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Post them in the comments below, & I’ll do my best to answer them!
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“It takes as much energy to wish as it does to plan.”
— Eleanor Roosevelt
Today’s podcast will be the 6th of 10 in my Organization 101 Series. The topic will focus on Zonal Cleaning.
Many of the topics I discuss in this series I learned from an incredible lady named Marla Cilley, A.K.A. The Flylady. Her book, “Sink Relection’s” taught me how to incorporate all this lessons. It was from the inspirations from her book how I developed my P.M.S. concept! So now lets get into today’s topic!
Organization has always been a major part of my personality. I remember growing up always wanting my things orderly. I would purchase little containers to put my make-up and hair accessories in. Even my photo albums were thoughtfully organized by date and events. Later in life I started scrapbooking which allowed me to organize my photos even more! There is a genuine sense of peace and satisfaction when everything has its place and everything is in its place.
Which leads me into the next post in my Organization 101 Series. In my last article I explained The Walk Throughand how you’ll incorporate it into Zonal Cleaning. I thought this one would come across more effectively in a Podcast, so here we go.
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Happy Day, Jean
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All text and images on this site are copyright of For Dragonflies And Me. Unless otherwise noted, you may not use this content without written permission.
“Clutter is nothing more than postponed decisions.” — Barbara Hemphill
I’m sure each of us has certain areas in the home that are a catch all. You grab the mail and toss it in a regular spot. There is probably a certain location where shoes get kicked off at… and left. Maybe you even have a location where coats or hoodies land… and seem to find a home there! It can be very frustrating when you walk into a relatively organized room and then these eye sores flash before your eyes… and you just feel your shoulders droop and have a sense of frustration.
Well Dragonfly friends you are not alone in this battle of the Hot Spots! Today I would like to focus on a common statement that occurs in my home on a regular basis…. The Walk Through. “What is a walk through?” you ask. Well, it is the next step in my organization series. I’ll touch on Hot Spots in a future blog post, so keep posted for that!
Many of the topics I discuss in this series I learned from an incredible lady named Marla Cilley, A.K.A. The Flylady. Her book, “Sink Relections” taught me how to incorporate all this lessons. It was from the inspirations from her book how I developed my P.M.S. concept! So now lets get into today’s topic!
If you missed my last post in this series, click on thisLINK to go on over to my Podcast & listen to me explaining how to get your life to a state of inner calm, and outer tidiness.
Doing the walk-through…
The walk through is a very basic concept I believe most of us do everyday, but never really had a name for it. It’s easy to apply to our daily schedules and routines and it’s one that children can completely understand. The walk through is simply going through a room and picking up everything that is out-of-place AND putting it away where it belongs. Simply eh?
In the next post we’ll learn what Zonal Cleaning is and how to apply the walk through in it.
“You can hack your brain to form good habits — like going to the gym and eating healthily — simply by repeating actions until they stick, according to new psychological research involving the University of Warwick.” University of Warwick
Various studies have shown that if you repeat the same action for 21 to 28 days, a habit will be formed. I’ve incorporated this aspect into our daily lives over the last fifteen years and it has paid off.
I can see it in my daughter who has her own space now. She likes to organize her son’s toys in the same fashion I use to do her and her brothers. One of my sons has found the organization I instilled in him with his tools, the other with his hobby cars! I also see it in my two youngest sons with their sports & Pokémon cards! So friends, the payoff is there.
With a plastic bag & basket in hand, toss garbage in the bag and items to be put back in the basket.
Start from the top & work your way down. For example table tops, bookshelves, couches and chairs and then onto the floor. Be sure to look under the furniture. Gather up what needs to be put away in the basket, put trash in the bag.
Once you’ve completed the walk through, I suggest you vacuum or sweep the floor. That gives the finished look!
The walk through is not ‘cleaning’ day, it’s something that should be done repeatedly through the day and especially right before bed. Vacuuming only once unless needed more.
Generally there are three times of day I like to do a ‘walk-through’-
Just before lunch- this is when we typically vacuum if needed.
Just before supper- this makes for a more relaxing meal.
Finally, right before bed! This is the most important one in my opinion. The worst feeling is waking up to a mess!
