Money Saving Mom®

Day 18 Assignment

::Get dressed in something that makes you feel great {there’s something about dressing in clothes that make you feel great that just gives you more energy and zest for life! Get your free copy of SarahMae’s ebook, Frumps to Pumps, if you need more motivation in this.}

::Sit down with a cup of coffee or tea, refer to your list of weekly goals, and make a list of no more than 5-7 specific things you want to accomplish today.

::Complete your morning routine {if you don’t have a morning routine, take some time to create one today! Read my How to Develop a Routine That Works–And Stick With It series for step-by-step help.}

::Set the timer for 15 minutes and vacuum the main living areas of your home.

::Vacuum your carpeted closets. Sweep or mop the floor in those closets without carpet. Remove all items from the closet floor and get rid of clutter, trash, and items that don’t belong in that closet.

::Find 7 items to get rid of today. Throw them out, stick them in a donate or garage sale box, give them to a friend who can use them, or list them on Craigslist or eBay.

Note: If you work outside the home or have a really busy week with little time for extra projects, just do the bolded project above.

At 9 p.m. ET tonight, I’ll be posting my progress and pictures, along with a link-up for you to share your progress and pictures, too. Here’s to our productivity today!

We had another good day today. This new routine is going so well — and I even got up later than usual this morning! Yay!

Silas and Kaitlynn tackled the bathroom with me this morning during our morning chore time. They are responsible for cleaning the toilet and sink every day, so I just helped make sure it was done really thoroughly today.

Silas’ attention to detail cracks me up.

He would not leave the bathroom until ever square centimeter of the toilet had been scrubbed.

After our morning homeschooling was done, we had a “picnic” lunch inside and I read Amelia Bedelia stories aloud while the children ate.

Of course, they had to get a silly faces picture, too! 🙂

Later on in the day, I tackled the kitchen cupboards. After looking through them, I rearranged a few things, but decided that it was mainly the pantry that needed cleaning and re-organizing, as the others were in good shape as I’ve cleaned all of them in the last two months.

It wasn’t all that bad, except the snack bin which was in desperate need of help! {Pictured above is what the bottom of the bin looked like! Yikes!}

Much better!

After cleaning out the pantry, I did an impromptu 30-minute freezer cooking session while making homemade pizza for dinner (I know, I know, homemade pizza totally wasn’t on the menu this week. But I decided it sounded better than meatballs for dinner tonight and Jesse agreed. So I just went with it!)

More on the impromptu cooking session in a bit. For now, here’s my pile of 7 items I got rid of today. Actually, there are only six items shown, but I threw out a few things from the pantry that were expired, so I’m counting those, too.

How did you do on Assignment #17? I’d love to have you share your progress and success with us so we can be inspired. Either post a link to your blog post below or leave a comment with your update.

Day 17 Assignment

::Get dressed in something that makes you feel great {there’s something about dressing in clothes that make you feel great that just gives you more energy and zest for life! Get your free copy of SarahMae’s ebook, Frumps to Pumps, if you need more motivation in this.}

::Sit down with a cup of coffee or tea, refer to your list of weekly goals, and make a list of no more than 5-7 specific things you want to accomplish today.

::Complete your morning routine {if you don’t have a morning routine, take some time to create one today! Read my How to Develop a Routine That Works–And Stick With It series for step-by-step help.}

::Set the timer for 15 minutes and do a quick-clean of your bathroom. Need specific directions? Read this article on How to Clean Your Bathroom in 15 Minutes.

::Clean out and reorganized your kitchen cupboards and pantry.

::Find 7 items to get rid of today. Throw them out, stick them in a donate or garage sale box, give them to a friend who can use them, or list them on Craigslist or eBay.

Note: If you work outside the home or have a really busy week with little time for extra projects, just do the bolded project above.

At 9 p.m. ET tonight, I’ll be posting my progress and pictures, along with a link-up for you to share your progress and pictures, too. Here’s to our productivity today!

We had a good day today. I slept for 12 hours last night (I guess I was a bit exhausted after our busy weekend!) and woke up feeling very refreshed this morning.

I had re-arranged our daily routine some, so we started that new routine today and it went incredibly well. Silas was especially excited to start his preschool lessons with me (he’s been talking about getting to start “pwe-schuul” for months!)

