Homemaking: A Personal History

August 11, 2016 By Deanna Piercy 4 Comments

A few of you may know that my first foray into online writing was a newsletter called “Tea With Dee”. It focused largely on homemaking. I started it in February of 2005 and wrote more or less consistently through 2011. I picked it back up in the latter half of 2013 for several months but gave it up entirely when I started this blog and its corresponding newsletter.

The other night it occurred to me that I might share some of my writings from those old newsletters here on Life With Dee. They were often very personal and those of you who didn’t read that newsletter or my old blogs might enjoy the stories and the opportunity to get to know me better.

The following story was from the very first issue.

Homemaking

(Originally published in the Tea With Dee newsletter via Yahoo Groups, February 9, 2005)

I loved to play house as a little girl. My cousin, Sue, who was also my best friend, lived next door most of our growing up years. Our grandparents lived right behind us and the two of us spent many an hour playing in their den. We each had a favorite corner where we would set up our *house* and play dolls.

We also had a playhouse in their backyard. One of my fondest childhood memories is the summer we decided to fix up the rather primitive playhouse. My brothers and Sue’s younger brother also got in on this.

There was no window in the playhouse but this didn’t stop us from making a pair of curtains out of old dishtowels that our grandmother gave us. We made a little bed for our dolls out of wood and bricks. (Continuous remodeling is a family curse so there was never a shortage of building materials for our projects.) We swept and cleaned and washed all the little dishes we kept out there.

We then did a bit of “landscaping”. This was the desert so we weeded the area immediately surrounding the playhouse and then raked the dirt smooth. We collected good-sized rocks from all over and used them to border the “yard” around the playhouse, complete with a walkway to the door. I think we tried to plant a tree of some sort but I can’t remember the details about that. It might have just been a branch we cut from a tree.

We worked really hard for several days. We then planned a little open house complete with entertainment. I think my brother played his guitar and we all sang something. We invited our parents and grandparents for this grand event. What a fun time we all had!

I can’t help but think that if someone had told us we had to do all this, it wouldn’t have been nearly as much fun. In fact, I don’t think it would have been fun at all. Why was all that work enjoyable as a child but cleaning my house and weeding flower beds now more often seems like drudgery? Could it be my attitude about it? As a young girl I wanted nothing more than to grow up and have my own home and children (I didn’t think much about the husband part in those days – ha!). I would daydream about taking care of my cosy little house and rocking real babies instead of dolls.

I married quite young and well remember those early months of our marriage. We rented a small, one bedroom apartment for the first nine months. We started with very little and didn’t have much money but it was still a pleasure to turn that plain little apartment into our home.

We didn’t have a sofa at first so I took one of those tri-fold lawn chairs, opened it out flat, covered it with a quilt, and then propped throw pillows against the wall behind it. You know what? I didn’t mind this makeshift sofa one little bit. After all, I finally had my own home and I was delighted with it. I loved serving dinner by candlelight on our pretty china, even if it was only hamburgers.

We then bought our first house. It was quite old and fairly small. It needed a lot of work but we were so happy to no longer be throwing away money on rent. I will never forget our first spring there.

The elderly lady who had owned the house before we bought it had planted lots of flowers. I have always adored flowers so it was a real thrill to discover each new bloom. There were lusciously scented old fashioned roses, irises, peonies, and honeysuckle covered the entire back fence. Each day I would go out and cut a few flowers. I had vases and other containers all over the house, filled with flowers. The kitchen was barely larger than a walk-in closet, the bathroom only had a tub – no shower, I had no washer or dryer, no dishwasher, and just a very old window air conditioner in the living room, but those flowers made up for all that.

Our next home was a brand new mobile home. We were planning to build a house on an acre adjoining my parents’ land but thought we should live out there for awhile first in order to be sure we wanted to live in the country. It was only two bedrooms but it was 80 feet long and everything was sparkling clean and new. There was a dishwasher and a huge garden tub in the big master bathroom. Oh, how I loved that tub!

Some of our busiest years were spent in that mobile home. Chris was 18 months old when we moved in and Lisa was born during the seven years we lived there. I also went to nursing school during that time. Despite all that, I still enjoyed keeping house there, although we were getting a bit cramped toward the end of that time.

After I graduated from nursing school we decided that instead of building a house in the country, we would buy a house in town. We found the most charming 1930s era house in a great neighborhood. The minute I walked in the front door I knew this was the house for us. It had nine foot ceilings and all those vintage details that make older homes so attractive. The kitchen was huge and still had the original metal cabinets and large porcelain sink with built in drainboards. Some cute wallpaper and some 50s collectibles turned it into the most adorable Betty Crocker style kitchen imaginable. The house only had one full bath and a half bath off the master bedroom, but the three bedrooms were huge.

The house was very well designed and quality built. It was such a joy to decorate this cosy little house. And a pleasure to keep clean and tidy. We all loved this house but finally decided we wanted to move to the country.

We have been in our current home for 7 years. It is situated on 40 lovely wooded acres, complete with a pond and a guest house. The main house is fairly large and two stories. It was decorated in very unattractive 70s colors when we bought it but we quickly remedied most of that and have gradually made improvements over the past several years.

Our biggest project was the kitchen. That had been my biggest disappointment with this house. After enjoying such a cute kitchen at our previous house, the dark, cheap cabinets, dropped ceiling with fluorescent lighting, and poor design did nothing to make me enjoy spending time in there. David completely gutted the old kitchen and we now have my dream kitchen.

