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Delight in No-brainer Routines

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Delight in no-brainer routines

Photograph Credit: Microsoft Images

Not sure if this happens to you, but I can finish a day and feel like I have accomplished nothing.

I can get my children off to school, maintain the house by picking up a few things, make the meals, clean up, help with homework, run to and from school, play with my children, and feel exhausted at the end of the day.

In this typical scenario, I did accomplish much as I exerted lots of energy which resulted in a well-fed, well-cared for, and happy family. So, if you are struggling with days where nothing but the ordinary gets done, delight in your no-brainer routines.

My No-brainer Routine

I’m sure you have at least one no-brainer routine. These are routines where you don’t need to think. Your brain goes on auto-pilot, and the task gets done which saves you from exerting brain power and energy.

One of mine is making lunches for my children. I follow the same routine each weekday morning. As long as I am not interrupted, I make the sandwiches, add the snacks, and place the thermoses in their lunch bags.

Without having to think about supplies, items, or which bag gets which item, I accomplish the task with little effort. It is not that the task is mundane, but that I have perfected the system to a no-brainer routine.

Paul’s No-brainer Routine

My husband also has a no-brainer routine in the morning. He puts on his Bat belt (his term for it). He goes through a series of adding his handkerchief, wallet, MP3 player, belt, two cell phones, and other accessories. Leaving any one of these items at home creates a disruption to his day.

However, knowing what he needs, creating a routine, and following that same pattern each day results in a no-brainer routine that saves energy and time.

As you go about your week and you find days where you feel like you haven’t accomplished anything, focus on what tasks you completed. Every day is not going to be Facebook-worthy, but those little tasks repeated day after day serve a purpose. Delight in no-brainer routines because they are the glue that holds your life together.

On those mundane days, look for a bright spot. Give yourself grace. You need to rest, play, and enjoy life. The To-do list is still there and will stay there until you can get to it.

(Writing this to myself as I get tied to my To-Do list way too often. I needed this reminder.) Learning to delight!

Question: What are your no-brainer routines?

Establishing Chores for Kids

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Establishing Chores for Kids

Photograph Credit: Microsoft Images

My children are ages 8, 6, and 3, and honestly, we have not established chores for them. My children have routines.

For example, at meal times, they help set and clear the table. With carpet on our dining room floor, my older two children clear their own place settings while my toddler may take her utensils to the sink.

Though they have some responsibilities, we have not established set chores for them.

Realizing that they need to understand the workings of a home for when they have their own, I would like to teach them one step at a time.

Though I am not ready to have them clean the entire house, I am ready to start because, typically, I clean while they play.

Delegating Chores

During this last cleaning session, my children were begging to help. I’m not sure if they were tired of playing, needed a change of pace, or stuck inside due to all the rain, but I welcomed the help. My son and older daughter worked together to empty all the trash cans into the larger trash bag. I then hauled it out to the trash can.

My son dusted, wiped down the furniture with polish, and vacuumed the kids’ rooms. My daughter picked up the bonus room and cleaned the crayons and marker dots off the furniture and doors using a magic eraser. While my children worked in these rooms, I cleaned our bathrooms.

In working together, we cleaned the upstairs in record time. My children were tired after the constant 3-hour session, but they were so proud of their accomplishment. I also was very proud of them and their willingness to help out.

As I consider turning over some of these responsibilities to them, I know their help will end up being a time-saver for me while developing their skills. In thinking about teaching them to use time wisely while being efficient, thorough, and accurate, I know I need to delegate more responsibilities to them.

Chore Chart Suggestions

If you need to establish, change, or adjust chores for kids, these suggestions may offer a starting point:

    • Reader Alyssa finds Kidpoints.com a helpful resource for creating chore charts and monitoring each child’s progress. (Thanks, Alyssa, for sharing!)
    • Chuck E. Cheese offers a number of calendars whereby a child can earn 10 tokens:
      • Daily chores
      • Clean room
      • Let’s get dressed
    • This post from Money Saving Mom includes links to 5 different types of chore charts. I love these because some children need a visual and/or tactile reward when completing their task.

