In case you're just joining in on this month's theme, I am offering survival techniques for folks that are NOT organized. Folks like yours truly. I need coping mechanisms for home management and just plain LIFE in general because I am not one of those folks who ooze organization. My friend Jan told me once that I am "macro-organized", not "micro-organized." I think that was a kind embrace of my messy cabinets and a choice to celebrate the ability to purchase Christmas gifts in July. So I'm going with it.
The survival tip I'm sharing today is my weekly chore schedule. I will freely admit that my favorite gift was when my generous sister-in-law gave me two weeks of maid service after my babies were born. Loved it. And maybe my favorite part was not that I didn't have to clean my house but that it was all clean at the same time! Wow that was nice! In spite of loving that feeling, I am willing to approach housecleaning in a piecemeal fashion. Attacking a task or two each day rather than all chores on one day. It's manageable for our family and over time, it actually results in an acceptably clean house almost all the time. (OK, my cleanliness standards may not meet yours, I confess. But I'm good with that :) ) It becomes routine enough that kids develop the habit of completing these chores methodically. In fact, they think that everybody does laundry on Mondays and Thursdays and trash on Tuesdays!
Breaking it down like this is how I move from the "macro" of a clean house to the "micro" of what needs to be done. The site I mentioned earlier (flylady.net) uses this approach, too. Here's how the Chambers tackle housecleaning:
Monday - clean bathrooms, laundry, dust, empty trash cans, sweep porches, vacuum
Tuesday - take trash to street
Thursday - laundry, empty trash cans
Friday - wash towels and sheets, vacuum, bathrooms
Kitchen duty is of course everyday and other chores like window cleaning, decluttering, etc are scheduled as needed. But this basic plan gets it done for us. Without consuming a 3 hour block of time that I cannot afford.
The survival tip I'm sharing today is my weekly chore schedule. I will freely admit that my favorite gift was when my generous sister-in-law gave me two weeks of maid service after my babies were born. Loved it. And maybe my favorite part was not that I didn't have to clean my house but that it was all clean at the same time! Wow that was nice! In spite of loving that feeling, I am willing to approach housecleaning in a piecemeal fashion. Attacking a task or two each day rather than all chores on one day. It's manageable for our family and over time, it actually results in an acceptably clean house almost all the time. (OK, my cleanliness standards may not meet yours, I confess. But I'm good with that :) ) It becomes routine enough that kids develop the habit of completing these chores methodically. In fact, they think that everybody does laundry on Mondays and Thursdays and trash on Tuesdays!
Breaking it down like this is how I move from the "macro" of a clean house to the "micro" of what needs to be done. The site I mentioned earlier (flylady.net) uses this approach, too. Here's how the Chambers tackle housecleaning:
Monday - clean bathrooms, laundry, dust, empty trash cans, sweep porches, vacuum
Tuesday - take trash to street
Thursday - laundry, empty trash cans
Friday - wash towels and sheets, vacuum, bathrooms
Kitchen duty is of course everyday and other chores like window cleaning, decluttering, etc are scheduled as needed. But this basic plan gets it done for us. Without consuming a 3 hour block of time that I cannot afford.