Keeping afloat with housework

I had posted last week about trying to keep my head above water with all the household responsibilities, while trying to raise two children. I felt so overwhelmed, had tried different "schedules" for cleaning, etc. and was about to lose my mind. Somebody casually mentioned Flylady . net. I thought it couldn't hurt to check out. She's amazing. She has so many tips and tricks. Anyway, here is my adapted schedule - I thought I'd share. So far so good. She makes it seem manageable and calls the major cleaning a "Home Blessing" instead of "cleaning". if you look at it that way, you really feel like you're doing something for your family and "blessing" your home (which you are), instead of just dreadful cleaning. So here goes....


EVERY DAY

Morning Routine:
Rise and Shine
a. Make your bed as soon as you get out of it (unless your DH is still there).
b. Go into the bathroom.
c. Shower and straighten up/spot clean the bathroom while you are there.
d. Fix your hair and face.
e. Get dressed all the way to your shoes!
f. Leave your bedroom with a load of laundry in hand and go straight to the washer.

Kitchen
. If you did your Before Bed Routine, the kitchen is clean and all you need to do is empty the dishwasher.
a. Feed the critters.
b. Feed the family (including yourself).

Think About Your Day
. Check your calendar.
a. Look over your To Do List
b. Thaw something for dinner; prepare/gather ingredients.
c. Checkbook (bring down your balance).
d. Reboot the laundry (put in dryer).
e. Hit the hotspots. If you did your Before Bed Routine there will not be any.

Now Think About Yourself
. Sit down.
a. Eat breakfast (if you haven't already).
b. Morning Meditation: God, Imagination, Focus, Thanksgiving (GIFT).
c. Now reward yourself with some computer time. Check your e-mail.




Before Bed Routine:

Clean up the house before you go to bed. (20 minutes - tops)

a. Living room: Pick up and put away things, magazines, dishes, clothes, shoes.
b. Kitchen: Clean it up, shine sink, lay out clean dishcloths, and run the dishwasher.
c. Dining room/entrance: Clear the hot spots.
d. Straighten up playroom; throw toys in bins.
e. Set coffee maker.
f. Prepare bottles.
g. Review your check list to make sure you have not forgotten anything.

Think about tomorrow before you go to bed.

. Check your calendar and/or planner for appointments.

a. Start a "To Do" list for tomorrow.
b. Think about: What can I do tonight that will make tomorrow morning easier? (make lunches?)
c. Gather up items that you do not want to forget and place them in a spot by the door. Make sure you can see them before you walk out.
d. If you plan to use the crock pot, then put some of those things together/set out, so all you have to do is throw it together.
e. Lay out your clothes for tomorrow. It is a simple thing that saves lots of time by being decisive. If something needs to be ironed, or has a spot on it, you can deal with it in a calm manner or choose to wear something else. Take it to the cleaners on your errand day, launder it, or fix that missing button according to your schedule - no pressure. All the stress has been relieved.
f. Lay out babies’ clothes

Focus on yourself before going to bed.
Cool down time:
1. Get yourself ready for bed.
a. Brush your teeth, wash your face.
b. Take vitamins and other meds.
c. Bath time!
d. Put on jammies, or sexy night gown, or... nothing. LOL!
e. Snuggle in for the night and lights out. Go to bed at a decent time. Preferably at the same time daily.
f. Fall asleep with a smile on your face and in your heart!
 



WEEKLY SCHEDULE

Monday: Weekly Home Blessing
1. Weekly Home Blessing HOUR *I find it easier to do just everything at once (instead of spread out over the week). Just get it done (super fast) and get it over with!
a. Change sheets.
b. Empty all the trash.
c. Vacuum carpet.
d. Clean doors and walls (magic eraser).
e. Dust furniture.
f. Bathrooms, incl mirrors.

2. Swiffer & mop.


Tuesday: Outside
1. Sweep porches, remove cobwebs
2. Clean patio table
3. Weed and trim bushes
4. *LAUNDRY

Wednesday: Misc
1. Remainder Weekly Cleaning.
2. Work on menus and grocery list for next week. Don’t forget coupons. *Write down on your calendar what you are going to have for dinner each day that week, even if you eat out. Don't forget the side dishes.
3. Clip babies' nails
4. Put laundry away
5. Wash babies’ sheets, towels, playpen sheets, changing pad, toys, lovies.
6. Swiffer.

