Leslie Rolling - Part 28

Honey We’re Home: Let’s Get Started!

Back in November when I launched this baby I put up my first post in my “Honey We’re Home” section that’s set aside to follow the process as we develop and build the new mission property. It was SO exciting to be starting the process, even if it was just the getting ready kinds of things.

Well, here we are almost two months later and there’s progress to share! It’s my goal is to do at least one post per month as an update, but I have a feeling there will be quite a few more in between as things really start moving, especially with the house.

A lot of people are familiar with wood frame construction because that’s what happens all around you whenever anyone is building a house, but concrete construction is a whole different ball game. It’s definitely more permanent in nature so every decision we make in the planning stages needs to be really well thought out. It’s VERY hard to get 5-10 years in and decide to take down a wall. Structurally things are entirely different too, because concrete is so much heavier. Also, we’ve seen the effects of a devastating earthquake 5 years ago, and while we didn’t see much damage in our area, Haiti is right over several fault lines and has now been deemed an earthquake zone and we need to plan accordingly. We’re very grateful for our engineer friend. He does a lot of government contract work, including military grade stuff, and I’ll admit, we kind of thought it was overkill when he kept insisting on LOTS of re-bar during our last construction project. But, as I sat at my desk while the earth shook and not a single thing fell off the walls I was VERY grateful and we’re once again following his recommendations because we know it’s worth it in the long run.

So, where are we at now?!?

Our original plan was to start with the house and office, but because of some hold ups for our engineer friend we decided to go ahead with the work yard area. More specifically, the main shop and storage area, staff bathrooms, and the main filter construction area.

I should take a minute to give you some background on our current situation vs. what we’re aiming for.

Right now at the current mission site our property is cut in half by a government ease way. The residence part is on one side while the work yard is on the other.

The work yard has a shop area (depot in Creole/French) where we house our generator, inverters and battery system. In this area we also store all our tools, equipment for welding and other work, and filter construction supplies. There’s a covered work area in front where the guys weld our molds, and right next to it is the area where we wash, dry and bag sand and gravel for filter installations. Because these areas are together there’s literally sand everywhere.

The filter production area is in another area of the yard, but is uncovered. There are some shade trees, but the sun moves through the day. We’ve talked about building a covered area, but since we’d bought the new property we didn’t want to invest in the project when we knew we would be moving eventually. All in all it’s fine. We degaje (a really great word that means “make do”) by hanging tarps, but it’s not ideal. We’re also growing and running out of room. This year will mark the 14th year that Clean Water for Haiti has been in operation. Right now we will max out our space with about 200 filters produced each month. At the new site we’ll have the room to build a work space that will allow us to produce up to 400 filters per month.

The new property has enough room that we’ll be able to spread things out and give each part of our program it’s own area. To give you an idea of how the property will be developed here’s a little diagram I made up that we’ve used in fundraising and promotion efforts:

In the past two months the construction team, made up of some of our regular staff as well as hired contractors, has made good headway on the filter production area. In December all the foundation trenches were dug. We were originally planning on hiring a backhoe to dig all of this, but the time it would have taken to find one and make arrangements became an issue and our team was ready to go, so we did the digging by hand. They’re amazing!

Re-bar was tied for the support posts that will hold the roof for the covered work area. This is one of our biggest changes at the new site and we’re so excited about it! As I mentioned, right now the guys build filters in the sun, or whatever shade we can get from an overhead tarp. Caribbean sun is HOT, especially in the summer months. They work really hard. And we love them. So, we want to be very intentional about providing a work space that is not only functional, but pleasant to work in. We want them to know that we really, truly appreciate all their hard work, and them specifically.

The new work area will be a 30×60′ pad with a roof over it. The roof will be about 15′ high, so lots of air movement. Not only will it shade the workers, but it will actually help provide stronger filters because the cement will be able to cure more slowly. When the filters are drying in the sun it can speed the process up too much and cause cracking later on. So, less waste, and donor dollars will go further. Because we’ll have a roof we’ll be able to install industrial ceiling fans, which is such a fun thing to be able to do for the guys. Along with good air movement it will also help keep the work area dry. We use a lot of water, and right now it just soaks into the ground, but because we’ll be using a cement pad we’ll need to have good drainage and air flow to keep things dry.

In the past two weeks the foundation of the shop was done.

It’s all done by hand. They mix the mortar in the cement mixer, put it in the hole, then place rocks. The rocks, if they aren’t the right size, get broken into smaller chunks by hand with a small sledge hammer.

Before the rocks are put in the mortar they get wet down. This helps them adhere to the mortar better and it slows the drying process so the foundation doesn’t crumble.

The re-bar forms for the roof support columns has been placed and the footings have been poured.

Trenches for running the electrical and plumbing conduit from the generator and power center have been dug.

Electrical and plumbing conduit was laid in the foundation before it was done.

That’s the progress as of last week. I need to go out later this week and take some new pictures. I’m trying to do it weekly so we have photo progress to look back on and because we can use these photos to show mission supporters as we go, but it also means I can share them with you!

