Lists, Anti-Procrastinators and Other Random Thoughts on a Saturday

I am a list maker. Are you?

I love to write down – yes, with paper and pencil – everything I want to accomplish. It feels kind of liberating and empowering to me. Maybe that’s because my memory is horrible these days? {On a side note, I did hear something on the news about not getting enough sleep makes you have bad memory and they think it may lead to Alzheimer’s. Great! Hubby and I are doomed.}

Saturdays are when I feel a super strong need to have a list. And my sons are very aware of that need. I think if there is one area I feel really guilty about not doing better parenting, it is with time management. {Ok, who am I kidding, there is way more than one area! But let’s pretend there’s just one.} You see, I am a procrastinator at heart. I’m pretty sure it’s in my DNA and just who I am. I do hate the judgement that comes with that. Procrastinators get a bad wrap! There is this whole thought around how that means we are less organized, disciplined, responsible, etc. I think thee is another side. Procrastinators are resourceful, creative, and adaptable. I think there is something weird about having to do everything immediately or way ahead. {Notice there is no name for the opposite of procrastinators! What’s up with that?} What are you afraid of? Think you’ll forget it? Think something terrible will happen and you won’t finish? Think it won’t be as good later? Maybe those who must do everything ahead are really negative thinkers. And procrastinators are the positive ones. I don’t want to do it now, because I will have a better idea tomorrow. I want to give it some time to gel. I think I will have more passion for it tomorrow. See, procrastintors are optimists! Tomorrow will be the perfect day!

But I digress. {Shocking!} Back to the list. I think keeping things on a list that I can look at any time, helps me to prioritize. Lists prevent out-of-sight-out-of-mind-syndrome, which is a deadly syndrome. It can kill productivity in a heartbeat! By making a list, things don’t sneak up on you. Not as easily anyway. You know what is coming on the horizon and have time to prepare. And it frees up my mind! I like that! I like being free to dream up creative things to do, solutions to problems, anything creative. And when I have things to remember, it messes up my clean slate for creating. So, I write it down and am free to be Awesome!

Sadly, I haven’t done a good job of teaching my sons list making. We’re working on it, but they kind of seem like old dogs – you know, they don’t want to learn Mom’s new trick.Saturday mornings are my day to impress upon them the importance of the list. The cleaning list, the homework list, the errand list, the project list!

Which brings us full circle. Gotta go – have to wake some boys up and get going on our lists before they turn on Skyrim!

Happy Saturday!

Spring Cleaning?

It’s been so warm here this whole winter. It’s very strange. I know Kansas has milder winters than Iowa, but this year has been freakishly warm. And that is wreaking all kinds of havoc. It’s made me want to start spring cleaning {the weather and that whole 4 months until graduation thing}!

After we painted this past weekend I cleaned my cupboards!

It felt so good to purge! I was in the right mood. We were all tired of not having room in the cupboards. Always trying to cram the dishes in when we emptied the dishwasher.

There were dishes I don’t use anymore. Coffee mugs galore and no one in the house who drinks it. I did save a couple in case you are planning to visit and enjoy a little coffee.

Now its neat and organized and there’s room for things I forgot we had. I can get to my serving dishes.

I didn’t get rid of any cookbooks – just couldn’t do it. But I did pick the few I use most and put them in easy reach. The rest are in a top cupboard where I can get to them if I need them, but they are out of sight.

They used to be on top of this cabinet. All piled and messy. Yuck! It was a major eye sore! And now it’s clean and lovely and showing off the wine holder my hubby picked out for me. All by himself! No hints or anything.

A week ago I would NOT have shared pictures of the inside of my cupboards! So happy to have things fresh and organized. It’s like Spring!

Creative License

This is what my craft room looked like on New Year’s Eve.

It’s really not a craft room. More of a craft area. That muslin curtain can be pulled across to hide this space. It’s one end of our family room.

Can’t imagine why I would ever want to hide it, can you?

It becomes the dumping ground for all things creative. “Take it down to the craft table.” and this is what I end up with.

Really rather horrific.