Thursday: Grocery & Errand Day
1. Clean out fridge.
2. Clean stove.
3. Make sure menus are planned before you go shopping.
4. Check grocery list one last time. Take your list & coupons with you.
5. Grocery Day.
6. Errands.
7. Wash dog beds.
8. Clean and condition leather couch and recliner.

Friday: Paperwork & Misc.
1. File papers.
2. Clean out purse.
2. Pay bills.
3. Clean out car and check fluids.
5. Swiffer.
4. Clean laundry room.
6. Date night *even if at home


Saturday: Free Day

Sunday: "Renew Your Spirit Day"
1. Print new schedule *because items should be marked off as completed each week

MONTHLY - When needed:
1. Dog baths
2. Dog flea med; heartworm; nails
3. Change house air filter
4. Car oil change; air filter
5. Wash rugs.


MISC:
shower every day.

Do the best you can with routines, using Checklists to remind you of what you have accomplished on those days when it seems like your'e not getting anything done.

Don't forget to take your "me time." Try to take a little every day. Just some time to read. Three to four times a month work on children's scrapbooks.

Just thought I'd pass on an idea for keeping my baby's clothes in order. In his closet I keep a large baby gift bag (recycled from the many we received when he was born) to put his out grown clothes in. If I try to dress him in an outfit that no longer fits it can immediately go into the bag to be handed down to a friend or given away to charity. This way his dresser isn't full of clothes that don't fit

Periodically upload babies’ photos to Shutterfly AND burn back up CDs.

 

Thank you so much for posting this. I feel overwhelmed by my house on a daily basis.
The two year old tornado doesn't help either!

 

Also, for new mothers, (my twins are 8 mo old), but for those who have infants, Flylady just suggests to focus on the morning and bedtime routine. And in those early days, just that would be a huge accomplishment! Honestly, I don't think I could have done any of this until now (at 8 months!)

 

Just to second what Jennifer said, it took me quite some time to get up to just picking up basically the morning and bedtime ones. My house still isn't clean all the time, but it's gettng a little better every day.

 

Okay, how many hours are in YOUR days :lol: ?! WOW! I feel like a real dud after reading this and I thought I was really doing quite well . I have a couple of questions:

Are your babies mobile?
What are the babies doing during this time (do you fit all this in during naps?)?
If you're doing everything right down to oil changes and de-cobwebbing, what does DH do?

This is really a great thing to strive for. I will be super excited if I get through two days of it. Thanks for sharing!

 

QUOTE(serranoboys @ Jun 6 2008, 08:44 AM) [snapback]813379[/snapback]
Okay, how many hours are in YOUR days :lol: ?! WOW! I feel like a real dud after reading this and I thought I was really doing quite well . I have a couple of questions:

:hug99: and :acute: Don't feel like a dud! I think my kids were almost a year before I tackled even half of that. And I still don't do all of it, exactly, everyday. But I do have a system of what I do each day to help me feel like I have a little control over the housework.

I do some during naps, some before they wake up. But mine are STTN which puts me in a better sleep frame of mind. I think that makes a huge difference in what you can tackle, at least it does for me.
My DH does all the outside stuff. I HATE mowing the yard. :laughing:

I think the great thing about Flylady is that it breaks things down in more manageable chunks. And you don't have to do everything, every day. It's just one method for getting some control, or some semblance of control, over one aspect of your life.

 

Definitely just a guideline and everything does not always get done. But when you mark things off, you can look at it and see that you DID do alot, even if not all. And the House Blessing is one hour, it really is like speed cleaning, which for me works better. Same for the outside work - limit yourself to an hour and do what you can in that hour. That way;, you don't feel like you're wandering around all day constantly cleaning- which is how I felt. And they go to bed around 6:00p, so I use about another hour after that to finish up and then later do bedtime routine. It LOOKS like alot when it's written down, but if you think about how much stuff you do anyway, if you wrote it down, it looks like alot more than it is, when each thing only takes a few minutes.

