R2BC - Actual Colouring

On Friday I wrote about clearing out DD's bedroom and how one pile of art supplies, artwork, and school books was left to do. Today we tackled it together. And then we went through the list of things she needs for school. Read on, it was a very pleasant experience all round and definitely worthy of Reasons 2B Cheerful.

The linky is with Mich on Mummy from the Heart for the whole of August.

1

School Supplies

Amazingly, from the long list, we only need to buy a geometry set (compass, two set squares, and a protractor) and a pack of 10 A4 ring bound notebooks. Everything else we have left over from previous years - even school t-shirts that still fit and sticky labels. We agreed that we'd forgo a new school bag and pencil case this year as she'll want to have new ones for Secondary School next year. We also already paid for the full set of textbooks and workbooks that will be given out at school in a couple of weeks. Sorted. 

2

Down to the last pencil

Reader, we organized DD's room down to the last pencil. Everything now has a home and all the rubbish has been thrown out. She hasn't said it, but I can see that DD is enjoying being in her room now. I caught her just sitting on the bed and looking around appreciatively. Later she came and asked if she could have a rug. It was very sweet. 

3

Colouring

We also dealt with all the pens, pencils, highlighters, and felt tips that were in a hundred different pencil cases and boxes. They're still in several cases and boxes but are now more consolidated. We also found a book of cards and envelopes to colour. DD got it as a present and used it once. It's lots of fun. You colour the card and the corresponding envelope (which you fold yourself ) and there is a matching sticker to seal each one. 

I'm going to a birthday dinner and a wedding this week. At the wedding I'll see my friend's daughter who has just had a baby. And in January I did a Paying it Forward game on Facebook. The first five people to reply to the announcement could expect a surprise at some time during the year. Well it's pay-forward time and three of my recipients will be getting their surprise within the next two weeks. So that's six cards and envelopes to colour and make. I did three of them today. It kept me out of the fridge so win-win. (Incidently, it happens to be a fast day in the Jewish calendar today. It's a full 24 hours, sunset to sunset, when we remember the destruction of the Temples and the beginning of the exile from Jerusalem. I started late but I'm going to finish late too so all's good.)

Have a good week y'all.  

Coloured Pencils

I can't believe I put DD's name on every  pencil she took to 1st Grade.
As she goes up to 6th grade, we have finally come to the end of some of them.
Phew!

Where did that eternal (well nine weeks)  summer holiday go? We only have three weeks left! How did that happen? In my defense, my teaching assignments never really ended.

The grande finale involved a surprise intensive course last week. I taught for six hours a day, spent my evenings  grading and preparing the next day, forgot about the diet completely (there's only so much intensity you can take without pizza for supper, and cold for lunch the next day) and I let DD watch tv all day and half the night (whilst eating said pizza). And of course there was no blogging. But we got through it and the extra money will be welcome.

On Thursday afternoon it finished. I came home to an apartment in a state of chaos, and not clean. Overflowing laundry baskets and no food in the fridge, freezer or cupboards. It was time to take back control, big time!

On Thursday evening I reorganized DD's bedroom. I'd already culled a load of books the last time I did a big sort out about two years ago. Since then her bedroom has degenerated into low-grade tidy and less tidy mode. There was lots of confusion as to what each drawer was designated for and a mish-mash of 'stuff' in a number of storage boxes.

All the books went onto the bed and I did a real Conmari on DD's behalf. Some books were siphoned off for my school library, some to pass on to friends with younger grandchildren (yes I am that age), others to my teaching resources, and a few to throw away. (Yes you can throw away books.) It's strange how books that we absolutely had to keep only a couple of years ago, don't interest us at all now.

The storage boxes now contain 1. Lego (because it's just too expensive to give away), 2. Art supplies, and 3. empty to be decided. The games are all in the living room sideboard. Also culled - we no longer need "Who Am I?" or 300 piece jigsaw puzzles. DD's clothes were already organized so nothing to do there.