Not to mention a place I had no desire to be.

Not that I could be in it if I wanted to!

Fast forward to January 2. Yes, just two short days later. Voila!

Can you belive it? Cause I can’t!

Can I tell you how A-MAZ-ING it feels to have this done?!

Ok, technically it’s not done. There are still plenty of boxes to be sorted, but they are manageable now.

Like the memorabilia under the desk. Or the random pictures on the picture boxes.

I still need another box for hanging files.

But I actually sat right here as I wrote this post last night!

Even the inside of that cabinet I couldn’t get to has been organized. Trust me, I know exactly what is in there and where it is!

I’m so very happy! Exhausted. But Happy! It’s probably a good thing I didn’t do this at the beginning of the break…I might never have left my craft room!

They Think I’m Organized!

We were talking last night, the boys and I, about a new volunteer position I am stepping into. We were talking about what it takes to manage this kind of project and who I might ask to co-chair with me – it’s too big of a  job for just one person. I don’t remember the exact sequence of the conversation, but the real point is, all the boys looked at me in disbelief when I said, “You think I’m organized?”

They had a look of total confusion on their faces.

I wasn’t sure what this meant. Are they horrified that I might think I’m organized? Have I had a stroke and begun speaking jibberish without realizing it?

And then Oldest Son said, “You are borderline anal retentive!”

{SMILE}

I’m not smiling because I want to be called anal retentive. But I have a deep-seeded perception that I’m disorganized. I love spreadsheets and systems! I like things just so. I love organization! But I don’t always think of myself as organized. Like I told my boys, none of my brothers would describe me that way. They knew me way back when. When I was a bit of a slob – when it comes to my room anyway.

It got me thinking about how we can change as adults. It ties in to the DiSC profile I talked about last week. Looking at what you come by naturally and what is a learned tendency. With three boys and a full-time job I have had to be organized. I don’t have the luxury of being disorganized at this point in my life. I have to manage the schedules of all the family members. Making sure jerseys are ordered, science fair projects are done, audition music is recorded, and cap and gown are ordered. It takes organization to make all the things happen that I’m responsible for every day. And that is just at home. I have a job that requires me to manage a lot of different projects simultaneously.

So by necessity, I have become organized. And my brothers, who haven’t lived with me for as long as 30 years, probably still see me as that messy teenager. Thank goodness we all have the opportunity to change!

So yes, they think I’m organized. And they think I’m crazy for smiling when called anal retentive. It almost spurred a Facebook post boy Oldest Son. {Ya, that happens frequently when I have a blonde moment. And I’m ok with that. It’s well deserved.}

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 The term anal-retentive (also anally retentive), commonly abbreviated to anal,^[1] is used conversationally to describe a person who pays such attention to detail that the obsession becomes an annoyance to others, and can be carried out to the detriment of the anal-retentive person. The term derives from Freudian psychoanalysis. People who are said to be anal-retentive usually suffer from obsessive–compulsive personality disorder^{[citation needed]}.

 

Although, upon further consideration. I am clearly not anal retentive! Right?

 

How Can It Be?

I don’t understand how it happens. It isn’t logical and just doesn’t make sense. All the members of my family have two feet. So how does this happen?

These are the unmatched black socks in our house TODAY! We have just as many unmatched white socks! If everyone has two feet, how can we have so many unmatched socks? It seems like a person would take both socks off at the same time – at least the same day. So they should end up in the same load of laundry. I would think. And I’m pretty sure they would both get dirty. It’s not like when you wear them sometimes the right foot just doesn’t work as hard as the left and doesn’t need to be washed.

Oldest Son suggested we donate all our socks and start over with all the same socks. Then all these could be matched up. I don’t think that would work. A couple people in my family have issues with wrinkles in their socks and I’m pretty sure its the two with the smallest feet! Can you imagine having to wear the socks after Mr. Size 12 has worn them and stretched them all out! Just gives me the heeby-jeebies!