Now that you have this new tool in your cleaning bucket, you can start utilizing it to keep your home even tidier!
Keep posted for my next topic in my organization series: Zonal Cleaning.
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“To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe.” ~ Anatole France
Welcome to Day 3 of my new Organization series! Today we’re going to discuss the importance of using a journal and day planner as well as calendars. I am also excited to provide information on a NEW tool I’ve been using to help keep me organized! Read on for more!
Many of the topics I discuss in this series I learned from an incredible lady named Marla Cilley, A.K.A. The Flylady. Her book, “Sink Relections” taught me how to incorporate all this lessons. It was from the inspirations from her book how I developed my P.M.S. concept! So now lets get into today’s topic!
Let’s recap the previous post. Now that you’ve created your lists of tasks, it’s time to put them down onto paper or a spreadsheet. I started using an incredible program called Trello. It is a functional program that grows with you and your projects. You can use it for both work and personal life. I have 2 accounts- one for my For Dragonflies And Me and one for my other business, Food Trucks To You. I’ll be sharing more on this in my next blog post, and providing you with information on an incredible course I used to learn this great time saver.
You should now be at the point where you’ve created and P.M.S.’ed your lists and routines. Now you need a place to keep them so they stay organized and are easily accessible.
That brings us to today’s topic on how to utilize journals, day planners & calendars.
This is where a journal, day planner and calendars come into play. Using these tools will help you keep on track with visual ease. I could never keep up with my many ‘hats’ without them.
What’s the difference?
My journal is primarily used for household tasks and responsibilities where my day planner and calendars keep my work related projects scheduled.
Your Journal
First lets look at the journal. It can be as complex or simple as you the designer want it to be. Be aware that it’ll evolve and grow along with your children and as home renovations occur.
Day Planners & Paper Calendars
I purchase a new day planner along with a desk calendar every year. I live by my day planner and calendars because they allow me to visually see what I have going on and aid me in planning ahead through the year.
GoogleCalendars
I also utilize my Google calendar which aids me in scheduling personal & work appointments including Podcast & YouTube recording times with guests. I love that I can access my calendar from my phone for easy reference.
Incorporating the use of all these elements keeps me on task.
Let’s take a look at how I utilize my journal. Be aware you don’t have to have it set up like mine, It can be as complex or simple as you the designer wants it to be. The important thing is it fits your lifestyle and needs. It will evolve and grow with your family & as home renovations occur.
I thought it would be helpful if I explained how my journal is set up, so here we go.
I use a leather-bound 1 1/2 inch 3-ring binder for my journal. It’s filled with top loading plastic sleeves and side tabbed divider sheets. It’s broken down into the following Sections.
Zones refer to each room of your home and is where you’ll put your room-by-room detailed cleaning routine lists. With this concept of zone cleaning, spring and fall cleaning can almost be eliminated.
Daily Routines holds my morning, daily, after school and evening routine lists as well as each day of the week’s schedule of routines that get done. This is where the example of my morning routine I shared with you last time would be placed.
Here’s an example of my Monday Routine: *Purge magazines and newspapers
*Fill bird feeders
*Bathroom (this is where you’ll go to your Bathroom Routine)- tub, sink, toilet, floor
*Wash all area rugs and throw blankets in the laundry
*Kitchen floor, sweep, dishes
The Daily Home Blessing is my Mission Statement. I’ll share this in an upcoming post!
Zone’s:
My Sections are in this order: Zones Daily Routines Daily Home Blessing Menu Plans & Grocery Lists Tools Personal and Activity Frequency List
Pro Tip: Having a menu helps in grocery shopping and meal prep. I will go into detail on menu planning and grocery shopping in an upcoming post… so stay tuned.
Menus & Grocery lists. I like to spend about an hour once a month creating our monthly menu. I of course ask for input from Dave & the boys so everyone is happy!
Generally I try to design the menus seasonally.
Spring & Summer menus focus on the fresh produce we’re growing and that’s available at our local farmers market.
The second is Fall & Winter which features what we’ve canned, frozen and what’s in the root cellar along with what we may have left in the garden & again what is available at the farmers market.
…and now for your personal touch!
My Personal section holds things that inspire me. I have several poems on mothering, being a good wife & person in general, cartoons, drawings from the children and cards from friends and loved ones.
