On trying to be better

After last week, I realized I needed to make some adjustments. Things around the house get done.  We have clean clothes to wear and food to eat.  But my day-to-day activities are not a routine.  I do things when they are to the point of needing to be done instead of being proactive with everything.  I was looking at this website that I pinned a little while back about habits to incorporate for a better run home.  I was thankful that I already do almost half of the things, but the ones I don't do are ones that I can definitely see how they would make things easier.  First is the getting up early.  When I worked outside the home, I got up every morning by 5:30, worked out, showered, got ready and left the house by 7:30.  I enjoyed the peacefulness of the morning and how I felt throughout the day knowing I had at least accomplished those things.  So, along with waking up early, I'm truly going to start looking at motherhood as my job.  I am going to start getting up, having my quiet time, working out and getting ready before the boys wake up for the day.  By doing this, I will also be better about making breakfast for Tim again instead of him grabbing a poptart as he scoots out the door at 7:15!  I decided to make a checklist of all my daily tasks, that way I can stay on track.  Plus, how wonderful does it feel when you get to put a little checkmark in a little box next to a chore?!  Here is the list I made:

I'm planning on putting it in a frame with glass so I can use a dry erase marker to check things off each day.  There will, of course, be days that I need to dust, deep clean various rooms, or run errands, which is why I left the blanks and can add those in on certain days.

Second is meal planning.  This something I would always think about needing to start, I just never did it!  Right now, I usually decide what I want to fix for dinner by mid morning or early afternoon.  By that time, we're either almost to or right in the middle of nap time and going to the grocery store for missing components isn't really possible.  I would like to limit my trips to the grocery store to 1-2 times a week and I know planning better will help aid that.  Also, I feel like with better planning we will start eating better, also.  So, last night I sat down, perused Pinterest for all those recipes I've pinned and haven't tried yet, and planned out our meals for the next week and a half.  I used this printable that I filled out and put on the fridge.  (I LOVE this site, by the way!  I have all of the monthly calendars printed out and put them on the fridge.  I've also used some of the tags and things.  She just started a store for printables that aren't free.  There is a medication log that I'm planning on getting soon.  I think it will be very helpful with keeping up with meds for the boys when they're sick.)  So, tomorrow, the boys and I are headed to the grocery store with a definite list in hand and a gameplan for the week's meals!  Here are the meals we have planned for the week (all of these are new recipes, so I know Tim will enjoy the variety instead of the same ol' same ol'!) :

Sunday: Ranch Chicken, roasted potatoes, and green beans
Monday: Pizza cupcakes and spinach salad
Tuesday: Penne rosa with shrimp and salad
Wednesday: Black bean enchiladas and cilantro lime rice
Thursday: Parmesan garlic chicken and roasted asparagus
Friday: Mongolian beef and brown rice
Saturday: Lemon shrimp and angel hair pasta

The last thing that I'm going to start implementing, which seemed rather foreign to me, is doing one complete load of laundry a day.  I usually do all of the laundry once or twice a week, depending on how much we have used.  I start first thing in the morning and get all the loads done and put away by the end of the day.  I'm anxious to see how much easier things feel when I'm doing one load every day, as opposed to 5 loads in one day.

So, tomorrow begins my earlier mornings and (hopefully) better run home!  I'll be sure to let you know how it turns out!