I’ve seen little clips that go on the toe of your dirty socks to keep them together in the wash. It’s a good enough idea, but I think it would take a little too much effort keeping track of the clips and putting them on before washing. We are lucky to get them to the laundry basket – I usually find a pair or two under the coffee table every night.

I think our only hope of reducing the unmatched sock basket contents lies in duct tape. If we just duct tape everyone’s socks on they could wash them when they shower. It might take a little extra dry time, but that’s where the hair dryer would come in handy. We would never have unmatched socks, because you would never take them off. We would spend far less money on socks too!

I wonder if I can spin this so they guys think its a great idea?

The Road to Eagle

Oldest Son is finally assembling his Eagle Scout project. It’s been a very long time coming…too long if you ask this Mom. He held work days yesterday and today. What an experience! It has been so fun to watch him figure out how to manage this project. How to take what all the different adults are telling him and determine what he thinks is the best way to proceed. And then to let everyone helping know the way he wants it done. Not an easy task at 17.

Being an Eagle Scout is definitely respected, but I think many people don’t really understand what it’s all about. I know I didn’t. I just knew it was a good thing to have and they should make it a goal to achieve. I’m still learning what it’s all about, but I know I will be much more prepared with the next two boys.

When you talk about Eagle Scouts people generally think of the project that is done, but really this is just one component. The project is really about the leadership skills required. The scout is not supposed to DO the pr0ject, but rather LEAD others to do the project. They do research, select the project, coordinate with the recipient organization, fundraise, recruit volunteers and supervise the work. And afterward, they do an extensive write up of what they did, what worked, what didn’t and what they would do differently next time. Oldest Son is through the research, selection, coordinating, fundraising and recruiting. Now he’s in the thick of the supervising stage. And he’s learning a lot!

Between the work days he had to make some changes to his design. I would call them tweaks, but for him it felt like he had really screwed up. After a little pep talk about how this is what the real world is like, it was neat to see him work through that challenge and learn to trust his own instincts. He worked it through in his head, then checked in with the adults who have been helping him. He was confident in his understanding and his plan and articulated it well. It was really neat to watch.

He still has a ways to go, like finishing, writing it up, an Eagle board of review. But he will get there and he will be changed because of the experience. In a good way. We chatted about his experience after the volunteers left today. He was challenged to listen to all the adults who had opinions about what he should be doing and respectfully disagree with some. He was most surprised how hard it was to keep everyone busy and stay a step ahead of them by having the next stage ready to go. Isn’t that the story of any manager? Looking three steps ahead to anticipate what will be needed. That’s good life experience.

Hmm…maybe that’s why Eagle Scouts are so valued.

The Rule of 8s – Managing my family

There are a few key things that I’ve found make life a little more pleasant in our home. These are the things that, when I don’t do them, make our lives crazy. I don’t have it all down perfect by any means, its definitely a work in progress. But I have found a few things that make a big difference.

Always have a plan – Whether its a plan for meals or a plan for who is driving who where and when you need to have a plan. It can relieve so much of the tension and make it easier to delegate tasks to other family members. There are a couple areas where I have pretty detailed plans.

