• Feb. 8, 2008
Come one! Come all!! A mere $8 will change your life!!
Today I spent $8 with the hope of completely transforming my life. And, I truly believe that my little $8 purchase has all the potential in the world of accomplishing that which I desire. And, what I desire... (aside from a luxurious month-long vacation in a sumptuous villa, fully equipped with maid, butler, masseuse, and professional chef, right on the sands of some remote corner of Hawaii, Costa Rica, the Bahamas--oh, any white sand, clear blue-water, palm tree-laden beach will do) sorry, I'll wake up now...Back to hard, cold reality...what I desire is for my life to be a smooth-running, organizational dream. I so desire that my days will be laid out for me in such a way that I can accomplish the tasks of keeping my house straight, educating my children, preparing our meals without having to take out a loan to pay for the food, getting bills paid on time, being able to find matching socks for just one kid just once during the week, giving time to others, and being able to remember the last place that I left my brain. Yeah, that would be nice. It's really nice to know where I've set my brain down, as it comes in handy from time to time. And so, today I spent $8 for a chore planning system that will prove to be my knight in shining armor. Well, maybe not *shining* armor, as I would probably have to polish it first and I know I don't have time to add "polish armor" to my to do list.
Now what, you may ask, could possibly accomplish all that I desire for a measly little $8? Well, I bought the printable chore organizing system from Motivated Moms. ( http://motivatedmoms.com/ ) And in doing so, I confirmed what I had already suspected and my mother has probably known since I was born. I am a box-checker. Probably a bit of a free-spirited box checker, but a true and bonafide box checker all the same. I delight in planning things out. I love to plan out my next year's curriculum studies. I love to plan out vacations. I love to draw floor-plans. I love to plan out just about anything that can be planned out. The more fun the event, the more exciting it is to plan out. However, planning out chores that need to be done around the house? Well, that's just not as much fun as planning a vacation. And because household chores are jobs of tedious, not to mention overly-repetitious monotony, the planning of said chores also becomes as much of a drudgery as the actual performing of the tasks themselves. Hence, my true need to spend $8 for a handy-dandy little chart where all my chores have been laid out for me for an entire year!! Oh what delight!! What joy!!
So, I have bought and downloaded and printed my delightful choreganizer. I have 3-hole punched each and every page. I have set it up in a notebook. I have read nearly every page for the entire year. I have added the birthdays and anniversaries of both sides of the family to each appropriate date. AND (drumroll please.............................) I have actually completed 3 of the tasks for today's date!! Joyfully, gleefully, and dare I say, giddily!
And why wouldn't it be fun to do my household chores? Someone else has decided what needs to be done today. Someone else has laid it out and organized it into a page that send shivers of joy up my spine. I did not need to have my brain in hand to figure out what jobs I should tackle today. Best of all, someone has given me adorable little boxes to check off when each job has been completed. Today I swept my front porch. It's been bothering me for about 2 weeks because it's really been needing a good sweeping. Today it got one! Today I changed the sheets on my bed. That's been bothering me too because everyday I keep meaning to change them, but I get busy with other things and then it becomes time to slide between them before I fall unconscious somewhere else in the house. My dishwasher got emptied and refilled, eagerly awaiting a few more companion dishes for the wash tonight. I got some laundry done, so I don't get backed up with 60 loads again (not so sure my sister-in-law will come to my rescue a second time!) And best of all, the dogs actually got fed today! They usually get fed (I think), although they're definitely fat enough that they could probably live off their own fat-stores for a month before you could tell they actually needed to be fed. But, because the box got checked, I know FOR SURE that they got fed. (Now maybe we won't keep refilling their food bowls 4 times a day!!)
It feels great! It feels wonderful. I did not do an enormously thorough deep cleaning of my entire house today. I just did 3 or 4 things. But, I KNOW that I did them. I know that tomorrow my handy-dandy little list will give me about 5 or 6 more things to do and they will get done. In time, maybe my house will be straighter and more organized than it is today. Maybe I will be able to find the blue sock with pink polka-dots that matches the other blue sock with pink polka-dots so that my daughter can wear them both at the same time instead of one blue sock with pink polka-dots on one foot and one green sock with grinning monkey faces on the other. And maybe, just MAYBE, this list will help me to keep track of where I keep leaving my brain. What do you think? Have I just totally and completely deceived myself into thinking that my little $8 just bought the savior of my little household's world? Yeah, that's what I thought!
Comments
• Feb. 9, 2008
<em>Untitled Comment</em>
Posted by usshomeschooler
I hear you on planning. I love it. Your post could have been mine. Except for the buying an organizer for it. I still shy away from anything that is supposed to make me more organized. Vanity here. Sometimes I like losing my brain (it's actually been gone since chemo treatments in 04) then I have an excuse for why it didn't get done. Please don't tell my husband about your organizer. He'll want me to get more than one. Janemyway.
Edited by usshomeschooler on Feb. 9, 2008 at 8:05 AM
• Feb. 14, 2008
Untitled Comment
Posted by debbiecorley
Yowsa! I'm gonna get me one of those! :-) Thanks for the tip!
• Feb. 17, 2008
WOWZA!
Posted by donna2238
I am planning on ordering this! I am the epitomy of a list person. We have used chore lists for years, but this is WAY better than any that I have seen or used....and there is a LOT on my list:0).
So, how has your chore list been going? Does that porch need sweeping again???
Enjoy the day! i am home with a sick little boy listening to Ravi Zacharias!