The big problem area is years of accumulated colouring pencils and felt tip pens. We never throw them out, of course, and every year there are new sets received as gifts or just to start off the academic year with pristine supplies. There are now boxes and numerous pencil cases filled with perfectly good coloured pencils but just not in sets.

I take one pencil case-full for teaching and I regularly top it up from the supply of orphan pencils. Sometimes you get a pencil that won't sharpen because the lead is broken all the way through. Those do get chucked. And very occasionally a pencil will be absolutely finished down to the quick. These are also lovingly chucked into the bin.

I had to get the room tidy as one of DD's friends turned up for an impromptu sleep-over. This turned out to be an amazing incentive not to just leave half of it for the next day. There's one pile of colours, school supplies and artwork left to sort out but I told DD she'd have to do that herself over the weekend.

Minimalism Phase 2 - Milk, Meat, And Playmobil

Goodbye to 7 Barbie-type dolls

This past year I played the Minimalist Game and also gave myself a personal 1000 Clutters Challenge (which included all the items from the Minimalist Game). I held back at 999 items so there could be a celebratory post featuring the 1000th clutter. Then two things happened.

1. We saw on the local fb Buy,Sell,Swap group that one of DD's friends was selling all her Playmobil. DD decided that, actually she doesn't play with hers anymore either. Within half an hour we'd arranged to pass on the Playmobil and seven Barbie-type dolls. (Easily 100 items)

Goodbye to a load of Playmobil

Then DD announced that she doesn't need the Fisher Price dolls' house and all the furniture either. So I packed that up to go back to the friend who lent it to us almost 10 years ago. We also found a load more small plastic toys from Kinder Eggs and cereal boxes, etc... which will go to the next school fair.

2. Although DD won't eat meat (apart from the occasional chicken schnitzel) she does like the chicken soup with lockshen (noodles) that we get on the kibbutz. When she asked if I could make some, it appealed to my sense of tradition.

Now, religious Jews have different sets of utensils, pots, plates, etc... in the kitchen for meals cooked and/or eaten with meat. It's "Thou shall not boil a kid in its mother's milk," blown crazy out of proportion. I don't like it, I disapprove of it in fact, and this is one of the main reasons we don't have any meat in our kitchen. Even though we are not so religious anymore, I need to be able to invite various friends and family over to eat. And, I did have a set of meaty kitchenware packed away, left over from when we did do meat, just in case I ever wanted to go back to it.

Goodbye summer and some more Playmobil

I bought a chicken, I unpacked my meat kitchenware, and I made chicken soup. DD took one look at the chicken carcass in the pot and declared, "that's disgusting! I'm not having any of that!" Then there was the whole business of washing up. I had a washing up bowl for the meat things but the sink is for milk things so how do you throw out the meaty water from the meaty washing up bowl? The answer is of course, to have a milk washing up bowl and the actual sink is only for draining the water. It was all too much bother and too many extra things cluttering up the kitchen.

Little bags of plastic toys waiting for the next school fair.

I have to say that I grew up with this meat-milk divide and it was no problem at all. We didn't even think about it. We had two bowls for the sink, we had full sets of kitchenware for both meat and milk. Even separate bowls for the magimix. Whilst most people who keep meat and milk separate today, and there are thousands who do, have two sinks in the kitchen, most people my age grew up with only one sink and we managed fine.

It's a bit like regular exercise. If you don't do it for a few years you lose the momentum and it becomes a big effort. Obviously you can get back into it if you want to but we decided that we just don't want to. All this to explain why there are a set of cutlery and a soup pot in the photo. I'm not even going to keep my meat kitchenware.

goodbye meat kitchenware and Fisher-Price dolls' house, etc...

While I was sorting I found four medicine spoons/syringes and a set of chopsticks that can also go. (Easily another 100 items including the dolls' house furniture and Kinder toys.)

