So here is a very rough schedule for the moment. I will keep playing with it over time, but this will certainly keep everything ticking along nicely.
Monday
Grocery shopping, post office, library, other town errands 1.5 hours
Morning tea projects 0.5 hour
Blog 0.5 hour
Vaccuum 0.5 hour
Mop 0.5 hour
Gardening 1 hour
Total of 4.5 hours
Tuesday
Morning tea projects 0.5 hour
Blog 0.5 hour
Bathroom 1 hour
Baking 1 hour
Etsy shop 1 hour
Big Projects 2 hours
Total of 6 hours
Wednesday
Morning tea projects 0.5 hour
Blog 0.5 hour
Dusting 0.5 hour
Vaccuum 0.5 hour
Clean fridge 0.5 hour
Gardening 1 hour
Big Projects 2 hours
Total of 5.5 hours
Thursday
Shopping, post office, library, other town errands 1.5 hours
Morning tea projects 0.5 hour
Blog 0.5 hour
Etsy shop 1 hour
Big Projects 2 hours
Total of 5.5 hours
Friday
Morning tea projects 0.5 hour
Blog 0.5 hour
Vaccuum 0.5 hour
Baking 1 hour
Etsy shop 1 hour
Gardening 2 hours
Total of 5.5 hours
I haven't included here all the everyday things that just tick along. Such as, I do laundry every day, obviously cook dinner every day, wipe over the bathroom every morning. I am just trying to have a bit more structure as I can tend to wander aimlessly, thinking what should I do now. Hopefully this will help me!
A few ideas that I have included are:
Morning Tea Project Time - Every day, 10.30 to 11.00, will be morning tea time. A cup of tea and three projects to work on for 10 minutes each. This way, I will be sure to work on a few things consistently every day. I will then choose one project that will be my TV/nighttime project for that day. This will, of course, get more time spent on it so I will rotate these around. It may not always be knitting. I am hoping to get out some embroidery and cross stitch projects that have been languishing as well.
These are the three I am working on this week. You have seen them before!
Big Projects - I will focus on one big project at a time until it is finished. This is definitely an area in which I come unstuck, with half finished jobs being left. First up in this category will be to empty and inventory my pantry spaces. As they are spread out in different places, it is hard to know exactly what I have.
I am ashamed to but I will show you my pantries, as they are!
These two cupboards live in two opposite corners of the dining room, just wherever I could fit them in. They are just cheap flatpack cupboards so the shelves are bowing a bit under the weight!
I also have pantry items stored up in the top cupboards in the kitchen. But as we have twelve feet ceilings, you can imagine these are pretty high up! I cannot reach unless I stand on the benchtop or use a ladder!
So let's see how I can neaten these up a bit!
For cooking/new dinner ideas, I am adding the Recipe Book project - I read this post at Stay Home Instead recently. It really struck a chord with me when she said that recipe books aren't meant to just look lovely on her shelves, but "I believe you are actually supposed to cook from them".
Hmmm, I am definitely guilty of this! I have a terrible habit of borrowing cookbooks from the library and bookmarking the recipes I like. If there are quite a few, I think to myself that I may as well buy the book.
But as you can see, I have quite a few - more than will fit in the shelves in fact!
I am planning to choose a book each week and make one recipe from it. I am only committing to one recipe per week so I will actually do it! I may, of course, revisit books. Plus I have my vintage recipe project, cooking from each issue of Stitchcraft as part of Adventures In Stitchcraft.
I do tend to cook the same things as it is simply easier to cook what I know the boys like. But I think they can do with some broadening of their culinary horizons!
This week's book is Chicken and Egg, which seems to now be out of print. It is a book written by a backyard chicken owner so all the recipes are designed to use eggs (and chicken, as eventually you may need to cull). I have six hens at the moment, which is the lowest number I have had in ages. I lost eight hens to a fox just before COVID and haven't been able to replace them. Maybe I should hatch some? I haven't done that for a few years and it is so enjoyable.
I am drooling over some of the dessert recipes - Pumpkin Spice Cake with Salted Caramel Sauce, anyone?! Check back next week to see what I make!
Please let me know if you have any other good tips for me!
Ah, you must have good taste. I too use Rhonda's books and was thrilled to see Jes made a new post :-) Also, a few years ago, I went through my cook books and if a book had only 1-2 recipes I liked, I copied them and got rid of the book. I decreased the bulk by about 2/3! Cooking through them should be fun.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if I will get rid of them - I do love looking at them! I already did a cookbook cull a while ago so there may not be any more that I want to get rid of! I was certainly very happy to see Jes back!
DeleteGreat idea for the recipe books. I've done that in the past, but I need to do it again.
DeleteBlessings from Harvest Lane Cottage,
Laura
I like the daily lists. I used to have similar lists when I was not working and it really does help keep you organized and getting things done. I like your idea of trying a new recipe every week.
ReplyDeleteIt worked well today! I got much more done, simply as I wasn't wasting time thinking of what to do! I am hoping to find some new dinner ideas wth the new recipes.
DeleteI love to organize so those shelves look like fun. I recently inventoried ALL of the food and I was shocked at how much there is! We've been slowly chipping away at the shelved. I also keep track of my time and allot my days to certain things.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure I will be shocked as well! And find some surprises I had completely forgotten were there. Hopefully an inventory will help me use things up more efficiently.
DeleteA very good idea! I need to pull out my book and read the Spring Season chapter. :) Yes, glad to see I am not the only one with a bit of a book problem. I do love books, and always have a pile next to my comfy seat.
ReplyDeleteCannot wait to see what recipe you try this week!
-Kath
And I didn't even show you my fiction book shelves! It is a lot! I am looking forward to trying lots of new recipes.
DeleteYour plan is fabulous! Did you know that Jes posted again? Go and see. I'm going to take a bit of time and read your blog today.
ReplyDeleteBe blessed!
Laura of Harvest Lane Cottage
Thank you for visiting! I was very happy to see that Jes had posted again - I am lookng forward to seeing what she is up to.
Deleteit's taken a bit during this shutdown for me to find my weekly rhythmn but it's coming...thank goodness we can be in the garden!! Mine has never looked better!!! (heehee attention to weeding and planting and fertilizing really do have some pay offs!!!)
ReplyDeleteA few years ago, my cookbook shelves looked sort of like yours, and I did exactly what you are doing...and took a cookbook at a time to try to find something I liked to cook from it; many didn't make the cut!!! I feel better under control! Good luck with yours.
Not sure how many will actually be leaving my shelves but we will see! As soon as we are allowed to again, I am planning a garage sale to get rid of some excess stuff. It is wonderful that your garden is looking great!
DeleteI thought I'd visit you since you visited me! My pantries look somewhat like yours! I've spent a few times trying to organize them and added some partial shelves so that I could stack more easily and get to it easier. Since this virus thing, I've added my top shelf that is hard to reach as our "prepper" shelf, also on the top of our free standing pantry.... and that is food we won't touch unless we are out of the other stuff. Oh... I also LOVE to read and LOVE my books! They are like old friends to me and very hard to get rid of any of them. My hubby has a "thing" for cookbooks too and we have shelves overflowing with them. I only have one shelf and use mainly two of them, plus I do print recipes off from the internet on different cooking sites, so have a few 3 ring binders full of them. I only make a few favorites it seems. Your flowers are beautiful that you show on your previous post. You must have beautiful gardens! Marilyn from Oregon
ReplyDeleteThank you for visiting! Books are my kryptonite - I cannot seem to give any of them up once they are in the house! I dream of one day having a library. That is a good idea - to separate out a prepper section. I do have some items stashed away but there is very little order. I need to sort out a workable system.
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