For some reason, over the past 2 or 3 years I have lost some of my enthusiasm for housekeeping. I am a neat nut by nature so the house is generally fairly tidy and my kids insist it is cleaner than the homes of most of their friends. Still, I often feel as though I am just going through the motions and doing merely the necessary tasks. It often seems as though all I do is routine maintenance but rarely get to the fun parts of homemaking, like decorating and rearranging stuff. I also find myself rushing through my daily tasks instead of enjoying them like a little girl playing house.

I doubt I am the only one in this situation so I plan to explore this in future issues. How can I get back the joy in homemaking that I used to have? Stay tuned and maybe I will have some answers someday.

In the meantime, here are a couple of favorite housekeeping resources:

FlyLady
Totally Organized by Bonnie McCullough

This is an affiliate link. Thank you for supporting Life With Dee!

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I’d love to hear your thoughts. Would you like to read more of my ramblings about homemaking and such from that old newsletter or is better left in the past?

My “Betty Crocker Kitchen” from the 1930s house

My current kitchen

Organization Videos – A Few of My Favorites

July 28, 2016 By Deanna Piercy 5 Comments

I LOVE to watch cleaning, decluttering and organizing videos. I also enjoy the occasional episode of Hoarders or Obsessive Compulsive Cleaners. Okay, maybe more than “occasional”. 😉

I find these interesting and often inspiring. And I’ve learned some good tips from watching them.

I’m about to embark on a decluttering and organizing challenge of my own so I have been watching videos on these topics the past few days. I thought I’d share a few that I’ve found helpful and inspiring.

Organization Videos

This first one is the start of a 31 day decluttering program. It’s a good place to begin.

2. This next one left me in awe. I can’t imagine finding the time to organize my entire house to this level but it would be awesome!

3. A fairly short overview of 5 easy ways to declutter:

4. Once your house is clean and organized, you’ll want to keep it that way:

5. How about a 12 day clutter-busting plan? Here is Day One:

There are multiplied thousands of similar videos on YouTube. Enough to keep me watching rather than doing for ages!

I’ve found that the best way to make myself stick with something is to get others on board with me and hold myself accountable to them. I’m sadly lax about letting myself down but quite good at keeping my commitments to others.

So here’s the deal. I’m going to be starting a decluttering/organization challenge soon. I’m still working out the details but as soon as I have it all fleshed out I’ll let you know. I hope a number of you will decide to do this with me.

In the meantime, if you have any favorite decluttering and/or organizing videos or other online resources to recommend, please leave me a link in the comments.

The Conquer Your Clutter bundle before it expires on Monday, January 30th at 11:59 PM EST!

Get yours now: Conquer Your Clutter Super Bundle

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Why I’m Bringing Back the House Dress

July 5, 2016 By Deanna Piercy 34 Comments

When I think about my childhood, Grandma was a big part of it. And in my mind’s eye she’s wearing a house dress. Are you familiar with that term?

Housedress: an informal dress that is usually worn only while cleaning or doing other housework

My mom generally wore jeans, casual slacks or shorts around the house but Grandma was always in a house dress. Lightweight, cotton, easily washed – house dresses were the ultimate in practicality. We lived in the desert of Southern California where it is often hot so these cool dresses were no doubt the most comfortable option for at-home wear. Grandma spent her days doing housework, cooking, watering (a daily chore in the dry desert), and taking care of the many grandchildren in and out of her house all day. She often had an apron on over her dress, as well.

Much as I adored my grandmother and admired her greatly, I’ll be the first to admit that she wasn’t stylish. Her appearance was neat and tidy but there were no frills. Her hair was often held in place by a hairnet, she wore no makeup and the only jewelry she wore around the house was the plain wedding band which Grandpa had paid $3 for.

Grandma didn’t drive and Grandpa even did the grocery shopping. Other than church on Sundays and Wednesday evenings, Grandma rarely went anywhere. She had some “good clothes” but most of the time she was in a house dress.

There were two basic types of house dresses:

A loose-fitting, rather boxy style which zipped or snapped up the front – This is what she would wear first thing in the morning to water the trees, roses and other outdoor plants.
A more fitted style which she would change into and wear for the rest of the day. She often had an apron on over this, especially when in the kitchen.

Grandma’s house dresses weren’t cute – she would have probably called them “serviceable” – but they were clean and pressed. She used Downy fabric softener and often hung her wash on a clothesline so they smelled wonderful. But fashionable? Not in the least.

That’s likely why I’ve never really considered the idea of house dresses for myself. Until recently, that is.

What made me change my mind about house dresses:

I actually do prefer wearing skirts or dresses and find them cooler and more comfortable than pants. My usual warm-weather “uniform” is a mid-calf or longer skirt with a tank top and Birkenstock sandals. I have several cute skirts and this is what I normally wear in the summer. I have dressier versions for church and dinners out; more casual ones for everyday wear.

However, there are many days when I don’t leave the house and I’d gotten into the yoga-pants-and-camisole-with-no-bra thing. Which is only slightly better than pajama pants or sweats, neither of which I own.

Then a couple of weeks ago I decided I needed a swimsuit coverup before our trip to California. Unfortunately it arrived the day after we left on the trip. But my daughter and I went swimming together last week so I had a chance to wear it. This is the one I had bought:

This is an affiliate link. If you purchase via this link I receive a small portion of the purchase price.

