Is it just me or are the “Once in a while” tasks the things you never get to? The things that always hang around in the background haunting you? Maybe that is a bit melodramatic but still. I feel like I never catch up when these tasks hang around. But if I am on a regular schedule (summer and New Year), everything just feels a little calmer in my heart and mind, not to mention my house! So let’s tackle some “once in a whiles”! (Just a disclosure that this post contains affiliate links that help support this site.)

1)Insurance Coverage: Yes, I know this is one of the most boring things but a necessity for life. Is your car and home adequately covered? How about your life? Have you recently bought a bunch of electronics, computers, or jewelry? If so you may have exceeded your home owners policy limits and need to get a little more coverage. Have a new car or driver? I know that seems like a no-brainer but you would be surprised;). But a more likely auto insurance issue: Have you changed your work location or even job? If you are driving less you might be eligible for a discount. And have you checked to see if your job is one of the ones that has a built in discount? You would be surprised. For home and auto we use Bulldog Insurance here in Fresno. Not an ad, we just like them;). When it comes to life insurance… did you have a big life change this year? If you had another child or bought a bigger house you may need extra coverage so get some term life insurance quotes to see what you can afford. 

2)Smoke Detectors: Change all the batteries. Just do it now. It is so much better than your batteries beeping at 3 in the morning and you have to go find new batteries. Not that it has ever happened to me, many times. And if you need a new smoke detector now is the time to get it! If you are like me, if I put it off I will forget. If you are ordering one, get one that is a combination smoke and carbon monoxide detector so you can cross both off your list. 

3)Air Filter Vents & Ceiling Corners and Cornices: You should actually change your air filters every month but most don’t get around to it.  You also can vacuum them to help keep the filter cleaner. I don’t do it very often because I can’t reach. While you are vacuuming those air filter vents make sure you get the corners of your ceilings where the ceiling meets the walls. Even if you don’t have spider webs! That is how you prevent the spider webs;). 

4)Coffee Pot:  Coffee makes a homeschool mom go. So start the school year right with a clean coffee pot. Run a pot of vinegar through it. Then run multiple pots of water through it so to get rid of the vinegar taste. Remember that the vinegar smell tends to hang around longer than the taste.

5)Light fixtures and Lamps: It is time to give those dead bugs in your light fixtures an honorable burial. Come on, you know that they are there and that their little bodies drive you mad.  Vacuum to the rescue!

6)Makeup: We all have that tube of lipstick that we wear 2 times a year. We all do and don’t feel guilty for that. But that tube is 10 years old and smells funky, you gotta toss it. Makeup has a shelf life and we all tend to have a few bits that have expired. Mascara is one that is often over looked. It is probably that most important to toss. If it has been open for 6 months it is time to part company. Otherwise, you risk infection and for some of us, it means we can’t wear contacts if we get an infection. For the rest of your makeup just give it a look. Is it the same consistency? The same smell it arrived with? Does it still perform well? If any of the answers are no the trash can has a new friend! 

That is it! 6 things that only need to be done once in a while but make a huge difference! Out of curiosity,  which one of these tasks is your nemesis? Mine is the coffee pot, I always forget it until it is super needed!

This is part of my 10 Days to a Better School Year Series! Go check it out!

As school activities were wrapping up I looked around the mess I live in and was filled with shame. Shame of all the things I have been meaning to get to for the past 6 months and just haven’t had the time. The cabinets you can’t find anything in or the shower that may have a fuzzy monster living in it are just 2 such projects in my life. But I will be ashamed no more! Not just because I am cleaning up some of this projects but because I am putting in systems that will mean that I never have to block out intense cleaning time for them! 

With 4 kids in the family, we have a lot of people and therefore a lot of mess. If I decided to fix everything I have abandoned, well that is a mistake. I get overwhelmed, don’t know where to start, and end up never doing anything. Instead I have found that making a list of 3 at a time is the perfect approached. Don’t do 2 of the 3 and refill your list! Do all 3, breathe for a moment when you are done, give yourself a pat on the back, and then 3 more. Why 3 instead of 1? If you are like me you have different projects in different spots in the house. While 1 job might take you an hour, it might be broken up well so while you are in a specific area of the house you can work on it for just a few minutes.

