Staying organized "Bullet Journaling"

I am a very forgetful person......

Trust me I am. 

Sad I know! But that is me. If I don't write it down my brain just throws it out until 3am and then I remember. Then I can't sleep. 

So I have been using planners, sticky notes, note books. Then I came upon a video about "Bullet Journalling" and decided to give it a try. 

I didn't buy the graft paper books like recommended so I bought these 3 little notebooks that were .97 each. I glued and taped them together and decorated it. I think next time I will buy one of those pretty leather bound journals. They were 9$ and I didn't want to spend that much on something I didn't know if I would like it. 

Watch this video for more details. 

http://youtu.be/GfRf43JTqY4

Now here is my bullet journal. 

This is the front cover. I just used scapbooking paper and stickers then I used some laminate sheets to protect it. 

 Here is my "key" and index page. Every time you make a page you add it to this page for quick reference. Then I made a little pocket in the inside cover. 

My first 2 pages I ripped these out of my planner. The actual bullet journal does this part different. But I like a calendar. 

This is where you put each day in and you use you symbols from the key and add your appointments and tasks ect. Then you check them off as you finish them or if you don't get them finished you move them to the next day. 

I added pretty stickers and then some dividers for each day. You can make it pretty if you want. I just use fun pens because that's just how I do things. 

I decribe myself as organized chaos! *smile*

Here is an example of a page you would right in the index. I just put my daily chores on this page so I remember which day to do what. So when I am adding tasks to my days I can take a quick look at this. I think I will put a tab on this page so I can find it faster. 

This page is for my work at home job. I make vinyl signs so I write them down or I will forget. As I finish them I color in the square. 

This system seems to be working great for me! I have a hard time with a super organized planner because I need to write down things as they come up. I can adapt this system however I would like. 

I hope this is clear as mud. Lol! Any questions, comment below. 

God Bless,

Jen

Making Breakfast easy

Okay making it easier.

So we struggle with getting Brooke and Vince to eat something healthy or at all in the morning. Since Brooke is the only one going to Public school and has to be there at 5:30 am for cheerleading practice. I am not going to wake up and cook her something.. So what she does in eat toast most days or dry cereal well that is not going to keep her going until lunch time. Then there is my wonderful husband that will go to the gas station to pick up a coke and a roll smh…..

So I would like to share a few ideas for the morning rush to help you out.

Breakfast Burritos

I made about 20 smaller burritos with this.

• 1/2 pound pork sausage (or whatever sausage )
• 12 eggs
• salt and pepper to taste
• shredded cheese
• And any other toppings. (my kiddos are very picky when it comes to peppers and things like that so I just don’t add them but I am sure it would make them yummy)

Brown sausage. What I do is cook the whole 1 pound package and only use half of it and save it for something else. Remove from pan scramble eggs add salt and pepper. When those are done mix back into the pan the sausage.

I then laid a few tortillas on the counter and added a couple of scoops of the egg and meat mixture and then sprinkled some cheese. I then rolled them up and wrapped them with plastic wrap. You then can freeze or put them in the frig.

To heat just pop in the micro wave and enjoy.

Waffles

I make up a few batches of these let them cool laying them on a cooling rack. After the cool completely I put them in zip lock bags of servings sizes of 2 then freeze. Just take them out and put them in the toaster. We have to toast ours 2 times.

Breakfast cookie

I make up 2 batches of these and freeze some and if you just set them out the night before or even just a few seconds in the microwave.

 

We really try to stay away from processed cereal but some days we just have to eat it. I hope you can take something from these ideas and help your mornings go smoother. 

 

God Bless,

Jen

My Cleaning Schedule

 

I love this saying by Martin Luther~ “ What you do in your house is worth as much as if you did it up in Heaven for our Lord God. We should accustom ourselves to think of our position and work as sacred and well-pleasing to God, not an account of position or work, but an account of the word of faith from which the obedience and work flows".”

