12/26/13 Final weekend of the year/2014 getting ready

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12/26/13 Final weekend of the year/2014 getting ready

Postby BookSaver » Thu Dec 26, 2013 9:06 am

Blessedw2 started a year-end FOCUS topic last year that I thought might be helpful again to slide us into 2014.

What do you want to finish in 2013 that will give 2014 a good start?

Do the easy things first: Dispose of trash resulting from Christmas meals, baking, and opening of gifts.

Do you take down Christmas decorations and put everything away immediately, or do you wait until Twelfth Night/Epiphany?

Do you switch over to other seasonal decorations?

Are there any financial matters that need attention before the 31st?

Are you giving a New Year's Eve party that needs preparation? Or will you have family/friends to your home on New Year's Day?

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Re: 12/26/13 Final weekend of the year

Postby Harriet » Sun Dec 29, 2013 12:20 am

Yes, there is a lot of just trash to deal with this last weekend here, since we are hosting dd33's family and having visits from her siblings' families for meals. The trash cans are filling!

No way we are taking down any decorations yet with this much company, especially children.

Many financial matters to consider are coming up, but not yet. January holds a lot.

Very hopeful for Monday's Getting Ready for Focus thread/week, and a start on 2014 Focus thinking. I'll be breaking out my Declutter and Cleaning Schedule to make sure I make smart decisions about any rooms to switch about. Hopefully, I'll get a bit of a schedule worked out for my parents'/dd33's house, too.

Thinking about calendars, too.

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Re: 12/26/13 Final weekend of the year

Postby Nancy » Sun Dec 29, 2013 11:11 am

Getting a check for the church ready and my meds. To have that for the deductions on the to do list.

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Re: 12/26/13 Final weekend of the year & planning 2014

Postby Harriet » Sun Dec 29, 2013 11:59 pm

We're gearing up! 8-) A week from now we start the 2014 Focus rounds with Porch and Entry. But from tomorrow, Monday the 30th, through January the 5th we're in our Getting Ready week.

Thought I'd re-copy here Indiana's thoughts from Dec 28, 2008, in that year's getting ready thread. One smart thing she said was, "... even though we can’t all work the same routine, SHARING our routines is great to see how we each tweak routines to give each other ideas."

What planning are you doing to be ready to keep a clean home in 2014 with Focus cleaning, or cleaning/decluttering combination plans? Does anyone write out the areas of Focus in advance in their planner or on a calendar?

I'm going to print out a declutter/Focus-clean schedule that shows the changes I make, like substituting for outdoors in cold weather, etc. Last year I made one copy small so it would fit into my cardfile box for reference there, and I might try that again.




The FOCUS thread for cleaning has been ongoing for a few years now.

Instead of doing a fall cleaning, spring cleaning or cleaning right before the holidays our homes are maintained throughout the year.

Each area is worked 4 times a year. The last area is finished well before Thanksgiving and then maintenance of the areas begins with time available for holiday preparation.

FOCUS cleaning is worked in with other cleaning routines. There are daily routines which include AM, PM and sometimes noon routines. Then there are weekly, monthly, quarterly, seasonal, and annual routines. There are other non-cleaning routines. We are only concentrating on cleaning in FOCUS.

It sounds like a lot of routines but they all fit together and work together. The routines don’t take long. They get easier and take a shorter time the more they are done. Then they become a habit and are just done without thinking.

The key to routines is to make them work for us not against us. They are to make life flow smoothly not to put us under stress.

When I do something I think it through from end to beginning. How do I want my home to look? How can I maintain it? Working backward what things are done yearly, then by season, quarterly, monthly and weekly. Not everything obviously needs to be done daily, etc. I didn’t want to spend 4 hours on Saturday doing weekly routines so for me it works better to break them up over 4 days with Friday being just a little item. The same thing with daily routines. For me the most important one is the evening routine because I set everything up for the next morning. Mornings are a breeze.

No one set of routines works for everyone. We each need to make them our own. We each work differently and are motivated differently.

BUT even though we can’t all work the same routine, SHARING our routines is great to see how we each tweak routines to give each other ideas. There may be some – “oh I didn’t think about doing it then” or “have you thought about switching X routine with Y routine”?

Enjoy tweaking your routines.

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Re: 12/26/13 Final weekend of the year/2014 getting ready

Postby Harmony » Mon Dec 30, 2013 4:11 pm

I think 2014 is going to be a challenge for me overall. I'm hoping to just keep current with all the routines and focus stuff and the business stuff too. I already have my 2014 master calendar ready to hang, but I must still print out the small one I keep by my desk. Hoping to get a big wall all on one page calendar to keep back here in the office. All these things are so helpful to us. Oh, I need another Monthly calendar to keep at my desk - I itemize payroll hours on there. Otherwise I have little pieces of paper all over the place, or notes on my desk pad that get lost in the sea of scribble.

Don't think I need to tweak anything in my hh notebook where all my schedules are kept.