1,200 items? Probably, but it's time to stop counting. Still to go are collections of dvds and cds that I can't bring myself to part with yet. Two box files of photocopied teaching materials that I know I will never use (but reduced from five box files at the beginning of the year). And my vast wardrobe of clothes I will never wear again. I'm not done yet but I'm almost there. My living room looks like a holiday apartment. I may need to get more plants.

Minimalism Phase 2 - Delayed Reaction

23 items to go out and another 6 not shown as they've already gone.

Before I start on the topic in hand, an update on The 1000 Clutter Challenge that I started last October (previously 500 before being upgraded to 1000). Having decluttered 952 clutters I had only 48 items left in order to reach the goal of 1000 unnecessaries out of my house. In the photo you can see 23 more things.

There are 7 items of DD's clothing (mostly too small and grubby school tops) to throw out. 7 books (two to pass on to friends, and the rest to donate). 3 old swimming goggles and/or their cases. A Kinder Surprise from inside a chocolate egg, a bag of dried out felt pens, an old CD, and 2 CD racks, I won't count DD's old school backpack with the dodgy zip because we bought another one to replace it.

I didn't get rid of the CDs - I'm not quite ready to do that yet, but I moved them to a book shelf that has been freed of books. So consolidated clutter rather than consigned.

One note about the Oxford Book of Quotations. I got two of these for my Bat Mitzva 43 years ago. I left one of them at my parents' house in London and the other has been with me all my adult life. I chose this one as it's inscribed from my Dad's cousin Alan. I noticed it this week as we were talking on facebook about Bar and Bat Mitzva presents that we still have. I have about 8 of mine still. And then I thought about it seriously. In these days of internet, I don't need a big bulky book of famous quotations. So thank you Barbara and Alan Miller, I really did love it and use it before the days of instant information online. But now it has to go.

I'm really into gifting well loved books that I know I won't read again. In addition to what's on the bed, another 4 books were gifted recently. A Gentleman in Moscow went to a real gentleman for his 60th birthday and Behind the Scenes at the Museum went to my colleague at school who, like the girls in the book, grew up in the north of England in the 1960s. Eleanor Oliphant also went to an English friend who will appreciate the cultural references. And a coffee table book about quilting went to a friend who quilts. Half the pleasure is finding just the right recipient for each book.

An outgrown dress and unused pencil case of DD's went to the little girl downstairs. That makes 28 clutters and a running total of 980 items.

During the summer I sold two items of furniture - a chest of drawers and a tall display cabinet that became surplus to requirements (already counted). A friend came over and exclaimed, "Wow! Your apartment really looks and feels much bigger!" Score

And here's where I'm stuck. Although much has been donated, passed on, sold, or thrown out.... much of it hasn't. I have tops of wardrobes and other assorted shelves and drawers full of stuff waiting to go to the Yedidya Bazaar. I am trying to weed it down by taking books to the park library but it's a slow process.

Until those spaces are freed up I can't move other things into them and free up other spaces. For example, I don't need to store spare cling film and foil, sponges, dish clothes, and paper towels, etc... in the actual kitchen. I buy all these things in bulk packages because it's cheaper but they could be stored in the cupboard in the study, along with the spare toilet paper, if only I could get all the unwanted stuff out.

It's a temporary stuck. A delay of you will. The Yedidya Bazaar comes round again in April so I'll keep chipping away at it until then. Any other charity sales or swaps that come up in the meantime will be gratefully embraced. The only disappointing aspect is that I don't yet feel like a minimalist as I  can still see where more space can be found and possibly one more piece of furniture eliminated.

On the other hand, I do intend to find those last 20 clutters to complete the 1000 clutters challenge within the year.

Minimalism Phase 2 - Loose Ends

Now that 881 items have been decluttered from my small apartment, and almost every piece of furniture has at least one empty shelf or drawer, it's time to begin Minimalism Phase 2. This involves moving stuff around in order to free up a whole piece of furniture or more.