I wanted to start this off with this saying from Martin Luther because it has such great encouragement for us women. Once I realized that keeping a house clean is not for me but it is for my Lord and my family cleaning became more enjoyable. As I clean I listen to up beat worship music and praise the Lord while I work. I do it as if I were up in Heaven. Now to do this we have to think differently about cleaning, then just cleaning up and then watching it get messed up again. We have to do it as if the Lord will be here in our homes. If you think about it He is always in our homes. Now isn't it easier to relax and invite the Lord into our hearts and to enjoy time with our families if our house is not full of clutter and dirt. I hope I can help you make this a bit easier for you. I am going to give you my cleaning schedule that I use that you can change it up to what works best for you.

I have 2 sections to this one is My weekly schedule and my daily up keep. First off I am going to start with my weekly schedule. Just remember that these are for my house just change it up to fit you.

Weekly Schedule

Monday : Bathroom ~ tub, toilet, sink. floors, shelf, mirror, wash trashcan out, Straighten up under sink I also clean up my laundry room this day too.

Tuesday : Bedrooms – wash bedding (hang out quilts to air out I only wash them when they need it) organize dressers , dust, trash, and vacuum.

Wednesday : Kitchen ~  (addition to daily up keep) Organize pantry, clean frig and microwave. Oven once a month. coffee pot, wipe down appliances & cupboards, wipe down trash cans and organize 1-2 drawers.

Thursday : Living room entry way & halls – Vacuum, dust, mop, pull out furniture, wipe walls and make menu for the week.

Friday : grocery and errand day  This is the day I do my errands and we sometimes go to the grocery store.

Saturday : Outside work – Clean up trash in yard that has blown in, pull weeds, mow, clean out dog pin, organize toys, clean out cars,

Sunday : Spend the day with the family and rest.

When you break the rooms up thru out the week it makes it a lot easier to tackle. After you get thru your house the first time and you do your daily up keep the weekly cleaning will not take much time at all. Some people have a dining room and more then one bathroom. I also have the children help me out with each job. especially the bedrooms. I work in there with them and we get the room done in no time at all.

Daily Up Keep

Make Beds ~ if kids can do this let them make them

Laundry ~ 2 loads per day Monday ~ Friday, wipe down washer and dryer, fold and put away clothes straight away.

Dishes ~ after each meal, sweep floor after each meal, wipe counter and table off

10 minute tidy ~ set timer 3 times a day and pick and area to tidy up

Shed Junk ~ Set timer for 10 minutes to tackle one area that you need to shed junk. If its not pretty or useful toss it.

This daily up keep is essential to keeping the house in order each day. You may not have time to do 3 sets of 10 minute tidy but try. I love my kitchen timer it actually makes us work faster. It is kind of fun watching the kids working fast to do the 10 minute tidy's. It makes it feel like it is not too much to do.

When I do the dishes I make sure I sweep the floors and wipe down the counters and the table after each meal.

As for laundry you may not have to do 2 loads per day or maybe you have to do more then 2 each day. But to figure this out do 2 loads per day Monday – Friday and then you should know if you need to do more or less. There will be those days that you have to do more then 2 because of a night time accident or sick babies.

Shedding Junk is very important. The less stuff you have then less mess you make.

I hope this helps you all in some way. If you you one or all of these ideas. I didn’t make these up myself I have gotten them from many wonderful blogs written by women that love the Lord and take there job as a homemaker and help meet to heart.

I love my calling the Lord has given me. A Help meet for my wonderful husband and a homemaker. I take this calling very seriously. But first and for most I love my Heavenly Father. As I follow Him he teaches me to be a better help meet and homemaker. He helps me understand that this job here on earth of being a wife and mother is more important then bringing extra money into our home for all the extra stuff. This is why we live only with in our means. We do not have new cars, fancy furniture, big t.v.’s, or take big trips. We are saving up for a big family trip that we will take maybe in a few years but we will wait and that is alright with us. It took us a while to get used to living the way we do but I believe that most mothers can stay home if they just pray and listen to what God tells you to change. There are some that have no other choice and I hope that this schedule can help you get your house in order or makes it easier to keep up.