~Leslie

January 21, 2015 3 Comments

How I’m Keeping Myself Organized This Year

I’m someone who needs to have a certain amount of organization in order to not go twitchy. I don’t think I’m anal about it, but I do need a place to dump everything in my brain so that I can sleep at night. If I don’t, that stuff is running around in there and I’m on the fast track to crazy town, and really, if I’m honest, not very pleasant to be around. When I feel disorganized I get crabby.

Over the years I’ve tried a lot of different planners, day timers and organizers. Some were better for different phases of my life, others not so much. What I’ve learned is that not all planners are created equal, and it’s very rare to find a planner or organizer that will meet all my specific needs. Once we both got smart phones I even thought that the calendar on there would be awesome because we could calendar share, etc. Yeah, hate it. I mean, I do use it to put important dates in because it sends us both reminders, but that’s about it.

I’ve realized over the years that I’m a paper and pen, write it down and cross it off kind of girl. I don’t like time slots because that’s not how I break down my day, and I would just end up using the space for lists. I also don’t need an entire household “binder” system because half of the stuff in a household binder doesn’t apply to life here. BUT, there are things that I need to have near me or I get off track, like meal planning.

Last month one of the blogs that I read regularly posted that their new 2015 planner printables were available. I LOVE bright colors so it caught my attention. What caught my attention more though was what she had the planner IN for some of the pictures. It got my creative juices running and I realized that maybe, just maybe it was a solution to my ongoing planner dissatisfaction.

Going to the end of the post I found out that she was using a “disc bound” notebook system. Basically, instead of having a ring binder you punch your pages with a special hole punch and then the pages slide over the discs. It allows you to pop stuff in and out like a binder, but is more solid.

I realized that with some creativity I could put together the perfect planner for me. I could include bits and pieces from various sources to meet all the needs I had and then fill in the holes by designing my own printables where necessary. For example, there are a ton of great meal planning resources on Pinterest, but most of them don’t work with the way I need to plan and shop because of our life here, so I have my own system already.

I thought through what I needed in a planner that would really work for me, our family and work stuff. I made lists, I broke things into sections and from there was able to get the items I needed ordered to come in with friends, as well as had a better idea about what types of printables I was looking for to fill my needs. I’ll get into that breakdown at the end of the post.

I know, like I said before, that everyone has specific needs. As I flushed out this process for myself I realized things that I didn’t know about me before, and I thought that maybe some of the work I had to do would be helpful for someone else. Isn’t that the way it goes? We see something that another person did, and it’s a jumping off point to meet a need we had.

I’ll start by showing you what I got for the planner itself, as well as some of the basic pieces to put it together. First off, the outside cover!

Typically I’ve bought a cheaper planner and just made do. With a disc bound system you can get vinyl covers (and there are some pretty ones!), faux leather and leather/patent leather. I decided that because this would be something that I would hopefully be using for many years, and because it was going to hold A LOT it was worth it to go with the middle of the road option of getting one of the more substantial faux leather ARC covers. Many of the options available come in the full letter page size, as well as a half page size, so it’s pretty flexible.

I got mine off of Amazon in purple for less than $20. I really liked the aqua blue Martha Stewart one featured in the blog post I mentioned above but sadly they aren’t available any more. Staples is also one of the main retailers of ARC products and they have a good selection too. Levenger is another brand, but they were more pricey from what I saw.

Because the holes for a disc bound system are different than a typical 3 hole punch I needed to get a disc bound punch. There are several options to choose from, and really I think it depends on how much you’ll be doing with it. I knew I wouldn’t be using it heavily, so it wasn’t worth it to me to spend a lot of money. I decided to go with the Leverger portable punch.

I was a bit concerned that the punch placement would be different between the ARC and Leverger brands, but they aren’t. No problems with things lining up at all in case that’s a question that anyone has.

Another thing I got right away was more rings in different sizes. The cover I got came with 1/2″ rings, which would have been fine if I was just using it for the planner/calendar, but because I was adding a bunch of other things in I knew I was going to need more room, but I wasn’t sure how much. I’m glad I did this because I ended up using the 1 1/2″ rings I got and this sucker is thick! But, it has everything I need in it :) At just a few dollars per set it’s an easy upgrade.

Because I’d taken the time to really think through what I needed to have in my planner I knew that I needed some dividers and did think about making my own by laminating heavy paper, but decided that it would be better over the long term to just get the vinyl pre-punched ones because they would hold up better. I went with plain black, though they come in bright colors too and that was tempting…

The dividers are a good weight and come with white stickers that you can write on to put on the tabs.

So those are the practical things, but there are a few fun things I got too!

First off, I love a good pen. I get kind of possessive about them actually. Thankfully I have friends who share this love of writing implements and they support me in my weirdness. We have a club, actually. Okay, no, we don’t, but we could!

Anyway! I love a good Sharpie, and I love their fine tip no bleed pens. They’re amazing. And now they come in fun colors!

