Simplify....

I've been looking for ways to streamline my days.  To decrease the stress and to increase the joy.  Less fretting over things that are nonsense.  I'm trying to re-organize myself.  Before that I had Eben, I was a fairly organized person.  I kept LISTS and actually did what was on them, I paid BILLS on time, I went to the grocery store and left with EVERYTHING that I wanted WITHOUT writing it down.

It was amazing.

And do you know the worst part.

I took it for granted.

It was all a tease....an organizational, super girl, handle anything TEASE.

And it was all blown to smithereens as soon as my brain evacuated my body that warm October day.
In the form of a squeaking, wiggling 7pound 2oz baby boy.

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In true Julia fashion, I am on one of my *kicks*

A kick to simplify my life.  

(I might be turning it into a weekly thing, who knows.)

Would you like to join me?

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For today I am going to focus on learning how to gain a 25th hour in my day.


Wouldn't that be nice?


A whole hour extra.

Here are 10 tips.... Maybe they are things that you have done for years, and maybe they are things that never even crossed your mind.  In any case, they are things that I do now, or that I want to try to do.

I'll keep you posted on my progress.

The tips

Tip 1. Set out your clothes (and your kids clothes) for the next day before you go to bed.

*There have been many times that I have let Eben fend for himself to get dressed in the morning...only to find him without a stitch of underwear on when I go to give him his bath that night.

Tip 2. Write a TO-DO list the night before.

*And by TO-DO...I mean the necessities... the if-I-don't-do-this-today-I-will-kick-myself-tomorrow-kind-of-things.

Tip 3. Run the dishwasher over night.  Then use the dishes out of it to make breakfast in the morning.

*There is nothing worse than making breakfast and realizing that you are out of clean spoons.

Tip 4. Group errands for one trip into town...

*I live a few miles out of town and I HATE getting back to my house only to realize that I forgot to go to the post office.

Tip 5. Wash your face in the shower in the morning...and while you're at it, brush your teeth too.

*Don't EVEN say "GROSS"!  It totally saves time.

Tip 6. Set up for automatic bill pay and deposits through your bank.

*Laura introduced me to this a bit ago and I have about half of my bills paid using it.  It is such a godsend.

Tip 7. Push back bedtime.

*I know that this sounds counter productive, but when I go to bed earlier I'm not so exhausted in the morning....I don't waste time lounging away in bed just praying for the clock to stop ticking.

Tip 8. Make lunch the night before, that way you just have to grab the juice box out of the freezer to use as a ice pack and you're good to go.

*I am embarrassed to tell you how many times I have had to drop Eben off at school and then go to the store to get sandwich supplies, then go home and make him lunch, and then go to the school to drop it off for him.

Tip 9. Turn the TV OFF.

*I watch TV while I do my laundry, but I realized the other day that I was so engrossed in what was happening on the screen that I had been holding the same t-shirt ready to fold for the past 5 minutes.

Tip 10.  Keep a sink full of soapy water.

*This is another Laura trick.  That way when you go to wash the dishes, you aren't dealing with a need to scrub off anything....and especially having to RE-RUN the dishwasher full of dishes.

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And with the extra hour that I gained by making these simple changes, I would treat myself to an extra long bath spent flipping feverishly through a stack of magazines as tall as I am.
(that would eat up an hour, don't you think?)

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So, tell me.

What is a trick that gives you an extra hour in the day.

What would you do with that extra hour that you were granted.