I chose it because it was inexpensive and I love the colors. What I didn’t realize when I ordered it was that I’d found my version of a house dress.

After returning home from our swim, the dress was still a little damp from my swimsuit so I hung it on a hook in our bathroom to dry overnight. The next morning, when I saw it hanging there, I threw it on instead of yoga pants or one of the two maxi dresses I have which are cut in such a way that I can wear them without a bra (at home, only!).

It was really hot that day but the dress was SO cool and comfortable. And I have to admit that the pretty colors were a nice change from my usual mostly-black wardrobe.

That’s when I decided I needed more of these dresses in my life. At less than $25 each I didn’t even feel guilty for ordering four more. David is always trying to get me to buy more clothes anyway.

I can throw on one of these dresses in the morning, pull my hair up in a ponytail or casual bun, put on a little makeup and cute earrings, and then go about my usual day at home. I can work on my blog or other desk work, clean house, walk Shiloh, do light gardening, cook and all the other things I do during a normal day at home, all the while being cool and comfortable. I won’t be wearing these to town but if someone shows up at the house unexpectedly I won’t have to be embarrassed about my appearance.

While I’m never one to leave the house in ratty clothes or with no makeup, I’ve become a bit lax about things at home when I know I won’t see anyone but David. But that’s something I’d like to change. David knows I’m busy and doesn’t expect me to be all dressed up like I’m going out on the town but I’m sure he’d appreciate coming home to a wife who has made at least a bit of an effort to look attractive. Even if I’m still in one of my new house dresses when he comes home, that will be better than yoga pants. I think we, as a society, have become a bit too casual so I’m going to up my game a bit.

History of the House Dress:

I did some research while writing this post and found several really interesting links.

The House Dress: A Humble History – In addition to the post itself which includes pictures of vintage house dress patterns, I recommend reading the comments, too. There’s some fascinating information, insights and memories shared.

1930s House Dresses – A detailed look at the house dresses of the ’30s. Some of these are actually pretty cute!

The Humble Housedress – A brief look at the house dress and it’s relation to feminism

Homage to the humble house dress – Apparently I’m not the only one who thinks we should bring back the house dress.

Housedresses defined women after a fashion – A brief overview of the house dress and factors contributing to its demise

And then there’s this book which is now in my Amazon wishlist:

This post contains affiliate links. Thank you for supporting Life With Dee!

What do you think of the idea of house dresses? Are they something you would consider wearing? If not, what is your preferred at-home clothing?

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And what about winter? I’ve got you covered. Literally.

What would Aunt Hazel do? ~ Southern Hospitality

June 3, 2016 By Deanna Piercy 7 Comments

I’ll never forget my first truly memorable trip to Oklahoma. I was about 11 or 12 years old at the time. My mom and aunt loaded up our station wagon and took off from California with me, my two brothers and my cousin on a two week road trip to visit relatives in Oklahoma, Tennessee and Missouri.

I have only the faintest memories of a trip with my parents when I was about three so this was my first real experience with Southern hospitality. And I was absolutely enthralled with it.

Everywhere we went we were made to feel welcome. I still remember being fascinated by the fact that everyone from relatives to grocery store cashiers would say something like “Y’all come back now, ya hear?” whenever we parted. You certainly didn’t hear that in Southern California where we lived at the time.

And the food! Everyone wanted to feed us. At one point my aunt called her cousin when we got to the town where he lived. I don’t recall all the details but his wife’s parents were with them and absolutely insisted that we all come to their house for lunch. We didn’t know them at all but they couldn’t have been kinder. They fed all six of us a simple lunch and iced tea served in mason jars.

We encountered this type of hospitality everywhere we went. Sometime I’ll tell you about the few days we spent with one of my grandmother’s sisters who owned a little country store and lived in the house attached to it. But this story is about my Aunt Hazel and her special brand of hospitality.

Aunt Hazel was actually my great aunt. She was married to my grandfather’s brother, Tom, and they were two of the nicest people I’ve ever known. They lived in a two-story house in town but on 5 acres. It was a simple, comfortable, farm house style – white with red shutters. I don’t remember ever going in the front door, everyone entered through the kitchen door at the side of the house.

Downstairs there were two bedrooms, one bathroom, a living room with a dining area, small kitchen and tiny breakfast nook. Upstairs were three bedrooms and two bathrooms. It was an old-fashioned, comfortable house and I’ve never felt more at home anywhere.

I think of Aunt Hazel often, especially when I’m expecting guests. This past weekend we hosted our annual three-day music festival and had about 200 people camping in our backyard for the weekend. Everyone is supposed to bring their own food for the weekend but experience has taught me that there will be some who underestimate how hungry they will get after dancing for several hours.

Wednesday before the event I picked up what I thought were all the groceries I’d need except for chicken which I planned to get on Friday. Well, on my way to Aldi’s I decided I might need to pick up a few extras – just in case. I started thinking about Aunt Hazel and how she was always able to feed unexpected guests.

She always seemed to have a ham and homemade coleslaw in her refrigerator. There were always a few cans of baked beans in the cupboard she could heat up and a loaf of bread. And her cookie jar was always full of cookies she made from a cake mix and just a few other ingredients. Of course, there was always a pitcher of sweet tea on hand, too.

Her meals were usually simple but there was always enough. No one went hungry at her house.

