Cozi.com & This N That

Our children left this morning headed for Disney.  They are die hard Disney fans and nothing would do but to get our grand-daughter who is 11 weeks old down there!   Her Grammy is coming to relieve them for a couple of days to allow them to experience Disney as a couple.  I'm sure they will all have a wonderful time.  This visit was fast and furious.  There are so many family members to see that 2 days is just not enough to squeeze it all in.  I know it's frustrating for everyone, but they do the best they can.


Okay...so back to my craziness!! I am LOVING cozi.com.  I can't stop.  I look...I read...I stare and then I add more stuff.  My cleaning schedule is complete.  FINISHED!  It would have been so difficult to actually sit down and put a schedule together manually of my household chores. 

Here's what I did!

1.  I went from room to room with paper and pencil in hand and took a look around at each room.  I then wrote down every thing that needed to be included in my clean up routine.  I was surprised to see how much I was missing!  There are just some things that didn't come to mind...or perhaps they did and I procrastinated it away.  Seeing the actual chores on paper really opened my eyes.  This is a must do.

2.  I started checking out my calendar schedule on cozi.com and decided to add a cleaning schedule.  The great thing about this is once you add it you can have it added on whatever day you chose until infinity.  So, no duplicate typing that every Tuesday you want to dust the furniture.  

3.  I had to compare my written down room list to the schedule and decide how often a chore needed to be done.  Clearly there are some chores that need to be done more often than others. 

4.  I decided bi-weekly, weekly, monthly, bi-monthly and quarterly was the way to go.  I picked my days carefully.  I did not want chores every single day for the rest of my life.   I freed up my weekend as much as possible.  I scattered the chores throughout the week and have very little to do on the weekends. 

Today my chore calendar started!  I was relieved to know that it was completely set up...every single thing that needed to be done at some point in the house and I no longer had to actually think about what to do or when I did it last. 

Today's chore calendar looked like this:

-Clean the carpet. 
-Dust the furniture.
-Scrub the Master Bath.

You can tweak this as you go...since we had just had guests over the weekend, I actually cleaned both bathrooms and vacuumed the family room and kitchen. 

END OF STORY!

Tomorrow:

Clorox kitchen counters.  Which means...remove every single thing on the counters.

That's it!

Nice, huh?  So...everyday I'll have a couple of things to do and by Saturday...nothing to do but change the master bed linens!

There will be times that big jobs are required.   I actually broke these jobs down by room.  I will never clean ALL the ceiling fans on the same day...or I will never scrub the baseboards throughout the house.  Each room has its on day and time frame.  If it's scheduled quarterly....cozi will remind you when it's due again on your calendar in 3 months.

I am no longer laying in bed at night when I should be sleeping trying to pull together the next days schedule!  I print my calendar out weekly and it is on my fridge.  It's staring at me first thing in the morning!

There's more to cozi than just scheduling appointments and managing a cleaning schedule!  You must look at their menu site.  It's amazing and I was able to select family friendly recipes for this weeks menu.  One click puts the menu on your calendar and another click places all the items on your grocery list to take to the store with you.  You can adjust the grocery list if there are items that you already have in your pantry.  You can also add other items you need along with the meal planner.

Next week's menu ended up like this....

Sunday                  Chili

Monday                 Ranch Burgers
                              Chips

Tuesday                Chicken Marbella
                             Ranch Roasted Potatoes

Wednesday          Ranch Beef & Noodle Skillet
                            Green Beans

Thursday              Panko Parmesan Chicken Tenders
                            Pasta w/Asiago Sauce

Friday                  Dinner Out or Leftovers

Saturday I start over!  They have some amazing recipes.  I'm not sure why I picked so many ranch recipes...but I guess they all looked so good.  Also...each month they have new recipes arriving.  The great thing is that you are able to comment about the recipe.  You can read other peoples comments and decide if this is going to work for your family.  Check it out!!