It’s been almost a month of emptying the sink each night. Still not to the shining it phase. Maybe some day. However, something exciting happened tonight.

I made dinner. Okay, maybe two exciting things happened tonight. Ha. One thing I’m finding is that I’m a bit more inspired to cook dinner when I start with a clean kitchen. Makes it a little easier to prepare meals that take a little extra counter space (something in short supply around here).

Since it was a rainy, cool day, I made stuffed peppers tonight. Finally, a fall meal with proper fall weather. I had to run the dishwasher right after putting the meal in the oven with all the lunch/dinner prep dishes. Nothing too new there except it was empty enough to hold them all. That meant, of course, all our dinner dishes went into the sink.

I Didn’t Empty The Dishwasher Or The Sink Tonight

However, once the dishwasher finished, I didn’t empty it. Or the sink. I planned to do it. Usually, I do it right after I prep some items for J’s lunch.

However, tonight, my husband emptied the dishwasher and the sink! All month as I’ve been emptying the sink, I’ve been doing my very best to not say anything/not be a martyr like the Flylady directs. That’s probably been harder than actually emptying the sink if I’m honest.

While I’m still going to need to go do a bit of lunch prep, it’s so nice to not have to worry about the rest of it tonight. It appears an empty sink is catching on around here!

Guess I’m going to need to rename this an almost 31 Days Series. However, life happens. And since this blog is a hobby not a job (no influencer here!), I have to prioritize. Sleep wins over new blog posts sometimes. A lot of times.

Though I’ve not been posting, my last post in this series was Friday morning, I’ve still been clearing my sink out each night with the exception of last Friday night.

A little Saturday morning reality for you:

One day of waking up to a sink full of dishes made me realize I much prefer to wake up to the (mostly) empty sink each day. While I didn’t take a second photo, I did clear the sink (and put the plants back, I water on Saturday mornings) before we left for the all day band competition. It was certainly nice to not come home to a sink full of dishes as well!

Same Old Sub Story

I’m still struggling with developing and maintaining routines around here while working a very varied schedule. There’s not really a set routine with subbing and saying no to work comes with it’s own level of guilt (today, I turned down work twice because I have a lot I need to do around here plus honestly, I needed a break).

Thinking that the key is perhaps to start small. Simply emptying the sink, running the dishwasher each night (if I remember to push the button! SIGH) is probably the most basic step. Before, I’ve always tried to jump in doing it all and become quite frustrated. Finding a time/day for the weekly home blessing also frustrates me. And it circles back to the varied schedule.

Perhaps I need to look at carving a set day to myself each week. We used to have sub who was unavailable on Thursdays and Fridays (I picked up a lot of work those days). Perhaps I need to advocate for myself a bit more. However, I’m flexible enough that perhaps I’ll just say no last minute requests on a certain day. (I don’t mind working a full week for someone if they give me notice.) Something to ponder.

Today and The Rest of This Week

Today is once again anti-procrastination day in Flylady land.

I do have quite a few unfinished tasks to tackle today like bills, letters/cards to mail, laundry, and that freezer inventory (been putting that off for too long). Also, if I have time, I need to run somewhere and get some Halloween candy so we don’t end up handing out peanut butter kisses. Blech! My husband thought we should get those to hand out the first Halloween we were married. Vetoed that. Does anyone actually like those things?  It’ll be fun sized Snickers and packs of M&M’s around here most likely.

Speaking of holidays, everywhere even in Flylady land seems to be focused on preparing for Christmas! Well, except the local news who keeps going on about the cost of the Thanksgiving meal. I probably should go through my Rudolph Day/Christmas gift tub and see what’s in there.

Tomorrow is errand day but I’m not sure if I’m working yet. I might try and get my running done today as it’s supposed to rain all day tomorrow anyway. One of my hold books is in at the library. Technically, returning the books I do have could count as an anti-procrastination tasks since I renewed them all last week just to avoid the worry of returning them.