Just as a matter of reference, my dfriend has a pretty big house and she has cleaning help. It takes her lady 5 hours to clean her house every other week. I guess she doesn't do windows or the porches. My DD1 sometimes has help also. Her house is really big 3 bathrooms, 4 bedrooms, a bonus room upstairs. It takes 2 ladies 6 hours to clean her house top to bottom including her wide venitian blinds at all the windows. Again, they don't do the porches or anything outside. I doubt they do inside light fixtures, etc., though my friend's cleaner does dust all her overhead fans with a long-handled swiffer thing.

So that'll give you all some idea how much time this should be taking overall.

It took me 5 hours to clean the last time I did the whole house. Not too bad!

Editing: I copied off 2 of the 3 calendars I need. One gets taped to the inside of my desk hutch where I write checks, I always have a date handy when I need it. If my brain worked better I wouldn't need it. Copied off a monthly which gets stapled and tucked behind a letter box at my desk. Every day I write down what the guys did if they worked. Easy version of time cards. I can't get them to fill them out for me. Anyway, I'm pretty much all set to start the new year except for Christmas decorations which will come down sometime the first week of the year.

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Re: 12/26/13 Final weekend of the year/2014 getting ready

Postby Sunny » Tue Dec 31, 2013 1:51 am

I like to start the new year with a neat, clean house. Our trash pick up day has been changed from Monday to Saturday, so the day the small trash cans are emptied and the fridge is cleaned out will probably be Friday.

I usually print out the Focus Calendar and fasten each round to a 3 x 5 card -- just fits on five cards -- punch a hole in the top right corner and put on a notebook ring. Then they go in my card file at the front. This is the first time I'm trying a planner, the Day-Timer Family Plus. It has a column on the monthly pages for Goals and a nice space on the weekly pages for Notes, Menu, To Do, Errands, etc. Anything extra other than normal routines will be written down on these spaces so I can work them into my extra time. We'll see how it works! I don't think I'll be one who takes it everywhere with, I make grocery lists on 3 x 5s or scratch paper. I think my routines will stay pretty much the same as they were this year.
Start by doing what's necessary, then what's possible, and suddenly you are doing the impossible. --- Francis of Assisi

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Re: 12/26/13 Final weekend of the year/2014 getting ready

Postby Nancy » Tue Dec 31, 2013 11:46 am

Today's goal: bag up videos! Then get them out of the basement!

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Re: 12/26/13 Final weekend of the year/2014 getting ready

Postby Ivy » Tue Dec 31, 2013 11:31 pm

Sunny, Your idea of printing the FOCUS calendar, to cut and glue onto 3 x 5's sounds very smart! :idea: I believe I'll give that a try because I keep forgetting to come to this thread for the FOCUS posts. If I had the calendar, it'd remind me. Also, I have a round key-ring holder, which I can use, to connect them with, after I punch holes into the corners. Thanks for the idea! :D

Did you do your goal with the videos, Nancy? :?:

Harmony, I enjoyed reading your post, too. Good info. :D

Harriet, Your explanation of FOCUS was good and "tweaked" ideas. :idea: :)

I need to dump trash on New Year's Day, because garbage day's Thursday and I plan on taking down Christmas decorations by Monday the 6th and putting them away. So far, I've done that in the main/guest bathroom, except for a stuffed Santa wreath.

I believe printing the FOCUS calendar is very clever and motivating, too. I need all the help I can get. DH and I clean once a week or before company comes. I'd rather fit FOCUS things into my routine, rather than overdo before company comes. Also, it'll be able to fit into my work schedule with it's deadlines. After I print the FOCUS yearly calendar, put it on 3 x 5's, and hole punch and connect them to each other with a key ring circle thing, I'll copy the duties into my day runner. :idea: I think it's a good thing, too, because I take my runner to appt.'s and I can read my FOCUS items in waiting rooms. :) I never realized the points behind FOCUS, although I knew it was here, available to us all. I hope to make good use of it this year, and ironically, about a month ago, I chose my word to concentrate on in the New Year and it just so happened to be the word "Focus," too. :!: It's a coincidence because I want to be focused in other areas of my life, too, besides the house. :D

Thanks for your helping guide us, Harriet! :D
Touch the earth, love the earth, her plains, her valleys, her seas. Rest your soul in her solitary places. ~Henry Beston

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Re: 12/26/13 Final weekend of the year/2014 getting ready

Postby Harriet » Tue Dec 31, 2013 11:36 pm

I've put a tentative copy of a 2014 Focus schedule in the Focus Calendar thread above, under 2013's. If anyone sees a mistake please point it out. Otherwise, I'll replace the old one with the new one Monday when we head out to start the porch cleaning! :)

Sunny, thanks for letting us know how you usually record/view Focus and how you might be changing it up this year. I am going to be using a planner in addition to cards this year as well. I did this in 2009 when my mother was going to doctors every day. This is more in response to a wall calendar not really doing as much as I'd hoped last year. The card file has continued to work well. I don't know yet exactly how the planner will fit in with Focus, but I'm open to giving it a chance, because I like the idea of seeing a lot of comparable info on one opened book page. No, I won't be taking mine around with me, either - I need it at my desk.

Harmony, I've also been copying off some calendaring. I expect I'll be experimenting some.


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Re: 12/26/13 Final weekend of the year/2014 getting ready

Postby Nancy » Tue Dec 31, 2013 11:53 pm

Success to report I have bagged them up and they are loaded into the car trunk I did that today.


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