Saturday, September 5, 2009

it outta be a four-letter word

You know the one I'm talking about.  You cringe when you hear it.  You hate to think about it and all that it means.  Housework.

Ya, so maybe that was a little high on drama.  And who wants more drama?  Not I, so lets pretend I didn't say that.  Why don't I just delete it, you ask?  Well because if I deleted that paragraph, then this paragraph wouldn't make any sense.  Neither would the title of my post.  Besides, I do what I want. :)

So at my house, I call housework "my chores".  I didn't think that was weird until someone laughed at it, and I gave it another thought.  I guess "chores" does sound like something I was assigned to do, that I don't want to do, by someone with authority to give me assignments, and I have to get it done before I can do anything I want.  Huh...now that I put it that way, chores it is.  I am smart!

Something I noticed a while back is that my chores weren't getting equal attention.  I would vacuum the living room a few times a week, because I really don't mind vacuuming, but I would never make it to cleaning the kitchen floor - which - (hang on, I just threw up in my mouth a little) I H.A.T.E.  And then by the time the week was over I had awesomely clean carpet (quite a feat with 2 pomeranians and a 6-month-old), and a dusty, dirty kitchen floor, among other things.  It's just an example.  What I really mean to say is that I was spending time doing obvious chores over and over, and missing some of the other ones.

So...I made myself a schedule.  I was inspired by my best friend's mom, whose philosophy on keeping a clean house is to become OCD.  Hah!  Just kidding, it's not funny.  She is totally OCD, and makes herself a schedule for the exact OPPOSITE reason that I do.  She makes a schedule to keep herself from over cleaning.  I do it to keep things hygienic around here.  But I see her point.  Let's get on with it.

Here is the schedule I made for myself.  This is not my final draft, which I'm not sure I will ever get to, since I always seem to be changing things up to make it work. 

Chore Schedule

Monday:  
Laundry - washing/drying
Monthly Rotation **more on this below
Tuesday:
Laundry - folding/ironing
Vacuum
Wednesday:
Bathrooms
Give Jackson a bath
Thursday:
Kitchen Floor
Laundry Room Floor
Friday:
Dusting
Grocery Shopping
Vacuum
Saturday:
Weeding/Yard Work
Give Jackson a bath

**Monthly Rotations are chores that need done only monthly.  I rotate by 1st Mon, 2nd Mon, etc.

Monthly Rotation Schedule:

1st Week:
Bathe/Brush Dogs
2nd Week:
Clean Laundry Room
3rd Week:
Cut Jeff's hair
4th Week:
Filing/Organizing

And then of course there are the daily items - dishes, straightening up, making my bed and everything else that comes up in a day.  The nice thing is that I feel like I can handle doing a few chores every day, and I know that everything is going to get taken care of.  It makes me feel more in control and gives me more time to do whatever I want because I don't feel like I have to clean the whole house every day.  I can be okay with doing just a little, then moving on to my lists and lists of projects.

For example, if on Monday I see that the bathroom is especially messy, I can tell myself to let it go, because it's on the schedule for Wednesday.  All I have to worry about on Monday is laundry.  I mean, I'm not saying that if my dog harfs on the laundry room floor that I'm not going to clean it up unless it's a Thursday, or that my son isn't going to get a bath if he's especially stinky on a Monday.  Buuut, if he's a little messier than usual on a Tuesday night, I might give myself some time off and wait a day, know what I mean?

Anyway, I don't know if something like this will work for you, but give it a whirl.  Oh - and a hint:  If I miss something one day, I never make up for it the next day.  It will get taken care of the next time around.  See what you think

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the 7 goddesses

These 7 goddesses share their wisdom with the rest of us. Click on their tabs above to learn their lessons and read their tips:

APHRODITE - goddess of love & beauty - this is you

NYX - goddess of night - lessons on wifery (is that a word?) and all things night time

LETO - goddess of motherhood - all things related to motherhood

DEMETER - goddess of food & harvest - and for that reason, my favorite. Find tried and true recipes here

HESTIA - goddess of hearth & home - on making your house a home

ATHENA - goddess of wisdom - making learning a lifelong journey (plus a killer book list)

ELPHIS - goddess of hope - cause we could all use a little more!

Good for a laugh

"My dad hates brownies when they're gone." -Hudson age 2

 

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