God Bless,

Jen

Our daily Schedule

Just thought I would share a couple of pictures and our daily schedule. We are in the full swing of school this year. During the summer we have been doing more of a relaxed schooling and now it is time to buckle down and get some serious work done. Okay so not that ruff. But we are doing more of a scheduled day. So here is what our schedule looks like on days where nothing get mixed up.

• 5:00 am wake up Brooke for School / cheerleading practice
• 5:25 am take Brooke to school
• 6:00 am personal Bible time
• 7:00 am shower and get ready for the day
• 7:30 am start a load of wash
• 7:45 start breakfast
• 8:00 am wake boys up
• 8:30 eat breakfast
• 9:00 am ~ 10:00 am morning chores
• 10:00 am I read Bible story to boys
• After I read bible time we start the rest of school. We start with Math including flash cards (memorization is very important). I teach the lesson then they work on it. Next we start Language Arts, spelling, While Vinny does his reading lesson Will does his reading lesson with me.
• 12:00pm they both read while I am making lunch
• 12:30 pm eat lunch
• 12:45 pm Vinny leaves for band at the middle school
• While Vinny is gone I help Will finish up school. We work on science and social studies. Usually he is done with school by the time Vinny returns from Band.
• 1:45 pm Vinny returns and we do science and social studies he then finishes up anything he needs to finish then he practices his instrument. (when he decides what he wants to play)
• After everyone is done with school it is free time for them and for me it is time to do my homemaking chores that I didn’t get finished in the morning.
• If your wondering about Croix he does his school things right along side of me. There is usually time in between me teaching the boys something and them doing there work on their own that is when I do Croix’s Kindergarten. If you think about Kindergarten it really is mostly play along with some sit down learning. He is doing well. He is right on track. I am not pushing him at all I let him lead his learning. He is very excited about learning. I haven't had to tell him yet that it is time to get started on school he is sitting next to me waiting for me to help him start the next thing. I want to make sure he loves to learn and not to start thinking it is a chore. Learning is a life long process.

This is Will working on his Language arts. Do you see our sticking our charts behind Will these are incentive charts. We have them for good behavior and for finishing Books. Each sticker earns so much money. 

Here is Vinny reading out of his science text book. We read this together out loud. I feel like he retains more information when he reads out loud. We then notebook what he learns. This really helps him retain the information. I do the same with Will.

Well that is what our school day looks like. There are days we need to go to the library for library class, field trips, doctors appointments, grocery store and well what ever else life brings to our days. I do have to say that a schedule does help us stay on track. It helps daily life go smoother.

God Bless,

Jen

Room Change

I mentioned in a previous post about Moving Rooms and I am just now getting to posting the change. We did this at the end of June and I was meaning to post this sooner but since we have had quit an eventful  past couple of weeks with Will being burned I just have not gotten to it.

Here is what the boys room used to look like if you follow the link That room is now our room on one side and the sewing/vinyl cutting room on the other.

I am not going to show you Brooke’s room as it scares me when I look in it. Maybe I will post a picture if she ever finishes putting it together and at the same time it is clean. I put the 2 older kids in charge of putting their rooms together. We put the big stuff where they wanted it and they are in charge of everything else.

So here we go. This first room is Vinny’s room now. It used to be a sewing room and before that it was the school room.  I do miss having a school room but we never really stayed in there. We school in all areas of the house. Couch, kitchen table, beds, school desks in their rooms and outside.

This first picture of Vinny’s room is from the doorway. We are still needing to finish the trim in here we ran out and I have not yet painted the trim. This will be a project soon. If you notice there is a chalk board painted on the wall. The last resemblance of the school room.

Here is his dresser and all his play things (don’t call them toys). Also his clothes basket that looks to be kind of full. The boys each have a basket in their rooms that they are in charge of to take to the laundry room and separate the clothes for me to wash. Brooke does her own laundry.