So I thought about this as I pushed my cart (or buggy, as we call them here in Oklahoma) up and down the aisles at Aldi’s. Even though I just came for chicken I found myself putting a couple of small, sliced hams in the cart. And then a head of cabbage for coleslaw. A few cans of baked beans and several loaves of bread, too. I guess I was channeling Aunt Hazel.

I used to have a tendency to get a little uptight preparing for guests. I wanted everything “just so”. But the older I get and the more I remember how Aunt Hazel did things the more relaxed I get about it. She didn’t get worked up into a tizzy scouring every inch of her house before people came over. She used to say that she had “clean food and clean beds”.

She had a system for those beds, too. Guests slept in one of the three upstairs bedrooms and she had a lot of guests. She could have worked herself to death climbing those stairs and changing sheets. But she solved the problem in a rather brilliant way. She told people that if they wanted clean sheets to help themselves from the large linen closet at the top of the stairs but to leave those on the bed when they left. She just left it to her guests to deal with the sheets.

I’m rather fastidious about bed linens so I’m not sure if I’ll ever get around to using her system but I am trying to adopt her relaxed attitude toward hospitality in general. I’ve got a long way to go and I’ll likely never be as relaxed a hostess as Aunt Hazel. But it’s something I really intend to practice.

Last night I had the opportunity to witness another example of relaxed hospitality. A music event we had scheduled was cancelled due to rain. A few disappointed musicians and friends decided to have an impromptu jam session. A friend offered her home. They only moved in a few weeks ago so they aren’t totally settled in yet. However, this didn’t stop her. She quickly made a Facebook event and invited a couple dozen people. And this is the part I loved. She included this in the event info:

“Bring booze, bring food and some toilet paper cause I think we’re almost out.”

Oh, how I admire that! We had another event to attend first so we didn’t go over until after 9 p.m. We then spent the next couple of hours sitting on their enclosed porch lit solely by candlelight and listened to three of our musician friends take turns playing the guitar and singing. It was a wonderful night and one I won’t forget. All because our friend knows how to practice true hospitality. Oh, and in case you’re wondering, I brought jello shots (left over from our music festival) and a few rolls of toilet paper.

Hospitality is something I want to get better at so I collected a few resources, for myself and to share with you.

I got the idea to write this post last week but hadn’t done so yet. I hadn’t mentioned it to anyone so imagine my surprise when I saw my daughter’s blog post Wednesday. This isn’t the first time we’ve had similar ideas for blog posts. She and our son-in-law just purchased their first house and are still getting settled in. Here is her post about hospitality:

5 Ways to Show Hospitality Without a Perfect Home by Retro Housewife Goes Green

One thing that makes hospitality easier is knowing how to get your house “company ready” in short order. Here is a post I wrote about that:

Company Ready in Five Easy Steps

Many years ago when I had two very small children, another aunt of mine taught a course on hospitality at our church. That is when I learned the difference between hospitality and entertaining. This is the book she used as a resource:

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.

I haven’t read this next one yet but I plan to soon:

It’s good to avoid taking oneself too seriously and this next selection looks like a good reminder of that:

Here are a couple of articles I found very inspiring.

Friday Night Meatballs: How to Change Your Life With Pasta

Why Scruffy Hospitality Creates Space For Friendship

Finally, while looking for a quote about hospitality I ran across this little poem. I hadn’t thought of it in years but my grandmother had a little wooden plaque on her wall with this saying. I used to read it to myself over and over as a child. It’s probably been over 30 years since I’ve seen this but I still remembered every word:

So tell me, do you enjoy having guests? Do you have any favorite tips or suggestions?

5 Best Tips For Keeping Food Fresh

May 25, 2016 By Deanna Piercy 6 Comments

Keeping food fresh is an important skill for any homemaker.

I’m sure I’m not the only one who feels terribly guilty about throwing away food I’ve allowed to spoil. I overestimate the amount of produce we can use. Something gets pushed to the back of the refrigerator. We end up eating out more nights than I had anticipated. There are any number of reasons this happens.

I also do my major grocery shopping once a month so it’s really important for me to be able to keep produce fresh as long as possible. Here are 5 of my favorite tips:

Keeping Food Fresh

1. Keeping Lettuce Fresh With This One Tip by A Modern Homestead

2. A Vintage Trick For Storing Lemons by Making It Modern
(note: This website is no longer online. Briefly, this tip involves storing lemons in a large glass jar covered with water.)

3. The Best Way to Store Celery by the kitchn

4. Make Berries Last Longer by Pulling Curls

5. How to Store Fresh Asparagus by Urban Strawberries

In addition to these handy tricks and tips, there are other strategies for reducing food waste. Take a look at this excellent post on the subject:

Have you tried any of these tips? What are YOUR favorite food-saving tips? Leave me a comment and if you’ve written a blog post on this topic I’d love to see it. Leave me a link.

Dee’s Homemaking Posts ~ All in One Place!

April 6, 2016 By Deanna Piercy 1 Comment

Here are my homemaking posts, all in one place for easy reference!

I’ve been blogging for about a decade and have amassed quite a lot of posts. When I started Life With Dee, I transferred something like 1700 posts from my old blogs, Tea With Dee and Dee’s Kitchen. I had high hopes of going through all of those old posts, categorizing, updating and adding pictures. Well, that’s just not going to happen anytime soon (Who am I kidding? It’s never going to happen – ha!)

