Super Seven...

So Lanne was asking over on her blog about the top 7 things YOU do to save time/make life easier? Very cool thing to make a list about in my opinion, so here are my thoughts...

Trying to have less stuff: Less stuff, less clutter, less things to pick up and put away, less stuff to clean. It sounds simple... but I live with a family of squirrels, so it is a work in progress. Every few months, when they are at work and school, I declutter. I go through the kids cupboards and drawers and hand on the outgrown clothes and shoes. I sort toys and discard anything that is broken or missing bits. Edit the drawing and craft projects (I used to want to keep it all but I have realised I would be drowning in paper by now). Toss old magazines and tidy the filing.

Store stuff where I use it: even if it seems like a weird place. I do Bianca's hair in the kitchen after breakfast every morning, so I have a little basket in the kitchen cupboard with her hairbrush, spray, bands etc... saves walking to the bathroom to collect them and then having to take them back. Likewise I keep face washers in both the kitchen and the bathroom, cleaning products and sponges in the bathroom, kitchen and laundry. Sure I have three bottles of stuff but it lasts three times as long and I can easily open the cupboard and give the basin a quick squirt and wipe over after cleaning my teeth.

A separate space for stuff I use everyday: I have a shelf in the kids wardrobes just for school uniforms so that I don't have to search through their whole wardrobe, a shelf in the kitchen just for school folders, notices, home readers etc. I store the school coloured hair ribbons and bands in a separate container which saves me searching for the right colour in the morning rush.

I prepack everything I possibly can: I have a swimming lesson bag packed, bathers, towels, goggles, caps etc ready to grab each week. The picnic basket is always packed with a rug, plates and mugs, small containers of coffee, tea and sugar, wipes and tissues. The thermos and a bottle for milk is kept in there as well...boil the kettle, add fresh milk, biscuits, some fruit and water bottles for the munchkins and we are out the door for a morning at the park. I have a couple of large neoprene pencil cases packed with pencils, crayons, stickers and a small sketch book... great to grab and go to keep the munchkins occupied when we are eating out, waiting for appointments etc.

Stock up on the basics: I sort of stumbled upon this one when dh's salary changed from weekly to monthly and we started to do one major shop. Now I buy basic non perishable stuff in large quantities, stuff like toilet rolls, washing powder(decant it into a smaller pretty container) detergent, soap, tissues, pasta, rice, tinned goods, etc once a month. I do a quick whiz around the supermarket once a week for fresh fruit, vegetables, meat etc. Saves having to drag the kids around the supermarket every week and lots of trips to the shop late at night because we have run out of toilet paper or coffee.

Walk and Bag: When it all gets overwhelming, out of control and the house looks like a bomb has hit it (which happens way to often lol) I grab three shopping bags... the green environmentally friendly ones and a green garbage bag. Start in the living room, everything that belongs in Jacob's room in one bag, Bianca's in another, Mark's and my room in the third... junk in the garbage bag. Clear the room of stray items, grab the bags and move onto the next room. Even if I don't have time to put the stuff away where it belongs, I now at least only have three bags of clutter rather than stuff scattered everywhere.

Just go with the flow: I have finally accepted that my house will always be fairly clean... but it will never be as tidy as it was before I had kids, that it will never look like a page from House and Garden, that it will often look like there was a toy or craft explosion. I will probably always have a full ironing basket and stray weeds in the garden. All of that is okay... because these little people are only little for a such a short time, heck I can have the perfect house later.