pam and peggy

My sister Annika and I are still in full swing cleaning our houses and figuring out systems that will work to keep things running smoothly this school year. Last week we met at our folks' house before we all went to the water park. I had a bunch of stuff to return to Annika and my mom, Annika had a bag of clothes for Elsie and my mom had a bunch of stuff from a friend who is moving that she wanted us to look through. It was hilarious...we are all in this deep purge mindset, and spent the first 10 minutes together passing stuff around to each other!

I have been doing a ton of reading though, and really trying to figure out the solution to paper clutter. And the system for returning things to people. And the process for keeping this house orderly. I am naturally an organized person, but something is missing in my routines for cleaning and correspondence.

I mentioned that I started by reading Fly Lady's 31 baby steps. Those were really helpful and my main take-ways were: 1) get up 30 minutes before everyone else and shower and dress fully with shoes and 2) keep your sink empty and shining. Fly Lady sets up her program with a lot of psychological triggers: if your sink is shining, you're going to want to clear the counter. If your bed is made, you're going to want to pick up the clothes and put them in the hamper. And it works! Annika called to say she had gone 9 days in a row with a clean sink! I deep cleaned my car: cleared everything out, vacuumed every inch, wiped down every surface, and it looks incredible. And guess what? I have been emptying it after every outing because the junk looks so obvious compared to the rest of the spiffed up car. It's a psychological trick that is getting me to toss my trash and take my stuff from the car back into the house every single time. It's remarkable to me.

In a quest for paper organization I came across organizedhome.com and found all sorts of tips on creating a Household Notebook. I read a whole lot of posts on this concept, ran myself to the dollar store and now have a binder that makes my heart sing. It holds it all: info for the babysitter, packing lists for vacation, medical history for the kids, budget worksheets, weekly menu ideas, funny quotes from the kids, schedules, important numbers. It's all there.

It was while compiling my Household Notebook that I stumbled upon 21 posts about being a S.H.E. Which stands for a Sidetrackable Household Executive. I read these posts in two nights and felt lights turn on all over the place. S.H.E.'s were coined by Pam and Peggy, two sisters who had a hard time keeping their houses running smoothly until they came up with this card file system. Have any of you done this?!! Do any of you remember these ladies from the 70's or 80's?

First of all, they are hilarious and I have been watching video clips on youtube ever since. Second of all, I think this is really going to work for me. Because I follow instructions really well. I'm naturally an organized person, but I have never seemed to get the swing of the housework (the actual deep cleaning) schedule and menu planning. And their system was so enlightening for me. I just learned so much. The way they organize their week is really remarkable to me and I cannot wait to try this new approach to my days. (Church Day, Family Day, Deep Clean Day, Desk Day, Errand Day, Moderate Clean Day and Rest Day)

And I'm bringing my sister with me! Annika starts a new full-time job tomorrow morning and she's as eager as I am to figure out how to plan and execute all the hats a mom wears. It's exhausting to always feel behind. Our goal is to feel in control of the house, the groceries, the paper clutter, including the family in the work to be done and feeling good about the tone in which it's all done.

Are you inspired?!! Start reading! These are some fun articles and have me so fired up that I'm printing off all of my most-used recipes and making my own Household Recipe's Binder filled with my top 40 go-to's that I actually go-to. This is going to be good!

(And have you watched that video above. They are hilarious.)