However, before we begin, a loose end - that pesky renamed 1000 Clutter Challenge. 881 clutters is 119 too few. So today I found 29 more items to return, donate, gift, or chuck. I wrote last time that I struggled to find 30 and 31 things for the end of the Minimalism Game but a funny thing has happened. The clearer the apartment, the easier it is to get rid of more stuff. The less you have, it seems, the less you want. Anything superfluous suddenly sticks out like a sore thumb.

Here's what I found today....

To donate - 1 pair of new crocks (given to me and never worn), 2 flannel fitted sheets, 3 ornaments, 1 pile of Grace After Meals booklets, 1 rattan side table, 2 cake tins, 3 small games, 2 pairs of shoe shaper thingies.

To gift - 2 puzzles and a 1 big tub of Geo-shapes.

To return - 4 wooden puzzle toys that we no longer play with.

To chuck - 1 ten year old and obsolete printer, 1 bowl with a chip, 2 items of clothing with holes in them, 1 bag of sachets of creams and lotions collected over the years and way past their expiry dates, 1 old director's chair with a ripped seat, 1 bag of material I was going to use to recover the director's chair but I know I never will. (And if I did recover it I could probably sell it for £20 but the relief of not having it sitting there to do is worth more to me atm.)

So that's 910 clutters decluttered since last October. #1000 Clutters Challenge.

The Minimalist Game - Days 24 - 26

Day 26. (3 items missing as they were thrown out in London)

I said we were done after 23 days in March but actually I managed to squeeze two more days out before Pesach (Passover). With another day added after the holidays, the running scores are 351 for The Minimalist Game and 736 for the 500 Clutters Challenge. (Now revised to the 1000 Clutters Challenge.)

March 24th: The Day before we went to London we went through all DD's clothes and found 34 items that were too small. Mainly Tee-shirts that had been kept through the years and not even worn for the past couple of seasons. You know how it is. You pick up 5 Tee-shirts for £10 every time you pass through Primark and you never throw any out. We also got rid of three pairs of shoes from last year, some shorts that are suddenly way too short, and some short dresses that I wanted her to wear with leggings but she hates that look. I love that look but I'm not the one wearing it.  So that's Day 24 sorted and 10 items towards Day 25.

Sorry no photo as we quickly divided the piles into give to a friend, give to another friend, give to the little girl downstairs, give to the school (school shirts), give to the bazaar (wellington boots), and throw out (stained). I packed them into bags and promptly whipped them away. Job done.

March 25th: We had to clear out DD's bedroom as my guest's son would be joining her while we were away. I only had to find another 15 things to make the 25 and I found them easily. Unfortunately DD was "helping" me so I had to be quick and use slight of hand to get things into the bin bags before she realized what was happening. So no photo again. I couldn't even tell you the exact things that we found. Suffice to say it was mainly old craft projects like room plaques, pom-pom key rings, papers from school, more Kinder egg toys, old pencils, etc... Two shopping bags worth of rubbish later, reader I promise you that we fulfilled our 15 items.

Then we packed and then we went to London for two weeks. Then we came home and it was a Sunday afternoon. My house guest left so I had a week of washing sheets and towels and moving my study stuff back into the spudy. Finally Thursday afternoon came and the weekend. Hooray! I was back on the game (so to speak. 😜)

March 26th: Though actually April 12th, I picked up where I'd left off with a sweep through the whole apartment. I found the following items which you can see in the photo above: 2 place mats, an old kitchen scales (I don't bake), I finally got rid of that samovar with its teapot and matching tray (3 items), a broken tablet cover, 4 pairs of knickers bought far too small and never worn, 3 pairs of socks, a silky slip, a lacy camisole, French Women for all Seasons (Lets face it - she said all  she needed to say in the first book), another cook book that I never liked, a Chanuka menorah that is too small to take the modern candles, and 4 eye shields from aeroplane give-aways.

The photo is missing a handbag and a pair of broken shoes that were not worth having mended -  I actually chucked them out in London. Also a towel that my house guests left behind.

Now only days 27, 28, 29 and 30 to go. That's only another 114 things. Simples.

