FLYing in Style

Sink Reflections By Cilley, MarlaI know that the whole point of this blog is about my journey towards living frugally so I figured that I really should point out where I got a lot of my ideas from.  The biggest thing that I have found out that is that as a control freak life can get pretty hectic if I don't put it in manageable bits.  That's where my control journal comes in.

Do we have anyone who is currently living in CHAOS?  Can't Have Anyone Over Syndrome?  Guess what you are not alone.  I have lived in CHAOS for years but recently with Sarai turning a year old and realizing that I want her to have her friends to our place sometimes I have really had it on my heart that I needed to get out of the CHAOS.  That's where I found a new system that is actually working for us.

Marla Watson Cilley ~ Otherwise known to me at the FLYLady ~ has truly helped me out in so many ways.  I don't know where I would be if it wasn't for her.  Still living with a lot of clutter and stressed out by it.  I highly recommend her book Sink Reflections. You can find her 31 Beginner Babysteps on her website www.flylady.net.  It has helped me as well as a lot of my friends.

One of the things that she talks about is making a control journal.  Something that keeps everything in one place.  For me it has my daily tasks and weekly tasks, my menu's along with the supply list needed for the week's shopping list and recipes, important papers that I have mailed out but wanted to keep a copy of, my checkbook register with a pouch for keeping all my debit card receipts, blank paper, print outs of all my DIY recipes, and a place to put different things I find that might have a fun activity I want to try with Sarai.  It also has emergency contact information including directions to my house in case there was an emergency so I don't have to try and remember when giving it to the 911 operator.  My journal is completely simple and didn't cost me anything to make.  I take it with me everywhere I go so that I know if I need to pick up anything or go to the store for any reason.

Along with the control journal, I have my week broken down into different themes for each day.  You can adjust your themes to fit your schedule better but for our family this was really simple.

Sunday's are Family Fun days.  These are the days the we got to church and hang out with family in the afternoon.  We also do our laundry and clean our bathrooms this day.

Monday's are Errand Days.  These are the days that if we need to go in town for anything we do it all at once.  I schedule all our doctor appointments for Mondays and we do our shopping on this day.

Tuesday's are Library Days.  These are the days that we get to go over to the library to pick out movies ( We don't have cable and we only have Netflix so sometimes we want to see a more recent movie we rent it from the library.  Its free so it saves us a ton on rentals) Sarai also has physical therapy at our house these days so its a good day for us to stay near home.  We also deep clean our living room this day.

Wednesday's are Pool Days.  Sarai's cousins live in the next town over and they have a pool so we go over there in the afternoons to swim and play with her cousins.  We also clean our kitchen this day.

Thursday's are MOPS Days.  Sarai and I are apart of a MOPS (Moms of Preschoolers) group that has a park tour during the summer.  We have a lot of parks in the area that are toddler friendly so we rotate on Thursday mornings doing different free activities. If you are a stay at home mom or any type of mom who has kids home during the day I totally recommend checking out the MOPS website to find a group near you.  Its birth through pre-k and the MOPS group is a wonderful organization created to build up moms and encourage them.  They are also getting ready to start a older kids group for moms with kids in school.  Their website is http://www.mops.org and you can look up by zipcode to find a group near you.  If you are in the Central IL area send me a message and I would love to send you a list of our park play dates so you can join us.
On Thursdays we also go to the store just to pick up fresh produce because it doesn't last as long and we need to refill our supplies.

Friday's are Park Days.   As a family we use this day to walk up to the park and play on the swing set and enjoy the neighborhood. We are clean our bedrooms on this day.

Saturday's are Cooking Days.  Our family along with my mom and dad cook our weeks worth of dinner entrees on Saturday.  We have a 6 week rotation and we do all the cooking in one day.  It's not that bad and saves us a lot of money.  When we get home we then sort laundry and that's it.

Our entire house is deep cleaned once a week without it being too much of a stress on anyone one person.  Now on top of these tasks we have daily things that we do to help keep it in a condition that if someone were to show up unexpected we would be ready for that.

Some of the things that I have learned along my journey towards a frugal life is that you don't have to go without something just to save some money.  If you have a plan you will find that you can save a lot just by thinking it out before hand.

Don't forget the hunt is still on for the most creative frugal handmade gift for this Christmas.