Friday, I get to go help out at the Halloween party so that should be a fun morning. The parade on Saturday, possibly a bonfire at a friend’s house on Saturday night (just us, doubt the kids will go), and then, Halloween on Sunday. Hoping to get lots done today so I can simply enjoy all the fun without a large list of overdue to-do items looming in the background.

What are you hoping to accomplish today?

So, here’s an area where I struggle a bit. First, the obvious one of posting every day during a 31 days series! Ha. This was a last minute decision so I’m giving myself a pass on that. Normally, I might’ve had a few posts scheduled in advance. Some fun Beatles music for you while you read the rest of the post:

My struggle is in regards to the Flylady routines. They are extremely easy (to an extent discounting days when motivation issues abound) when my schedule is routine. However, as a substitute, my schedule often changes and at the last minute as well.

As you probably guessed by now, I worked unexpectedly all day yesterday and work all day again today. J is off school so I have a few extra minutes to post this morning (no school carline today, hooray for that!). It is very hard to come home after a full workday and find motivation to do any type of evening routine. One thing I’ve found so far, however, is earlier is better for cleaning out the sink. I did at least, accomplish that yesterday. And that is all I did.

This morning, my husband brought all the laundry baskets full of clean clothes up so I’ve been on and off folding those and started a load of laundry. I’ll go ahead and run the dishwasher once I’ve eaten breakfast.

Anyway, no errands or other bedroom cleaning happened yesterday. Perhaps later tonight but I doubt it as Fridays at work tend to be a bit exhausting.

How do you keep to your routines when things change last minute?

Missed posting again yesterday, it was another busy day but things stayed mostly on track. I took the time to empty the sink before I left for Bunco last night and it made a huge difference. Today I need to take care of some business.

Bedroom Cleaning Update

Yesterday, I also worked on the fly lady bedroom missions. Tackled the clothes piles on my dresser and the chair. Thankfully, they weren’t very big. So, I then did something I’d been needing to do for a while. Put my dresser back in order as well as changed out the summer clothes for the fall ones. Finally, admitted that while it’s been unseasonably warm, shorts and capris weather is likely over.

Removed all the fall clothes from the space saver bag and replaced them with the summer clothing. Fall clothes are in the dresser now.

Today’s mission is to clean out the closet floor. However, I share the closet with my husband and really he has the most stuff in it. (Odd, I know) I keep my shoes hanging in a shoe bag and the ones I wear most often on the floor near my dresser. So, I’ll probably focus on clearing the desk I moved into our bedroom instead.

Today’s Anti-Procrastination Business

Here’s my list of tasks to tackle today.

1. Online renewal of G’s license plates. (DONE-hooray! Expected it to be a headache but it was easy)
2. Make a blog page for this series (long overdue)
3. Laundry/mainly make sure J’s band member shirt is washed and ready for Saturday (In progress)
4. Check on status of Cat’s flea medicine order (Done-should be here today)
5. Take inventory of meat in freezer
6. Plant crocus bulbs/work outside*

*Depends on back

Not a super long list today. I could make one but I woke up with a sore lower back. Not sure if I did something yesterday, did move some plants inside but didn’t think any were that heavy…just the Monstera which I left so my son or husband could get it for me. Not sure where to put that enormous thing anyway. So, I probably should add resting my back to the list instead of working outside as much as I’d rather be planting bulbs and trimming flowers. SIGH.

I’ll leave you with a little motivational music or rather the song that popped into my head as I was typing my post title.

What business are you taking care of today?

Another quick post tonight as the dishwasher is running and the sink is empty!

After ignoring things Friday into Saturday and waking up to this yesterday:

It does feel good to be back on track!

Today I didn’t do a whole lot, nothing really cleaning related except for the kitchen upkeep cleaning. And of course, a load of laundry. Always the laundry. (Actually, I folded 3 loads of laundry and washed my gardening gloves)

Watched the Chiefs game, read my book, took a nap, and spent some time outside. Not enough time outside as I still didn’t get my bulbs planted. However, I cut the tomato plants way back to see if I can get at least a orange tinge to start on the remaining ones before the frost hits. We probably have until the end of the month but you never know.