Despite wonky formatting issues and the fact that we didn’t always include pictures (or very good ones) back in the old Blogger days, some of my old posts may still be of interest to y’all. If for no other reason than curiosity. So I’ve included those old posts about homemaking in this collection, in spite of their flaws.

Dee’s Homemaking Posts

These are roughly in reverse order of original posting dates, with newest posts first. As I write more posts on this topic I will add them so you might want to bookmark this post or save it in some fashion to check back periodically. I have done a little updating or formatting for a few of the older posts. If I see some of them getting a reasonable amount of traffic then I’ll take the time to polish them up a bit and add better photos or graphics. Otherwise, consider them a bit of blogging nostalgia. 🙂

Make Over Your Life With Dee: A New Facebook Group

I’m Giving The FlyLady Another Chance

How To Create a Weekly Menu Plan

Homemaking: A Personal History

Organization Videos: A Few of My Favorites

Why I’m Bringing Back the House Dress

Time Management Toolbox

Organizing With Bankers Boxes

Spring Cleaning ~ Tips and Motivation

La Maison ~ Home, the French Way

Creating a Beautiful Life ~ My Bedside Table

Company Ready in 5 Easy Steps

Decluttering Challenge

A Day in My Life ~ A Look Back

9 Steps to Take Control of Your Day

Dee’s Favorite Homemaking Books

The Value of a Homemaker

Dee’s Favorite Household Tools

Kitchen Decluttering ~ Part 1

Kitchen Decluttering ~ Part 2

Ironed Pillow Cases ~ A Little Luxury

A Clean(-ish) House in 30 Minutes a Day

Making Time For Everything

Just a Housewife

Blame it on Lucy

1950s Housewife

Dee’s Domestic Dailies

Back to FlyLady?

A Summer Routine

Some Things Never Change

Labor Saving Devices

Homemaking vs. Housekeeping

Homemaking is Back in Style

An Ordinary Life

Washing Dishes By Hand (a guest post)

My Day as a 50s Housewife

The Fine Art of Clothesline Laundry (a guest post)

A Change of Seasons

How to Fold a Fitted Sheet

A Day in My Life

A Day in My Life…Part Two

What Do You Do All Day?

The Good Housewife Guide

Monday Maintenance

This is the way we mop our floors…

Spicing Things Up

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I occasionally write for The Glamorous Housewife. Here is the post I wrote about The FlyLady:

The Best (and Worst) of The FlyLady

One of my posts was also included in this this one:

I Didn’t Know That! 5 Fantastic Housewife Tips

Retro Housewife Goes Green included one of my posts in this roundup:

6 Amazing Cleaning Tips

I have several Pinterest boards related to homemaking. Here is one of them:

Follow Life With Dee’s board Home Making on Pinterest.

Time Management Toolbox

March 25, 2016 By Deanna Piercy 13 Comments

If the purchase of books made one an expert, I could teach courses in time management. I have been reading time management books since the early years of our marriage. Do I have it all together? Nope. Have I learned some helpful methods for managing my time? Yes, I have. Take a look. Maybe there will be an idea or two that you will find helpful, too.

1.Plan it backwards

One of the first books about time management I remember reading as a young wife and mother was:

How to Have All the Time You Need Every Day by Pat King

The author shared many helpful time management tips for homemakers but one of my favorites is to “plan it backwards”. This technique is really helpful on those days I have an appointment, meeting or other specific time by which I need to have things done. You start with the time you need to leave the house, or start another project, or have things done before dinner, or whatever. Then you plan backwards from there.

Let’s use a common scenario around my house. I’ve been *trying* to take a break in my day for tea at 4 p.m. David usually comes home around 5 or 5:30. I then cook dinner, we eat, clean up the kitchen and then I usually work another couple of hours after that. Because I tend to work late I think it’s good for me to take that 4 p.m. break.

So I use 4 p.m. as the time by which I want to finish certain things. I usually wear yoga clothes during the day in the hopes it will remove at least one excuse from exercising. If I want to be showered, dressed, hair and makeup done when David gets home that means I need to allow 30-45 minutes. So I get in the shower at 3:15. If my list of household chores for the day is going to take 30 minutes, I need to start those at 2:45. And I just keep working backwards from there. This helps me get a realistic picture of what I can accomplish in the allotted time and when I need to start each item on my to-do list.

2. The Ivy Lee Method

Another tip I learned from the same book is the Ivy Lee Method which you may have heard of. Back in 1918, Charles M. Schwab, the President of the Bethlehem Steel Company, met with a productivity consultant named Ivy Lee. Schwab asked Lee how he could increase productivity in his company. Lee asked for 15 minutes with each executive to explain his method. Schwab asked how much Ivy would charge for this. Ivy said to try it for three months and then decide what it was worth. At the end of those three months, Schwab wrote him a check for $25,000 (which was the equivalent of $400,000 in 2015). What was this method?

At the end of each work day, write down the six most important things you need to accomplish tomorrow. Do not write down more than six tasks.
Prioritize those six items in order of their true importance.
When you arrive tomorrow, concentrate only on the first task. Work until the first task is finished before moving on to the second task.
Approach the rest of your list in the same fashion. At the end of the day, move any unfinished items to a new list of six tasks for the following day.
Repeat this process every working day.

By limiting the number of things on your to-do list and prioritizing them, you get the most important things done even if you don’t finish your list. It also eliminates time spent trying to decide what to do next.

This is the one I need to implement more often. I tend to put way too much on my daily list and then am frustrated when I can’t get it all done.