The Minimalist Game: Days 21 - 23

I think I'm done for this month with The Minimalist Game. I have a house guest who is using the spare room so some of my study stuff is in my bedroom which makes it hard to organize the bedroom. I also can't go rummaging around in the study. And it is Pesach (passover) at the end of this week which  involves all sorts of preparations that take priority over decluttering. That said, I still keep seeing things I could get rid of and I fully intend to pick up days 24 - 30 (or even 31) after the festival. 

The running scores are 276 for The Minimalist Game and 661 for the 500 Clutters Challenge. (Now revised to the 1000 Clutters Challenge.) 

March 21st: Random objects from around the house. 2 more English language textbooks, 2 youth leader handbooks (going to my nephew who is a youth leader), a game that we never opened (into the re-gifting cupboard), 6 glass fish from the Arab shuk, a Harry Potter passport from Warner Bros. Studio, some coloured metal rings from a wristwatch long gone, a box of seashells (plenty more where they came from), a bag of rubbishy bits from a collect-all dish (moral: don't have collect-all dishes), a glass vase (I hate cut flowers anyway - much rather have plants), a glass box, a bottle of bubbles, and a wine rack.

About the wine rack. I used to pride myself on having stock. I entertained a lot and for many. Each week we could go through a couple of bottles of wine and the guests would bring more as a gift. This is no longer true. I entertain much less, there are more children around my table these days, and many people no longer drink alcohol. Even I hardly ever drink alcohol anymore. I say 'even I' although I never drank much but I did like a glass of red with my dinner. So nowadays, if I ever have one bottle of wine leftover from a dinner party I tend to keep it in the fridge (yes even the red).

If numbers are your thing, you may have noticed that the items only add up to 19. That's because the other two are 200 piece jigsaw puzzles that DD never does and they're very easy for her. But she won't let me pass them on. So I have to wait until she's not around and then I'm going to put them away for at least six months to see if she even notices. Which she won't.

March 22nd: I went through all my sheets. Here is a pile of 22 mostly sheets and duvet covers in white, now dull white. I've kept a few in a high up cupboard to use as dust sheets when I next have the place painted. There is also a pile of cushion  material, some of which I am going to use to re-cover a director's chair I have waiting patiently to be re-covered. One old white skirt and another old flannel washcloth.

March 23rd: Into the kitchen. That enormous box of cereal was on sale about six months ago and it's still three-quarters full. I thought it would be a good snack as were're not breakfast people. Turns out we're not cornflakes people either.

Also in today's haul... 9 plastic syringes from children's medicine, 2 medicine measuring cups, one plastic measuring spoon, an ice-lolly mold, an icing set, a cutlery tray, 4 wooden utensils, an old candle end, a plastic separator from the juicer jug (that I forgot to include when I sold the juicer), and a pile of ice-lolly sticks.  

The Minimalist Game: Days 17 - 20

Day 17

The Minimalist game is going swimmingly. The further in I get, the easier it is to let things go. to see the Days 1 to 16 click on The Minimalist Game and up they'll pop. 

Days 17 to 20 saw another 74 items leave the apartment. (Well some of them haven't left yet but they are in high up places waiting for the next opportunity.) The running scores are 210 items in The Minimalist Game and 595 for the 500 Clutter Challenge. I think the 500 Clutters might be expanding to 1,000 Clutters. 

March 17th: The study was pretty much done so I went back to my bedroom. for another round. I cleared out the top drawer of my bedside table on day whatever. You remember it was filled with Hebrew language textbooks and dictionaries. So today I went for the drawer below it which contained all my French textbooks. I kept a lot of then but I'm letting go 4 French grammar books. And 7 French children's books are going to my colleague at school either for her own children or to lend to her French speaking pupils.

I found 3 picture frames. One has broken glass but I filled the other two with paintings that a little friend of ours did when she was visiting. She left them here to dry and she's getting them back in frames.

