We've Moved!

Thanks for visiting The Five-Minute Mom's Club. Since I started this blog three years ago, I've been on a journey. I used to think organization was the key to happiness. Then I drilled down further and decided that spending time wisely would take us there. And in the last year, I've drilled down even further and realized that our road to happiness is a combination of the two: Living life simply. Period.


And so I've created a new blog that better reflects our mission: A Year to Simplify. We are taking the next 365 days to get rid of all of the stuff. We'll blog about how we made money off of our clutter, how we streamlined our calendar, how we embraced less and how we lived with more meaning.


I hope you'll join us in our new home!

Happy Unprocrastination Day

I got my latest issue of Real Simple magazine, and like most months, I devoured it. My favorite article was by Amy Spencer on the topic of procrastination. I hate to admit, but I'm good at procrastinating. My favorite part was the section where Editor at large Danielle Claro held an unprocrastination day with a friend. She gathered all of those tasks that she had put off and made a day of completing them. Doing them with a friend made it a little easier and also made her finish her list. You can read it here.

So I thought I would hold an unprocrastination day. I have items that need to be returned to the store. Library books due back. An item I want to buy. Items to drop off to Goodwill. Appointments to schedule. And a lamp shade to find. So, this Friday, April 1st, is not going to be April Fool's Day. It's unprocrastination day.

What tasks have you put off? Will you join me and check these things off your list?

Four Words You Should Never Say

Being fit was a “someday goal” I’ve always had for myself. But I never really pursued it.

Last year, I had a shoulder injury and had to go for physical therapy. It was then I realized that if I didn’t take care of myself – now! – I would run the risk of having other injuries or ailments that would affect my life.

Knowing I needed accountability, I joined a team fitness class and for the past eight months, I’ve been working with trainer three days a week. Let me say, I hate going. But I love having gone. And my hard work has paid off; this week during weigh in, I pushed through a plateau and scored a big body fat percentage loss.

When I posted my progress on Facebook, a friend of mine congratulated me, commenting that she wished she had time to work out. Well, last year, I might have agreed with her. But I now know there are four words you should never say: I don’t have time.

Of course, this is because I read Laura Vanderkam’s book 168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think. I blogged about it last summer when the book first came out, but after hearing my friend’s comment, I thought it was worth another post.

Laura does an amazing job of breaking down time. We all have 168 hours in a week, and we all choose how we spend them. I’m willing to bet that the person who doesn’t have time to work out has time to watch TV. And I’m not condemning this activity. But whenever you feel the urge to say “I don’t have time,” what you are really saying is “It’s not a priority.”

This creates a total mindshift. If you are OK with saying it’s not a priority, then fine. But if that activity “you don’t have time for” is indeed a priority, you’ve got some reprioritizing to do.

What’s that thing you feel you just don’t have time to do? Is it calling an old friend? Reading a favorite chapter book to your child? Or is it going to the gym?

Now take out your calendar and let’s see where it goes.

Take Five With Jennifer Tankersley

I'm excited to feature another mom who contributed a tip to my book, The Five-Minute Mom's Club. This time it's Jennifer Tankersley, who gave us Tip #73, just say no to ironing (love that one!!) Jennifer and her family are on an adventure right now, and I'm impressed at how she keeps it all together by identifying her priorities and staying true to them. I hope you enjoy this Q&A with her!

Please tell us your name, what you do and a little bit about your family life:
My name is Jennifer Tankersley and I am the founder and CEO of ListPlanIt.com, which is a site containing hundreds of printable lists and planning pages all geared toward helping you organize your life. I am a wife of 16 years and a mom to 3 children, ages 9, 7, and 5. My husband has just recently gone active-duty and his orders are for Naples, Italy. Our family has been seeking an adventure, and I believe we’ve found it. While he was here in Italy for 1 month before us, we are now looking forward to settling in, meeting friends, and exploring the world. I am entering, for the first time in my life, the world of homeschooling. It is a challenge that I have growing and alternating fear and excitement.

In The Five-Minute Mom’s Club, I ask moms to celebrate the tasks they’re really good at. What areas of your home/family life do you rock? And what’s your secret?
I am a great planner. No matter what the challenge/activity: vacations, moves, birthdays/holidays, meals, etc, I have the ability to think ahead and schedule tasks. My number one tool to help me accomplish this? Lists! Though I don’t use all 500+ lists in ListPlanIt’s database of lists, I have my favorites and I use them often.