One of the things I liked about the Pat King book is that she utilized different methods on different days of the week. She would use the “plan it backwards” method a couple of days of the week and the Ivy Lee Method every Tuesday. The beauty of this is that at least one day a week the important is taking precedence over the merely routine tasks of managing a home, and in my case, business and volunteer work.

3. Pomodoro Technique

This technique is a bit newer to me. I have used a timer for tasks for years but this is a more structured method. You pick a task, set a timer for 25 minutes, and then devote yourself to that task without interruption. When the timer goes off you take a 5 minute break and then come back for another 25 minutes. Each 25 minute work period is called a “pomodoro”. After four pomodoros you take a longer break, say 20 or 30 minutes.

I wrote a bit about this in my post, 9 Steps to Take Control of Your Day. Since I first read of this method I’ve been using it pretty regularly. I don’t always take a true 20-30 minute break after 4 “pomodoros” but I really do find those 25 minute focused work sessions to be really helpful.

What I often do is use those short breaks between sessions to do a household task. Five minutes is just about the right length of time to throw in a load of laundry, empty the dishwasher, scrub a toilet, water plants, and many other routine household chores. Or sometimes I’ll walk Shiloh during my break. It’s also just right for making myself another cup of tea. 😉

4. Minimum Maintenance

This is probably the best advice I have ever read for keeping up with housework. The tip comes from the book, Totally Organized the Bonnie McCullough Way by Bonne McCullough. Each day you go through the house and spend 5 minutes in each room restoring order. You set a timer and work fast. This isn’t the time for deep cleaning. In bedrooms it means making the bed and putting away items like clothing and shoes. In the bathroom you put away grooming items, wipe down the sink, counter and mirror, and put out fresh towels. The living room gets tidied up, pillows fluffed, perhaps a quick dusting of the coffee table. You’ll need to give the kitchen a bit more time – maybe 15-20 minutes.

This minimum maintenance keeps your home in basic order so that it’s easier to do the weekly cleaning tasks like vacuuming, mopping, scrubbing, polishing, etc. Perhaps even more important, your cleaning efforts last longer. And if you have “one of those weeks” when you just can’t get to the regular cleaning your house will still be neat and livable.

5. Pretend someone is coming over

This is something I’ve done since I was a little girl cleaning my own bedroom. Sometimes you just need a little motivation. You can take this a step further and actually invite someone over or plan a party.

6. Phone apps

There are a lot of productivity and time management apps for computers and phones these days. Here are some popular ones:

And so many, many others. If digital planning is your thing you might want to give one or more of these a try. I’ve looked at a few but the truth of the matter is that, as much as I love computers and smart phones, I’m still a pen and paper girl. Which brings me to my own system:

7. A clipboard and daily to-do list

Back when I was a hospice nurse I tried several systems for dealing with daily paperwork, task lists and nursing notes. I eventually discovered that a simple clipboard works well for me. At one time I designed daily to-do sheets personalized for my life and I keep meaning to do that again one of these days. But for now I just start each day with a blank sheet of computer paper on my clipboard. I did buy a cute aqua clipboard with white polka dots.

At the top of the page I write “Creating a Beautiful Life” and the date underneath. I record my weight in the upper right corner and often track my water intake with a series of check marks under the weight.

On the left side of the paper I write the categories “Home” and “Work”. I list all the household tasks for the day under “Home” and under “Work” I list blog tasks, volunteer work and things I do for our business/non-profit.

On the right side I have sections for dinner plans, things I need to purchase, calls to make, appointments and a section I label, “Personal”. That’s where I list things like meditation, exercise, piano, teatime, reading or whatever else I want to do that day for myself.

Finally, I have two sticky notes which I place on the bottom of the paper:

One has a list of blog-related tasks. These are not time-sensitive but are things I want to work on as time allows. Instead of writing these out every day, knowing full well I can’t get to all of them, I keep them on this sticky note which I transfer each day to the new daily sheet. As several get crossed off I can write a new one.
The other is a series of questions and reminders for myself to help me be mindful of my goal to “Create a Beautiful Life”. As I place this on a new day’s sheet, I read them over and remind myself of how I want to live my life.

I check off each item as I do it. When I make the next day’s list I transfer things I didn’t get done. Sometimes I make this list the night before but more often I do it first thing in the morning while drinking my tea.

I also have a paper planner where I can note appointments, meetings, birthdays, and other such things. I do use the calendar function on my phone for putting in dates for upcoming events but I also transfer these to the paper planner. I’m just such a visual person that I prefer to see it all laid on a monthly planner page.

I have one final “method” that I wasn’t sure I would share because it doesn’t sound very organized. But the thing is, it actually works for me. Want to know what it is?

Sticky notes on my computer. That’s right. When I have little reminders or think of something I need to deal with, I write it on a sticky note and put it on the bottom edge of my computer.

If I’m making the week’s menu and think of a few items I need from the grocery store, I write them on a sticky note. Over the course of a few days I may add more items. I can then transfer these to the notes app on my phone or just take the note with me.

Sometimes I think of a blog post idea and will write it on a note. Or David will ask me to make a call or do something so it goes on a note. Some of these things will get transferred to another system while others will be taken care of and the note thrown away in short order.