I also found a pair of sandals in the box, never worn. And two denim items of clothing for a little girl. DD never wore them and I don't like them enough to re-gift so they are going to a second-hand sale.

Day 18

March 18th: 10 scarves. (Don't worry, I still have another 10 that I'm keeping. Why oh why?). 2 first rubbish reading books. A bag of homemade bookmarks that are going to school for a reading lesson exercise. A pile of papers and notebooks to throw out. A picture that if you look at it cross-eyed it says Rachel. An old earpiece from an old phone. A dangerous wire bookmark. And an old flannel mitten.

Day 19

March 19th: 7 orphan or damaged parts of several matryoshka dolls. I wrote about my matryoshka collection here. Now I'm only keeping the undamaged dolls and I only have four with various numbers of babies inside them.

2 copies of The Little Prince that I never enjoyed and one copy of the same book in French. A duplicate copy of When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit. The Family at Red Roofs which will get a whole blog post to itself.

A poppy from Poppy Day about 30 years ago - it's an old paper one. 2 little pots, one folded paper crane made into a brooch, a strap from a suitcase I no longer own, and 2 bags.

Day 20

March 20th: 12 English language textbooks. 4 maps of Jerusalem. And 4 maps of other cities - Leningrad, Amsterdam, The New York Subway, and Milan. (After writing this I decided to keep the Leningrad map as the city is now St Petersberg again so the map has some historical value. Instead I threw out an old book of Gary Larson, Far Side cartoons.)

The Minimalist Game: Days 12 - 16 (R2BC)

Day 12

It's been a busy week and I've not had time to blog so I'm making Days 12 - 16 of The Minimalist Game my Reasons 2B Cheerful this week. What's not to be cheerful about getting rid of  70 items out of the spudy (spare room/study)? Epecially as it marks half way through the month. By the way, if you missed the previous days, just click on The Minimalist Game and all the posts will come up.



March 12th: I found the following things in one cupboard: a beach bag, a school bag, an IKEA stand (never used because the cupboard was mounted on the wall), 2 folding changing mats, the wires from the DVD player (because I used the wires from the old machine), a triple photo frame that DD brought home from nursery once, 3 wooden frames from IKEA that my nephews painted for me about 18 years ago (I took out the photos of them aged 4 and 2), a triple photo frame that someone gave me when DD was born, and the stabilizer wheels that came with her previous bicycle and we never used because she could already ride without them.

Day 13

March 13th I tackled all the filing and paperwork that should have been done in January as part of the January Project. This vastly reduced the shelf space taken up.

The photo shows 8 plastic folders. An enormous pile of bills and receipts from before 2011 (you're supposed to keep these things for seven years) together with guarantees and instructions for items I no longer own. 1 plastic receipt pouch, 1 old filofax, 1 wooden notebook holder, and a pile of old business cards.


March 14th: still in the spudy, I went through a three drawer storage unit that the printer sits on.

I got rid of 5 plastic envelopes that airline tickets used to come in, more cables for a DVD (not the same ones as on day 12, I promise), a banner saying "Happy Birthday" in Hebrew, a UK plug, an old address book, a postcard, an old computer connector, and a skull cap (yarmulke or kippa) with Spiderman on it.

I also found 2 cushions in the cupboard which I will never cover.

Day 14

Day 15

March 15th: Here are more than 20 plastic envelopes with copies of various lessons and tests that I need for school. Some of them are doubles and some have only one or two sheets of paper in them. I'm calling it 15 items and I already took them to school to be stored in the English cupboard.

Day 16

March 16th: Some small items from the drawers. 8 CDs of old Teletubbies and Sesame Street episodes that my neighbour copied for DD when she was little. 7 double connectors for the phone sockets. And an old pair of earphones that don't work.

So that makes 70 items. The running totals are 136 items for The Minimalist game and 521 items for the 500 Clutters Challenge. So I guess I've won that challenge.

I have cheerfully joined the Linky over at Michelle's place - Mummy from the Heart. Pop over for some other cheerful posts.

