Like I mentioned in my dinner post, I am finding that with our fall schedule, a routine that I can mostly set and forget is really helping life feel easier-- and not just at the dinner table.
I have started using Notes on my phone to mange my blog content ideas-- I have never actually managed these in any systematic kind of way before, and I like how cute Notes can be. I have a one note with headings for each month, and I have even already started on NaBloPoMo:
Other decide once/set-and-forget things I am loving right now:
(I basically aspire to be a human crockpot or the person equivalent of hot rollers. THIS IS MIDDLE AGE)
Picking out clothes for the week. Minnie does this on Sunday night with me, and we have actually cleared out a dresser drawer to stage her outfits. She selects clothes, any accessories she might need, socks-- everything for each day. We fold it neatly, stack by day, and stash it in her dresser. When she wakes up on school mornings, she can start getting ready for her day all on her own. I am choosing my teaching outfits and potentially clothes for other days I HAVE to be on campus on Sundays as well, which is when I do any ironing, track down belts that go with dresses and locate any shoes that might be hiding on the shelf. Dorothy has also been getting in the act, but she only picks like 3 good outfits and then runs out of steam and tosses whatever in her pile. SPOILER: when she gets to the "whatever" clothes at the end of the week, she doesn't want to wear them and scrambles for other options. Soooo she is working on tweaking her process.
One plan for Friday nights: scary movie and poker-- this is **chef's kiss** and something we all look forward to.
School lunches on repeat. When everyone wants the same-ish thing every day, shopping and prepping is a BREEZE. Same for after school snacks. Cooper always gets a chicken apple sausage, a fruit, a protein drink, and a pouch of Yoggies, and whatever leftovers we have on hand (if there are no leftover, perhaps some chicken nuggets). Dorothy brings an apple with caramel dip, string cheese, and chocolate-covered pretzels OR if it is a dinner-at-dance night, she packs 2 school lunches-- one for school and another one that I bring her after school to eat at dance. SO EASY YOU GUYS.
Coffee Fridays-- such a fun treat for Dorothy and Cooper (and me!)
A human crockpot - SOLD. I've never managed to do the blog organizing thing either, but the different themes for different days is genius. I used to lay the kids' clothes out for them every night - it's amazing how old they were when they would still be happy with whatever I picked. Getting outside every day? YES. Running? HELL NO. I can only follow you so far, Sarah.
ReplyDeleteI love your ideas for NaBloPoMo! I'm also thinking about how I can simplify it this year because it's a lot of work, and I want to have time to read all the blogs as well.
ReplyDeleteI need to take your lead and figure out our lunch situation- what we're doing right now is NOT working.
Yay! Running! : )
I like your NaBloPoMo schedule. I like having a plan for that month. One thing I’m thinking is to try to keep my posts SHORT, because keeping up with reading in November is difficult. Pass it on.
ReplyDeleteI love packed lunches that are simple and on repeats. fully agree on starting the day with a run!
ReplyDeleteHuman crockpot - lol! I love it. Your autopilot strategies sound great. My biggest impediment is when things don’t go as planned, or when there’s an abnormality in my schedule - dentist appointment, service person, accidental oversleeping. Then I feel like all my careful structure collapses. (This is Suzanne.)
ReplyDeleteI used to do that same thing with Curly. We had a shelf in her room and we organized her outfits for the week. It was awesome.
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of notes on my phone, but I am not that good at using my phone. Guess who often has to ask the grocery store checkers for help locating the in store coupons on the store's app. I swear I'm not 80.
I may respectfully steal your NaBloPoMo schedule :)
ReplyDeleteDaria from NJ