Daily Lists & Negative Conversations

This week I started to make lists of the things I planned to do the following day - what's for tea, appointments, plans for walks and activities with the kids, housework, etc. It works!! I have never made better time and felt more mentally tidy than I have this week. I have no idea why I didn't do this sooner because it's something I used to do every single day at my workplace when I was working full time. It should come naturally to me to bring over these time management and organisation techniques, but for some reason, they don't mentally transfer to my new job as a homemaker. It's irritating!

Well, last night I forgot to make my list as I have been doing, but then I woke up to Laura's latest 52 weeks of organising post which tells us to,

"Make a commitment to spend at least 10-15 minutes every evening preparing for the next day and maintaining your home.  Put misplaced items back into their places, make your list of tasks needed to be done, what’s on the menu, what activities need to be arranged?  Set yourself up for success in this way and watch how powerful and in control you will feel…well most of the time anyway :)"

What perfect timing! I really needed this reminder and kick up the backside and somehow by someone else telling me that's what I should be doing it affirmed to me that I was on the right track and the idea that I had to do it in the first place was a good one that should be continued. 

This week is about negative conversations and I must admit that unfortunately, I fall prey to these almost daily. I try very hard to become the efficient domestic goddess I know I am capable of being, but when I fall behind due to crippling procrastination I always end up bashing myself. "Why bother, you'll not end up sticking to it?" "No one else takes it seriously so you're fighting a losing battle all on your own!" "It's the same crap, different day. What's the point?"

Sound familiar? I just want to prove to myself that I can be organised and follow it through, and so far this blog does seem to be helping me to do that. I feel accountable to my precious 5 followers and the people who have left wonderful comments so far. I owe it to my anonymous daily visitors who would give an almighty eye-roll and a tut if I were to suddenly quit. It might be just a slight blip of a disappointment to them, but it would be a mighty shame to me. I want to do this.

Negative conversations can sod off! I am accountable, dependable and will follow through. I pledge to blog my journey throughout this shake-up of domestic systems, and will lead you through my home in all it's cluttered disarray, leaving efficiently organised storage and neatly lined rows of beautiful containers as we go.

So how silly will I feel now if I fail?

I won't! Because I'll not fail you bloglanders!

Okay, now, my list is nothing fancy. I gather together the various source materials I need to reference. Those are the previous day's list, my motivated mum's list of household chores, diary and notebook. The list is just written on scrap paper. I'll put on the day in case I forget which day it actually is. Wouldn't be the first time! I usually put what we're having for tea at the top of the page under the date and everything else underneath.

Simple but effective!

Once this becomes a habit in about a month I might switch to putting it into a notebook instead, but for the time being I stick the list into the front of the big unit so I can't miss it.