The Minimalist Game - Days 8 - 11

Day 10 (one magazine already donated to school for an art project)

I went into my bedroom to find clutter for days 8 and 9. I thought it was going to be a struggle but I easily found enough stuff for four days! That's 38 things! The running totals are 66 for The Minimalist Game and 451 for the 500 Clutter Challenge.

Here are The Minimalist Game posts to date:
Days 1 - 4
Days 5 - 7

Day 8: I have two bedside tables, each with two deep drawers. On my side of the bed I had my Hebrew Language textbooks in the top drawer and my French Language textbooks in the lower drawer. I cleared out the top drawer. Here are three of the books I'm passing on. To make up the 8 items there are three belts (from the other bedside table), and a jar of face cream that expired in 2013. The other item is not pictured as it was a gift and I don't want to offend.

Day 8 (one item not photographed so as not to offend)

Day 9: Hahaha, so you thought I'd only collected three Hebrew textbooks over 30 years of trying to master the language. Here are another 9! These books are over 20 years old. I worked my way through some of them when I took various language classes and kept them to go over and review. I never did go over and review anything. I will never need Hebrew grammar as in-depth as these books teach. I will never read Hebrew novels in Hebrew - I no longer even want to. If I return to language studies it will be to French. (I did keep one book of comprehension texts to read, just to see if I can still understand them, and a couple of dictionaries.)

Day 10: Magazines from various years of The Economist's yearly round up of the state of the world. I bought this for the first time in 1992 and continued, not every year, until 2008. I especially liked seeing the population changes listed for each country. However, all this information is online so out they go. (Only 9 magazines are in the photo as one already went to school with DD for an art project.)

Day 9

Day 11: Old issues of Reader's Digest and 1 old mobile phone. The Reader's Digests went to my school where the team of English teachers happily took them.

This is going so easily that I may extend it till the end of the month and do all 31 days. If I have to start resorting to throwing out, for e.g., 25 paper clips, then I know it's time to stop. But so far so easy.

Day 11

Time Blocking

Setting the Scene and Defining the Problem
One of those days or weeks or months when there is too much 'stuff' thrown at you all at once? Teachers especially experience this as it comes to the end of the school year. And if you are a teacher and a mother of several children, it's hopeless.

Maybe in the UK you still have a few weeks to go before it hits you, if your school year only finishes three weeks into July? And if you are reading this in America, I know that some schools have already broken up for the summer (but they go back at the beginning of August). In Israel school finishes on June 20th (high schools) and June 30th (primary schools).

This is what the end of the year involves here: writing reports for each student, end of year tests to be given and graded, end of year parties for every class in every course, attending end of year parties for every activity each of your children attends, the start of swimming lessons, the festival of Shavuot (Pentecost) which includes assemblies and ceremonies at each of your children's schools, unbearably hot weather, and battling a general feeling of, "we're done," from students and teachers and, in the case of getting homework done, parents as well.

I have some of the above but not all. I have only one child whereas some of my colleagues have 4+ children. On the other hand, as a single parent, all the end of year activities for DD are down to me. As a subject teacher rather than a class teacher, I have many more than the standard 30 pupils to write reports for. On the other hand, I only have to write about one subject (English) and not a whole load of subjects and behaviour comments. On the other hand I have to write my reports in Hebrew which is hard for me. I can compose what I want to say without problem and even write it down but typing it onto the computer is so frustrating when you don't know how to spell and you don't know where all the letters are. And I teach summer courses which have to be prepared. Long story short, it's swings and roundabouts and I'm drowning.

On top of all the end of year obligations, you have to keep up with the housework and household responsibilities. I would like to just forget about it all until July 1st but I can't. Firstly, we live in the desert and if you don't dust and mop the floors the desert starts to encroach on your living room. Secondly, if you don't keep paying those bills, answering those emails, filing your papers, and generally tidying up, things start to get lost. Important things like medical prescriptions, professional references that you need when applying for extra teaching hours for next year, bills that go unpaid until you start getting threatening letters and have to pay interest, those end of year tests that you are supposed to grade and return to the students, etc...