Here is his closet (which I use the shelf on top) desk and if you can see he loves to draw. He hangs his pictures on the wall next to his desk.

As you can tell Vinny Loves Husker foot ball and racing.

Next we have Wills room. This is downstairs and used to be Brookes room which she moved upstairs to our old room right across the hall from Vinny. This is a picture fro the door way. If you notice there is no carpet in any of the rooms down stairs but we are working on this. I have a jar in my room that I am using to save for carpet. We did the stairs and soon we will do the rest of the floor. We have a split level. with 3 rooms, and a laundry room downstairs. Upstairs in living room, Kitchen, bath room and 2 bedrooms.

Here is a picture of his bed. We gave him the buck beds.

Here is the closet. Since our room does not have a closet we use his closet and the games are on the shelf. One day we will finish that room and have a closet in ours and Croix’s rooms.

Okay here is Croix’s room. This room is not finished. We need to finish outing up sheet rock and mud and paint and add carpet. I only have this one picture of his room I must of gotten side tracked when I was taking pictures of rooms that day. If you can see that his bed looks like a couch well it kind of is it is a futon we have been looking for a bed for him. But since his room is so small we are looking for a bunk kind of bed that is off the floor and there is room under the bed for his things so he does not loose floor space.

Here is our room which used to be the boys room. This room again has no carpet. Don’t you just love the sticky tile flooring *sigh* If you notice our lovely rug we are using which is Brookes. We will also be taking down the native American  border and then paint. God has blessed us with a house that fits our family (maybe bigger one day) *smile* So I will not complain about that. Oh wow I just noticed I need to make a bed skirt. Well that will be another blog post. I love this quilt I made you can not see it well in this picture but I love it.

We also have the piano in here since there was no where else to put it and we were not bringing it upstairs. Will started taking lessons this summer so it is getting used finally. I like to play but just do not have time. Here is the sewing room / vinyl cutting side of the room.

This little area hold sewing supplies and school things also. It is quite a mess but one day I will get it organized. But until then this is what it will look like.

Here are a few things I have been making for costumers. American girl doll clothes and baby doll diapers water proof for those peeing baby dolls.

Aren't they cute!

Well there you go! This is our new bedroom set ups. We are loving it! Thank you for looking and have a blessed day.

   God Bless,

    Jen

Moving bedrooms

We are currently working on a solution to our issues with our boys and their need for some alone time. I guess you can say I am fed up with breaking up fights and not know what to do with them when they need a minute to themselves. I know they love each other but I do believe that since they are together all the time they need some place to just be by themselves. They are also having a hard time keeping their hands off each others things so my solution is to give them all their own rooms. We have enough rooms in our home to have all the children in their own room but I guess I always dreamed that the boys would share and girls would share (if we have any more girls God willing). My dream has kind of well is not working as planned. This is okay.

So I gave Mr. Leibert a proposal on this large undertaking and as I knew he would he sighed and then laughed but he is on board. He knows from his days off how badly the boys need to just get away from each other. Don’t get me wrong they do not fight all day everyday by any means. So here is my proposal.

First of all If you remember right for this post of the boys room that their room is very large. It is actually the length of the house. When the house was built it was a large unfinished room and I am thinking it was intended to be used as a family room or a master bedroom and master bath but when we bought this house the people that lived here just painted it put a door on it and added sticky tile flooring (which I hate). So this room will become Mr. Leiberts and I’s room along with it being my sewing room/ vinyl cutting room (our in home business). We needed the big room so we still have our work room. First of all we will clean out our work room fish trimming the room and Vinny will be in that one. next we will clean out the boys closet put some paint on the walls and move Croix into this room. The next move will be a 3 room move and will be the hardest. So our room has a dish hook up and we decided Brooke could have it because she is the oldest so we will have to move Brooke up to our room Will to Brookes room and us into the big room *sigh*. So then we will all nap *smile*.