Frequency of Activities section simply holds a list of how often I want to do particular tasks.
*Each section has a Title Page. I have family photos, pictures the children have made, poems, cards and other special things to me.
As I said, your journal is exactly that- yours. Let it be a reflection of what you love, who you want to be, your faith and your passions!
Day Planners & how I use them!
As a writer, and now having both a Podcast & YouTube channel, I have multiple dead-lines for articles and projects which cannot be forgotten. I keep a list of the magazines, other blogs for inspiration in my day planner in the sidebar on the Month-at-a-glance page. I write the topic for articles & when they need to be published along with the due date. Having these visible on this page makes it really easy to organize my writing time through the month.
All my appointments are kept in this part of the planner as well.
My newest tool is an online organizer called Trello!
“Trello is a collaboration tool that organizes your projects into boards. In one glance, Trello tells you what’s being worked on, who’s working on what, and where something is in a process.
Imagine a white board, filled with lists of sticky notes, with each note as a task for you and your team. Now imagine that each of those sticky notes has photos, attachments from other data sources like Jira or Salesforce, documents, and a place to comment and collaborate with your teammates.
I use it both singly & collaboratively! Here is a screenshot of my home page. I will be devoting a blog on this! So keep posted!
More on Day Planners
I purchase a new day planner along with a desk & wall calendar every year. I live by my day planner and calendars because they allow me to visually see what I have going on and aid me in planning ahead through the year.
On the Daily Pages of my planner I keep more detailed information. Here are some examples
*On office/desk day I’ll jot down all my phone calls that need to be made.
*I put down what’s for supper if it requires something needing to come out of the freezer, like meat.
*I’ll add extra chores to be done that may not be on that day’s routine. For example, during the canning season my kitchen gets a bit more messy. The day we do apple sauce I may want the floor washed or the cupboards wiped down when we clean the following day.
*Errands, appointments, birthdays and anniversaries also go here.
This is my favorite spot because I love the feeling of accomplishing my tasks and seeing them be crossed off the list!
The Desk & Wall Calendars!
My desk & wall calendars are basically large visual aids at a glance. It is also where Dave & the kids can leave me notes of anything they have coming up including field trips, teacher notes, vacation dates, etc. I then add those details to my planners.
Well… now you have some great ideas of how to create your own journal and an outline on what to include in your planners and calendars. Go ahead and start working on these until I get back with the next article in the series… How to utilize Trello and an incredible opportunity for a course I’ve taken! After that we will look at how-to do a ‘walk through’ and then the how-to on Zone Cleaning!
If you’d like to see more photo’s of organization, stop by & follow me on my Pinterest page!
If you aren’t following me on Facebook, go on over & give a LIKE & Follow me for daily tips & tricks for your home & garden!
If you enjoyed this blog , please LIKE, Follow, Share & leave me a comment! I love your feedback!’
Happy Day, Jean
Copyright Policy
All text and images on this site are copyright of For Dragonflies And Me. Unless otherwise noted, you may not use this content without written permission.
The nursery & garden centers are a tempting place to go right now for us gardeners. As we drive past we can see the happy pansies that we just know want to come home with us, shrubs that we are sure we would have just the right spot for beckon us to take them, that beautiful flowering American Red Bud would go just perfect over in the side yard… yes we gardeners are like the pet lovers that just want to give that one last kitty or puppy a nice home, we too think just one more… Well, thankfully plants are a bit easier to maintain and provide for, so on goes the reasoning away! That’s OK though, pet lovers and gardener’s alike love what they love and we know what makes us happy. Right now I am busy planning our farms new Sausage Raised Bed Garden. The boys and I just put twenty new 4×8 beds in the side yard and this will be where we plant all the herbs, peppers and fennel that will go into Neil’s sausage blends. It is very exciting to know that Lord willing this fall I will be harvesting all these wonderful things that will tease ‘your’ taste buds in the coming seasons. I love gardening!