Next week is bedroom week and I’m looking forward to it. Somehow, several areas of our bedroom have once again become quite cluttered.

I am really starting to appreciate the peace of mind waking up to the (mostly) empty sink each morning.

This coming week is starting out kind of busy with a full work day tomorrow.  My Happy Homemaker Monday post will be late, probably won’t post until Tuesday. Thought about working on the post tonight but I’m fairly certain another Flylady rule is to go to bed at a decent time so I’m planning on doing just that.

Hope everyone has a great start to the new week!

Just a quick post tonight so I don’t miss posting 2 days in a row.

So, I had a bit of a setback and didn’t clean my sink before I went to bed last night. Busy working day and long football game (the homecoming game, first time all season it was cold enough to need a jacket and a blanket). Came home last night and pretty much went to bed.

Woke up and looked around this morning (while getting ready to get J to the homecoming parade, band marched) wishing I’d have spent that 5-10 minutes. Spent 5-10 minutes unloading the dishwasher before we left to go to the parade.

After breakfast/lunch, I went ahead and cleaned the sink, running the dishes through the dishwasher. It was nice to see the empty sink again. And I spent 5 minutes (probably less as we ate out and didn’t really have any dishes except the plates for our fast food, no eating out of the cartons around here!) cleaning the sink out before coming down here for this quick post.

After the parade, it was a bit of a lazy Saturday for me. My “family fun” consisted of watching 2 movies (Hocus Pocus, Black Widow) and taking a nap in between them. Somewhere in there I did a couple of loads of laundry but that’s it really.

Tomorrow is “recharge” day so I’ll probably spend it outside taking care of flower garden chores or planting some bulbs since it’s supposed to be a little warmer (back to the low 70’s I think, was in the low 40’s this morning).

Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend!

I started on the 1st and tomorrow marks two weeks of following (semi-correctly this time) the Flylady way. Seems focusing on the kitchen sink makes a difference after all.  The other rooms do tend to follow the lead of the kitchen sink. Who knew?

Well, lots of people I suppose.

Random observations

The house is cleaner. Not sparkling but just feels breathable in here. I’ll take it.

I like her idea of a schedule of days but do need to adapt it to my schedule.

Mondays don’t work well for me to do the home blessing but Thursdays fit. It makes more sense in my mind for the house to be clean and ready for us to enjoy on the weekend. We’re all running around on Mondays (and other days of the week).  Of course, I also like Thursdays as errands day so I’ll have to think on things.

Refreshing Rooms As I Go

Bathroom week plus a bonus room is almost over. I admittedly didn’t do so well with the bonus room but I’ll get the hang of it all eventually.  The mission today was another de-clutter and since I have the small bathroom, I opted to just wipe down the white cabinet pictured below instead (long overdue).

One thing I noticed is I see things I’d like to do in each room as I work in there. And enjoy finding small ways to freshen up the spaces. Gives me a little extra motivational boost as I clean.

For the kitchen, I purchased a small pack of new kitchen cloths. (One is pictured in yesterday’s clean sink picture)

And for the end of bathroom week, I picked up a new shower curtain! 

Something I’ve been toying with doing for a while. Think it was meant to be as while running errands, I came across it on clearance and not even in the correct aisle. The same shower curtain I looked at earlier this year and decided to wait as I couldn’t quite justify it.

Nothing like a clearance price tag to help with that! Eventually, I’ll add some guest towels that go with it, probably in a solid blue or gray color like the rug that’s in there.

Note, I’m not doing anything “big” in these rooms just little things I’ve had on my mind for a while. And nothing super expensive. May even shop the house for some of it.

Do you ever do a small room refresh? How do you achieve it? What helps you stay motivated while cleaning?