Catching up...

I might have been full of the joys of spring last time we met, but golly gosh,it's bloody cold today!!
And what have I been up to since last time?  Well, whilst other people across the country were panic-buying fuel, I was panic-washing laundry....  yep, that's right.  During that brief but glorious hot spell that we had, I was catching up on all my winter  build-up of clothes.  3 loads per day I was getting done.  Which I know sounds a hell of a lot, but there are 6 of us remember & I don't possess a tumble dryer, so during winter &/or wet weather, I can't actually do a lot of washing, cos I've got to wait for it all to be dried on clothes horses/radiators...
The only problem with doing all this washing is that now I've got nowhere to put anything!!

But I'm glad I did get pretty much all caught up cos we've gone back to winter.  Snowing in fact!  Thankfully not as bad as Scotland & Northumbria, but still!!!

What else have I been doing?  DS3 turned 5 on April Fools Day (explains an awful lot about him, that does!) so I've been making mountains of cupcakes for his party that he had..  (delicious, even if I do say so myself!)

And due to the problem of lack of clothing storage, I've started decluttering it all...  I now have mounds of clothes to take to nursery & a shedload of nappies to sell and Freecycle....

hohum, what an exciting life I lead!!!

Organising tips

So in the spirit of trying to be less complete slattern & more Domestic Goddess (like that's EVER going to happen!!)  I've borrowed a whole load of organising tips from the lovely Damsels....

1) Divide the day into hourly slots.  (use a diary!) slot in the important stuff (work, appointments etc) then use the remaining time slots to book in the housework.

2) Meal plan & do grocery shopping online.
     -have a list of what's in the freezer/cupboards
     - list meals that get eaten regularly (including recipe info if necessary)
     - have a list of "future" shopping to write things as they get low.

3) Wash up after every meal (guess I need to go wash the dishes now!!)

4) Set up present/card file - wrapping paper, sellotape, cards, stamps etc... (use the Ikea carrier bag recycling container...) 

5) Deal with paperwork as it comes in (although another tip is to put all post in file & deal with it once a week - I'll try both & see which one works best for me)

6) Leave the washing out on the line till it's dry.  (although how that's going to work in winter I'm not sure...)  Another washing tip was to just do it all once a week, although I think that's one that would only work if you had a dryer, which I don't...)

7) Premake sandwiches for lunch & freeze.  Take out night before.

Soooo, I'm hoping that these tips will help me.  Of course I've also got my babysteps written in my diary to be added every 3 weeks.  I WILL get this place under control!!!