OK. Now for the dirt. Which “mom task” do you really dread? And how have you learned to handle it?
I am not a great housekeeper, in general. I keep everything at a so-so level. Though I appreciate a really clean home, it is just not important enough to me to keep mine so. There are so many other things that are a priority for me. A clean house is not something that I truly take pride in. My husband would like me to be a more regular housekeeper, but apparently it is not important enough that he should take over any housekeeping duties ☺.

One of the ways I want to help moms is by showing them how to look at their to-do list through “3D Glasses:” Don’t, Delegate and Do. What’s one thing on your Don’t list?
Well, I think I’ve already mentioned one on my Don’t list. Also, I used to feel responsible for all of my children’s activities. I used to think, “If I don’t do it, who will?” I have gotten much better about saying no to involvement in their school/activities. I still like to help out occasionally, but with 3 children, I would be working full-time with the amount of “opportunities” there are.

What do you Delegate?
This is a tough one for me. I will admit that I find it very difficult to ask for help. I have a very good friend who is now doing some work on ListPlanIt for me. My children do a few things regularly around the house, but I would just as soon do a lot of the tasks myself than to deal with whining and poor job quality. Delegation is something in which I am always struggling to improve.

And are there any shortcuts you Do?
Schedule, schedule, schedule. I don’t like idle time. Even my reading time or tv time is “scheduled”. I try to take advantage of every minute by keeping a running list of priorities and tackling them every chance I get.

Finally, I used to think being organized was the key to a happy home life. OK, that’s not true! Is there anything you believed before you became a mom that you know now isn’t true?
I believed that a good mom would cook, clean, feed babies, love her husband, think of everyone and everything, and do it all with a smile on her face. Not that I don’t do all of those things, but there are times when I feel so pulled in every direction, that I just need to take a break. I didn’t realize that moms could be so overwhelmed with domestic duties. Moms need to remember to include themselves in their list of priorities.

Thanks, Jennifer. You can find her tip on page 109 of The Five-Minute Mom's Club. Don't have the book yet? Don't waste another minute! Click here to grab a copy at Amazon. To learn more about Jennifer, be sure to visit her website. And tune in next week when we feature another "Take Five" interview.

The Best Reason Kids Should Do Chores

Does your child have routine chores? Better question: Does he/she complete their routine chores? If you answered no or sometimes, here's something to think about:

Dr. Martin Rossmann of the University of Minnesota found that the best predictor of a child's success is that they began helping with household chores between the ages of three and four. His study found that the teens who had been given responsibilities as preschoolers were more likely to finish their education on time and have quality relationships. What’s more, they were less likely to use drugs than children who started chores later or had no chores at all. Now that's a win/win!

So how do you get them on board (without nagging and reminding)? It's all in your approach. If you bark orders, you teach children that housekeeping is a punishment. If you talk about how much you hate cleaning, your children will hate cleaning, too. Instead, take a tip from Tom Sawyer and his white picket fence and make chores feel more like a game so you can get willing participants. Here are a few ideas:

Use a chore chart to keep kids on track. Even young children will get a sense of accomplishment by checking off their tasks. Grab our free download here.

Match up chores to your family member's strengths and personality. Visual children do well with jobs like sorting the laundry. Auditory children like jobs with noise such as vacuuming. And Tactile children like hands-on work like washing bathroom sinks. Click here to get our quiz to determine your child's style.

Set a timer and challenge your family to beat the clock. Everything seems fun when it’s done as a time challenge. Use the timer to quickly put away toys, clear the dinner plates, declutter a room, or put away groceries.

Pull chores out of a jar or hat. Making it a game of chance means kids can’t complain about the jobs they draw. Have one jar for daily chores and another for a weekly family chore day.

Pair up. Everything is more fun when you have a partner to share it. Purchase two mops and have your children do the floors together. Separate the bathroom cleaning detail and give older kids who are always busy after school a chance to talk to each other while they scrub down the shower and wipe down the bathroom mirror.

Play music. Upbeat songs make everyone move faster. Let your kids choose their favorite artist and dance while you vacuum, shake out the rugs, and do the dishes.

Reward jobs well done with a special treat, such as a later bedtime, a favorite dessert, or an outing. Chuck E. Cheese offers free tokens for kids who complete their printable clean room chart. Find it on their website.

If you're looking for more ways to get kids to listen, you'll want to meet Amy McCready, founder of Positive Parenting Solutions. Amy is offering us a free one-hour webinar entitled "How to Get Kids to Listen ... without Nagging, Reminding or Yelling." It's going to be held on Tuesday, January 25th at 9 p.m. EST. Click this link to reserve your spot.

