One thing I have always heard is that consistency is key and apparently this isn't only true for parenting but also for cleaning. I have been using my new Excel sheet for cleaning and have noticed a great improvement. My motivation has increased since I am finally able to keep up with the ever dreaded laundry and dishes. Since I have been doing so well sticking to my schedule I rewarded myself by paying the babysitter to watch K and R on my day off so I could spend some quality time in the nursery and making progress in other areas of the house. I cleaned off kitchen cupboards, put all of the baby bottles in their cabinet, finished packing my bag and washed up all of the new baby clothes.
I also have tried to include K and R in becoming more helpful when it comes to cleaning up their messes. We have started having them throw away their trash and put their dishes in the sink after meals. I also ask them to pick up their toys before I even go cook lunch or dinner. They are also responsible for putting their clothes in their laundry basket, helping me sort laundry and matching socks.
K believes that she is getting too old for naps now that she will be turning 3, so I have definitely been putting her to work. She made all of her own birthday invitations today and helped me sort out the baby's clothes into her drawers. I cannot wait to put the finishing touches on the nursery and am excited to post our before and after pictures.
Tuesday, February 5, 2013
Sunday, February 3, 2013
Preschool Schedule
As we are starting to dip our toe into the waters of homeschooling, I am trying to plan the smoothest way to make this transition without the girls having a whole new adjustment all at one time. I have been thinking about the current routine that we have in place and realized that it is not really conducive to beginning this homeschooling adventure, so I sat down to think about what was missing. I also noticed that we are having an over abundance of television throughout our day because it is hard for me to get housework done when the girls are awake. This is our new schedule that I am going to begin to implement while I am home with the girls, starting on Monday:
7:00 AM-7:45 AM: Breakfast, pick up dishes, wash table
7:45 AM-8:00 AM: Wash hands, brush teeth, wash face
8:00 AM-8:15 AM: Get dressed, put pajamas in laundry (if necessary)
8:15 AM-8:30 AM: Start a load of laundry (girl hand me clothes from the dirty clothes basket)
8:30 AM-9:00 AM: Circle Time (calendar, weather, review shape/color/letter of the week or month, sing a song and read a book)
9:00 AM-9:45 AM: Free Play (play with what ever they want)
9:45 AM-10:00 AM: Clean up toys from free play
10:00 AM-11:00 AM: Play outside (weather permitting- if it is too cold or rainy we will do a gym activity inside such as dancing, musical chairs, follow the leader or go somewhere in the community where they can be active)
11:00 AM-11:45 AM: Lunch, pick up dishes, wash table
11:45 AM-12:00 PM: Wash hands, go potty
12:00 PM- 2:30 PM: Naptime (I will do dishes, sweep kitchen, put laundry in the drier and complete other chores designated for that day)
2:30 PM- 2:45 PM: Potty time
2:45 PM-3:30 PM: Snack time, pick up dishes, wash table
3:30 PM-3:45 PM: Wash hands
3:45 PM-4:45 PM: Play outside (weather permitting)/Craft or errands
4:45 PM-5:00 PM: Potty time
5:00 PM-5:45 PM: Dinner time, pick up dishes, clean table
5:45 PM- 6:15 PM: Bath time
6:15 PM-6:30 PM: Jammies
6:30 PM-7:00 PM: Snack and educational TV show/cuddle time
7:00 PM-7:15 PM: Read a book
7:15 PM-7:30 PM: Potty time, brush teeth
7:30 PM: Tuck in to bed! Good night
7:00 AM-7:45 AM: Breakfast, pick up dishes, wash table
7:45 AM-8:00 AM: Wash hands, brush teeth, wash face
8:00 AM-8:15 AM: Get dressed, put pajamas in laundry (if necessary)
8:15 AM-8:30 AM: Start a load of laundry (girl hand me clothes from the dirty clothes basket)
8:30 AM-9:00 AM: Circle Time (calendar, weather, review shape/color/letter of the week or month, sing a song and read a book)
9:00 AM-9:45 AM: Free Play (play with what ever they want)
9:45 AM-10:00 AM: Clean up toys from free play
10:00 AM-11:00 AM: Play outside (weather permitting- if it is too cold or rainy we will do a gym activity inside such as dancing, musical chairs, follow the leader or go somewhere in the community where they can be active)
11:00 AM-11:45 AM: Lunch, pick up dishes, wash table
11:45 AM-12:00 PM: Wash hands, go potty
12:00 PM- 2:30 PM: Naptime (I will do dishes, sweep kitchen, put laundry in the drier and complete other chores designated for that day)
2:30 PM- 2:45 PM: Potty time
2:45 PM-3:30 PM: Snack time, pick up dishes, wash table
3:30 PM-3:45 PM: Wash hands
3:45 PM-4:45 PM: Play outside (weather permitting)/Craft or errands
4:45 PM-5:00 PM: Potty time
5:00 PM-5:45 PM: Dinner time, pick up dishes, clean table
5:45 PM- 6:15 PM: Bath time
6:15 PM-6:30 PM: Jammies
6:30 PM-7:00 PM: Snack and educational TV show/cuddle time