I would like to take a couple days and discuss the options and decisions that effect us when choosing between annuals & perennials. Today we will discuss Annuals. The time for us to start making these decisions is steadily creeping up on us~ the choices of annuals will soon bombard us. We should be choosing a variety of flowering ornamental’s. Many bulbs provide early spring color, while perennials change the garden’s look from week to week. Annuals are steady performers, adding color and filling in while hardy plants mature; because they last only one season, annuals also let you experiment with different schemes, year after year. Each year we are exposed to several new varieties and colors of petunias, marigolds, salvia’s and such… which do we choose? For me it is kind of easy… I know I like pinks & purples. My garden’s are primarily in this color range with a few splashes of yellow, red and orange from nasturtiums, marigolds and canna’s. But otherwise I stick to what I know I like~ pinks & purples. Here are a few tips to help you when choosing annuals: *Thinking Through Annuals: ~Annuals will give you lots of spectacular color through the season with repeat blooming. ~Annuals will grow for only one season, but some such as sweet alyssum, pansies, snapdragons and bachelor buttons will reseed prolifically! ~Annuals do a wonderful job filling in between newly planted perennials that need some time to mature. ~Most annuals prefer a sunny location, with a few exceptions that like shade- impatiens, coleus, begonias and pansies will tolerate. ~They like containers and will be faithful bloomers as you are faithful in dead heading and watering. ~You can keep some through the winter by potting them up in containers and bringing them indoors. If you have a green house or four season sun room, you can enjoy your beloved bloomers for a bit longer. Some better bets include begonias, coleus, impatiens, and geraniums. Here are a few suggestions on types of annuals: Tender Types: Ageratum, begonia, celosia, cleome, coleus, geranium, impatiens, marigold, morning glory, salvia, sunflower, vinca and zinnia. These need to be sown or transplanted about two weeks or more after the last spring frost, when the soil is warm. These annuals will not survive if touched by a frost. Half-hardy Types: Bachelor button, calendula, cosmos, lobelia, nasturtium, petunia, phlox, annual poppy, snapdragon, verbena. These should be sown indoors and planted outside at about the time of your last spring frost date. These prefer cool growing conditions and can tolerate light frost. Hardy Types: Dianthus, larkspur, pansy, sweet alyssum, sweet pea. These can be directly sown in the ground whenever the soil can be worked or set out seedlings in early spring. These tolerate cold weather and hard freezes.
Keep Them Blooming! As much as we gardener’s hate to cut off those pretty flowers, it really is the best thing you can do for blooming bedding flowers. Snip off every bloom as you set the plants into your beds or containers. This ‘thoughtful’ pinching reminds the plants that they should get back to the business of growing roots and stems, which will result in many more blossoms over a much longer time.
Coat Racks~ Most of us have a back entry or mud room where we come in to take our outdoor gear off. Here is a really cute & easy project to make hanging up those duds more special. Materials you will need: *A board, an old piece of barn wood or something else you like, just so long as it is tall enough to hold your seed packets. *Enough empty seed packets to cover the length of the board you have chosen. *Wood glue. *Modge-podge glue. *optional- paint. *Coat hooks. ~Take the board you have chosen and if you are going to paint it, do so now; allow to draw thoroughly. If you want a rustic look, lightly sand paper off the edges and the center to add a distressed look; be sure to clean off all dust. ~Tack the seed packets on with a bit of the wood glue, just to temporarily hold; Apply the modge-podge over the seed packets to glue on the board- follow package instructions; allow to draw according to instructions. ~Once the glue is totally dry, put the coat hooks on as desired; hang up on the wall of your choice and enjoy your pretty project!
Breakfast Bake Breakfast is the start of the day, so why not start off on the right foot with a hearty meal to get you rolling. Here is a yummy recipe using Garden Gates Breakfast Sausage!
1 baguette, torn into bite size pieces 1 lb. package of Garden Gate’s bulk Breakfast Sausage, cooked and drained 10 eggs from Garden Gate, beaten 2 cups milk 1 cup fresh spinach, washed and torn into bite size pieces salt & pepper to taste 1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
1. Arrange the broken bread pieces on a lightly greased 9×13 baking dish; top with cooked sausage. 2. In a bowl, beat eggs; add milk, salt, pepper and spinach, mix; pour over bread & sausage. 3. Sprinkle cheese over top of mixture. 4. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for about 30-40 minutes, or until golden and eggs are set.
For Dragonflies And Me 