So if you followed any of that well congratulations *smile*. We will not be starting this adventure for a few weeks because of my recent surgery. SO I am still in the process of healing and I am not going to prolong my healing by thinking I can do something way to early and whish I would not of. I think my main thing I am healing is my blood loss. So I get tired very easily plus we are super busy with our summer schedule with ball *sigh*.

I hope you all are having a great day.

  God Bless,

   Jen

The pantry (more spring cleaning)

Here is my pantry that well was our hall coat closet to begin with but we needed a pantry more then a coat closet. Okay so we did need a coat closet still, that’s when we decided to use the sewing room closet as our coat closet. 

As you an see my pantry really does not have much in it but that is because I have had such a small closet which is now the our linen closet. Which I am very excited about because we had to go all the way to the laundry room down stairs to get towels to take showers. Now the towels are right by the bathroom. *smile* So soon I will be able to fill this pantry up!

Another great thing is that I was able to take some of my small appliances out of my kitchen. Next I will post my sewing room.

  God Bless,

   Jen

Boy’s closet (more spring cleaning)

This may sound kind silly but we have a separate room for the boy’s closet. Well it is not only a closet it is also a storage room. We have this room because the boys room is actually not a real bed room yet. Their room is suppose to be a family room but our plans are to make their room into 2 rooms and add closets to make them official bedrooms. So to keep the mess of clothes out of their room we made a closet for them. Kind of like the Dugger’s. This actually makes laundry much easier for me too.  This room is not even close to being done but we are working on it. So here are the pictures of it so far.

As you can see there is a lot of sun that comes into this room. I need to put the curtains back up. The rod broke.

This is Butterfingers clothes. We are short dressers in this house.

This is the little boys dresser also I hung a shelf and rod up for their hanging clothes and on the shelf I have put their snow pants and some of their summer clothes there.

Now you see the storage stuff in this room. The Rubber maid tote is full of their shoes, Extra paint tennis rackets boxes of stuff and a mattress that for some reason we are keeping. I know it is in perfect shape I just hate keeping things that take up so much room. 

I can’t wait to get this room finished. I would like to make this a bedroom but still use it as storage if that makes sense. We are planning to add a small closet , carpet, farming the window and finish the drywall. All these dreams and so little funds to make it happen. God has blessed us so much and I have no feeling of I need more of anything these are just thoughts and dreams I have for my home.

  God Bless,

   Jen

The boys room make over

We have well what you would call the boys room. It is more like a dormitory of crazy boys. We thought they needed a little bit of a make over. It is not quite done yet. We need to paint and carpet their room but here is what we have done so far.

 

Butterfinger is a HUGE Husker fan. As he says “I bleed Husker Red”! He is also a raceing fan too as you can see from pictures on the wall. I let the boys decorate the walls them selves. and I think they do pretty good. I feel like they need to be able to have somewhere to express them selves.

I hate the shelves on the right side of the room. They will be coming down soon. I had to store a few things up there but I have been able to take my stuff down now we need to buy new shelves to put in place of these. He like to keep his special toys up there. Like his models he builds and things like that.

This is the other side of the room. These beds are bunk beds but with this had floor and no carpet we do not need any head injuries.

Yes yes I know we have a t.v. in their room. They are not aloud to use it that often. I think they actually have forgotten that it is in there most days.I bought that cabinet for only $20! It was a great buy. The little guys keep toys in it.

I let the boys pick out their bedding. Not sure why Snickers picked this one. But he wanted it and so there you go.

   This is Tootsie Rolls pick. I think they did a great job picking out their bedding.

Next we will put carpet in and paint. I can’t wait to get that done. If you noticed that they didn't not have any dressers that is because their closet is in the storage room. When I get to finished with that room I will show you it too. It has helped them to be able to keep their room clean with out having the clothes in there and also the space the dressers take up. This room is actually supposed to be a family room but we just needed it for their room. Maybe one day we will make it that. but as of right now this is what works for us.

