OK, here's my dilemma, y'all.
I have a good-sized two-story house. The floors on the upper two levels are wood or tile. The floors in the basement are carpet. I have a two year old who loves to "help" and a newborn who takes a few naps a day, but will play happily in his exersaucer for a little while between naps.
My question is this: I have a list of all the domestic type things that OUGHT to get done in a week, but I don't seem to be able to get them done. This includes, but might not be limited to:
Our Baking (I make a batch of healthy-ish cookies for snacking, and a few loaves of bread, every week)
Vacuuming the floors
Mopping the hard floors
Dusting
Cleaning the bathrooms
Organize the toys
Washing the laundry
Folding the laundry (no, this rarely gets done on the same day!)
Then, there are the things that don't need to be done every week.
Cleaning the windows
Clear the cobwebs from the corners
Clear out clothes that don't fit, and prep them for giveaway
Oh, and I'd like to have time to work on my stuff for the shop as well, thankyouverymuch, and perhaps have time to actually play with my kids? And make dinner every night. (It's usually a crock pot something or other I can put together while they're taking their naps.)
So...tell me what works for you. What's your schedule? How do you get everything done in a week? Or do you NOT get everything done in a week? Do you spread it out more? Do you have tips for keeping a wood floor clean and dust free?
Please help! My neat n' tidy husband will thank you. (The dust bunnies that go to die in the corner of my hallway might not thank you...but at least I can give them a proper and prompt burial this way!)
*I just realized this is April Fool's Day. Please - I'm being serious. Anyone who knows me might THINK this is a joke, but....the dust bunnies are starting to unionize, and I need help to keep everything under control!
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*whispers*
ReplyDeleteit's not April Fools Day yet....even by your time, you've got a good fifteen minutes ;)
I think you're safe.
:) Love you my beautiful sister of mine!
LOL at the bunnies unionizing. All I can suggest is Flylady.net. She has allllll sorts of charts and schedules, I have found her very helpful in the past. I unsubscribed a few years ago, but I may need to get back on that...
ReplyDeleteI declare you to be in the "safe" zone. You're olly-olly-oxen-free until SJ turns 6 months.
ReplyDeleteIndeed, Flylady may prove helpful. She was my first introduction to climbing out of clutter and disorganization. I've tweaked her ideas since. (Finally felt the confidence to build my own plan.)
ReplyDeleteI have a small home, so I just do the basics each day (dinner, laundry, dishes and tidying hotspots). Then once a week, I do my cleaning (bathrooms, vacuuming, mopping, dusting, etc.) But, like I said, I've got a nice little house so it only takes two hours MAX. It sounds like your home might not be so easy.
For you I'd probably recommend Motivated Moms. Have you heard of that? It's a checklist for the whole stinkin' year! It breaks down household chores into bite size pieces for each day of the WHOLE YEAR! It's awesome.
I stopped using it only because I really didn't need it broken down so much with the size of my home.
www.motivatedmoms.com
I suggest Flylady too. It's a pretty good schedule and they will send you free email reminds on what zone you're deep cleaning and spot cleaning that week.
ReplyDeleteHere's what's working for me: I do is my daily stuff, um daily,(laundry, meals and meal clean up, clean the kids, etc.) and then I save the other stuff to two days a week. It alternates because of work schedules-but the point is to only clean, mop, vaccuum, dust on those two week days. Unless it's horrible. But I've found that just saving the work for those two days frees up lots more time for fun stuff, and the mess will still be there tomorrow! Our house isn't huge, but it's not small either-I usually save the upstairs for one day and the downstairs for the other.
ReplyDeleteHope that helps!
My thought is cut yourself some slack. Do you really have to do the hardwood floors every week? Or even the bathrooms? With two little ones are they really getting that dirty? Can you rotate those two to every other week? Realize that there are some many things in life. Do the best you can and if it doesn't get done, it will still be there.
ReplyDeleteHere are my suggestions and I am being serious too.
ReplyDeleteFirst, forget the mopping - except the kitchen. Take a dirty washcloth and go around the toilets every now and again and call that mopping.
Dust bunnies are your friends and the kids will love them. They are not harmful and will still be there when those two dolls go off to school.
Swiffer is a godsend. I use one and call it sweeping and mopping. And no, it isn't wet. Who cares.
Organizing toys? Why? Baskets are great to throw them in and the kid are just going to dump them out anyway.
Sure, baking is good and I'd try to get that done. But, if you can't, many people thrive on storebought stuff for a long time.
You know mine are headed off to college. I promise, you will blink and yours will be too. Embrace the dirt and the kids!
I was going to suggest FlyLady, too...but mainly because I have yet to come up with a system of my own! Good luck standing strong against those dust bunnies! :)
ReplyDeleteGood lord, I am a terrible person to ask about domestic maintenance. :) Not that I'm filthy, but let's just say our house is...accessorized. ;)
ReplyDeleteMy only tip is give yourself a pass for a while on the laundry folding. We have strategically placed piles of CLEAN laundry all over the furniture, waiting for a moment someone is watching TV or on the phone. I keep telling myself it is CLEAN. ;)
it sounds like you already get more done than most!
ReplyDeleteFlylady is a great source as the others have suggested.
ReplyDeleteDebbie has it well put.
You are definitely way ahead of the curve, girl!
One of the best ideas I got from Flylady~ do a load of laundry a day. You won't get overwhelmed. When I adhere to this rule, I get clothes washed and put away every day in such a short time.
I'm off to browse motivated moms!
FlyLady's good, but I still don't get all that stuff done every week. And I only have one kid! I just keep a running list of stuff that needs to get done when I have a few minutes--and I try to relax about the stuff that doesn't get done.
ReplyDeleteI was going to suggest flylady as well. I also have a "schedule" I like to keep. It's daily, weekly, monthly, and seasonaly. It's just an excel spreadsheet I put together a couple years ago. Granted, I have a TINY little apartmen. But I find a schedule works well for me...for ex: laundry on Mon & Tues. Iron Tues (sometimes Wed.), Vacuum Tues & Fri, etc...
ReplyDeleteI have best luck doing tiny bites at a time, like 30 seconds to spray and wipe my bathroom sinks, then coming back for another 30 seconds of toilet scrubbing, etc...
ReplyDeleteCan you give your 2-year-old a dustbuster to grab the dustbunnies?
I'm voting for a Roomba or Scooba (robots that do your floors)! I keep asking for one for Christmas....