By Room or By Task?

I was lucky enough to interview Heloise - the household hint icon - for a magazine article I'm writing, and she told me something interesting. When she does her spring cleaning, she likes to do it by task vs. by room.

Instead of spring cleaning the kitchen or the family room, she cleans all of the switch plates in the house. Or she wipes down all of the mirrors or all of the door frames.

I would say her principle works off of momentum; if you have the tools and mindset to tackle a job, tackle all of the rooms that need that job done. Switching tasks takes extra time and you run the risk of becoming sidetracked.

In my regular household cleaning, I like to clean by task. A reporter recently asked me about my cleaning routine. Here it is:

Every Day

First thing in the morning:

• Unload dishwasher
• One load of laundry
• Make bed

Before bed:

• Wipe down kitchen counters
• Load/turn on dishwasher
• Pack lunches
• Set coffee pot

Weekly

• Monday: Clean bathrooms
• Tuesday: Vacuum
• Wednesday: Clean kitchen
• Thursday: Dust
• Friday: Vacuum and mop
• Saturday: Saturday project (could be dust baseboards, clean a closet, dust ceiling fans, etc.)
• Sunday: Strip and wash linens

What does your cleaning routine look like? Do you clean by task or by room? I'd love to hear from you!

Take Five with Aby Garvey

We're excited to feature another mom who contributed a tip to my book, The Five-Minute Mom's Club. This time it's Aby Garvey, who gave us Tip #12, do some, it's better than none. I especially love that delegating makes Aby happy. I hope you enjoy this Q&A with her!

Please tell us your name, what you do and a little bit about your family life:

Hi, I’m Aby Garvey. I’m the founder of Simplify101.com, a website that specializes in online organizing workshops. I’m the wife of Jay (who also happens to be my business partner) and the Mom to Collin and Kailea.

In The Five-Minute Mom’s Club, I ask moms to celebrate the tasks they’re really good at. What areas of your home/family life do you rock? And what’s your secret?
Organizing is definitely something that comes naturally to me, and I love to do it. My biggest secret is to tackle organizing projects a little bit at a time, instead of feeling like I need to clear the calendar for an entire Saturday to get it all done. Bite sizing projects works much better, especially when my kids are involved. It helps us stay motivated and focused, and gives us time for fun on the weekends, too. Oh, and using fun storage containers doesn’t hurt either. ☺

OK. Now for the dirt. Which “mom task” do you really dread? And how have you learned to handle it?
My two least favorite Mom tasks are grocery shopping and scrubbing the shower. For grocery shopping, my husband and I did a little task swap a year or so ago. He doesn’t like emptying the dishwasher every day, so I agreed to take that task off his plate in exchange for delegating the weekly grocery shopping to him. We’re both much happier! I still haven’t found a way to enjoy scrubbing the shower, but nice smelling cleaning products like Mrs. Meyers or Caldrea does make this a bit less of a chore. I’d still love to find a self-cleaning shower though…

One of the ways I want to help moms is by showing them how to look at their to-do list through “3D Glasses:” Don’t, Delegate and Do. What’s one thing on your Don’t list?
Many years I don’t send Christmas cards.

What do you Delegate?
Grocery shopping! And I’m so happy about it.

And are there any shortcuts you Do?
Yes, I love shortcuts! One of my biggest short cuts is to make simple meals. I love to cook, but during the week I don’t like to spend a lot of time in the kitchen. I’ve collected some quick and easy recipes that my whole family likes and I’ve organized them into a three ring binder. This makes the weekly meal planning simple, and it makes for quick and easy family dinners every night of the week.

Finally, I used to think being organized was the key to a happy home life. OK, that’s not true! Is there anything you believed before you became a mom that you know now isn’t true?
I think the biggest shift for me since becoming a Mom was realizing that it’s the simple things that make life rich. It’s snuggling with my kids, seeing them enjoy something new, or looking at the world through their eyes—that’s the stuff that really matters. That’s the gift of motherhood, I think, cherishing the little moments and realizing that the little moments are really the big moments.

Thanks, Aby. You can find her tip on page 20 of The Five-Minute Mom's Club. Don't have the book yet? Don't waste another minute! Click here to grab a copy at Amazon. To learn more about Aby, be sure to visit her website. And tune in next week when we feature another "Take Five" interview