She has amazing storage ideas, all custom of course, but it shows me how little a person can live with. I'm off to declutter.

New Arrangement in Living Room and Dining Room

2009-12-29T18:40:00.000-08:00

More Christmas Decorations-Stairs

2009-12-12T16:04:00.000-08:00

More cards. These are not vintage, but some I've had a while.

Christmas Decorations

2009-12-07T17:50:00.000-08:00

Photos of Children's Library

2009-11-14T15:25:00.001-08:00

The swag over the window is a tablecloth with lace fabric tacked up under it. This area is part of the hall area upstairs in between all the bedrooms. I have all my early American history books and collectibles here as well as other children's books from picture books to biographies of children's authors like Beatrix Potter. I also have a small collection of pioneer women books. I love this area. Early American is my favorite time in history to read. I also have books here of American history up to modern times. I think books about Reagan are the latest I go or maybe Bush senior. If I had room I'd have a lot more.

Photos of my Craft Room

2009-10-24T22:02:00.001-07:00

These are pictures my dd took when she helped me redo my craft room. It still looks the same except not as neat.

Photos Library/Office

2009-09-25T10:42:00.001-07:00

Fall Decorations

2009-09-14T18:02:00.000-07:00

The owl and the acorn were both made by my dd.

Linda

More Kitchen Photos

2009-09-05T11:30:00.001-07:00

I'm almost done cleaning. These pictures were taken before I changed my window treatments. These are my frugal window covering, 2 tea cloths and a length of red plaid fabric.

Linda

Pictures kitchen-top of cabinets

2009-08-22T13:28:00.000-07:00

I've been deep cleaning my kitchen. I start with the top of the cabinets and degreased everything. So I'm going to post pictures of my kitchen as I finish up. I'm using the 15 mins. schedule.

Linda

Living Room, Dinning Room Photos

2009-08-11T07:50:00.000-07:00

This is my spring, summer look this year. I wanted to get it photographed before I change it for fall.

Pictures A took of My Bedroom

2009-07-30T09:30:00.001-07:00

Current Schedule

2009-07-25T13:48:00.000-07:00

AM-

get up, dress
make bed
walk
have 2 glasses of water before breakfast
breakfast by 9
prep dinner
clean up kitchen
weeklies
to do list
devotional time 11
lunch by 1
afternoon blog, sew, read, special projects
tea 3-4
prep dinner
dinner by 6

clean up kitchen
think about tomorrows dinner, take something out of freezer
make to do list for tomorrow 5 things
get ready for bed, quiet time
bed by 11

Weeklies

Mon. Laundry, baths, water plants
Tues. Kit. (frig), garbage & recycles out, groc. list
Wens. Pray with Laurie, errands
Thurs. Floors sweep and wash, desk work (bills, filing, shredding, calls)
Fri. Vac & Dust
Sat. special cooking, special projects, catching up
Sun. church

This is working pretty well for me. When I get busy with extra activities it falls apart a bit, but it is easy to get back on track.

Deep cleaning- I'm going to start in the fall doing one room at a time, decluttering as I go and just keep going until I'm done. I'll break during the holidays and than start again in Jan. I would wait and start it in Jan. but I'm wanting to get started. I'm wondering how many months it will take me to finishe. Where is this going to fit into my schedule? Afternoons or Sat. I'm going to use the 15 min. schedule to start and hopefully will be able to work longer after I get use to it.

Why?

2009-07-25T13:38:00.000-07:00

Am I crazy? I love blogs and I've started 5 now. This one is to keep tract of household things, like schedules, planned projects and anything else I can think of. First I'm going to write down my current schedule and projects.