Marla the Blogger

As a result of cutbacks at work, I have every other Friday off unpaid. And although it has been an adjustment to the reduction in salary that came with it, having the extra time off has definitely been a plus. I thought my Fridays off would be a great chance to spend some time with my son and get some things done around the house, and they have. But surprisingly, many of them filled up with visits from friends and family and other activities that sometimes still leave me wondering on Sunday night, "where did my weekend go?" Some weekends have been filled up with errands and cleaning, which leaves me grumpy. Some weekends have been filled up with fun activities, which leaves me stressed the rest of the week because I'm trying to fit in laundry and groceries and errands after work. With a little planning and organization, though, I think I've figured out a few ways to help maximize my weekends:

• Plan out weekend activities in advance - my husband and I try to figure out our plans for the weekend by Thursday night. That way we don't forget to take care of any important errands or chores and we don't find out after the fact that there was a concert or festival that our family would have enjoyed but missed.
• Schedule time for both fun and chores - our most enjoyable weekends are those where we feel we accomplished some things that needed to be done and we had ample time to have fun together. Having a balanced weekend makes Monday mornings a little easier to deal with.
• Keep lists of alternatives handy - sometimes fun plans get scrapped at the last minute because of weather or other unforeseen problems. I have a list of other fun family activities that we can fall back on instead of filling the time with chores or just sitting around watching television.
• Be flexible - although I'm a big believer in planning in advance, we try to be flexible so we can accept a last-minute invitation from a friend to get together or accommodate a quick trip to the office to deal with a looming deadline. It sometimes means putting a half-prepared meal in the fridge to finish cooking later, but it's usually worth it.

Weekends (or any time off from work) are very important for any family. It's the time to reconnect and recharge our batteries, as well as accomplish necessary tasks to make the work week go more smoothly. And even though the weekends never seem long enough, even if they are 3 days, with a little planning and balance, I can maximize my time off and make the most of it.

I mentioned a few weeks ago that I was going to spend a day organizing my basement and I'm happy to report it was a success. I didn't get everything done that I had hoped, but I made significant progress and my basement is now in a much more useable and organized state. At the end of the day, I had two bags full of items that I dropped off for donation, two bags of trash and a stack of recycling. And now my husband and I can walk through our basement without tripping over boxes and find what we need down there.

There were a few things that I think contributed to the success of this organizing project:

• I stuck with my plan.  Although I was tempted to veer off course a few times and get distracted with other things, I kept reminding myself to stay focused. By doing that, I was able to finish even a little earlier than I had planned.
• I kept my expectations realistic. Originally, I had hoped to organize the basement AND go through my son's baby items stored down there. Once I started, I realized that was more work than I could do in one day. So I focused on cleaning up and organizing and left the baby items for another day. Now, though, all of the baby items are in bins and stacked up in one area, so when I do have time to go through them, I can get to them easily.
• I tried to have fun. Cleaning out the basement on a Friday off from work isn't exactly my idea of a good time, but instead of dreading it, I cranked up some music and tried to enjoy it. I kept thinking of how satisfied I'd feel when I was done and because I stayed focus, I was able to finish and pick up my son from preschool early and still enjoy spending time with him.

I'm glad I set aside a day to tackle my basement and get it organized. I find I feel less frazzled when my house is organized and I can find what I need. And it's easier to keep it clean and straightened up once I've taken the time to get it organized. Next time, I'll work on organizing our home office!

When we lived in a small apartment in Boston, I did a pretty good job of not accumulating "stuff" and getting rid of things we weren't using anymore.  But now that we're in a house with a basement with lots of storage, I'm less vigilant about staying organized. I noticed lately that the pile of "stuff" in our basement has been growing and growing and I'm less likely to let anything go. So I decided that it's time to get rid of some stuff and get organized again. I have a day off from work next week, so I'm going to spend the day working on it. One day is not a lot of time, really, so I've come up with a game plan to make the most of my time:

• Don't waste time just "cleaning" - I know I'll be tempted to spend a lot of time putting away folded laundry and straightening up the house, but I'm going to ignore the usual household chores focus on what's in our storage areas, like the basement and closets.
• Have a game plan - whenever I get to an item, I'm going to decide if it's worth keeping, can be donated/given away or is just trash. Whatever category it falls into, it will be placed there immediately. If I'm keeping it, I have to find an appropriate place to store it. Trash goes straight to the trash and items to be given away will all be put in one specific location (on the guest bed).
• Make rational decisions, not emotional ones - I've pretty much kept every toy and piece of clothing my son has had since he was born. My excuse was that we might need it if we have another child, but what are the odds we'd have another boy born in the same season as our son? I need to keep just the things that have real sentimental value and give the rest away to someone else who could use it.
• Set a cutoff time - I don't want to run out of time and have piles of things by the trash and in my guestroom for weeks afterwards. So I'm going to decide what time I need to be finished by, and then subtract an hour or more to give myself time to deal with the trash and drop off items to be donated. I probably won't get through everything, but I want to fully complete the process with as many items as I can.

It's easy for me to just shove something in a closet or the basement so I don't have to deal with it right away, but the long term result is a big pile of disorganized stuff. Not only does it make my basement and closets a mess, but there are lots of good, usable items going to waste that someone else might need. I'm looking forward to my organization day; I'll be sure to let you know how it goes!