A little recap

Good morning on this wet and windy day here in the North Pennines.

I'm deciding whether to go to church or not, and at the moment it's looking like a not.  The wind is strong, in fact it looks like we might loose one of the trees in our garden, but it's not as bad as past times, but I just don't think it's wise to put yourself in harms way unnecessarily.

I thought I'd pop in today to say 'hello and welcome' to any newcomers, and 'hello and welcome back' to those of you who've been visiting for a while.  It's fun to be sharing this journey with you, please say hi in the comments.

Today I thought I'd set out our daily plan, schedule, timetable or whatever you want to call it, and explain it in a little more detail. We started gently and last week we added in the Christmas Missions which loosly correspond with the DAILY FOCUS.   I wrote about it here.....

Our daily plan now looks like this...

* MORNING ROUTINE 

* ZONE DECLUTTER AND CLEAN 

* DAILY MISSION

* DAILY FOCUS 

* CHRISTMAS MISSION

* PAMPER TIME 

* EVENING ROUTINE

Whether you're new to this or returning,  its always good to understand what we're doing, a recap sometimes prompts more or different understanding doesnt it?  So let's look at each one of those in a bit more detail.

MORNING ROUTINE, I was going to say that it starts the minute our feet hit the ground, but really it starts the moment we are conscious, some of us need to talk ourselves in to getting our feet to hit the ground at all!  You can't 'do' whilst you lay in bed, so get up!

Immediately you are up, (and as long as the bed is now empty!) pull back the covers, change the stale air by opening your window and allow your bed to air.  I usually go off and have my breakfast at this point and I take with me anything that needs to go downstairs like my water glass, dirty washing and rubbish.  

I eat my breakfast, take my vitamins AND...tidy up by putting my dish in the dishwasher or washing it up straight away.  As I eat fruit with yoghurt every day I also wipe the chopping board and put away everything I've used to prepare my breakfast.  The kitchen is now clear ready for the next thing.

I go back upstairs, get my clothes and go to the bathroom.  I leave the bathroom having washed, dressed, brushed my hair and teeth and given the loo and basin a little wipe about to upkeep cleanliness.   I'm leaving it tidy for the next person.

Back in the bedroom, I make my aired bed, pop my PJs under my pillow and that room is now clean and tidy, ready for bedtime.  I'm ready for my day.

I'm a carer, so I often leave the house for my morning calls at this point.  

Next up is our ZONE routines.  We have our homes split into 5 zones.  ZONE 2 (EAT), ZONE 3 (SPLASH) and ZONE 4 (SLEEP) are easy as these are the 2nd, 3rd and 4th FULL weeks of the month.  The rest of the month is often 3 or 4 odd days at either end. This makes up the balance of your month and we work both zones in that week.

If you've ever tried to clean an untidy room, you'll know it's nigh on impossible.  You waste time moving things and it takes hours!  You cannot clean efficiently until it's tidy and that involves decluttering and finding homes for things.  Those homes are either a drawer or shelf, a charity shop or sale, or the rubbish or recycling bin.

So when you first start this method, use the zones to declutter as much as you can, when this zone comes round again next month you declutter again and you keep doing that until you are able to clean efficiently. Decluttering and not cleaning is hard, you want to clean, but there really is no point until you're able to clean the room not the piles!

When I get to the point of cleaning, I use the tasks on the UPKEEP CLEAN list.  I start with a PUPA (Pick Up and Put Away), which if you've left your rooms tidy will be unnecessary!  Next is bins, rubbish and recycling.  Some rooms I don't have bins so I can skip that one!

After that I start at the top of the room with featherdusting the lights, ceiling, corners and skirting boards.  I live in a very old stone cottage so I also have picture rails, dado rails and shutters with panelled surrounds (and open fires which makes for lots of dust!).

Next I dust and Polish flat surfaces and furniture.  Far easier when there's not much on them.  I also cheat with the coffee table and put the remote controls, coasters and a candle on a tray so that I can simply lift it and wipe underneath.

Then it's the turn of glass and mirrors, that's windows, glass in picture frames, glass light shades, vases..... you get the idea. So that means that everything apart from the floors and seating has been done, so it's a quick vacuum of the seat cushions, rugs and floor and if they're hard floors I mop myself out of the room!

If you've got a busy day and no time to do all if it, then do a job a day, or, have a go at the DAILY MISSION each day in the zone. If you've reached a level of cleaning in any zone where it only takes a few minutes to get up to scratch, you can then think about detailed cleaning like wiping switches and sockets, skirting boards or cleaning filters and polishing legs of tables and seating....let your mind run wild.  I'm certainly not there yet, I'm very much doing this along with you!

As I said above, last week I explained the DAILY FOCUS and how that fits with the CHRISTMAS MISSIONS,  I won't go over that again suffice to say that it will get your weekly jobs covered and move in bite sized chunks towards a calm, joyful, hyggelig Christmas. 

PAMPER TIME is a very important one, no excuses.  We do deserve it and we cannot function on exhaustion.  Taking care of ourselves a little everyday ensures we are aware of how we are feeling, you can also measure this by 'Taking your temperature' every once in a while.

A good PAMPER TIME would be to make yourself a bingo jar!  Write on slips of paper or lolly sticks things that would relax you and give your energy a little recharge.  A walk, paint your nails, a bubbly soak, a chapter of a book, knitting, cycling, a face mask and moisturise, listening to music, even sitting quietly with your feet up!  Pop them in a jar and at PAMPER TIME,  pull one out and do it!

You could also make yourself a pamper basket or box of goodies...

Finally, your EVENING ROUTINE.   The time to prepare for tomorrow.  As you clear the table after dinner, why not pack the leftovers for lunch or a quick and easy meal tomorrow evening.   If you've nothing planned for tomorrow,  decide what to have and defrost anything required.  Have you planned your meals and food shopping for the week? We do that on DESK DAY,  when is that for you?

Get your dinner things washed up or loaded into the dishwasher.  Take your dishcloth and give the dining table,  worktops and cooker a wipe over.  Finally wipe round your sink and drainer leaving the kitchen clean and tidy.

Once you've finished in the lounge, take the rubbish and used mugs or plates to the kitchen and wash, load put away or bin as appropriate. Plump up cushions and leave the lounge clean and tidy.

After you've used the bathroom leave it clean and tidy ready for tomorrow. 

If you haven't already, choose your clothes for the morning,  which you could do in your morning routine or when you put away laundry.  Most important go to bed at a decent time... no sitting like a zombie in front of rubbish on the TV or doomscrolling on your phone.  Why not read by lamp light to relax.

Don't forget that your MR and ER are the bookends of your day, get those done and you'll be set for success because all the next things are done or everything is tidy ready for the next person, activity, event or mission!!

So there we have it, if I've missed anything or there's something you don't understand,  pop your comment or question in the comments and I'll come back to you as soon as I can. 

In the meantime take care, and I'll see you tomorrow for WEEK 2 of CHRISTMAS MISSIONS! 🥳🎉🎄

Nora

xxx