7:00 PM-7:15 PM: Read a book
7:15 PM-7:30 PM: Potty time, brush teeth
7:30 PM: Tuck in to bed! Good night
Saturday, February 2, 2013
Onto February- Budget update
So January has come to a close and my husband and I were reviewing our budget like we usually do and we realized that for the past two months (December and January) there were some categories that we were having a really hard time staying within the set amount. Some of these areas were: blow money, baby, other, eating out, Target, Sam's Club, etc. so we discussed our goals for paying off our debt and the purpose of sticking to the numbers we had chosen to put in our budget. Then we discuss whether they were realistic or not. We made a few modifications but also decided that we are going to use a strict envelope system.
I had heard about an envelope system before from some people but never thought it would ever be something we needed to do. But, my husband does get cash tips from his part-time job and we were finding that it was easy to spend this cash even though it was already put into our budget, which was not only causing overspending in some areas but discrepancies in others. So we calculated what our estimate (on the low end) of his monthly tips will be and then chose which areas were appropriate for using cash. I then made up an envelope for each category and labeled how much cash goes into each envelope. For example, my eating out is labeled "EATING OUT- $40". Then I got out our stash of cash that was a mixture of his left over tips from January that hadn't been spent, money from selling some thing we had not been using and left over Christmas money. I then filled up each envelope with the predetermined amount and set them aside to use when February began.
Now that February has begun we have decided that any cash that comes into our house through tips, selling things, birthday money (for us- not the kids), etc. will be put aside for the envelope system. We will then divide up the cash on February 28th into the respective envelopes for March and any "left over" cash will be cash that is above what was in our budget and will go into a separate envelope to be deposited into our bank account quarterly and put directly onto debt.
The final change that we had to make for this month was adding new categories and redistributing money. We noticed that an excessive amount of money was going to the "OTHER" category so we wrote down all of the expenses and tried to find similar items. From this we found that we needed to add a category for the oldest two children for clothes as they are now in sizes that we have not been able to "stock up" on. We have continued to keep our "OTHER" category but will keep a running list in our notebook of the "OTHER" purchase and continue to look for patterns so we can add new categories as necessary.
I had heard about an envelope system before from some people but never thought it would ever be something we needed to do. But, my husband does get cash tips from his part-time job and we were finding that it was easy to spend this cash even though it was already put into our budget, which was not only causing overspending in some areas but discrepancies in others. So we calculated what our estimate (on the low end) of his monthly tips will be and then chose which areas were appropriate for using cash. I then made up an envelope for each category and labeled how much cash goes into each envelope. For example, my eating out is labeled "EATING OUT- $40". Then I got out our stash of cash that was a mixture of his left over tips from January that hadn't been spent, money from selling some thing we had not been using and left over Christmas money. I then filled up each envelope with the predetermined amount and set them aside to use when February began.
Now that February has begun we have decided that any cash that comes into our house through tips, selling things, birthday money (for us- not the kids), etc. will be put aside for the envelope system. We will then divide up the cash on February 28th into the respective envelopes for March and any "left over" cash will be cash that is above what was in our budget and will go into a separate envelope to be deposited into our bank account quarterly and put directly onto debt.
The final change that we had to make for this month was adding new categories and redistributing money. We noticed that an excessive amount of money was going to the "OTHER" category so we wrote down all of the expenses and tried to find similar items. From this we found that we needed to add a category for the oldest two children for clothes as they are now in sizes that we have not been able to "stock up" on. We have continued to keep our "OTHER" category but will keep a running list in our notebook of the "OTHER" purchase and continue to look for patterns so we can add new categories as necessary.
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