   God Bless,

   Jen

Spring cleaning and home improvement

We are taking a spring break right now, but in the mist of spring break we are spring cleaning and doing some other home improvements. The kids are doing great helping us out.

My wonderful husband has been awesome doing things inside and out. He just installed carpet in our entry way. It was so needed. The carpet was here since the house was built. Here are a few pictures of this project.

Boys helping with the demolition.

Installing the pad

The finished product!!

I thought that my living room needed a make over. I forgot to take a before picture but I found one on my facebook page of the boys playing the Wii. I just felt like everything was so congested and I didn’t have enough room to put the things I needed in my living room without adding something So I have been looking around for a while now and trying to decide what to do to this room, But I gave myself a $100 budget. I know that doesn't sound like much but that was my goal. I knew what I wanted it to look like but not sure how to get that with out spend a ton of money. I looked in furniture store and online and figured out what I wanted it to look like. Then I went to good ole Wal-mart and looked and wondered around then I decided to get 2 tall book shelves $27 each and a tv stand $24 that was skinny and 2 baskets $6 each. I hated how our other one stuck out so far and made the room feel so small. The living room is so small to begin with.

Here is my before picture

I wish it was a picture of the whole room but you can tell that we have large furniture because we had a house before that our living was huge so having bulky furniture was great.

This just made the room look so much bigger. I just love it! Can you see the star quilt hanging on the wall? That is one of my very favorite quilts I have made and the designers of it The Buggy Barn, the ladies signed it after I took a class from them. I want to frame it to finish it off.

See how big our couches are. I forgot I added a new curtain a couple of weeks ago. We had vertical blinds and they were old and they were missing a few pieces so they had to go!

These 2 shelves have our school books on them. The bottom one has all our text and work books and the next one up is our book basket for the library.

I am so happy that we got these 2 things finished so far. But I have much more that we are doing right now too. I will be showing off the rest too. I can’t wait to get the house back to normal so we can function normal again. We will be back at schooling again on the 12th. Now lets hoe that we are finished with everything by then :)

  God Bless,

   Jen

School Area in the Kitchen

I was pretty sad when I gave up my school room a few weeks ago so my children could have more space of their own. Which is awesome because now they can get away from one another when they need a break. It seems to make them like each other more. Maybe they will want to share rooms again one day but until then I had to find a solution for our school stuff. First things first I needed to see what we use on a daily bases and make sure that was in reach and that we didn’t have to search for it. I then put that stuff in a white cabinet that I was using to store some freeze dried food storage items. Then I had to bring my calendar time and white board into the area, I was nervous I wouldn’t be ok with this hanging on the wall, but I am liking it. Here are pictures of what I have done. I am sure I will change stuff around. But as for right now it works.

Here is the area.

Here is the calendar time area, It is in the corner of the room by the back door. the frig is directly across from this wall which is were the calendar is at.

And since we are studying US history this year I placed the big wall map on our table and put a clear vinyl cover over it ( I saw this at a friends house). I believe it cost me $2.97 at Wal-Mart.

So this is the white cabinet that I am using. If you see on the top shelf is our pens, pencils, colors, markers and the pick box has all the pieces to the calendar time area. The second shelf has 2 accordion style files one I keep new worksheets and paper that they use daily and the other is for the papers they have finished and I will file those with the year of schooling. they 3rd shelf has a bible reader a bible and the young persons bible from the Robinson curriculum that we read from daily. There is also work boxes that are there too. I love the work box system! I had to use 1 for each of the boys instead of the way we had it one for each subject so there would be enough room for all the stuff we needed. What I do is inside each box is folders that have their individual work in them they have the numbers like before and they just peel the number off when they are finished with the folder ( below pictured). on the last shelf is flash cards and a puzzle for now.

Well there you have it my school area. As for how long it will stay this way you just never know I may find a new room or we just might keep it this way for a while.

    God Bless

     Jen