I love these pens! I’ll share more below in how I use them, because yes, there is a method to my madness!

I also got these Post It Page Markers. Confession time… I didn’t really know what I was going to use these for when I bought them, I just really liked the colors. At the very least I knew I would use them for those teeny notes where I didn’t need a full size Post It.

The good news is that I figured out what to do with them very quickly and it’s great!

Aside: Wedding planning tip for you – when I did our seating chart for our reception I drew out our tables on a white poster board, then wrote the name of every guest on a Post It Page Marker. When it came time to decide where people were sitting it was really easy to stick the Post It in one place, but move it around until everything worked. Once everything was where it needed to be I taped the Post It’s down so they wouldn’t fall off on the way to the venue and it made the whole process really easy!

The last fun thing I got were these sticky tabs by Semikolon:

The picture doesn’t really do them justice. Anyway, these guys have a fun purpose, which is to act as sub-dividers in each section.

How I Set It Up

I decided that the printable planner from IHeartOrganizing was a good fit for my day to day stuff. It allowed for list format notes for each day, but also had room where I could write down what we’re having for dinner each night rather than having to go and look at a separate place to find it. It comes with a month spread as well as some other stuff in the package. Jennifer Jones also has a variety of other printables in her Etsy shop and some great add ins as freebies on her site. I used one of her contact sheets and downloaded a bunch of other things that I might still incorporate later on.

Here’s a full page spread so you can see the week opened up.

See, I told you I found a use for those little Page Markers! Want me to explain my system? Okay!

This wasn’t something I was being intentional about, but as I was transferring info to the new planner from my old one, and cross referencing important dates with our wall calendar above our desk I realized that I had an interesting system in place that I had sort of paid attention to, but wasn’t hugely intentional about. Turns out, because I’d purchased a pack of bright color fine markers a couple years back I had gotten into the habit of color coding our wall calendar and then making my personal planner follow it.

Without realizing it I had really developed a system in my brain where I could quickly look at the calendar, and depending on what color something was written in I would know which life category it fell in. Family birthday’s and special days – green. Important work dates to remember – hot pink. Holidays – red. School stuff – purple. Staff birthdays – orange. Pay day – light blue. You get the idea. Here’s what it looks like on the calendar, and then in my planner.

Sorry for the bad iPhone pictures, but you get the idea.

I realized that the little Post It’s almost all corresponded with my color scheme, so I put them to work in my daily spread for any activity or to-do item that had the potential to get rescheduled. For example, many of the work projects I have are things that I personally set goals for. If the day that I’ve written a specific task like that down in gets overloaded, that task may move to another day. Things like writing newsletters, blog posts, etc. So, all those things got a small post it and stuck on the page. If it needs to move I just move it rather than scratching it out and rewriting it. Anything that’s more scheduled like pay day, birthdays, regular events, or things that I know won’t move were written in the matching color of what was on the calendar spread. My brain just looks at that and sees light blue, for example, and knows that the end of the week is pay day. I put this little system to work this week and it was great! I had planned on sending out the mission monthly email update on Thursday, but because I needed to do a site visit and get some pictures I bumped it to Friday. It felt so much less chaotic than my old system which was to just continually keep re-writting something until it was done.

I still have plenty of space to write in “to-do’s” as they come up, and cross them off when they’re done. Because there’s space on the daily spread where I can fill in meal plans I can quickly look at it several times per day and be reminded of anything that I need to do to get ready for dinner that night. It’s so nice! Before I would have to go hunting for my plans and sometimes wouldn’t think about it until 4 pm! Defeats the purpose.

My Sections

I mentioned that I divided my planner into different sections so I could make it work as much as possible for me. The sections I chose to use were Planner, Blog/Work, Meal Planning, Household and Christmas. Within those sections I may have divided them into sub-sections by just sticking one of the sticky dividers on the first page in a sub-section so it was easy to find.

Here’s what’s in each section:

Planner

The monthly calendars and daily spread, with sticky tabs to show each month so I can quickly flip through as needed. Also in the back is a Notes section, and Contacts section. I use the notes section to write down important things that I don’t want to misplace, like a list of people or groups interested in training dates. As people contact us I add their info to the list, and when we schedule a training I contact everyone. When people attend I make notes about students and then indicate that they’ve attended so I know not to contact them the next time around. Same thing with our Vision Trips.

Blog/Work

This is one section I’m really excited about! In the past I’ve looked at writing on my personal blog, as well as the mission blog, as an “extra” when I have time. In the past couple of weeks I’ve realized that I really do need to carve out time to do this during my week, and was able to fine a great, FREE, blog planner. It has a monthly calendar spread as well as a weekly planning page with room to write down ideas, etc. In order to be really intentional about writing more I need to make it a priority, so I made some goals of how often I want to be writing in each space, and designated a colored pen and Post It to each blog. Now I can quickly look at the monthly calendar and see what days need a post for which blog, and in the weekly planning I have room to be more in depth with plans, make notes of photos that need taking etc. In my planner I put the Post It in the respective color on the day there’s supposed to be a post so I can cross reference the blog planner and see if I’ve written that post, what needs to be done etc. In this section I also have sub-sections to write down post ideas, schedule emails for work stuff and newsletter dates, then work backwards from those and put a Post It in my planner so I can be on top of those things. Let me tell you, this one area has already reduced my stress level. It’s great!

