Getting My House Back (List making)

If you have been following this series, you know that I'm working on getting my house in order.

List Making

I've always been a list maker. I have notebooks all over my house with lists, How To Lists, Grocery Lists, Christmas Lists, Card Swap Lists, To Do Lists and etc...  Did you notice I said "all over my house"? I'll address those in another post.

During my first visit with Michelle, I noticed she had a composition notebook. She showed me her notebook and how she plans what she's going to do during the day, when the pages are all filled, she starts a new book. I have LOTS of composition notebooks, so when I got home I pulled out a brand new composition notebook, because I have misplaced my favorite notebook, and started back to list making.

I am doing my morning routine, then taking care of my list, then onto evening routine.

This was my first list.

Date:
Straighten whole house
Put away all the Christmas stuff (yes, it was still out and cluttering up the house)
Clean one drawer out in the kitchen
Write 20 minutes
Exercise 20 minutes
Do one load of laundry
Make 2 cards

Do you see anything wrong with this list?

This is what I accomplished:
Straighten the kitchen (dishes washed, counters wiped, things put away)
Cleaned one drawer out in the kitchen
Wrote 20 minutes
Exercised 20 minutes
Did one load of laundry
Attempted 2 cards but was too tired and made lots of mistakes

I was unable to straighten the whole house... WHOLE house I ran from room to room... sad story.
That really was an unrealistic chore. The house didn't get messy in one day, so it's going to take more than one day to straighten the whole house. Don't be like me, be realistic when making your list.

Also, Christmas was all over the house, I gathered what I could but couldn't seem to get it all together and find space for it all, closet needed cleaning out because I'd already filled my Christmas space with other things. This too seemed overwhelming and I had other things on my list that I wanted to accomplish before my evening routine kicked in. My advice, don't use the words ALL or WHOLE when making your lists.

Many things enter our lives throughout the day. Our lists get set to the side and life happens. That first day, I was disappointed and upset that I didn't get everything done on my list. But, after sleeping on it, I started the next day by moving the uncompleted things to my new list.

I'm now creating lists that are doable. My friend Kathryn Velarde once told me she only puts 5 things on her to accomplish list and when they are done, she adds 5 more. Whatever doesn't get done that day, she moves to the next. Smart woman, I'm stealing that page from her book and putting it in mine.

I hope you are learning how to get your house back as we travel through this process together.

Until next time, Rhonda