Meals –  

• Background – I love to cook – most of the time. But working full-time I can’t cook a meal from scratch every night. And with three busy teenagers every night presents a different schedule. The boys don’t want to eat a heavy dinner 30 minutes before soccer practice. There are nights we are finally all home to eat at 9 pm, but if we have the opportunity for a family dinner together we will take it. I have also experimented with a lot of different ways to get a good meal on the table each night. I’ve done freezer cooking with friends and on our own, shopping weekly with a rotation of menus (Each week has 5 entres and the grocery list to make those 5 meals. I can take this to the store along with a short list of staples and have everything we need for the week. I have 3 of these created so we don’t repeat a meal for three weeks.)
• The Plan – I make menus at the beginning of each week (or sometimes two weeks). I plan for 5 entres a week – this usually gets us through a week because there will be at least one night of leftovers and one night when we are going somewhere else for a meal (fundraisers, work meeting, etc.). I sit down with the family calendar and look at what we have for the week as far as evening activities. Mondays are exceptionally tough days for us with Dad having a later meeting at work, the oldest two music lessons, soccer practice for the younger two and scouts for all three. Literally there is not a time between getting out of school and 9 pm when we are all at home.  This often means Crockpot meals on Mondays so everyone can eat whenever they have 15 minutes. We get our kids involved in choosing the menu, making the meals and clean up. {We even had our oldest two teenage sons do the grocery shopping last week. I only got 3 texts during their adventure and they did a great job! There is information in the lists section that will explain how I could do thisJ} Once the menu is decided I look at the calendar again to choose who will be the chefs and the bus boysJ. I have two people assigned to cook each night; it might be an adult and a kid or two kids. Fortunately my boys enjoy cooking and have been doing it for a long time. One person is assigned to cleanup each evening. This isn’t a set schedule since each week is a little different. We look at what they have going on and make assignments based on who can be there at cooking and cleanup time.
• Pros: We have a plan! No more wondering on the drive home from work what I can throw together for dinner. Everyone is in on the plan and has a say in the menu. The kids are more likely to eat meals they’ve helped plan and prepare. It also helps on the grocery bill – we make fewer trips to the grocery store so we’re less likely to make those impulse buys.
• Cons: It does take time coming up with the menu each week and making the grocery list to go with that menu. It would be nice to take the time to make another set of cards with menus and groceries. Sometimes we don’t feel like having what was planned. When this happens we usually look to see what day we can swap with. It’s only a problem when the chef doesn’t know how to make the new selection.

Cleaning –   

• Background -  I’ve tried a lot of methods over the years, some successful and some not so much. I’m a big fan of spreadsheets, so for quite a while we used a spreadsheet with all the tasks that need to be done. I would color code them by family member and print out for cleaning day. This worked well when the kids were younger and spent more time at home on a Saturday. This started to be a problem as their activities began filling up our weekends and we had less time all together. We switched to a card system to deal with this change.
• The Plan: Each cleaning job has its own index card. There is a set for weekly and a set for monthly. They all go in a file sorter behind one of 4 tabs; This Week, Next Week, This Month, Next Month. There are about 25 weekly jobs, divide by the 5 people in the family and everyone has 5 jobs. They can do them any time during the week (unless we have something special going on – then I give them a timeframe). When they complete a job they write their name and the date completed. They file this card in the Next Week file. At the end of the week we move all the cards from the Next Week tab, back to the This Week tab. The same goes for monthly jobs, once completed they go behind the Next Month tab. This one is switched out at the end of the month. 
• Pros: They can budget their time and if they have a busy evening on Monday and Wednesday they might choose to do their cleaning on Tuesday and Thursday. That works for me, as long as things get done. I think this is a great time management teacher as well. I can easily see what has been done and what is left to be done. With a little review of the cards I can see who has been working and who has been procrastinating. This system rewards the early bird. They choose most of their own jobs – the exception being changing their own sheets and dusting/vacuuming their own room. If they wait til the end of the week they will undoubtedly be cleaning toilets and mopping floors. If they get to work early they may just clean bathroom mirrors, vacuum the living room and sweep.
• Cons: We’ve had to force some trades when one kid always wants to do the easiest jobs – often the kid who has the most time on his hands. The older the kids get the harder it is for them to find the time to keep up. Now and then cards will disappear when someone wants to choose their jobs, puts them in their room and forgets they left them there. The biggest con is the fact that the house is rarely completely cleaned. But I think that’s normal with five busy people.

