Domesticating Myself

 

Lazy Housekeeper Mop Slippers

I need these.

The main thing I've been battling since becoming a stay-at-home mom is motivation. It's hard to be motivated to care for my home when there's no real deadline other than when Chad gets home. Also, for the most part, there isn't a whole lot to do. We don't have working dressers so we don't put clothes away, We don't have a lot of laundry to do and we don't use a lot of dishes or eat a lot of food. I vacuum and straighten up every day but I catch myself saying "Oh I can do that later." Way too often and I'm sure it irritates my poor husband. plus the more I say that the more likely I am to become overwhelmed when it all "piles up" on me. It is helpful to me to be active during the day (pinterest is not activity) and so I've been looking for a housekeeping schedule that I can use and apply to my own home. I've found some really good ones like This one from The Time-Warp Wife, but unfortunately most of them are geared toward women with bigger and older families than mine and don't really wholly fit my home or the way my brain works. I need to actually check things off of a list rather than follow a vague guideline. All that being said... I'm going to create my own list. Please keep in mind that this is coming from the mind of the least domestic housewife ever and may need some eventual tweaking but it's a start and I'll build from it. Let me know if you have any tips on what I can do better!

Monday:

This is the beginning of the week and is already usually the most productive day for me. I blast music throughout the house and let Betty entertain herself while I get caught up on dishes and laundry and start cooking for chad.

Tuesday:

This should be my day to tackle bigger projects - like if a specific room in the house needs extra attention... or the pantry.

Wednesday:

I should make a plan to do something special with Betty on Wednesdays. It's unacceptable that we've been in Maine since January and still don't know ANYONE.

Thursday:

Thursdays are story time days at the local Library. Also, This is a great day to go grocery shopping for the rest of the week.

Friday:

Sometimes Chad works on Friday and sometimes he doesn't. If I know he's going to be working on Friday in advance then I can wait until Friday to grocery shop but this is also a good day to clean out the refrigerator(before I shop) or pay bills if I didn't get to it earlier in the week.

Saturday:

This is usually our fun family day so I try to leave it open for fun stuff.

Sunday:

Today we go to Church and spend the day as a family. This is a good day to make sure that Chad has some R&R so I do what I need to do but nothing to stress him out. Often times this is his ONLY day off for the whole week.

I think my basic daily schedule should look like this;

• 8:00am: Wake up and shower then wake Betty up and get her in the bath get her teeth brushed and get us both ready for the day.
• 8:45am: Breakfast on the table and dishes washed and in the drainer.
• 9:30am: TV time for Betty while I finish cleaning the kitchen and start on laundry and Vacuuming the downstairs and dusting if I need it.
• 10:00am: Do something fun and creative with Betty. On Thursdays they have story time at our local library but we could go for walks collecting pine cones or whatever.
• 11:30am: Lunch and clean up.
• 12:00pm: Nap time for Betty while I do something I don't need to do every day like pay bills, make laundry detergent or scrub our toilet (That only needs to be done once a week, right)
• 1:00pm: This could be a continuation of before. I could fold clothes or wash windows or stare creepily at my neighbors through their window because they don;t have curtains either.
• 1:30pm: Wake Betty up and run errands if needed. If not needed this should be Betty time. Make sure the TV is off and read to her or practice counting and the alphabet.
• 2:30pm: From here on out is when I can tie up loose ends with anything I didn't finish already during the day.  If I haven't already gotten dinner together then I need to get that squared away ( I do have my meals planned out for the whole week already so I'll already know what to cook.) This can be my Bible study timee and this can also be my "reward" time. If my house is in order at this time then I can do something for me... like blog or paint or work on some of the crafty projects that are piling up in my basement.
• 5:30 - 6:30pm: Chad comes home and eats with us and we clean up after dinner together and then spend time together as a family.

Does that seem like a productive day? What am  I forgetting?