September 24, 2007

Daily Routines etc.

It's amazing how often I have to change my 'housekeeping routine'. I had a completely different one for the summer and as life has changed again, so does my routine.

I observed the flow of things in our home after school started, and found that I should go back to the Flylady system. She focuses more on routines and babysteps at a time rather than an all out schedule. My oldest two have been fighting A LOT! By the time my husband would get home we would ALL be crying. So, I've come to realize with the help of my husband that we will be ok if I don't cook beautiful perfect meals every night and that I should try to get all of my work done early in the day before Leiah gets home from school. This way I can focus just on the children.


Mondays and Fridays I am at home with Alexa (3yrs) and Sarah (18months). Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday I take Alexa to preschool for the morning and pick her up. Since I live close to the school, I have about two hours before I need to pick her up.
So this is my plan:

Monday: Laundry day (actually I start Sunday night)
I will do at least 3-4 loads of laundry including bedding
wipe down washer/dryer and sweep in there
Home blessing: spot mop, spot vacuum, change trashes, clean sinks/toilets, tidy up from weekend

Tuesday: dust, windex screens/windows as needed, wipe down frequently touched surfaces, vacuum all the house
clean out refrigerator
plan meals/make grocery list

Wednesday: Groceries and run errands
do any laundry if necessary
work on sewing projects

Thursday: Kitchen Day
bake bread/cookies etc., make kombucha, soak legumes/flour/grains, make stock/cook meat and freeze
wipe down appliances, clean microwave, stovehood etc.

Friday: Finish the laundry for the week
clean tub and shower
work on decluttering/organizing or any other projects around the house

I have no plan for the weekends except to maintain what I've already worked on.

I have several daily routines going so I'm not going to list it all. Basically I plan to get most of my work done before lunch, and definitely done before 3pm, when my oldest gets home so I can devote my time and energy towards the girls.
This will include:
doing cleaning and laundry (I'm terrible at getting it put away!)
cooking dinner
working on whatever projects I need to do
running errands

However, my sister and I decided to have a yard sale at my house this coming Saturday, so I've been sorting through all kinds of stuff this morning. I plan to give the girls a cleaning job to do later in the day so we can get the Home Blessing done. I am in the process of cooking dinner now at 1:25pm. (Remember tuna casserole, corn on cob, probably a salad, and garlic bread)

My goal is to have time to teach the girls how to play with each other and do a special activity with them. We are also going to start having 'Family Time' in the evening with Daddy. Before we just kinda winged it. We are getting rid of satellite TV, so we will no longer be vegged in front of the tube. Here is my plan for weekly evenings:

Monday:- Read books
Tuesday: Walk the neighborhood
Wednesday: music- Daddy with guitar, sing songs etc.
Thursday: movie night
Friday: Game or go to park depending on weather
Saturday anything goes :)
Sunday we're so tired we just lay around

3 comments:

Rachel said...

I enjoy flylady. Keeps me on track! A little each day and I have so much more free time than before and my house stays clean!

Blended in Texas said...

My husband keeps asking me to do a schedule like yours. I started a budget and meal schedule a couple weeks ago so I guess our daily schedule will come next. I have gotten used to doing whatever whenever and frankly, it is very overwhelming. I definitely need to plan out our weeks better. Hope you have a great week!

Anneatheart said...

You know Sarah, I'm really not a scheduled person at all. In fact, yesterday we ended up not cleaning. (the Home Blessing thing) I just got into helping my girls learn how to play with baby dolls and didn't have time or desire :)

Routines are something we all do anyway (like we all take a shower and do those things in a certain order) so I work better with routines. I meant to post about yesterday, but the plan worked very well. I had a much better attitude, and not having to worry about cooking and finishing laundry helped the stress factor a lot. I'm just doing my best to stay on task and keep my priorities straight. It's 9:30 am and I've got dinner pretty much done. I'm about to work on sorting more stuff for the yard sale, then if I have time work on cleaning, but if not i will do it after I pick up my daughter. It does help to have a loose plan in general. The same with meals, I might make a plan, but if I feel like changing it I do. Hope you find a 'schedule' that works- it's taken me a long time to get something worked out for our family.