I spend a lot of time at my computer so these highly visual reminders work for me. And that’s the important thing when selecting time management tools. It doesn’t matter if a fancy app sounds really cool and comes highly recommended. If it doesn’t work with your personal lifestyle and preferences, there’s no point in trying to make yourself use it. It’s worth trying a variety of methods but once you understand how you work best, don’t worry about the “cool factor”. I really wanted to love OmniFocus. It came highly recommended by a very organized (male) friend. But the truth is, my clipboard and sticky notes work for me. Planning backwards, Pomodoro, the Ivy Lee Method, and Minimum Maintenance work for me.

I will no doubt continue to read productivity books and articles. I may even try some phone apps occasionally. But I already have a collection of time management tools in my “toolbox” which work pretty well (when I use them!).

So tell me, what productivity and time management tools or methods do you use? Any recommendations? Leave me a comment ~ I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Dee’s Favorite Homemaking Books

9 Steps to Take Control of Your Day

Dee’s New Planner ~ Getting Organized in 2016

Spring Cleaning ~ Tips and Motivation

March 18, 2016 By Deanna Piercy 7 Comments

Have you started spring cleaning yet? Or do you spread the tasks out over the year so you don’t have to partake in this springtime ritual? Spreading out the cleaning makes more sense when one’s time and energy resources aren’t what they used to be (um, like me?). However, there is something rather satisfying about having an entire house all sparkling clean at the same time.

For me, it’s a moot point because I haven’t been doing the extra, deep cleaning all along. That means that if I want to enjoy a thoroughly clean house I’ve got to get busy and start spring cleaning.

I’ve spent some time this past week or two gathering resources to help motivate me, as well as some good tips for a couple of problem areas in my home. Let’s take a look at what I dug up.

Spring Clean With Dee

Disclosure: This post contains an affiliate link. Thank you for supporting Life With Dee!

First up, how about some motivation? Here is a great video by Melissa of “Clean My Space”:

If you enjoyed that video, check out her YouTube channel for more. She’s got some great videos.

Now that we’re all motivated and raring to go, let’s do some planning.

We all know Martha Stewart is the homemaking guru so why not start with her? Here is her spring cleaning checklist, including a printable chart:

Spring-Cleaning Checklist by Martha Stewart

My plan is to start with the master bedroom. Ours is upstairs and since no one else sees it, it tends to get the least amount of regular cleaning attention. Here’s a post about deep-cleaning a bedroom:

29 Steps to a Deep-Cleaned Bedroom by Time-Warp Wife

And speaking of neglected areas:

Spring Cleaning – The 10 Neglected Areas by Premeditated Leftovers

If your time is really limited, check out this 7 day approach:

How to “Spring Clean” Your House in 7 Days by Wrapped in Rust

If your time is REALLY short, perhaps you need to skip some tasks. Here are some things you can let go, guilt-free:

What NOT to Spring Clean by Ask Anna

Once you have a general idea of what tasks you want to accomplish and your time-frame, then it’s time to sit down with pen and paper and create your plan. Here is a free printable to help you do just that:

Free Spring Cleaning Printable by Retro Housewife Goes Green

Personally? I’m intrigued by The Seasonal Scrub by Alison of Brocante Home. I love the idea of slowly going through my home, room by room, and lavishing attention on each area. Not just scrubbing and polishing, but adding those little touches that make a home special.

The Seasonal Scrub by Brocante Home

My plan is to combine The Seasonal Scrub with my ongoing decluttering project, then throw in a few other tasks here and there. I printed off the first month of The Seasonal Scrub a few days ago and read through it. I’ve blocked off some time tomorrow to get started. I’m going to put The Seasonal Scrub pages in a binder, along with Retro Housewife’s printable. I’m then going to sit down with my planner and schedule spring cleaning at la maison du Dee.

It’s going to be clean and sparkly around here in no time!

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This post is linked up at Hip Mama’s Place. Check it out for more spring cleaning ideas!

Organizing With Bankers Boxes

March 4, 2016 By Deanna Piercy 3 Comments

Minimalism and decluttering and organizing are big buzz words lately. Everywhere you look people are “KonMari-ing” their homes. I’m doing some serious decluttering, myself. But unless you take it to an extreme level you’ll still have items in your home that need some type of storage.

Christmas decorations, out-of-season clothes, sentimental mementos, and any number of other items not in daily use need a dedicated spot in our homes if we want to keep things neat, orderly, and easy to locate.

That’s where white bankers boxes with lids come to the rescue:

Organizing With Bankers Boxes

Many years ago I read about this storage system in Emilie Barnes’ book, “More Hours in My Day” and to this day I consider it the best storage system I’ve heard of.

Here’s how it works:

You purchase several bankers boxes. You can get them for a couple of bucks each at your local office supply store or Amazon has them (I’m an affiliate so if you use this link I get a small portion of the purchase price.)
Label the boxes with consecutive numbers. You can write it directly on the box or use labels.
Start with the first box and fill it with items you need to store.
Take an index card and put the box number in the top left corner. List the items in the box on the card and place in a small index card file. If you have a single storage area that’s all you need to put on the card but if your storage boxes will be in various areas of your home or garage then include the box location.
You can reserve box #15 for income tax paperwork (for April 15th) and #25 for Christmas. Chances are you’ll need more than one box for Christmas decorations so you can label the boxes 25 a, 25 b, 25 c, etc.

We have a very large storage closet (16×4 ft.) with floor to ceiling shelves along one wall and across the back. About 15 years ago I organized it with this system. We were homeschooling at the time so we had a LOT of educational materials and this was a great way to organize them.