Make a list – 

• Background:  I’m a list maker, I have lists for everything. And sometimes I add things to my list just so I can cross them off! It gives me a sense of accomplishment. If I break down all the things on my plate into small tasks and get them on a list its not near so overwhelming.
• The Lists: There are a few areas that always have a list going.   
  • Groceries: Our grocery list is the most perfected list I have. It is kept in a spreadsheet, of course. I have all our basics as well as the common ingredients we use for cooking most of our meals. They are grouped by aisle in the store so I can work my way through the list as I go through the store. I have a column to x if we need the item and another column for a c if I have a coupon for the item. We print the list after we get groceries and mark it as we run out of things. Then, before we head to the store we update with things needed for the meals we’ve chosen.
  • Home Improvement Projects: I also keep a list of home improvement projects that need to be done so when we have a little free time we know what is on our list. I also keep a list of big projects we need/want to do; like siding the house, replacing the deck, garage doors. This list has cost estimates and is prioritized. This way when we win the lottery we will know exactly what we want to do with our winningsJ.
  • Christmas Lists: My most complicated lists come at Christmas time. I have a master list of what is on everyone’s wish list with an estimated cost. Because we buy for some grandparents and give lists to so many family members, I include who the item has been mentioned to and ask them to let me know if they purchase any of the items I suggested. It takes some of the surprise and spontinaity out of gift giving, but after the year Hubby received 3 drop cords, 3 sets of jumper cables and 3 hoodies it became apparent it’s a necessity. It also allows me to track how much we are spending on each kid and how many gifts they are getting.
  • Scrapbooking Lists: I’m pretty OCD when it comes to scrapbooking. I have to plan out pages before I can start so that I know what will be a double page and a single page spread. I want to know that I have logical single pages to go together. You can read about all my scrapbooking quirks in this post. I do keep lists of what I plan to scrapbook and if I have particular stickers, memorabilia or the like that I plan to put with that page.

And a special note about lists – whatever you choose to keep lists about and for, having a specific place for your lists is important – they don’t do any good if you can’t find them.

Share the plan – It does no good to have the plan if no one else knows about it. Tell all those involved and make sure they know their part in the plan. Making sure everyone knows the plan and knows where to find the details themselves will make your life easier.  I used to spend a tremendous amount of time telling family members what the plan was and what the next step would be. When I found ways to let them own the plan and be a part of it, it took some of the pressure off of me. Which leads to my next point.

Own your part and let others own theirs – This is probably the most difficult part for me. It’s easy to feel the need to pick up the slack for family members who aren’t doing their part. Its kind and generous to step in for someone who is having an exceptionally bad day or had a surprise commitment come up. But constantly bailing someone out isn’t doing them a favor. As a parent I am challenged to focus on my part and let them learn to manage theirs. They will fail sometimes. There will be days when there is no supper made or the house is a mess, but those are great opportunities to do a little situational analysis. Why didn’t it get done? What could they have done differently to make it happen? How can they fix the situation now that it’s happened?  We learn much more from our failures than our successes.

Put systems in place – I’ve talked about a lot of the different systems I have in place.  Its important to put processes in place that work for you. This is where the uber-organized can get caught. I love spreadsheets and can create a very complicated plan pretty quickly. And just as quickly the family can completely tune me out. The process has to help make things easier, not create more work. This can take a lot of trial and error and some great plans just won’t work. Keep trying. You will find one that works for your family. For instance, we have a calendar on the wall that lets everyone know what is happening each night of the current week. It also lists the menu for the night and who is responsible for cooking and clean up (the chefs and bus boy). This means any member of the family can see what’s going on, where everyone will be and what their role is is in the plan. This works great when you are at home, but when you are at school and trying to sign up for volunteer opportunities on Saturday it’s not helpful at all. So, we also implemented a Google Calendar and synced all the family phones to it so everyone knows the schedule wherever they are. You can read more about our calendars in this post.

Follow your plan – My friend Kelly teases me when I have things in my calendar and still get surprised by something because I simply neglected to look at the calendar. The plan won’t do any good if it isn’t implemented. You can make all the lists in the world, but until you do the things on the list you won’t make any progress.

I hope you find some helpful tips to manage your own family. I would love to hear what processes, lists and plans you have in place that have made your life easier! I love learning from other’s experience. Leave a comment with your best tips.

Calendar Flair

A couple years ago, hubby and I created two message boards for our kitchen wall. We bought two sheets of metal at the hardware store. We hung them with contact strips (so I can remove them if I decide to redecorate). Hubby put a piece of wood trim around each of them so they look framed. On one of them I put tape up to create 7 sections – one for each day of the week. We write on it with dry erase markers. Every Sunday night I update it for the week with practices, meetings, early dismissal or late starts. I also put who’s taking or pick up who. Sometimes I need a full blown flow chart to keep track of where everyone is going, when they’re going and how they’re getting there and back. 

