First You Have to Find the Yarn....

When my kids started going to school all day, I thought I had it made.  I thought I'd have all this time to tackle big household projects, knit up a storm, work out and pursue getting patterns published.  Additionally, there would be healthy food in the fridge always and when you opened a random drawer or cupboard nothing would fall out and cause brain damage.  How am I doing?  Not good.  I need a game plan.  

   

I tried Flylady and found it to be just too much information overload.  And also the graphic design was a bit too kitchy for me.  The three great things I kept from that experience were:  1)  Clean your kitchen sink before you go to bed and 2)  Get dressed to the shoes every morning.   3) House Fairy rocks! 

I was browsing blogland the other day and came upon this mommy blog, which recommended the Motivated Moms Planner.  It's a downloadable PDF file calendar with household chore lists for each day.  Finally, someone telling me what to do each day!  Just like those lists Mom used to leave for us in her perfect Palmer penmanship.  

I can't believe I actually find this freeing, but I'm weird like that.  Each day has a list of everyday chores with a box for checking off.  It also has a list of chores specific to that day.  For example, today I cleaned the microwave and oven and changed my dish towel and dish cloth.  I still have to de-clutter my desk.  Easy.  There is a spot for notes, a daily appointment list and a place for today's menu.  

I got a nice new binder from the great folks at Russel + Hazel  for my planner pages, a note pad and my go-to recipe collection.  They have free gift wrap so I gifted myself the freedom to be organized and get my act together.  Isn't the gift wrap pretty?  Someone even hand-wrote the note I typed in for the gift card.  Sweet.

I'll let you know how it goes, but I'm optimistic this will be a plan that will free me to do even more knitting and designing!  How about you?  What organizational principles do you follow for your household or for your knitting?