Catch All Tuesday

As I stated yesterday, this week I will be outlining my basic weekly schedule. Of course there are always exceptions and changes when need be, but beside my kids weekly chore schedule, I keep this basic outline to help me get the most out of my time. Since I am not a naturally organized person, I feel that sometimes my days can get a little scattered, plus, whenever I feel overwhelmed or tired this really helps - there is not thinking about what needs to get done and it helps me focus on all the tasks of the week.

Tuesday is my "catch all day", Tuesday's schedule becomes Monday's schedule if we had a long weekend or if for whatever reason I had to be out of the house all day long on Monday, but following a regular Monday...


Here is my typical "Tuesday To Do List":

1. Grocery Shopping
Every four weeks I do my big grocery shop, so obviously this is not an every Tuesday occurrence. But the shopping takes all day, I hit Costco, Walmart and Save On Foods, as some foods are cheaper at one place over another.

I have a huge list I go by, that includes all the pantry items and freezer items I will need for my monthly meal plan, plus and extra list of everything I need with regards to household items (e.g., toilet paper), personal items (e.g., shampoo) and some extra staples (e.g., peanut butter, mustard, juice, etc.). Sometimes I guess wrong and run out of baking ingredients or peanut butter, but over all this takes most of the guess work out of shopping and I normally have pretty good estimates of what extras I will need. Typically I always guess on the side of too much for staples or I will buy 2 or 3 extra if I find a really good sale, as extras can just be kept in my huge downstairs pantry that my hubby made for me.

I buy all of my meat in bulk at Costco, so this does take some type to separate into meal size portions. With my meal plan, I also created a list of all the food prep that needs to take place for that month. The list outlines how much hamburger to fry for the month, if I need to separate the bacon (some soup recipes call for just a few strips of bacon), what meat needs to be packaged in a marinade and so forth. Having this all done ahead of time is a huge time saver during a busy week and saves me a ton of money when I buy in bulk, so it is worth the extra effort. Often I run out of time on Tuesday to finish and this chore runs into Wednesday, as my Tuesday evenings are often really busy so whatever doesn't get done by 3:10 (when I have to leave to pick up the kids) typically has to wait till the next day.


2. Appointments
On Tuesdays I will set up appointments needed, like doctor, orthodontist, dentist and so forth.


3. Errands
I always seem to have some errand that needs to be done, whether it is dropping too small clothes of the kids off at a friends or charity, or depositing cheques into the bank, there always seems to be something.


4. Contract/Volunteer work
Whenever I take contract work (that can be done at home) or am helping with Women's Ministry at our church, Tuesday is the day that I set aside a chunk of time to get to work. This is also the day that I will spend more time writing, reading and researching different topics.


5. Baking
Tuesday is not my big baking day, but on those rare Tuesdays that I get everything done with time to spare, I will often bake up a quick batch of cookies or muffins, much to the delight of my kids.

Oh, I almost forgot, there is no way that I can do no cleaning in a day, on Tuesdays I do the basic, sweep the floors, clean up after breakfast, do a quick tidy of the living room and my bedroom (e.g., make my bed, put away anything my daughter or I left out from getting ready in the morning, etc.). I try to limit my cleaning time to 20 minutes, I put on a timer and go (and I do mean go!). I have a tendency to want to clean more than I should (it is a bad habit really), so putting on a timer helps to keep my on track, because I do have other things that need to be done and sometimes focusing is not my strong suit!


So there you have it - my super fun Tuesdays!


For more posts like this:



The Goal of Housekeeping



Making Summer Cleaning Quick and Efficient



Blessings,

Christine