Over the years I’ve given away most of those things and my system sort of fell apart. However, I still have the little card file with corresponding cards so I can still find what I’m looking for in the boxes I still have. It’s just that as I put other things in the closet they weren’t always assigned a box and just took up residence on a shelf.

A couple of weeks ago I spent a few hours clearing out some of the excess (can you tell me why I had so many empty boxes in there??). I now have everything up off the floor and onto the shelves. I bought a dozen new bankers boxes the other day and I’m going to make this closet a shining example of organization.

This weekend I’m going to put everything on the shelves into boxes without worrying much about decluttering. That’s part of the beauty of the system. You can achieve a semblance of order in a short period of time without having to make a lot of decisions about what to keep.

Then I will take one box at a time when I have a few minutes here and there. I’ll sort through and decide what I truly want to keep and what can go.

Over time, as I get rid of things, I’ll be able to combine items and have fewer boxes. Because the contents of each box are written on an index card rather than on the box itself it is easy to update them.

I’ll be the first to admit I’m not a minimalist and honestly, that really isn’t my goal. I just want everything to have its place and for me to know precisely where that place is. I guess you could say I’m a neat and orderly packrat. This system allows me to keep my treasures and be able to find them instantly.

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This post is linked up on:

La Maison ~ Home, the French Way

March 1, 2016 By Deanna Piercy 9 Comments

Ever since I can remember, I’ve loved to “play house”. No matter where I was, I nested. At home, my room was my sanctuary and I loved making it pretty and comfortable. Next door at my grandparents’ house, I would play by the hour in a corner of her den, setting up a little “house” in which to play with my dolls. On vacations I would even claim a little area as my own in which to play.

As a little girl I longed for the day I would have my own home. When David and I married, we rented a tiny, one bedroom apartment. Despite its diminutive size and our lack of furniture or much of anything else, I still enjoyed making it a home. We’ve since lived in four additional places in our nearly 35 years of marriage and in each one, I’ve done my best to make it attractive, comfortable and homey.

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. Thank you for supporting Life With Dee.

From what I’ve read about the typical French woman, home is of vital importance. It is her sanctuary, her respite from the world, the place where she can be herself. The French woman may decorate her home in any number of styles and yet there is always something unique and personal about it. Perhaps because the French value their history and are more likely to renovate rather than demolish and rebuild, there is a sense of permanence in the typical French abode. Likewise, the passing down of treasured pieces of furniture and other items is common-place so you aren’t likely to see a French home furnished entirely with brand new furniture and decorated to look like the showroom of a furniture gallery. It’s more personal…a look that is the result of layering new and old items in a one-of-a-kind way.

French homes tend to be smaller than the typical American is used to, with rooms doing double duty. While newer American houses are likely to have two living areas, plus a dining room, the French woman living in an apartment probably only has one living area with a dining table at one end. While we seem to keep building larger homes with more rooms, the French woman wonders why a family is afraid of intimacy. I thought this quote from Entre Nous was interesting:

“Eventually, you Americans will have a separate room for every person, including a special bathroom for each pet, and your rooms will be so large you will be able to avoid authentic human contact at all costs!” (Entre Nous by Debra Ollivier pg. 193)

Hmm…makes you think, doesn’t it? I’m a loner by nature and value my privacy, yet even I am perplexed by many of the homes I see being built these days. I pretty much quit watching those house hunter shows on HGTV because I was rather put off by all the young couples with only one or two tiny children who absolutely HAD to have at least 4000 square feet, four bedrooms, four bathrooms, one or two offices and a separate playroom for the kids. While I do know that too many people crammed into a small space, especially without adequate storage, can be very stressful, I think we often go overboard the other way. There should be a happy medium, don’t you think? While I don’t have any personal interest in the “tiny house” movement, I’m truly pleased to see that some are beginning to consider smaller homes.

Another thing that is usually different about the French woman’s home is that her living room is generally set up in order to encourage conversation rather than being centered around the entertainment center.

Where electronica reigns in many traditional American living rooms, books are king in the French one, and they’re present everywhere: lined up in built-in bookshelves, spilling onto the floor in small piles with well-worn spines and dog-eared pages. (Entre Nous by Debra Ollivier pg. 192)

Now that’s something I truly share with my French sisters. My home is filled with books. The laundry room is the one room in my house without books and if I thought the cats would leave them alone, I’d probably have some in there as well. And while we do have televisions, I haven’t yet caved in on the issue of a large, flat-screen t.v. for the family room. When we bought this house, we bought a nice entertainment center to house the television and other equipment. When the doors are closed, all you see is a pretty piece of furniture and I insist on keeping those doors closed unless the t.v. is in use. It’s located next to our fireplace so the furniture is situated in such a way that we can just as easily watch a crackling fire as the latest sit-com. I know that media rooms are all the rage but I much prefer our library. We have a separate room with built-in bookshelves, nice stereo system, the piano and organ, and NO television. It’s a quiet retreat from busy-ness and too much input.

I’ve recently had a surge of my old interests in interior design and homemaking. I’m starting to spend more time puttering about, re-arranging decorative items and planning a few changes. David works long hours in a stressful business so I feel that the least I can do is make our home a peaceful sanctuary for him. I’m getting in touch with my “inner French girl” and seriously considering ways to make our home life more serene and pleasurable. I’m sure you’ll be reading more about this from me in the coming months and I’d love to hear your thoughts on the subject.