It was nice to read the article and see all the things that I currently do. I especially liked #10, "Keep extras in vehicle". Maybe it's because I was a teacher, or maybe it's because my father told me I should always have extra gloves, socks and a sweatshirt in my trunk, but I've been doing this for years, even before kids. I have to say, if you have kids and you don't do this, you need to. Here are two examples of why. Yesterday, I went to visit my mom with Sunshine while Monster was in school. We decided to go out for lunch at First Watch. Sunshine got pancakes....with syrup. By the end of the meal, there was not a spot on her that wasn't sticky. Luckily, I had a change of clothes in the car. Got her all washed up in the bathroom and she left the restaurant in clean, non syrupy clothes! Second example is from a cookout we went to last summer. There was a water balloon fight. One of the dads thought it would be fun to get the moms. Monster had a great time soaking me, while he got soaked in the process. No problem there, I had spare clothes for both of us in the car. We were dry and happy the rest of the time. Need a bandaid? I have it in the car. Scissors? Car. Napkins? Car. Soap? Car. Heck, I even have tampons in the car if anyone needs them. Since I spend so much time driving, my vehicles have always been like a little house on wheels.
People who know me well, know I'm really kind of crazy when it comes to organization. You should see our closets. They are organized by color and style of clothing. Yes, it's that bad. There is probably no surprise when I tell you that I have been doing #12, "Organize Storage", for years as well. It suggests color coded bins and clear bins. Anyone shocked that my Christmas decorations are in green and red bins and my autumn decorations are in an orange and black bin? Teaching stuff was all stored in bins that looked the same (I'm down to just one bin now!) Clothes for Monster to grow into are in blue bins while Sunshine's are in red. Not only that, but everything is perfectly labeled so there is no mistake. Speaking of labeling, not only do I label boxes, but I also keep a running list of items in the attic. Our attic entrance is through Sunshine's closet, so we don't go up there unless we absolutely have to. This is why I keep a list attached to the entrance in her closet. Makes it so much easier to know what's up there vs. down the basement.
The article has good ideas, but of course I think they're good since I do them. Really though, for me, it seems like common sense. I always have bags for Goodwill, bags for friends of clothes that no longer fit my children, bags of books to donate to the library, etc. Just makes sense in my mind. I am constantly purging my house of unused, unwanted items. I always have a plan for the day, even if I don't stick to it (because I believe in the ability to stay flexible). I have laundry days. I don't have hygiene days, per say, but I do something like it. We have recycling bins in the garage. We reuse towels. I rotate everything in my world (which reminds me my little car needs a tire rotation...must put that in the weekend plan). I just started bleaching some of my wash clothes. We use them at meal time instead of paper napkins and they get kind of grungy. I hate bleach, but once a month, a little bleach on them brightens up the whole meal time.
If you are looking for some ideas on how to save some time, read the article. If you are already crazy like me, you probably do these things, but it's so nice to see you're actually doing things to save time!