You projects should start with a cabinet you use everyday or a room or a drawer. Don’t say your room or your garage, keep it bite sized! Let me show you my current 3 projects. 

Tackling the Showers!

We have multiple showers and frankly, mine is the grossest. I had a great system in our last house but is was blown when we moved. I could blame the state of my shower on moving but since that was 2 years ago, that excuse is a little thin. 

In all seriousness, we have more showers here and 2 of them are the children’s (yes, 1st world problem). I need a system that not only I can keep but my kids can as well. So I visited the Dollar Tree and bought multiple spray bottles and those scrubby sponges with a reservoir. I was even able to pick up scrubby sponges refills. What goes into them is a mixture of  half Dawn and half white Vinegar. The sponge is to tackle any trouble areas that has grossness already. But the spray bottles are my insurance. After showers you shake the bottle and spray your shower. Then get out. It keeps anything from growing so you never have to scrub it again! Success. (I in progress. The materials are on my kitchen counter and got filled when I was waiting for the kids to do something in the kitchen.)

 
The Medicine Cabinet

“Hey we finished a bottle of B Vitamins, I put them on the Costco List!” No one realizes that we have an extra bottle in the back of the medicine cabinet. It was put on the second shelf so you didn’t accidentally use it before the open one. Did I mention that I can’t reach the back of that kitchen shelf, much less the kids? So things were a hot mess in there. First thing I did was pull everything out and threw out everything that was expired. Then I went and had dinner. I came back the next day;). The next thing I did was take out everything that doesn’t belong there. Kids are great for this job. Hand them 1 destinations items at a time or else you are asking for misdelivery;).

Then I containerize! Next time things seem a little wonky it all has a home to belong in. Remember, you don’t need to go buy fancy containers. I have a spot that we keep empty plastic containers. So most of the containers for this project were Dollar Tree purchases but I have an awesome Lego container;). That holds all our current vitamins and we can take it to the table in the mornings. Containers also solve the reach issue. I can reach the basket and don’t have to reach to the back of the shelf. I have a container now on the second shelf that holds all our extra vitamins and medicines!

My Jewelry

I, like many women, have gobs of costume/fake jewelry. So much that it won’t fit in a jewelry box… I actually don’t know that I could ever get my necklaces into a jewelry box and keep them untangled. I have spent so much time over this last year looking through my jewelry. So I have decided to rectify this situation. This is my project of the 3 that I am not even close to finishing yet.  It is such a large job (because I keep a lot of broken or tarnished junk) so I am not doing it in a completely traditional method. 

Normally I say sort then figure out how much of a system you need. Well, this time I have a bit of a system then I am sorting and then I will figure out the whole system. So my first step was hanging chains on my wall in my bedroom horizontally and I bought S hooks. I then took my current (and therefore favorite) necklaces and french loop earrings and hung them up on the chain. Now I am slowly going through the drawer in my nightstand and sorting! I have my “Is it ok to throw this away pile” (What can I say, I have guilt issues. Who cares if it turns my finger green?). Then I have the earrings that I am waiting to find a match on and then I have the stuff I am keeping that can’t go on the chains, like stud earrings. It is a slow process. I am doing an initial sort of brokens but I know that my day of reckoning is coming. When I have to be honest with myself. I will have to get rid of the stuff I will never actually wear again. I will post pictures when I am done!

Imagine all the time you would save if you didn’t have to scrub out your shower? How about if you didn’t have to dig through 5 shirts you hate in order to find something to wear? Imagine how much smoother your school year would go!

So what are your first 3 mini-projects to tackle? Share so we can support each other! 

This is part of my 10 Days to a Better School Year Series! Pop over and check out the rest of my series (and enter the Amazon giveaway!).