Free Time, Meet Lists

In honor of my new job and this next adventure in my life, I think I should set some goals for myself and my new free time so I don't spend all my spare time napping. Although I must admit that sounds spectacular right about now. Didn't have time to make coffee this morning. Yawn ...

Anyway, I don't know exactly how much extra time I'll have each week since my hours and the days that I work will vary from week to week. So I may have to update this list if I have more or less free time than I expect. But for now, here's what I hope to accomplish each week.

Weekly Goals

• Clean the main living areas (dust, mop floors/vacuum, put away junk, etc).
• Go grocery shopping at least once to make trips easier and more manageable (and also allow me to buy fresh food more often)
• Make real dinners (Hamburer Helper doesn't count) at least three nights
• Try one new recipe every week (blog about it)
• Make significant progress on at least one item on my project list (and blog about it)
• Work on my own writing at least three times
• Complete at least one Dguides task (editing, writing, etc.)
• Keep up on laundry, dishes and kitty litter boxes as needed
• Run on the treadmill at least once

So that's what I've come up with for now. Obviously it will change depending on the season. Mowing the lawn and weeding the garden beds will probably creep up on the list in summer. Snowblowing the driveway as needed in the winter, although Chris is wayyyy better at this than me ;-). lol

I'm glad that this list feels completely manageable though. I'm hoping that by not making any of the goals too strict or too specific, I should be able to meet each one with success and feel motivated to take it a step further. I'll be sure to post about it along the way.

As for specific goals for the house, I've definitely been planning out my to do list for this summer. I've got a lot I would like to accomplish, so let's just take a look at what's on my plate for DIY endeavors.

Summer To Do List

• Finish spray painting the picture frames white and hang them on the stairway wall
• Switch out the light fixtures in the upstairs hall
• Remove clothes from my closet, paint and add storage (maybe add a closet door)
• Paint the backplates on all the glass door knobs in the house with ORB
• Swap the three brass door knobs for the glass ones I bought on eBay
• Go through the rest of the boxes in the basement
• Have a garage sale
• Paint the basement floor and possibly the walls
• Create a kitty litter box area to prevent litter from getting tracked everywhere
• Create efficient storage in the basement
• Finish organizing book cases in the spare room
• Add latches to the cabinet door in the spare room

I have plenty more things that I'm dying to do, but I'm trying to focus on what needs to be addressed the most. The basement is really a top priority since we always move the litter boxes down there in winter, so that needs to be totally finished by the end of summer. The cats made a mess of things over the last couple years and I need to get everything up off the floor and in proper storage containers before I can let them back down there. So while it's probably the least glamorous item on my project list, it's the most important, so I'm going to focus on it. And organizing the extra shelves and closet in the spare room are sort of related to organizing the basment. The hallway makeover and the doorknobs are something fun I threw in there to make some really significant visual impact without taking up a lot of time.

There are a few other small projects I may tackle if I just need a break from the basement this summer, like caulking the gaps around the trim throughout the house, switching out the dingy backplates on the outlets, etc. And I would absolutely love to get to work on that half bath upstairs, but I'm determined to wait until after the basement is done since that's more important and has a deadline.

Hopefully putting all this in writing will help to keep me on task and focused. I considered adding "No more than 2 naps a week" to the top list, but I figured I'd leave the negatives out of it. Besides, if I do get everything else accomplished that week, what's the harm in getting a little extra R&R so I can stay up later with Chris and play games? ;-)