So, as you can't stop the world and retreat under the duvet, you need a way to get things done rather than just pushing everything aside. And you need a definite system because wading through, picking up bits and pieces of tasks as you fall over them, or as they become critically urgent, is the least efficient way to go about it and a sure way to lose your sanity. We're aiming to cross things off the To Do list, not chip away at 100 things at once and never finish any of it. No siree.

Time Blocking.
This is the art of dedicating chunks of time to a specific task whilst forgetting all about any other tasks. You need a calendar with the hours marked in. Then you just block off a specific amount of time for the job that is most urgent. But if you also need to do other urgent tasks (or urgent to you because e.g. you simply cannot live with that pile of junk on the dining-room table one more day as it's making you depressed) then give each of those a half hour or an hour. I'm telling you it works. The only rule is that you must absolutely not break into your blocked time to do another unscheduled job. Turn off your phone if you have to, whatever it takes. Here are two scenarios to illustrate the point:

1. No Blocking Time. 
It's 4.30 pm and you are faced with an overwhelming amount of things that need seeing to. You decide to start with grading but get distracted by emails asking you to return you report card comments by yesterday. Meanwhile your child is whining that she's hungry and supper needs cooking (because you are no longer buying processed food and because of this you've already ordered pizza twice this week). So you stop to cook supper and you first have to wash up a saucepan to cook it in. Then you have to clear the table a bit or she's got nowhere to eat. And as you're piling up the papers on the table because there's no time to deal with them or file them properly, you notice a utility bill that needs paying by NOW or you will get cut off. You also find some supermarket coupons that you meant to use and the final date on them is today. So you abandon supper and run out to the supermarket. By the time you get back you're too tired to do any more grading, or report card writing, or tidying the dining-room table. So you order burgers, for a change, waste a couple of hours on facebook and twitter, and get into your unmade bed after setting the alarm for 5 am with the promise of an early start tomorrow. Tomorrow does starts early but the first two hours of it consists of hitting the snooze button 12 times.

2. Blocking Time.
It's 4.30 pm and you are faced with a productive, well planned evening. First you have 4.30 - 5.30 blocked off for clearing the kitchen, cooking supper, clearing the clutter in the living-room (it's ok to plan just to  make relevant piles for filing later in order to uncover urgent papers), paying any outstanding bills by phone, and making a pile of papers that you will need over the next few days. There are philosophies that say you should only handle each piece of paper once but we're way beyond that - this is crisis control not Super Woman.

5.30 - 6.30 pm Feed your children, deal with anything they need you for and if they are old enough (we managed this at age five) tell them that you are busy for the rest of the evening and that they should clean their teeth, amuse themselves for a while and then put themselves to bed. Sorry, no story tonight. You clean up the kitchen.

6.30 - 8 pm. Do that grading (or any prep for your own particular job). Do not look at emails. Do not attend to children (there are apples in the fridge if you're hungry, yes you can go on the computer, whatever you want, just get on with it yourself).

8 - 8.30 pm. Make the children go to bed by shutting down all tech devices. Clean the bathroom and put on a load of laundry. Make yourself a cup of coffee or any beverage of your choice.

8.30 - 9 pm. Deal with emails and whatsapp whilst drinking your coffee. Do not be tempted to go into social media.

9 - 10.30 pm. Write reports (or a blog post, or do your household accounts - you choose). Do not be tempted to go back and do more grading. This is Report Card Time. Just do it.

10.30 pm. Hang out the laundry and go to bed - you may read in bed till 11 pm.

You have a clean kitchen and bathroom, you have done 1 1/2 hours of grading and 1 1/2 hours of reports (or blogging or whatever), you have paid outstanding bills and put aside important papers that were previously lost, the table is organised if not exactly cleared, and you have done a load of laundry. And you are asleep with a clear conscience before midnight. That is freaking amazing!