Bringing this clothes week to a close: Summer of 7

So, I'm having a blast with this only 7 items of clothing thing.  I think I may extend my week, gotta talk to the hubs though because we're doing it together.  If I do extend I will begin washing my clothes but my goal will be to only wash my clothes once a week.
Today I washed a half a load of kids clothes by hand.  Why, you ask? Several reasons actually:
1. I find that we just keep going through clothes like they're an endless resource.  Granted with two kiddos under 4, a couple of changes of clothes a day can be necessary but I digress.  It's been driving me crazy and I felt that a reality check was in order.
2. Our clothes get cleaner when I wash them by hand (I put the clothes in the tub and barely cover them with water that I've sprinkled with Borax, Washing soda and a drop of dish washing liquid).  Before I even begin scrubbing, they're brighter and whiter than with the washing machine.
3.  It's a great upper body work out that has a purpose.  For some reason I can't seem to keep myself motivated to exercise if there is no immediate goal.
4. It's a great deal cheaper for me.  Our apartment building has coin operated laundry in the basement and a wash costs $1 and a dry cost $1.25.  If I'm diligent and use both the washer and the dryer, laundry can cost us upwards of $50/month.  That's a lot of cash flying out the window.  We simply can't afford that and I know that I need to save the money now when I can hang dry with my new clothes line.
5. Clothes last longer when washed by hand and hung dry.  If I'm going to be pairing down my wardrobe, I want what I have to last longer.
I also made some homemade English muffins, homemade multi-grain buttermilk blueberry pancakes for breakfast,and homemade sweet potato french fries for dinner.  Yummy.  I find that the more things I make homemade.  The happier I am, the more I appreciate food, and I honestly eat less because I find that I'm more mindful of what I put in my mouth when I've made it myself.  And it's usually better and I want to save some for leftovers.

Life on a New Schedule

Our little world got shaken last week and it's upset my whole schedule.  Danny lost his job.  His boss let him go with no reason and seemingly no cause.  It happens, and we've basically come to the conclusion that anyone who could do that isn't someone that Danny should be working for anyhow.  We know that God has a plan for it all and we're praying about it to figure out what's on the horizon.
But as for my schedule, I've made up a new one since Danny's made some suggestions that I thought needed addressing and I've noticed that some stuff is just not fitting where I had it. I've moved some stuff around and added items here and there.  Weekly Checklist: this is my publicly accessible google.doc of the updated checklist that I made if anyone else is looking to set up something similar.
I'm still allowing myself some flexibility to see what needs tweeking, but I realized the other day why I've never needed a schedule like this before.  I've been the primary earner in our household for the majority of our marriage and Danny's been the stay-at-home parent since Joey was born.  My efforts had been focused one working and now that Danny's been working again, I've only had a few months to switch gears, oh yeah and I had a baby during that time too.  And on top of that, I am still working part-time.  Yeah, it's been pretty much a whole year of transition for us, and it seems we have a few more hoops coming up.  We're still planning on moving to the larger apartment one floor below us.  I've already started purging in preparation.  The nice thing is that since we are only moving downstairs, the process of moving will be so much simpler.  No trucks needed and not even really many boxes.  Clothes can be carried straight from our closets on their hangers and be hung straight up down a flight of stairs, drawers can be carried down without being unloaded. The biggest hassle with probably be the books and knick knacks that will need to be boxed and the curtains and shelves.  And our Landlord wants us down there ASAP so as soon as the current tenant is out, we'll be on our way.  I'm pretty stoked about it.  We'll be losing some closet space (hence the purging) but gaining so much square footage, it's totally worth it.  Well, I'm off to go do stuff.  Tootles.

Week 2 of Life on a schedule

 So, I'm back with an adjusted schedule this week.  I'm trying to think ahead and plan accordingly.  I think I'm doing o.k. at it but I've got some serious adjusting to do. 
I created schedules for myself in college just to get everything done but doing it for a household of four is so much more intense.  I don't know what I was thinking to try and do all that I have to do off the cuff.  No wonder I was constantly stressed out and never getting anything done. Below is my meal plan for the week and I've got blogging planned into my schedule so that I have something to keep me accountable. 
To throw another log on the fire, Danny and I are moving at the end of the month.  We're moving a whole one floor down in our building.  The apartment below has an additional 50-70 sq feet of living space as well as a back porch, clothesline and a front porch that Danny has claimed as his man cave. 
 

Monday 2.6
b: cereal & bananas
l: Italian sandwich
(Pick up Joey from school)
s: strawberries
d: tuna pasta salad

Tuesday 2.7
b: eggs & cinnamon rolls
l: mac& cheese with peas
s: oranges
d: chicken stir-fry & rice

Wednesday 2.8
b: oatmeal & blueberries
l: soup
s: crackers
d: coconut curry shrimp & rice

Thursday 2.9
b: yogurt & toast
l: nutella sandwich & celery sticks
s: apples
d: Sheppard’s pie

Friday 2.10 (rent)
b: cereal & raisins
l: leftovers
s: carrot sticks
d: church valentine’s dinner (side dish)

Saturday 2.11
b: pancakes
l: nuggets & sweet potato fries
s: oranges
d: barbeque chicken & baked beans

Sunday 2.12
b: oatmeal & mango
l: pb&j with apples
s: carrot sticks
d: ravioli with green beans

 And in other news, I finally got around to making my own dishwasher detergent yesterday.  AMAZING STUFF.  So cool.  Glad to have done it.  Way cheaper than buying it and so easy to make and I think my dishes are genuinely cleaner than with the store bought stuff. Yay for DIY!

Daily Schedule day 4

So, things have been going sort of according to schedule.  I think I need to add in some more flexibility for baby crankiness.  I've missed one thing on my list everyday.  I'm not quite sure how to remedy that.  I've been looking into different daily schedules from different blog and the like but I haven't found one that I like.  I made myself a little checklist that I put up on my fridge with my schedule of stuff.  It's next to my grocery notepad. I like to see things checked off on a list; it makes me feel good. 
I'm thinking that I may need to do a little research into my day and figure out where I can trim the fat and fit in some new things. 
Today on my agenda: waiting for my Peapod.com order (I had enough coupons to more than cover the cost of shipping), then depending on if everything come in that order: making homemade pop-tarts, making play dough, updating my meal plan, vacuuming, making lunch and dinner, planning our big shopping trip for Saturday or Sunday and getting both girls bathed. 
Wow, that's a long list when I write it all out.  But today is project day with Joey, and some of those home made pop-tarts are going to be her Valentine's gifts for her schoolmates.  Fun right, they're going to be fun to make and eat and way better than candies, I think.  And most of her old play dough is all dried up and it's one of her favorite things to play with so it's time.