The Power of Seven For Homemakers

I was sitting here today content on not doing anything but relaxing. Then rushing around in a messy house later, trying to get everything ready for church tomorrow.  Then I was praying for energy because I'm tired today.  It's like my "get up and go" has "got up and went".   Then I God said "I created and rested in 7 days. What can you do with 7 minutes?"     WOW!  Powerful thought.
 

What can I do with the next 7 minutes that God gives me?

I'll take the challenge and see....

OK, in that 7 minutes (using the kitchen timer) I was able to put clothes in the dryer, new load in the washer, and swept carper of the movie area of our living room.  (Our living room is a great room divided in half: movie area & homeschool area).  Oh yeah you did read that right... I swept the carpet. My vacuum was broken in a recent move and I'm waiting to get it fixed. However, the sweeping quickly helped pick up my heart rate and I'm not feeling as sluggish. Of course, I was rushing to do as much as I could in 7 minutes. I'm a competitive person so I like a challenge.  My heart will be better now that I've got it pumping faster than if I had sat on the couch "resting".

Now let's see if I what else I can do in 7 minutes...

WOW!  I worked for 14 minutes. My oldest son (5) woke up and wanted to help me clean (RARE). So I kept working.  In the first 7 minutes, I finished sweeping the carpet in the living room, opened the curtains, and swept half the kitchen. In the second 7 minutes, I finished sweeping kitchen and the laundry room, which is behind the kitchen, and we cleaned off the table.


I think I will base my cleaning upon "7".   I have read and used the Flylady system, which is a good system but it doesn't work for moms of little ones. When the kids are awake, 15 minutes is a large amount of time for them to stay busy without bothering mom, whereas, 7 minutes is perfect. If they are loving what they are doing then I can keep going with another 7 minutes giving me 14 minutes total.  I get a better feeling of accomplishment.  However, if I try working for 15 minutes and get interrupted and don't meet my goal I feel like I'm defeated. I see a win-win with 7 minutes.


UPDATE:  I'm able to clean anything even lacking motivation when I tell myself it's only 7 minutes.  To get my house all clean I bounce around between rooms every 7-14 minutes depending upon the task I'm doing.  Plus 7 minutes helps me realize I can quit after the 7 minutes are up. Some days my energy is too gone because I'm feeling ill, one of the kids are sick, or I was up late at night for whatever reason.  The only tasks that I must devote more than 7 minutes to are planning (menu, homeschool, budgeting, etc),  cooking, and doing taxes.

MORE POSTS ABOUT THIS TO COME SOON!!!

Household Planner-In Progress

I have begun my own household planner. I am working on it intensely, however, I do have to work around the needs of my family. But it is coming along nicely. I have many pages already complete from monthly through daily planners and chores list. I'm working on Homeschool Pages right now!

FlyLady Didn't Work for Me

I'm a stay-at-home-work-from-home-army-wife-homeschooler-mother-of-3 (all 4 and under). When it was just 3 people in our family it was easy to do the flylady system. But NOW with 5 of us. I just can't keep up with it all and the routines. So I am going to start my own blog and create a system that will suit me. I also tried the S.H.E method, which worked for a while, but I just couldn't get it going.

I'm a list-sticky note-cell phone reminder-date book-planner- person also known as absent minded. So I am thinking about what would work for me. I need my phone (Blackberry Curve). A notebook. Post it notes. Date Book/Planner. Hmmm.... The big calendar didn't work for me because I just didnt' like the format. I like having things in a time block format for each day. This is too many things to have out.

Let's put the post it notes by where we sit the most or buy our phone chargers. (BTW: I don't have a home phone, just my cell.) Cell phone, notebook and date planner.... that is what I will work with for right now. I'll see what I can come up with from here!

See you in a few!!!!