Digression: We now use google calendar because it syncs with our android phones. We just switched over from Outlook this fall. So far, I like the Google calendar; its pretty intuitive and user friendly. I went in to each family members’ phone and synced their calendar with the family Google calendar. I also love that we can add calendars created by the band booster and other groups. And we can access it from anywhere we have internet.  So now my standard answer when I hear, “Do we have anything going on next Tuesday?” is “Check your calendar.” It’s still a training in process, but I’m making headway. I really dread the weeks when I open the calendar and it looks like this

   I put the kids’ first initial at the beginning of each appointment so we know who has to go. So this day everyone has to be in a different place…at the same time…and only 3 of the 5 of us can drive. Grr. That’s when great friends step in to help! Thank goodness we have good friends! And thank goodness for carpooling!

Back to the point of this post. I wanted to do something to spruce up the message boards – give them a little more character. So, I went to my scrapbook paper collection and started creating. I started with picking a font on the computer. I made huge letters for the first letter and a different smaller font for the rest of the word for each day of the week. Like this

I printed them on off-white cardstock and cut them out to the same dimensions. Each word got mounted on different colors of paper.

I did a little distressing on each card with stamps and stamp pads in colors to match the paper. And then layered them with printed papers – different for each letter.

The words were mounted with some colorful brads onto solid backgrounds and I’m done! Another project completed in an evening. I think they turned out pretty cute! And they totally add some color to our message boards.

 

Now I want to do one that says NOTES for the other message board. We use it to write to-do lists, jot phone numbers, or leave a note for each other.

So what do you think?

To Resolve or Not to Resolve

That is my current question. New years is the perfect time to think about changes for the coming year. It’s like a clean slate. You can commit to do anything for a year, because you are starting at the beginning. It’s neat and clean. 12 whole months before you to achieve all you dream of doing. 12 pristine months not marred by an oops or slip up. 12 months of potential. It’s tempting. But the failure rate is astronomical. I don’t know the statistics (97% of them are made up anyway), but I know that most new years resolutions are not kept. I’ve made a few in my day. I’ve kept far less. Maybe this year’s list will be a little more do-able. Let’s see…

In 2011 I resolve to….

…do laundry at least once a month and give my family the opportunity to feel the sense of accomplishment in washing, drying, folding and putting away all the laundry the rest of the time.

…maintain my weight rather than loose a bunch. Ok, if I failed at this one it wouldn’t be all bad. I could stand to lose some weight (ok a lot of weight), but I think this is the most broken new year’s resolution so I’m just going to resolve to maintain. How hard can that be?

…start several craft projects. There are so many new things I want to try this year! I’ll have to make a list of what I want to do.

…watch a lot of soccer games. That’s pretty specific! I resolve to go to most of my boys’ games, even those they will be playing outdoors in January and February. I’m a little crazy that way.

…nag my kids incessantly about their long term projects. I also know it probably won’t help.  But I will do it. I will help them set timelines to pace themselves, remind them of the deadlines and give them the stink eye when the night before it’s due they say, “this is gonna take me longer than I thought.”

…not start smoking. I did it for a short time in my college days (didn’t everyone?), but it’s a nasty habit. I can guarantee you I won’t take up smoking this year!

…continue enjoying a glass of wine with friends or a cold beer with my hubby. Everything in moderation.

…keep trying to make a budget and stick to it for one month. This has been on my 101 in 1001 list for 6 months now. I keep trying and eventually I should have had every conceivable unexpected expense crop up so there shouldn’t be any unexpected expenses, right?

…eat a quazi-balanced meal with my family at least once a week. Or maybe once every two weeks -life is quite crazy.

…follow my gut. That little voice inside me that gives me a heads up when I’m about to make a bad decision. You know the one, when you think logically or on paper something looks like the right thing, but deep inside you know it’s the wrong choice or the wrong time for that choice. The older I get the better I have gotten at listening to and trusting my instincts. They don’t lead me astray.