No, my babies are not mobile yet, only rolling. I usually put them in exersaucers when cleaning or the gated playroom. Again, they are just goals and I am the type that needs structure/schedule or I feel lost!

 

Sorry, and to answer about DH. He does the yard work. He does his own laundry - always has, even before babies. And then he works about 50-60 hours a week. Sometimes he'll do the dishes. So he does what he can, with what little time he is home.

 

WOW!!! Thank you for sharing that (ok, how did you find time to write all that? LOL) I have been feeling that way lately, like I am going full speed all day long but at the end of the day I feel as if I haven't accomplished anything. I am going to print out your post and try to follow it best I can. I like the idea of checking things off so you can see at the end of the day that something WAS done!!

Thanks again!! :banana:

 

QUOTE(Ryan & Emmy @ Jun 6 2008, 10:06 AM) [snapback]813543[/snapback]
WOW!!! Thank you for sharing that (ok, how did you find time to write all that? LOL) I have been feeling that way lately, like I am going full speed all day long but at the end of the day I feel as if I haven't accomplished anything. I am going to print out your post and try to follow it best I can. I like the idea of checking things off so you can see at the end of the day that something WAS done!!

Thanks again!! :banana:


That was mostly cut & paste from Flylady's website! So I didn't have to type it. Your babies are 4 months - I admire you for even THINKING about tackling this! I was still in survival mode at that stage. Like I said, I am just now even able to think about things like this.

Anyway, Flylady has MANY different schedules to fit different people/lifestyles/etc. I just tweaked it to my own personal needs and "dreams" of having a decently clean house. You should really check out her website. It is very insightful and she has interesting theories on things like what type of shoes you should wear everyday and WHY you should shine your sink....

 

I used to read fly lady and there was some good ideas like saving money and time and on freezer foods. I must admit I have a cleaner come once a week and even though they dont' clean the same way you clean your own house it helps to keep on top of things.

I do find fixing their floor blanket at night and switching out their toys for different ones. In the morning it is all ready to go. If I don't have a shower in the morning it is hard to find the time to get one.

Thanks for the post it is so nice to think of new ideas !!!
Heather

 

QUOTE(JenniferZ @ Jun 6 2008, 07:13 AM) [snapback]813329[/snapback]
c. Checkbook (bring down your balance).


.



I have this step down! I manage to "bring the balance down" in my bank account with no trouble...and it's never been on my to do list!

 

This makes me tired reading it all laid out like that I can't believe I get everythign done!

 

I forgot I was going to add that I created a list of all the things that need to be done around the house for the full year. It includes everythign for checking tire pressure and smoke alarms to cleaning the freezers and ceiling fans. Anything that isn't done on a "regular" basis.

I divide this list into each month so that I can be sure that everything gets done. I know our busy months and have less on the "to do" list in those months.

I started this plan because DH hates routine maintenance and we had an situation with our brand new frig when the coils were not dusted. We seem to do fine with the weekly type chores it's the semi-annual or annual tasks that kept falling off the plate. I looked at our dehumidifer once and wanted to barf - nasty things can grow in that!

It works great because I can see each month what needs to be done and what didn't get done. Even better if DH has a few minutes he can look at the list rather than have to ask me what needs to be done. (usually I do the list but it's great when things are marked off by surprise!)

I don't know how to add a word document on here but if any one is interested in it PM me and I'll e-mail you it (or you can tell me know to attach a document!)

 

I know it LOOKS like a lot, but it's really not and it's not spring cleaning, it's power cleaning. For example, when she says vaccum, it's just vacuum the high traffic areas, not wall to wall vacuuming. When she says bathrooms, it's just what she calls swish and swipe. You keep a bottle of windex in each bathroom and papertowels---clean your mirror, use the same paper towel to wipe off the faucet and counter. Swishing your toliet--keep a toliet brush in a container with cleaner, old shampoo you don't like, any kind of soap (she says soap is soap) and swish your toliet every morning - it doesn't have a chance to get dirty and your bathroom smells good all the time. I'm telling you, the swish and swipe takes all of 2 minutes, maybe even just one minute. That's what I mean when I say it looks like more than it is, because some things literally take a minute or two. It' s just getting into a routine and you don't even think about it after a while.