In keeping our home clean, I welcome the help of my children. Though I know I can clean quicker and better right now, I must invest my time into teaching my children how to correctly clean to help them with the benefit of saving me future energy and time. Capitalizing on their willingness to help compounded with gratitude and rewards, I am learning to encourage my children to help.

With no official chores in place, we give our children different tasks. As we see them develop and learn how to complete each task, we will slowly delegate those responsibilities. The ball is in my court to using time wisely training my children a way to correctly clean and maintain a task before handing it over. Yikes!

We are laying the groundwork. I know others who have established chores for kids with success. We are not there yet, but thankfully, my children are still young and willing to help. Happy training!

Question: What tips do you have for establishing chores for kids?

Toilet Paper: Dispensing from the top or the bottom?

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Toilet Paper: Dispensing from the top or the bottom?

Photograph Credit: Flicker (Masayoshi Sekimura)

From squeezing the toothpaste to placing toilet paper on the roll, many individuals have strong opinions about these topics – myself included. Though Paul and I have separate tubes of toothpaste and are on the same page when it comes to dispensing the toilet paper, we have not always seen eye to eye.

I used to just “fix” the issue myself until I realized that if I just told Paul (aka Mr. Laid Back) it bothered me, then he might “fix” it himself which is a better use of my time.

Since he did not care either way and I prefer our toilet paper to dispense from the top, we both put the roll on “correctly.” It has worked for years in the apartment, the townhouse, and now our house. Until . . . we had little helpers. 😉

With three bathrooms in our home and in the midst of Miss 3’s potty training, our family goes through rolls of toilet paper often. As Paul and I replace most of the rolls, we “correctly” put the roll to dispense from the top.

Our children just stick the toilet paper on the roll. Sometimes they get it right, but I tend to find the backwards roll when they are not present.

Poor Miss 3 was going potty and the roll had been put on “backwards.” She called saying she needed help. So, I checked on her to find her in tears because she could not find or reach the end of the toilet paper. Upon switching the roll to dispense from the top, I immediately got a big smile, a “thank you,” and a giggle which made my day.

Though dispensing from the top or the bottom is a preference, Ann Landers claims this topic as one of her most controversial subjects. Some of her readers keep the toilet paper dispensing from the top in one bathroom and from the bottom in another. I’m not sure I would go that far, but does it really matter?

Yes! Just ask Miss 3 because hanging the toilet paper “correctly” allows her to use time wisely. Though I can use a bottom dispensing roll without “fixing” it, I do prefer reaching for the toilet paper in front rather than trying to find it from behind.

Of course, if I went with a vertical holder, then this orientation issue would be moot and not as fun to discuss. If you have a conflict over which way the paper rolls in your household, then discuss it. Getting on the same page will save you from “correcting” the roll each time which saves you time and energy.  Happy dispensing!

Question: Which way do you prefer your toilet paper to roll – from the top or bottom?

Organizing: Stop and Do It!

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Organizing: Stop and Do It!

Photograph Credit: Flickr (Josh Lowe)

I know it is fall, but I’m in spring cleaning mode. The brisk air has rejuvenated me. With my living room and dining room cleaned, I am concentrating on my kitchen.

As I was organizing my pantry and consolidating to save space, I was adding items to my shopping list. If I found our supply low on an item, I jotted it down. As I make out my grocery lists, I will check the deals for the items on the list.

Having run out of garlic powder recently, I had placed the empty container on our counter to replenish. When organizing the pantry, I sorted through the extra spices and found a full container of garlic powder to substitute for the empty one.

While rearranging and taking inventory, I found many of my spice containers on the rack less than half full. Since stopping to find a needed spice while cooking is not convenience, I try to always keep a backup of each spice I use.

I purchase spices in containers that usually don’t fit on the spice rack. So, I refill my small spice containers kept on the door of my pantry with the larger supply.

In using time wisely, I stopped cleaning and organizing to refill the spice containers to save time when cooking and needing those spices. I stopped because if I passed it, then I knew I would forget to come back. By stopping and doing, I got it done.

Now my spice containers are full, my pantry organized, and our products consolidated. With the pantry done, I’m on to more cleaning and organizing in the kitchen to get my home in order before the holidays.

As I come to a project that needs to get done, I will stop and do it! Getting it done is another item off my to-do list and saves me time later. 😉 Happy organizing!