Meal Planning

A lot of people work on a weekly meal planning schedule, and there are a ton of great printables on Pinterest set up like this. Because we have a lot going on, and we can only get certain things in certain places I have to be planning a month at a time. In my meal planning section I have a one month calendar. I choose to keep breakfasts during the week pretty basic, and on weekends we do “on your own” aka. Mom’s not cooking unless she feels really excited to do so. This is when the kids will have cereal for breakfast, typically. We eat leftovers for lunch, or rummage around for simple stuff to make. Dinner is where I really put the effort into planning because at the end of the day the last thing I want to do is figure out what we’re eating for supper. I also can’t just run out to the store to pick up whatever I might need. So, I plan.

Each month I write down what we’re going to be eating for dinner. I make note of any visitors we’re having or anything special on the calendar too so I know if I need to make extra on any given day. Once that’s done, I copy the whole thing onto the white board calendar on our fridge too, so everyone can see what the plan is. This has saved me having to answer a lot of questions! :) From here I have everything I need in front of me to make up a shopping list when I know we’ll be making a trip into Port au Prince (once a month big shop) or St. Marc (smaller in-between shops).

In this section I have sub-sections for the meal planning itself, a Favorites where I can list favorite meals so I know to make them again and where to find the recipe, my Master Shopping List (more below) and an Event Menu Plan for when we have something bigger happening where I need to plan for a group.

My Master Shopping List looks like this:

This was born out of necessity. I would make big lists when I knew Chris was going to Port and he would come back with half the stuff and tell me he couldn’t find the rest, yet I knew where he was shopping and that they typically carried the stuff I had written on the list. After several times of this happening he finally admitted that he would just feel overwhelmed at the store and would just leave. I realized it was because I was just writing things down, not breaking it down. So, I sectioned off my list by “zones” in the store and started putting things in categories. He started bringing everything home! If he doesn’t get it now it’s because it’s truly not there or he really couldn’t find it. It’s helped both of us because we can just move through the store and get things done.

Household

This section doesn’t have a ton in it, which is probably funny because a lot of people would have the most stuff in this section. Like I mentioned, I tried having a household binder, but it just didn’t work for me. Part of it is that we don’t have much of the same stuff to deal with here that we would back home. Yonese comes in 5 days a week and does a really good job of staying on top of most housework, so I don’t need to have a cleaning schedule or system. All of our babysitters are people we see weekly, so I don’t need a section for them. We’re almost completely off the grid and have pre-paid phone plans so we don’t have utilities and bills to worry about… You get the idea.

In this section what I do have are three sub-sections with Wish Lists, Packing Lists and a Before You Go To Do List. Those are the things I DO have to put time and energy into. The Wish list is actually one of my favorite things that I’ve put together. Because there are a lot of things we can’t get here, or that are really expensive, we do a lot of ordering online and have people bring things in, or buy stuff when we’re home on holidays. I got tired of having notes all through my planner of things to buy, so I put together a printable that has three columns on each side. The first side, the one I use the most, has Mission, Household and Leslie columns. The back side has Chris, Alex and Olivia columns. As I think of things that need to be ordered, or that I would like to get, I write it on the Wish List in the designated column. When someone is coming in or we’re going to be coming back I know what to order.

Christmas

Okay, you might think it’s funny that I would put a Christmas section in my planner, but again, it’s because of life here. Now that our family is staying in Haiti for most Christmases, it takes a lot more planning, waaaayyy in advance on my part. For example, in 2013 when I knew we would be staying in Haiti for the holidays I picked up stocking stuffers in July while we were home on holidays. We have enough people coming in through the fall, typically, that will bring stuff we order in so bigger gifts aren’t the issue. It’s the small stuff. And, other things like wrapping paper. Having a place to write down lists of what we have and need, as well as ideas for things like stocking stuffers throughout the year will mean that I can take care of those things as opportunities arise through the year. I also have a place to keep an inventory of what we have for decorations, and every Christmas as stuff is going back in the tote I can write down any new additions or make notes of stuff that I want to get.

How I Like It So Far

I’m a week into having my whole planner put together for the most part and so far I love it. Being able to have everything in one place rather than daily stuff here, and meal planning there and blog stuff floating in the abyss, is wonderful. I can flip through things and really noticed a difference in my productivity in the last half of this week as I got back into work. Being able to move things around was great and took that sense of not meeting the mark off my shoulders. It was more a sense of things working for me, rather than feeling like there was no flexibility.

