The case for family meetings

"Wait, I didn't know you were going out tonight. What are we to do about dinner?"

"Well it's not like I overdrew our account on purpose. We needed those things!"

"Oh really, and how was I supposed to know I needed to do that? I'm not a mind reader!"

Any of these questions familiar in your home? Possibly with more passion and expletives? :) It's common for couples and families to have miscommunication, especially around finances and schedules. But I have a simple suggestion to help get everyone on the same page -- weekly family meetings!

Stop rolling your eyes, I'm serious. They don't have to be long, they don't have to be boring, but if they cover some basic household management topics, you can prevent a lot of confusion and irritation later. My husband and I try to meet every Sunday for 30 minutes or so. When my sister was living with us for awhile, she also joined our meetings. The cats are optional attendees (sometimes they do have grievances to report, ha ha). If we had kids, I'd make them join us too.

Our typical family meeting (or family check-in, if the word "meeting" makes you break out in hives) covers these basic topics and gives us a chance to voice any concerns, make requests for the household, etc.:

• The F.U. (Financial Update) - how much $ in our accounts, upcoming bills and expenses for next week, etc. We sometimes transition this into larger financial goals, such as discussing life insurance or investments, or a big purchase we want to make.
• Where's Waldo (scheduling) - overview of each person's schedule for the week so there are no surprises later (in theory) and meals can be planned more easily
• Keep It Clean (chores) - if you split chores amongst family members, this is a good time to get everyone to agree to the schedule and make adjustments if needed
• Making Progress (goals) - we like to set family or household goals once a year, and then check-in occasionally, like when and where we want to take our next trip or the next home improvement project we want to tackle. Meetings are a great time to set priorities!
• Plus any other topics regarding the household
  

We've been doing this for over five years now and find it works well for us. We always know there will be time to talk about things on Sunday, even if we have busy weeks and feel like we've hardly seen each other. And I'm never in the dark about how much money we have (my hubby handles all of our finances but that doesn't mean I don't need to know the information - it's my money too!)

Do you have a creative approach for staying on top of finances and schedules for your family?

We all fall down...

We all have those times when life seems to run ahead, just out of our grasp. We stretch and stumble a little trying to catch up. We may even fall down. But no matter how hard we fall or how long we lay there in a daze, the important thing is to get back up, dust off, and try again!

As I dust myself off and jump back into the world of blogging, I want to apologize for the gap. As life got hectic, some things had to "give" -- and one of those things was blogging. I was lacking the energy and focus, but now I'm back -- re-energized, re-invigorated, and with lots of fun organizing and design related fun to talk about :)

A good friend of mine is going on her first-ever international trip today. Yes, today! She's probably killing time in O'Hare right now waiting for her flight to Germany. Her questions as she prepared were actually a main source of inspiration for me re-starting my blog. I provided her with a few tips and a packing list...and thought, others might be interested in this too! So stay tuned...

~amy

Minimalist inspiration

Lately I've been drawn to reading blogs about minimalism and the spirituality of living simply. I wanted to share a few of my favorites with you for inspiration -- including this interview with Miss Minimalist on Castles in the Air. This is my first introduction to Miss Minimalist, aka Francine Jay, and I've already put her on my list of role models. I share some of her dreams and passions, like living in a foreign country, writing, and travel -- and it's always good to find others doing what you want to do so you can learn from them! I love the fact that she always leaves a weekend bag half-packed so that she's always ready to go traveling - in her own city or abroad - on a moment's notice. She is living proof that living minimally doesn't mean going without, it means only having the things you really need and make you happy.

Other fave blogs currently include the ever-popular Zen Habits (Leo recently did a thought-provoking post on why to not exchange Christmas presents) and The Middle Finger Project (with the best tagline: rejecting the status quo & rebelling against mediocrity). I've also been inspired by Danielle's advice at White Hot Truth. Where have you found inspiration lately?

Happy reading!
-amy

Still alive and organizing...my pantry

It's been a long time since I've posted on here. Tisk tisk. My apologies (to you and to myself). I've been battling with some health issues (nothing to worry about!) and thus took a break from the computer and blogging for awhile...and then found it hard to get back in the groove. So here's to getting my groove back ;-)

My next organizing project -- now that I have some mobility and strength back in my right arm** -- is to tackle our pantry. It is a mess. I've determined that we don't have enough space and thus have asked my lovely hubby to bring in the second set of wire shelving (it sits out our covered patio for now, mostly collecting dust and random things). I'm excited to rearrange this entire space to make it more usable and more attractive. And I'm excited to tell you all about it once I'm done. Which should be this weekend -- wish me luck!

First step: sort everything on the current shelves (and floor) into "like with like" piles so I know what I'm dealing with
Second step: get rid of anything expired, stale, that we don't like, have too many of, etc. (I'll donate to a food bank anything that's still good but that I don't want anymore)
Third step: clean both sets of shelving thoroughly and warm up the label maker ;)
Fourth step: put things away in similar categories, with things I use most often easily accessible, adding labels where appropriate
Fifth step: CELEBRATE and take photos to share with y'all!
Final step: reassess in a few weeks and make adjustments if needed (this is the part most of us forget -- don't blame yourself if your system fails. That usually means it's the wrong system for you, not that you're doing anything wrong. Be willing to make changes to fit how you really use the space and stuff!)

The above process is a loose guideline to how you can approach most organizing projects...

Happy organizing,
-amy

**A short note about my random injury and subsequent medical fun: I woke up one morning in June with what has been called by my physical therapist as "quirky female hormonal shoulder." I'm still determining if she says that to the 5+ patients she gets each year with this, or if I was the "quirky" part of the name :) Apparently some hormones in my body sent a false signal to my right shoulder that there'd been a trama and my nerve became very inflammed and all the muscles literally locked down my shoulder!! OUCH. I am recovering now with the help of PT and hope to be back to normal within the next 6-9 months. The silver linings? (1) I've learned to do an amazing amount of tasks with my left arm, including eating and using the computer mouse (which is very good exercise for the brain), and (2) I've had lots of time to read and explore myself and what I want to do with my life. I've started a new blog on this journey of self-improvement if you want to check it out...