Question: What do you do when you get to a project in the middle of another project?

Frozen Pipes: Yikes! No water!

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Frozen Pipes: Yikes! No water!

Photograph Credit: Microsoft Images

Baby, it’s cold outside is an understatement. As I took my children to school this morning, the temperature gauge read 10°F. With the wind chill, we were probably experiencing temperatures around – 2°F. Brrr!

For those of you in the northern states and Canada, you are used to this weather, and bless your hearts. However, I grew up in warm-weather Florida, and I tend to hibernate when the temperature falls below 40°F.

Last night we bumped up the heat and kept the doors open on our cabinets under our sinks. This morning all was well. We all got up, washed up, ate breakfast, rinsed the dishes, and left.

After arriving home, I left the garage door open about a foot as the door opener has not worked since Saturday. (Yes, it appears that we have a long list of items to fix around our house, and the list is getting longer by the day.)

Around noon, I went to wash my hands. As I turned on the faucet, nothing happened.

Yikes! No water!

Identifying the Source

Thinking that a water main broke in the neighborhood, I called my two neighbors. They both had water, so it wasn’t a community outage.

My next call was to our utility company, who verified that there were no outages. The representative suggested calling a plumber as it sounded as though we had frozen pipes.

Thanking her for the suggestion, I decided to call Paul. Poor guy! He has dealt with a broken garage door opener, failed radio in his vehicle, painted Mr. 8’s room with 3 colors, put together 2 dressers and an organization tower, and fixed a number of small toys over his holiday break. I felt badly calling him at work to inform him of our water issue.

Knowing that it was frozen pipes, I made the call.  Thankfully, Paul was on his lunch break and looked up some solutions. Since I had left the garage door open about a foot off the floor (as the garage door opener is not currently working), we think the cold air froze our main pipes in the garage as no water was coming into the house.

Fixing the Source

Inside the House

Though the problem was in the garage, I needed to release the pressure in the pipes prior to melting the frozen blockage to give the water somewhere to go. Paul asked me to do the following:

      • Shut off the outside valves (which are housed under two sinks inside our house)
      • Turn on all faucets – sinks, bathtubs, and showers
      • Keep all the cabinets open to allow the heat from our home to thaw the pipes

Outside the House

Concentrating on creating heat in the garage to melt the frozen pipes, I followed Paul’s suggestions:

      • Opened the garage door
      • Backed out the van
      • Closed the garage door
      • Placed a space heater near the center of the floor

By the time I got the house prepared, it was time for afternoon pickup. Miss 3 and I left. When we arrived home, I opened the door to the wonderful sound of running water. The space heater melted the blockage, and water was coming out of each faucet.

Guess we have a stopped up sink in the master bathroom as I found the sink overflowing, the rug soaked, and water on the floor. However, after turning off the water, the sink drained. This is just another item on that long Honey-do list. *sigh*

Mopping up the floor and water overfill was an easy fix after not having water all afternoon. With the water on, I tested the hot water. There was none. I left the sink going on the hot setting for a few minutes. The water never got warm, so I turned it back to a small trickle.

By the time Paul arrived home, the hot water tank had refilled, and we were back to hot running water. Not wanting to drain the water heater with dinner and dishes, we used our January freebie from our Chick-fil-A calendar cards for dinner. With the extra time to heat the water, we were able to get baths and showers without having to call the plumber. 😀

Though I prefer snow if the temperatures will be this low, I am looking forward to some higher temperatures in the days that follow. If you find your pipes frozen, then try not to panic.

Having now been through the experience, we have a plan. In the future, we will proactively place an electric blanket on our pipes prior to temperatures falling below freezing.

Thankfully, I’m taking this year slowly. When life happened today, I dropped everything. The grocery lists did not get made, the laundry pile continues to grow, and the bills remain on my desk, but we have running water, healthy children, and a warm house. It was a great day, and I’m thankful for the investment of using time wisely.

Hopefully, you won’t find yourself saying, “Yikes! No water!” But you might find other inconveniences occurring on your pre-scheduled day. Try to roll with the punches, make the best decision you can, and focus on what you can control. Happy adjusting when life happens!

Question: How do you prepare for below freezing temperatures?