Happy Halloween

Hope you had a great night. Here are my two darlings dressed up.

 

My daughter went out with hubby. My son got to help give out chocolate bars. Some kids wanted to come in and play with him. :)

And here are the cookies my daughter took to school today. We made them over the weekend so she could enjoy them with her class. 

 

October's Project: The Basement

So I have been working away in the basement, a little at a time. I've made some great progress. Unfortunately tomorrow ends October and I won't be done. My kids got sick and were home for a week. I had no time for extra stuff that week. Now I've been trying to catch up and other things have started. Not making excuses, but facing reality. My sister and I do all our Christmas baking together and started this past week. Tomorrow is Halloween then Wednesday is my son's birthday. Lots of added stuff but I'm hoping to get done the basement in the next week or two. Hubby is happy that I've been making an effort. I told him tonight that I'm hoping to get it done soon. There will be a pile of garbage for him to get hauled away (which I'm quite happy about) and I'm also trying to sell a few kids items that are still in good shape but my kids have outgrown. All good for sure!

Christmas is right around the corner

Sorry to give you bad news, but Christmas will before you know it. It's supposed to be one day but it never is. There are parties to go to and in-laws to visit, plus all the other things that go along with these events, like shopping and decorating.

So how do we survive? Start now!!! Start your plan - what is important to you, what are your traditions, are there any new things you want to do this year, who do you have to shop for, how much can you afford to spend. I'm sure there is more you can add, but the point is to start thinking about what your Holiday Season will entail. It helps to get organized and start your plan.

I've already started thinking about the holidays. My sister and I usually do baking together and spread it over the months of November and December. She reminded me a couple of weeks ago that we should get rolling on our baking. (Sometimes the early arrival of these holiday surprise me.) So we've started discussing and came up with our baking list. We're going over the ingredients and amounts we need. That gives us time to do shopping and start our baking next time we're together.

Now to get on with the rest of my Holiday planning.........

The Key to Cleaning

So I was upstairs trying to clean the bathroom (I always delay cleaning it as it's upstairs and doesn't get used too much) and thinking at the same time. I am not a big fan of cleaning but don't mind doing a little every day - for the most part, anyways. While I was working on the bathroom, I realized that there is one key to cleaning - clutter free rooms. "OMG! She said it!!!" Yes people. Don't get upset now, but that really is the key to fast cleaning. No one wants to spend all day cleaning anything (at least no one I know). What if your cleaning could be uninhibited?

My neighbour's girlfriend worked as a hotel housekeeper. Did you know they only have 30 minutes to clean each suite? That's right, 30 minutes to strip and remake the beds, vacuum, dust and clean the bathrooms. But how can they get it done that fast? There isn't any clutter.

Now we all have clutter, but I'm working at getting clutter-free rooms one at a time. The upstairs bathroom is used by my son and I to get ready in the morning and a night so there isn't too much stuff in there. Still though, there is some clutter. The few items I leave on the back of the toilet I need to find a basket for. That will speed up cleaning. :) The only other things are soap, glass, toothbrush and toothpaste around the sink, basket of toilet paper on the floor along with the scale, garbage can and toilet cleaning tools. That isn't too much, but if everything is lift-able in one hand so I can swipe with the other hand it will definitely speed things up.

Now what room to attack next.....

The October Basement Project

So hubby has said he's going to start on the basement soon. I CAN'T WAIT!!! It would be so nice to have the extra space in our tiny little home. I recently moved our (soon to be 2) son's crib into our 5-year-old daughter's room. They go to bed at the same time and it's working out pretty well. However, this can't last forever. So the basement needs to get completed....

The major problem with the basement is that we've been using it for storage for the last 5 years. In order to help my hubby out, I said I would finish going through the stuff down there and clear some space for him to start working on floors, walls and cupboards. Here are some before pictures. The first two is the area that needs to be cleared out and moved down to the end. The last picture is the stuff I've already gone through, pared down and has been re-stacked.

I've gotten some storage containers but really need to get a few more. I would like to see everything I'm going to keep in plastic rather than cardboard boxes. Some of the stuff is more transitional still - stuff the kids will use and grow out of soon.

My plan is to spend at least 15 minutes down there each week day. Even with the busy week I've had I still managed to do 30 minutes and 40 minutes this week so far. Still need to get down there today....