I love the cover itself because it feels substantial. The pages slide nicely over the rings and there isn’t that catch that typically happens when papers move over three ring binder rings. You know what I mean? Where the rings clamp together. I was curious to see how the pages stayed on the rings in comparison to a binder. I think they’re better. With a binder I feel like pages are always ripping out. With the disc rings stuff can pop off but it doesn’t rip, and because there are 11 discs (in the full page size like I have) there’s a lot more holding it together. I like that the cover is solid too. Because I got the faux leather one it’s more substantial than just the vinyl cover. It’s actually a hard surface. I was at a parents meeting yesterday and was able to write notes without my planner flopping everywhere.

Do you want to know what my very favorite thing is?

I can do this with it:

Yep, I can flip the cover back over on it. This was the thing that I loved about the cheaper, spiral bound planners I would typically use. And this is why…

I have exactly three feet of desk space. I know this for certain because I built the desk myself and it’s 6 feet long, and Chris and I share it. When I say that I’m really looking forward to the new office at the new property, this is why. I’m going to have almost half of a 15×15′ room to myself as a work space when we move. It, will be bliss. But, until then, I have my corner, and I need to have a planner that can be there in front of me at all times, work hard and be really usable. This one reason was the main reason a binder system never worked for me. You have to open those up, and I just didn’t have room. Binders feel cumbersome to me, this doesn’t.

So far, so good!

What’s your organizing method of choice? Or, are you not really a planner. I would love to know what works for others.

~Leslie

January 19, 2015 No Comments

Being Actively Intentional

If you read my last post, An Intentional Year, you know that my overall goal for 2015 is to be more intentional. I shared a breakdown of some of my overall goals in different areas of life for the year, but how does that translate into the everyday? How do I not get overwhelmed by that big list?

Again, as I mentioned in that post, I think the beauty of goals vs. resolutions, is that they are flexible and you can change them. It’s a target to hit, but maybe over time it becomes less important while something moves into it’s place. You might decide that this is the year to remodel the bathroom, so you set that as a goal, but then an unexpected job offer comes and you find yourself moving. Obviously you’re going to let that goal go and replace it with something else, like, pack all the things!

I shared that I’ve been up to a few things in the past week or so since my computer crashed, and I wanted to take some time to share those with you because I think there’s great value in seeing how other people do life. We can learn a lot from each other, and sometimes just reading or hearing about someone else’s experience in an area is that flip of the switch that we need to move forward in our own lives. Or, it can remind us to be gracious with ourselves when we feel like we’re just not getting there, wherever “there” might be.

Photo credit: mshouser.com

One of my goals this year is to simplify life around our home because it’s going to be a big year for us. I recognize that if there are any small things I/we can do now that will make life move more easily, it’s worth it to do the work now.

The biggest question I asked myself in the past week as I’ve been making a small list of stuff I want to organize or work on, was “What’s stressing me out?”

When you take the time to ask yourself that question, to really sit with it for a while, to pay attention as you’re doing life every day, you might be surprised at what nags at you. When I sat back and paid attention, the things that were bugging me were all small things that led to bigger stress. So, I decided to make some small changes and see if that makes a difference. I want to live with these things for a while, and see how it feels for us, then make changes as needed going forward. Already though, it feels good.

So, what have I been up to?

1. Sorted our Christmas Decorations

As I was putting things away, I took a few extra minutes to go through our decor. I don’t have bins and bins of stuff. As much as I would love that, we just don’t have the room. In fact, I didn’t even use all of what we did have this year. I have one giant tote with wheels on one end that has been here since before I arrived. That’s my “Christmas Bin”. Things can collect dust easily here, so it’s important that stuff can get sealed up and I’m grateful for this thing! I do have our Christmas trees (we have a 6′ one and a 4′ one that my parents brought the first year we stayed here) in a lightweight duffle bag for now.

I’ve gotten rid of most boxes and containers over the years because most of our stuff isn’t breakable. Things you encounter when everything you own gets brought in a suitcase. Anyway, my preferred method is to use ziploc bags. I have various sizes for different decorations. As I was putting things away I made sure to put like with like, and to label the bags. As I decorate for the holidays I can stuff all the bags into one bigger one, throw them in the bin, and yet know what is supposed to go with what when it’s time to pack things away.

Anything that I knew we weren’t using anymore or didn’t need or that was broken got tossed. It felt good to clean things out a bit. I have no idea if we’ll still be in this house come Christmas, or if we’ll be in the new place. Wherever we are, I know that pulling stuff out will be easy.

2. Organized the linen closet.

One of the recommendations from the IHeartOrganizing post I mentioned in my last post was to choose 3 organizing tasks to do, and that as you complete them add new things to your list. Breaking things into manageable chunks means success is more reachable and less daunting.

Our linen closet has been pretty organized mostly because it’s not that big, and as the kids have gotten bigger and we’ve said good-bye to things like crib sheets I’ve gone through it and sorted. The one thing that was bugging me was my tablecloths and Christmasy stuff.

