The Home Mgt Journal - Housekeeping

   I want to preface this post with a couple disclaimers. Lest you get the mistaken idea that I am channeling Martha Stewart you should know my history.  As my ten facts revealed I am an only child.  An only child of a single mom to boot. I did not grow up in a traditional family and had no daily father figure. Mom worked odd hours at times and I took over a lot of cooking and housekeeping by necessity, not because of my great training or skill in those areas. As a result things happened whenever they could and we were often a day late and dollar short. This is how I started my homemaking venture.

   Shortly after we married I got pregnant. I was immersed in attachment parenting lit, which though lovely and encouraging did have one drawback - it stressed the need to let go of household standards in favor of rocking babies. This is probably excellent advice for Type A women. If you, like me, find yourself waaaaaay down the alphabet someplace it can spell disaster.  It DID spell near disaster for us. My husband was used to an orderly house and was totally unprepared for my haphazard approach. Couple this with exceptionally poor health on my part and you have the makings for chaos.

   I worked diligently for the better part of that first decade of wife and motherhood to get healthy. I also began reading lots of lit geared towards women seeking to be keepers of their homes and a blessing to their husbands. It became clear to me that though I was physically at home my inability to manage it in a way that blessed my husband was in itself an act of defiance. I knew better after all.  I had read the articles. : / 

   We have spent the last few years in attitude rehabilitation. Actually *I* have. It has been driven home to me in recent weeks that not all my children have been brought fully up to speed in my motives and why it is important to take care of the things Dad has worked so hard to provide for us. So we tweak. We talk. We rededicate ourselves to the challenge. We occasionally call friends in desperation and tears to be reminded that this can happen....

   Like I said, my housekeeping schedule is based upon the Large Family Logistics model. She has a flylady type mailing but unless you are looking at your screen all day (which needless to say will sabotage your housekeeping!) the prompts don't necessarily come as you need them. I modified those prompts and lists to fit our home and printed them out so I could refer to them throughout the day.  MUCH better!

   The first thing she, FLylady, and other organizers recommend is to have your general day plan set. Include your morning routine such as exercise, lunch and dinner prep, laundry started, whatever you start your day with. Then hit your evening routine since so much depends upon having a good start. This would include checking your calendar, prepping coffee and breakfast, having a clean sink, and general house pickup. Next figure out what chores will happen on which days.( Few of us can clean a house in a day. If you can but then you miss it that scheduled day life is BAD. ; )) For us these chores happen in the afternoons. If you homeschool you will need to figure in when that will happen. We start with Table Time - the seatwork subjects that usually require time with me. That gets scheduled after breakfast. Times are general guidelines. As the LFL says if stuff happens - as it will - then you just 'do the next thing'. Best advice I have ever heard on the subject.

   I will start the downloads with our Download daily_school_and_chore_routine_binder_page.doc . We have two - one has the general schedule for our "big picture" and another is a checklist so each child/adult can track their personal participation daily. It is laminated and a dry erase marker is nearby so I know if we are indeed staying on track.

   Next we have our Download focus_room_days.doc . You can move these around to suit your schedule. I had to! The LFL lady had a different errand day and it threw off our week. I had to plan mine around the only time we could get piano lessons. You may choose entirely different formats for your forms. I am uploading these in case you wish to use the same fonts and clip art. Then you need only cut and paste your own tweaks. Again these are for personal blessing only. It took HOURS to set up and find the clips so I am hoping to save some of you that precious time. Gosh you hate to even have to say it, but there are women who are selling forms like these on the net or Ebay. Please don't. 

   Focus room lists to follow. Stay tuned. <g>

Comments

[Shayne]

Wow, channelling Martha Stewart eh? A thought that is hilarious and truly terrifying in equal measure. :)

[Heather Dalton]

This is the exact course my 'homemaking' has taken..attachment parenting to hyper-schedule. all in the attempt to find balance and peace. I love your bolg. thank you. +JMJ+

[Niama Perrotte]

I like this website. I am going to use the document on focusing on rooms. I like to cook on one day.

[bluetooth headphones]

Keep on working, great job!