Monday, October 19, 2009
Advice and Ideas
I would love to hear some of your ideas of how to get all the housework done. Tell me when you do all your housework and other things on your to do list( like socializing, exercising, showering, etc.). Ever since Azaylee's birth, I realized how much I relied on my strict schedule. Now if I don't get whats done on the list for that day, I give up for the rest of the week! Not good, this ends up in a chaotic house, a smelly baby, and with me in tears over how I will ever catch up. SO, I need some ideas of how/when you get "everything" done!
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4 comments:
I still end up in tears sometimes. Especially now that I'm trying to get ready for a new baby. But I try to divide the big chores up through the week, and I know it's hard when they're little to do this, but don't just clean while she's sleeping. It's a good thing for your kids to see you clean, rather than the house magically be clean everytime they wake up, it helps build good habits later on.
But yeah if you figure out the secret to keeping your house presentable at a moments notice while you have a child under the age of 4 living in it... please let me know.
First, let me encourage you . . . I was right there where you are! If I couldn't get stuff done on Monday, so long to the rest of the week. But it gets better! Jeanie and Rebecca both said that it's "90 days to sanity" and at the 90 day mark this month, I'm finding it to be true. Life is settling back down and I'm not feeling like I'm failing at the house manager part of my job. That being said . . .
For those first 3 months I had to settle for focusing on our top 3 priorities - food, laundry, clean bathrooms. If anything else got done it was a bonus, not an expectation. More recently I've gotten back into splitting up the major chores over the week. I try to only have 1 major chore everyday and that's my 1st priority (I usually try to get it done during his first nap), so that if I don't get to the whole list, then I can let the lesser priority items go for another day or just forget about it until next week knowing that our house won't become unliveable. That has helped a lot in keeping me from breaking down as Greg walks in the door =) For instance, my top priority today is cleaning the bathrooms and getting 2 loads of laundry washed and folded. If I can also clean the front door and get the living area vacuumed (I vac. the whole house yesterday) then that's great. I've also found that if I spend even 15 minutes a day putting everything in its place, it goes a long way in making the house seem clean.
You're not alone!! Josh helps a lot, he does the dishes and his laundry. As far as the other stuff, I do what I can. I don't sweep, dust, or vacuum on a regular basis. My goals are to keep the dishes clean, the laundry done, and a somewhat clean kitchen. I buy the glass cleaner wipes and do a quick wipe down in the bathrooms (mirror first, then counter, then sink) when I have a minute or two. It helps b/c I just keep them under the sink. I don't cook much either; Josh is pretty self-sufficient, which is nice. My mom comes up about 2-3 times a month and helps me catch up when I get behind.
Girl, it's just hard! It will calm down and you'll adjust to your new normal, but for me, I've just had to let go of the expectations I had for myself before we had the boys. If you walk in our house on most days of the week there are dishes in the sink, toys on the floor and crumbs all under the high chair. That's just our reality right now. I've accepted it. But what has really helped me (with lowered pressure on myself) is to ask for help from Josh sometimes, have big storage baskets to throw toys in quickly so they're out of sight, and to set the timer for 15 mins (sometimes 20 or 30) and do all that I can in that time. It helps me get it done (ex. dishes done and counters wiped down) really fast and then I feel like I've accomplished something and can rest.
Hope that helps. Just remember, most of the stuff you're worried about in your house won't matter in eternity. The people you love and invest in will.
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