After homeschooling was finished, I was able to get the house picked up and most all of the unpacking done. And then it was time to tackle the vents.

When I pulled up the first vent in the kitchen and saw all of the dirt, I knew I was in for a nice little cleaning challenge.

Let’s just say, I saw a whole lot more dirt and ick than I had bargained for.

But after washing the vents in the sink and scrubbing around the vent openings with a Mr. Clean Eraser, I felt much better.

The project as a whole took me about 45 minutes. I gave up on trying to vacuum every little nook and cranny and just got the vents cleaned and the worst offenders vacuumed out.

My pile of 7+ things to get rid of: a very old Swiffer that I got free and should have discarded a long time ago, some books, and a shoe that has somehow lost its mate (I kept hoping the other shoe would turn up in all the cleaning, but so far, it’s been a lost cause!).

How did you do on Assignment #16? I’d love to have you share your progress and success with us so we can be inspired. Either post a link to your blog post below or leave a comment with your update.

We survived the Cincinnati conference! It was busy and our days there were packed, but it was wonderful — and it was so good to meet so many of you in person!

{And for those who are wondering, my workshops went well… and after the first two, I wasn’t really even nervous for the other two! This was a huge victory for me in the public speaking arena. Thank you to everyone who has encouraged me to face my fears and step out and do things outside my comfort zone. The more I’m doing this, the easier it’s becoming! And I’m really starting to enjoy it, too!}

My apologies that Friday’s assignment never got posted. I had it planned, but our internet was so poor where we were that, by the time, I was able to get working internet, it was too late in the day to bother posting the assignment. So I just decided everyone could have the day off! 🙂

Day 16 Assignment

::Get dressed in something that makes you feel great {there’s something about dressing in clothes that make you feel great that just gives you more energy and zest for life! Get your free copy of SarahMae’s ebook, Frumps to Pumps, if you need more motivation in this.}

::Sit down with a cup of coffee or tea and make a list of weekly goals. I’ll post my goals along with a link-up around 1 p.m. ET this afternoon.

::Complete your morning routine {if you don’t have a morning routine, take some time to create one today! Read my How to Develop a Routine That Works–And Stick With It series for step-by-step help.}

::Set the timer for 15 minutes and quickly pick up your house and put things back into order after the weekend.

::Clean your vents. If you have floor vents that can be removed, remove them and wash them in warm soapy water. Vacuum/clean any dirt or grime around the floor vent area and replace the vent. Use a vacuum attachment and/or a wet rag to dust/clean your other vents.

::Find 7 items to get rid of today. Throw them out, stick them in a donate or garage sale box, give them to a friend who can use them, or list them on Craigslist or eBay.

Note: If you work outside the home or have a really busy week with little time for extra projects, just do the bolded project above.

At 9 p.m. ET tonight, I’ll be posting my progress and pictures, along with a link-up for you to share your progress and pictures, too. Here’s to our productivity today!

If you missed this morning’s assignment, you can check it out here.

We got up at 3:15 a.m. in order to make our early connecting flight to Cincinnati this morning. It’s been a long day, but a good day.

We got into Cincinnati in the early afternoon, set up our booth, and then spent the evening manning the booth — and meeting many of my wonderful readers. You all mean the world to me and it was so great to get to meet so many of you in person. I look forward to getting to spend more time with you tomorrow!

The convention hall here is amazingly huge compared to our homeschool convention in Kansas!

Our simple booth {I’m not a big fan of the yellow, but we didn’t have any choice regarding that! If you’re wondering what’s on the table other than my books, those are freebie bags we put together with some fun freebies to hand out. Because it just wouldn’t seem like a MoneySavingMom.com booth without freebies! :)}

Earlier this week, I did today’s assignment. Here’s the junk drawer before I cleaned it out. {And in case you’re wondering why it looks so clean, it’s because I recently cleaned it out! Otherwise, it might be a sorry sight!}

And the utensil drawer. I’m not too happy with the after result — it still seems cluttered to me. Anyone have suggestions on how to make it more organized?

And my pile of 7+ items to get rid of: from the junk drawer and the utensil drawer. Some to throw out, some to stick in the garage sale boxes.

How did you do on Assignment #14? I’d love to have you share your progress and success with us so we can be inspired. Either post a link to your blog post below or leave a comment with your update.