Establishing Routine

So far, the attempt to establish a daily routine has been unfruitful.  It IS summer, after all.  Why should this summer be different from past summers?  I think I feel the need to create a routine, because it is also the start of my life as a retired teacher.  I won't be heading back to the classroom in 8 weeks.  I also know me.  I need a routine to accomplish things.  Otherwise the whole day gets away and I've done nothing productive. I value those aimless days -- occasionally.  I don't want them to become the norm.

A few goals I have for this first part of retirement:

• We have mountains of things in the basement that were moved here in a willy-nilly fashion.  I believe that 90% of the items are things wanted and still valued.  But the packing was done in a "where's an empty box/get it moved now" fashion so things aren't labeled, nor are they well-organized.   So obviously I want to get things unpacked and organized and put in a logical place.  But I know 2 things.  First, there's no way I will go downstairs and spend an entire 2-3 days going through things.  Second, I need to set small, specific goals.  So my first goal is to spend 30 minutes at least 5 days a week, unpacking, sorting, and organizing.

• I have a huge 40 gallon plastic tub of photos as well as several miscellaneous small boxes of them.  I want to sort and organize those photos.  This will be 2nd goal, once the basement stuff is dealt with.  I will spend 1/2 hour sorting those.  To that end, I'll be purchasing some photo boxes the next time I'm in Keene.

• My 3rd goal is to develop a housekeeping routine --- one major chore per weekday, and a daily goal of making sure the table top and the island counter are clutter free every morning.

So, this first Monday in July found me scrubbing the 2 bathrooms and I sorted/organized 2 boxes of papers.  I even got some laundry done.