One Bite

One Bite at a Time: Project 22 {Declutter (and Rotate) Your Children’s Toys}

March 19, 2012 By Sheila Leave a Comment

Project 22, Declutter (and Rotate) Children’s Toys, is another one of those projects that I think need to be done over and over and over again.

I’ve decluttered the toys, and separated them into boxes that can be easily rotated. And it all works well, for a few days, or weeks even. And then slowly I realize that the toy explosion has taken over the play room again and the rotation has stopped rotating so it’s time to get it going again.

That doesn’t even take into account the endless influx of toys thanks to birthdays and holidays and general grandparent generosity, so it really is a neverending project to keep the toys under control.

And that’s ok, because the toy rotation thing? It works. The boy is so delighted to see some of those toys again after they’ve been put away for a week or two, and he plays much better when he has a more limited amount to choose from. Plus cleanup? Is so much nicer when everything he owns isn’t strewn across the house.

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.

Buffer

Filed Under: One Bite, Organizing

One Bite at a Time: Project 21 {Organize Your Files}

March 12, 2012 By Sheila Leave a Comment

Project 21, Organize Your Files, goes along so well with Project 17, Create an Essential Papers File, that working on the latter helped with the former.

And actually, our move last year helped quite a bit with this project too. As I got ready for us to move I worked very hard on purging the papers that had accumulated in the house. We had the file cabinet space so I hadn’t worried about culling things regularly until I thought about having to move those papers. The thought of having to carry it all was very motivating!

I’m still working through a bit of a backlog of papers that piled up post-baby and post-move, but overall I feel like creating the essential papers file was the main thing I needed to do related to my files, and other than that it’s just maintenance.

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.

Buffer

Filed Under: One Bite, Organizing

One Bite at a Time: Project 20 {Plan In Advance For Holidays}

March 5, 2012 By Sheila Leave a Comment

Project 20, Plan in Advance for Holidays, is another one that’s fairly easy for me to address.

We just don’t do all that much for any holidays. I already have a line in our budget for birthdays and Special Occasions (my catch-all category for any Holiday or other rare event spending), so the money aspect is handled. I keep a running Amazon wish list for the kids with ideas of things to get for them and my husband (it’s a private list, so no worries that he’ll see what I’m thinking.)

I’m sure it will have to change as the kids get older and have opinions of what they want, but for this stage, I feel like I’ve got a good handle on dealing with any holidays.

It’s so nice when I recognize that there are areas of my life that are organized and under control. It’s so easy to always notice the areas where I need to work, and gloss over that there are areas where I’m doing well.

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.

Buffer

Filed Under: Holidays, One Bite

One Bite at a Time: Project 19 {Dump Your Brain}

February 27, 2012 By Sheila 1 Comment

Project 19, Dump Your Brain, is a familiar one to this Getting Things Done fan.

But that doesn’t mean that I don’t need a reminder to move beyond knowing what I should do into actually doing it. Actually, that’s the overall theme for my working through this entire book.

So I started a new Master List, and wrote down everything I could think of that I needed to do. Big projects like “Make a Will.” Fun projects like “Plan Vacation.” Small projects like “Buy New Socks.” Important projects like “Finish Taxes.” I even reviewed a Trigger List to help make sure I’d caught everything.

They’re all listed. Now I just need to break them down into Next Actions and add them to my To Do list. Or my shopping list.

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.

Buffer

Filed Under: One Bite, Organizing

One Bite at a Time: Project 18 {Get More Sleep}

February 20, 2012 By Sheila Leave a Comment

Project 18, Get More Sleep, just seems like a cruel joke to this mama who would like nothing more than to do exactly that.

So, if someone could please convince my daughter to sleep through the night that would be great. Thanks.

My son doesn’t nap anymore, so getting a nap during the day isn’t an option either. I already go to bed after the kids do, and sleep as late as I can, so at this stage I’m not sure that there is much more I can do.

Someday…

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.

Buffer

Filed Under: One Bite

One Bite at a Time: Project 17 {Create an Essential Papers File}

February 13, 2012 By Sheila 1 Comment

Project 17, Create an Essential Papers File, is one I should have started ages ago.

Both because I should have it, and because it’s going to take more than a week to get it done, so I’m not yet finished with it.

I will be *so* happy to have it done however, because it’s one of those nagging things in my brain that I know I need to do, but just needed a final push.

I’ve started with the simpler stuff – I already had a file which included things like passports and birth certificates, so I’ve used that as a starting point.

I’m working my way through compiling all the financial info into an easily-usable form for Mr. SJ. I do all the bill-paying and taxes and everything else dealing with financial paperwork, so if something were to happen to me he’d have a awful headache trying to figure out what we’ve got where.

And, I’m embarrassed to admit this, considering that we have two small children, but we don’t have wills. It’s one of my goals for the year, to get that done and a guardian officially named. We did do-you-own wills several years ago, but neither of us are entirely sure that they’d be valid, so they’d probably be nothing more than a hint as to our wishes, and wouldn’t be binding.

Being a responsible adult is so not fun sometimes.

Part of our deal with not taking care of it sooner is the whole how do we find an attorney issue. So, if you’re in the central Indiana area and have an attorney recommendation for putting together a will, can you leave a comment or send me an email? We don’t have any sort of complicated situation or anything, but we do want to make sure our kiddos are taken care of if anything were to happen to us.
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.

Buffer

Filed Under: Holidays, One Bite

One Bite at a Time: Project 16 {Schedule Regular Date Nights}

February 6, 2012 By Sheila Leave a Comment

Project 16, Schedule Regular Date Nights is one I’m struggling with.

It’s not that I disagree with it, or don’t think it’s worthwhile. It’s 100% because of childcare issues.

And currently two possible solutions aren’t: everyone I know who has children has grandparents nearby to watch them, so there isn’t much motivation to swap child-care when you’ve already got it free and readily available.

Putting the kids to bed early and having a stay-at-home date also is less-than appealing, because it would just mean that the boy would wake up that much earlier in the morning. Ugh.

Honestly? I don’t generally worry about it that much. Mr. SJ’s family visits semi-regularly (2 or 3 times a year) and they always encourage us to leave the boy (and eventually the baby) with them and go off for an evening. I also know that this really is just a season, and doesn’t mean that foreverandever we will never again have a night to ourselves.

If you’ve got kids, do you make a special effort to have date nights? Especially when your kids are very young?

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.

Buffer

Filed Under: One Bite