Years ago when we spent our first Christmas here a group of people that were supporting us sent in a gift with a dozen Christmas place mats and some other things. I’ve used them through the years, but they really weren’t my personal taste or style and it was more because that’s what we had. Over time I’ve collected stuff I love and that we can use throughout the year if we want, so it was time to let some things go. I sorted the pile of linens I had and decided to pass them on to others that might want them. Now when I open that door I can see what I have, I know it’s what we’ll use and it doesn’t stress me out.

3. Gave stuff away.

Generally it’s not the cleaning and organizing that’s hard for me, it’s the figuring out what to do with the stuff we don’t need part. We don’t have thrift stores here and we’re careful about how we give away things whether it’s helping with a community need or donating items we don’t need or use any more. With that in mind I wanted a way to give stuff away that was not only not going to cause any extra issues, but also be simple.

I’m part of an expats/missionary Facebook group for people living in Haiti that is there for information, to ask questions, and to even let people know you have stuff for sale. The problem is that when people offer stuff up for sale or to give away, they’re often in Port au Prince – an hour and 15 minutes away. Those of us living in other areas don’t often get to get in on those deals unless we’re super fast, and have the means to make a special trip in to get the items. For small stuff it doesn’t make sense to put it up because people won’t want to make the trip out here to get it. So, I started a small “virtual garage sale” group with our local missionary community and posted the items I wanted to give away.

Along with the linens I had cleaned out, I went through my nail polish stash, threw in a pack of disposable diapers we’d never need, and a few other random things that had been nagging at me. All of the items were in good condition and were being given away simply because we didn’t need them anymore. You know what? Everything was claimed within 2 hours! I know I’ll be seeing all of these people in the coming weeks and can hand items off as we get together, so I’m not worried about people not picking stuff up. And, it’s nice to know that while I might not have a use for something any more, like Christmas place mats, someone else might really enjoy them.

4. The “Cloth Napkin Experiment”

Napkins have been an ongoing source of strife for us. Over the years we’ve had the square disposable ones in a holder on the table, and the kids would pull one out and others would come and they would fly all over the kitchen because of the fans. One would get used and left on the table. Eventually Chris bought a restaurant style dispenser, and it’s been better, but the napkins don’t always fit well so you pull one and then the stack starts to come out and half of them are hanging half out of the dispenser. And they were still flying around the house. Let’s not even mention the ones in the cupboard! I buy bags of napkins, we fill up the dispenser, but then the bag in the cupboard gets shuffled around as we get other things out and napkins come out, they get jammed in the cupboard and it all makes me crazy! And, I’m pretty sure that at least half of the napkins we buy don’t ever get used on faces. They get wasted. Heck, some of them even get doodled on!

As I started thinking about the small stress causers in our home I realized the napkins were making me crazy! We already have to sweep daily because our house is all open and the dust and dirt just gathers. But, on top of that the napkins were always everywhere!

As I was sorting the linens, and actually taking the time to iron a table cloth before putting it away, I realized that I had a dozen and a half cloth napkins that we only used a couple times per year. Why? Because we had disposable napkins. I thought about what would happen if we switched to using only cloth napkins for our family. Would we be more intentional and thoughtful about using them? Would I be finding them all over the kitchen??? Hmmm.

I talked to Chris about what I wanted to do and why, and he agreed. We’d try using just cloth napkins at meals for a while and see how it went. I had an extra basket lying around that I wasn’t sure what to do with, and realized that if I tucked it in a low traffic corner of the kitchen it would be the perfect place for kitchen laundry. After meals if the napkins were dirty, in the basket they go. Other things like dish cloths and hand towels could go in there too. It would actually help our family transition over time to some of the things that will change in our new house when we have more space, as well. I talked with Yonese when she got back to work and explained what we were doing.

We’re only a week in, but you know what? There hasn’t been a single napkin on the floor, chairs or even table. After meals we clean up, dirty stuff goes in the basket, and done. The kids haven’t been “needing” a napkin without reason. We’re being more thoughtful. We can wash things. I’m wondering why it took us so long. We’ll still use disposable napkins when we have bigger groups over just because that’s easier, but for day to day stuff it feels SO freeing to not have that annoyance around. Seriously!

This is what simplifying in life should do!

5. Organized my Pinterest boards.

Okay, this might seem a bit funny when it comes to simplifying and de-stressing, but hear me out!

I’m a meal planner more out of necessity than anything. We try to only do a big grocery shop in Port au Prince about once a month. We do shop in St. Marc throughout the month, and weekly Yonese goes to the market. But, there isn’t a store just down the road where we can run to get any item we need, so I have to be intentional about having an idea of what we’ll be eating. This means we can work at keeping groceries to only what we need in the house, not bringing home stuff that doesn’t have a purpose. Food is one of the biggest expenses here, so planning helps keep things in budget as well.

I choose to plan meals a month at a time because of our shopping system. That’s just what works for us. That doesn’t mean I rigidly stick to the plan, but it gives me a basis for shopping for most of our food. I do keep certain items on hand regularly for changes when needed. I’ll share more about this process in the next week or so.