And these are things that we do every day/ every week anyway, but if you were like me, you just did it when you happened upon it and then get sidetracked along the way. Like, "oh I need to do a load a laundry" and on the way to the laundry room, "look at this floor, I need to mop this real quck", and while grabbing the mop" look at this mess on the counter - I need to put this away" and on and on and never even get to the laundry. So she just takes what we pretty much do every week, groups it together on certain days, and puts a time limit on it. That way, when you finish your Weekly Home Blessing, you don't feel guilty because the stove is dirty--you know you'll clean it on Thursday. There's a ton of laundry piling up too, but that's okay, that's tomorrow....etc. So you're done with the day's work (probably took an hour to an hour an half total) and you can do whatever you want the rest of the day.

 

I liked how they had you pick a room each day of the week and just spend 15 mins in there. It seemed to make things not so overwhelming. I have Windex and paper towels under my sink upstairs. I use white toothpaste since it isn't as noticeable in the sink. I used to have bar soap but found it made a mess and with liquid hand soap you use less water, since you don't have the water running to make a foam. Here in Australia we have water restrictions and groceries are a fortune. Coming from N. America I've become more thrifty.
1. try not to let the water run, instead fill up a sink or put your veggies in a bowl and then rinse, instead of rinsing under a stream of water
2. 4 minute showers .... yes it can happen. I'm sure twin mom's know how
3. I buy dishsoap with antibacterial sometimes it is cheaper than handsoap. (soap is soap)
4. I buy antibacterial floor cleaner and often put it into spray cleaners for counters and bathrooms (antibacterial is antibacterial)
5. I have cheaper paper towels for cleaning and better ones for kitchen use
6. i have a grocery store in my garage. we dont' have SAMS or COSTCO so i have to just buy when things are onsale.
7. my mom got rid of her 6 foot long chest freezer and saved over $50.00 per month on her electricity
8. in Australia they all use clothes lines even in expensive neighbourhoods... my bad.
9. cold or warm water unless for towels
10 bulk rice, pasta ... really makes a meal cheaper.
11. chicken thighs more taste and cheaper
12. I often buy meat already cut up it just saves me time (eg. chicken or beef)
13. turning off lights, fans, etc. and finding energy efficient bulbs.
14. using kettle water for rinsing things, or for filling up the sink
15. turning off the tap when you brush your teeth
16. open the blinds to get the sun in to get warm .... or in hot weather keeping the blinds shut. Putting on a sweater before turning up the heat.


I hope this thread continues I just love ideas to save money and / or make my life easier.....

Heather

 

Wow! I don't know what to say!

I go through phases of wanting my house to be super clean/ organized and not really caring if it's messy. I'll be using some of these tips to get motivated (in a messy phase right now! ).

Thanks for sharing!

 

QUOTE(JenniferZ @ Jun 6 2008, 05:25 AM) [snapback]813341[/snapback]
Also, for new mothers, (my twins are 8 mo old), but for those who have infants, Flylady just suggests to focus on the morning and bedtime routine. And in those early days, just that would be a huge accomplishment! Honestly, I don't think I could have done any of this until now (at 8 months!)



Ummmm, I am so glad I read past the original post!!
As I was reading the original post I was like who in the *bleeeeeeeeep* has time do this & where are the babies at!!!!!?????!!!!
Once I kept reading it seemed more managable & knowing that it will get easier to find time to do more things around the house as the girls get older really is motivating
I am going to print out the list & keep it handy!
Thanks for sharing!

 

ok, I originally saw this post and came back to it. I have printed it out and am going to find a few things on the list each day and see what I can do. As the babies get a little older I will try to slowly add. I think this will give me a place to start and a goal to work towards. Thanks for sharing.

Melissa

 

I work during the day so I don't have a schedule, but on the weekends I try to but its so much easier planning than actually doing. The babies are so unpredictable with sleeping and eating and wanting attention. For the most part I get what I need done, then if I have some major "home blessing" to do I can hopefully count on my mom or sister to watch the babies for a couple hours

 

Thanks for posting. I had checked out the FlyLady a long time ago...I think I need to check her out again