All Things on A List

I'm a system and list girl.

Things seem to flow better that way, especially during football season.

I'm also a procrastinator and a stop and smell the flower kinda girl.

So a list is a must, a system extremely helpful; that is if I implement them both.

A list in my calendar does me no good if I never open the calendar and a system does me no good if I never implement it.

We have a system for dishes, laundry, cleaning the bathroom, homeschool, prayer requests... you name it I have a system list in a notebook somewhere in my house. Oh yes, spiral bound notebooks- my dream. Heaven I am sure will have an unlimited supply of them, in every color. Green for house/finances, purple for spiritual stuff, red for school/learning, black for household things...

oops, I'm getting side-tracked (oh to not be ADHD?)

Anyway,

Dishes:
I don't have a dishwasher and my children just don't cut it when it comes to washing the dishes; Steve works too many hours outside the house to qualify as a dishwasher, so that leaves me and the dog. And let's face it- the dog thinks he's a cat not a human so he's out!

First of all dishes are my pet peeve. I hate doing them, yet I hate seeing them pile up on the counter. So I've come up with 2 systems in the pre-washing stage.

First I have a dish pan that sits under the kitchen sink. This is a good spot to house the dirty bowls and cups and plates that seem to multiply each time I leave the room. This also keeps them out of eyesight.

Second is silverware. I keep a large ice cream tub next to my sink, marked with "Silverware" on it. All dirty utensils go in here and when it's time to actually wash them, I fill the tub up with soapy water- let it sit while I wash the other dishes and when it comes time to do the silverware, viola! it's easy.

So I as I sit here typing this blog, my dishes sit waiting for some attention- perhaps I should now go and wash them. Yes that's the most important part of the whole system: doing it, and in the case of dishes doing them after every meal. Smaller loads are not so overwhelming, are qucik and easy to do and let's face it the longer dirty dishes sit the yuckier they are.

For some great housekeeping tips check out my favorite website for all things clean: www.flylady.net She'll help you get out of CHAOS and Fly to a happier home!

That is of course if you actually implement the systems!

And one last note since I near the sink, a nice litle tub for composte items works nice as well. The kids can definately empty this into the compost pile. Don't compost? That'll have to be another post.

-Michelle
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