One of the tools that I use when meal planning is Pinterest. I love the wealth of information that’s available there. Over time I’ve collected recipes in different boards and would refer to them when I was thinking about what new things I could add to our meals.

But, it wasn’t working for me.

The problem is that my categories/boards were too broad. I had a board called “Meal Ideas” that I would put everything that was a main course into. I had over 200 pins in there. When it came time to scroll through it for new ideas it was confusing and overwhelming. I had some smaller boards with more specific things, like “Potatoes” or “Pumpkin”, and those things had me on the right track, but I wasn’t there yet.

Over the weekend I went through all my boards, but started with my food boards. I broke things down into smaller categories, and in order to keep them all in a “set” I started each category with “Food”. Pinterest will alphabetize things in your list of boards, so when it comes time to pin new things all of my recipes are grouped together in my list of boards to choose from. Now, instead of having a “Meal Ideas” board, I have Food-Beef, Food-Chicken Dishes, Food-Side Dishes, Food-Potatoes, Food-Breakfast, Food-Breads. Now, when I pin things I can pin it in a place that makes sense, and as I’m planning meals I can click on the exact type of recipe I’m looking for. This will make my process go faster, and be less overwhelming.

Along with organizing my boards overall, I went through each board and cleaned them up. I think anyone that uses Pinterest can tell you that it’s so easy to pin all the things! There are times where I have something coming up, like our Ladies Christmas Gathering, and I pin all the possible craft ideas that might work with what I’ve got available. But, after the fact, we’ve either done the things I pinned and I know we won’t do them again, or some things were just repeat ideas. So, I cleaned them up. Every board.

Yes, it took some time, but it was worth it. Now what I have left is content that I know I’m still interested in or will actually do. The stuff that is relevant now. There isn’t all this extra stuff. And, there’s room to add new ideas and likes.

I think that as we get more and more reliant on the internet we need to learn to use these resources intelligently. For me, it was a case of feeling overwhelmed and dis-organized. I wasn’t using the tool in a way that was actually working. In fact, it felt overwhelming to try and find anything in there so I was pinning new stuff, but not actually looking at what was already there. Now? Now I’m excited to be able to see what I have and to have a system for adding new things. It feels like there’s breathing room again.

6. A new approach for buying stuff.

Our situation is unique when it comes to buying the things we need or want for our home or the mission. There are a lot of things we can’t get here in country, so we order those or buy them when we’re back on vacations and bring them in our luggage. Typically what happens is we either know that someone is coming in, or we know we’ll be traveling. We’ll order stuff and have it sent to the person coming, or it arrives before we get to our destination and we have to pack it all. It’s a good system, but for me the stress comes when it’s us that are the ones traveling.

What typically happens is I have a running list of things that I need to get or order. I order a bunch of stuff ahead of time, but keep certain things on my list to pick up while we’re on vacation. When we arrive at our friends house we go through everything that’s arrived and start putting it in suitcases, then leave those in their garage for the next 6 weeks while we vacation. But, I’ve still got my list! And I shop along the way. And we have to carry that stuff with us as we travel between the US and Canada and our families homes. Or we don’t, and then when we get back to Seattle I spend at least a day doing a mad shop by myself to get all the last bits. And I bring it back and shove it in suitcases.

Are you feeling stressed yet? I am just thinking about it.

I could tell you that there’s really no other way to do it. But, I know that’s not true. And, when I think about the whole process the thing that is the hardest for all of us is the time I need to take to do the shop, as well as the sticker shock of doing a major shop before we come back. I’m talking things like deodorant, girlie products, cough medicine, new clothes for the kids for the next year, etc. When you have to plan a year at a time with maybe having chances to order stuff in between it’s a lot to think through, and it can feel like a lot of money all at once.

To eliminated that shock I want to change how I do this whole part of our lives this year.

In the past year I started using a tool that I call my “Wish List”. It’s a printable that I designed that has 3 columns on each side. One side has Household, Mission and Leslie on it, and the other has Chris, Olivia and Alex. There is no date. As I think of things that are wanted or needed I add them to list under the appropriate heading. Printer cartridges? Put it under Mission. Tank tops? Under Leslie it goes. Then, as opportunities arise to order things in I can start shopping online and cross things off the list. It also helps me work through the process of whether something is a want or need.

Wants aren’t bad, and many of them stay, but by leaving it on the list for a while it allows the space to really flush things out. For example, I’ve had “new couch covers” on my Wish List for a while. The ones we have are still functional, though they are stained and have developed holes from washing. But, still something we could live with. I didn’t order anything when Chris’ parents came, but after I cleaned up the Christmas decorations we talked about it and decided that it was worth it to get new ones in a natural fiber fabric before the hot season comes so we won’t be sweating while sitting on them because of the synthetic fabric. Not something I had factored in when I bought this set, but something that has become an issue. We’ll keep the old ones as “wash day” covers, so they’ll still get used until they’re trashed, but after sitting on the Wish List for a while we were able to make a decision that fit our timing on when to purchase new ones.