If I were to set some lofty goals for this year they might look something like this…

In 2011 I resolve to…

…exercise 20 minutes every day (or maybe just 5 days a week)

…write at least one blog post per week

…have a family dinner 3 nights per week

…include a vegetable at each of those meals – and actually eat the vegetable myself

…finish all the craft projects I’ve started before beginning a new one (that’s just crazy talk!)

…have a date night with my husband once a week (I’d even settle for once a month:))

…reduce, reuse and recycle a lot!

 …write actual letters to people I care about once a month

…send thank yous for every gift one of my family members receives this year (I’m embarrassed to say we’re terrible about this)

…scrapbook a few hours each week!

Good thing I’m not actually setting those lofty goals or I’d really have to work hard at them since I put it out here in the universe for everyone to see. No pressure there.

Judy’s Rules for a Happy Home

So, I was looking for an old file on the laptop and came across this list. It made me chuckle. I am definitely a list maker. I like to keep track of what needs to be done. Maybe it’s because I have so many things going on or it’s because I have such a terrible memory.

Judy’s Rules for a Happy Home

1. No one else wants to use the knife you used for your pbj/toast/etc so you can put it right in the dishwasher instead of balancing it on the edge of the sink.
2. No one else wants to eat the heel of the bread. Either eat it yourself or throw it away.
3. Butter tubs, margarine tubs, sour cream tubs, cheese tubs and every other tub that comes from the store with food in it are all disposable. That means throw it away when it is empty. Do not wash it and put it in the cupboard for Judy to throw away.
4. Underwear, undershirts and socks are all dirty after wearing one time; even if it was only a few hours and you don’t think you got sweaty in them.
5. The only room with a dishwasher is the kitchen so that is where all dirty dishes should be.
6. If a paper is important to you, put it in a safe place that you remember. Papers found on the floor, under the furniture, or in random stacks around the house are not considered important and are subject to disposal at any time.
7. If the house was a soccer field it would have grass on the floor and large nets at either end. Since this is not the case, do not play soccer in the house.
8. If the house was a basketball court it would have lines painted on the floor and hoops at either end. Since this is not the case, do not play basketball in the house.
9. The ghosts that occupy our house do not care for television. The power switch works well on all the televisions and will not wear out. Therefore, there is no need to leave the television turned on when you leave the room.
10. Although we do own stock in a power company, the dividends do not offset the cost of leaving every light in the house on at all times. Please turn the lights off when you leave the room.
11. Doing laundry involves sorting, washing, drying, folding and putting away the clothes. All members of the family may do any part of this process, but all parts must be completed.
12. When clean clothes are piled in a laundry hamper for a week they tend to look like they have been in the dirty laundry pile. If they are folded and put away, they look clean.
13. Mom is capable of doing multiple things at once. However, when she is talking to one person

Clearly, I got interrupted mid-thought. I can imagine what the rest of that sentence was going to be. Something about the fact that I can’t pay attention to what your saying when I’m typing on the computer. I know I did have this hanging on the wall for a while. Some of the family saw the humor in my sarcasm, others – not so much.

Unfortunately this was another failed attempt at keeping the house neat, tidy and organized.

I might add a few other rules to the list…

1. There is no certification required to load or run the dishwasher so feel free to go ahead and put your dishes in it. And if it’s full you are welcome to add soap and hit start.
2. We don’t have  a dresser or closet in the kitchen, living room or dining room. That’s because this isn’t the place to get dressed.
3. Those bars hanging on the wall are for towels. If you hang the towel up it will dry. If you throw it in a pile on the floor it will stay wet and smell.
4. Cleats that were worn in the rain and stuffed in your backpack for a week will stink worse than a dirty diaper. If you air them out when you get home so they can dry, it won’t infect the entire house with the stench.

Maybe this list would be better titled, “How to Avoid Annoying the Bejeebers Out of Your Mother.” Not sure that would be very motivating though…