The biggest change that I want to make in this whole shopping area is that I want to spread out “the big shop” instead of taking time to do it when we’re back. When I do take a day to go shopping, I might enjoy the day to myself, but frankly, I come home beat, and then I still have to pack everything. The sticker shock is also hard to stomach and every year we have conversations about reminding ourselves that it’s actually not a lot of money when you consider it spread out over a year. It’s just a ton of money all at once.

My goal for this year is to keep that running Wish List, and then spread out that shopping month by month. Even for things like cough medicine, because, hello! You can order than online now! And the price might even be better than in the store. If I can do the bulk of it before we get there, then we know what we still have room for, and it means that shopping can actually be more fun instead of this big job that I need to do before we leave. It also means more time with my family, or even being able to take the kids with because I won’t be so frazzled with having to cram it all in. I’m excited to see how this changes things for us this year.

7. I quit Weight Watchers.

Whaaaat??!?! (Record scratch…)

I know, I know! Did I just say in my last post that one of my goals for this year was to keep losing weight and to be diligent about tracking my points?!?

Yes I did!

Here’s the thing though. My subscription to Weight Watchers was $22/month. And, the only real tools that I used were the tracking tools. So I was basically paying $22/month for an app on my phone and iPad. Um, ouch.

At the time that I signed up in 2012 there weren’t a lot of other options though. Trust me, I looked. I’ve done calorie counting in the past and the problem for me is that it messes with my head. Even when making healthy food choices I would feel bad about using calories. That might be strange, but it just didn’t work for me. Too much guilt and then I would just stop. It wasn’t working. The thing I liked about WW’s was the point system. Points are different because it feels like a game to me. I can also earn points for activity. And, with WW’s you get an allotment of points over your daily usage to use in any way through the week. Using all those points should still result in weight loss because of how they’ve designed the program. And it does for me!

But, $22/month.

It was a stress point because I always had that “I’m paying for this every month!” thing in my head. Guilt if I didn’t use it, like I did for the first half of last year. Paying for something you’re not using sucks. I think if I was back in Canada and could use more of the features like being able to go to meetings with the membership it would be more worth it. But, I just wasn’t using any of the other online tools, like the community stuff at all. I have a friend here who holds me accountable and who I can freely talk with about this stuff, which has been great, so I haven’t felt the need to plug in that way.

Over the weekend I went into the iTunes store to see what other apps might be available now and searched for “point tracker”. I found one called ProTracker. I love it! It has the same style of set up as Weight Watchers so the transition was easy. There is a bit of a learning curve with some things, but not much difference. The best part? It’s a one time payment of $3.99!

Please don’t misunderstand what I’m saying here – I love Weight Watchers! But, financially it wasn’t working for us anymore and I needed to ease that burden. I’m thankful that there is such a program because it’s one that really works. In our situation it just isn’t the best choice for me.

8. Reworking my planner system.

I love day timers! I know I have calendar apps on my phone and programs on my computer that can link our entire lives together, but I’m a paper and pen kind of girl. Trust me, I’ve tried! I do have certain things in my phone so I get reminders, because that’s useful, but I like to write things down and cross them off. I’ve always been that way and don’t see it changing any time in my life. I just feel more accomplished.

The problem is that I struggle to find a planner that really works for me. Yes, there are a ton of great ones out there, but there’s always something missing or that doesn’t work for me. I don’t need a lot of the features that some have. Because I’m also having to keep track of not just home, but work too, there are things in there that I like to have handy, but have no way of keeping permanently in the planner. I’ve tried having a “household” binder on the side, but then things weren’t all in the same place, so I still felt very disorganized.

One of my big things that I’ve been working on in the past week is completely revamping my planner system. I’m really excited about it because it will be more flexible for what I need. I have A LOT more to share about this, but I’m going to hold off and make that it’s own post. There’s a lot of ground to cover and I think it might be fun to learn the inner workings of Leslie’s brain :)

Well friends, that’s a not so nutshell version of what I’ve been working on to get a good jump on my goal of being more intentional in 2015! I hope it’s somewhat encouraging to see how a real person breaks things down into real pieces. With so much social media and access to the global world I think it’s easy to feel like we’re not hitting the mark, and we need to remember that we’re all just people and we all just need to try to do our best each day. That means finding things that work for us. What works for me won’t necessarily work for you, but it might give you and idea for something that will!

Have a great day!

~Leslie

January 8, 2015 2 Comments

I’m Leslie. I started my blog back in 2005 when I was fresh off the plane in Haiti. I lived in Haiti for over 17 years as a missionary, wife, and eventually mom. My husband and I ran Clean Water for Haiti together, day in and day out. We carved out a life we loved doing something important to us. Sadly, in the fall of 2022 we had to make the difficult decision to leave Haiti because of the insecurity. We’re now settling into life in the US. I’m thankful that I get to continue my work with CWH as the Executive Director for Canada and the US.

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