I have taken on a new role as a Stay At Home Mom.
----Yes, both my children are in school.
----Yes, I have a college degree and worked as an Elementary School Teacher for 11 years.
----Yes, my husband and I own a small business that I help with.
The decision for me to take on this new role is something that my husband and I discussed and have agreed to try on a trial basis to see how it works for us. I will still go into the office, but it will for just a few hours a week to help keep the office clean and organized.
There are many, many reasons why this decision has come about, but in the interest of respecting my husband and the personal nature of our relationship I will refrain from telling all the dirty details to the world.
So having said that let's continue....
I need to get my house in order. We are a family of 4 + dog. Our oldest child is Alex, 18, and then the youngest is Lily, 6; plus we have a Dachshund named Ellie Mae. Our house is "lived in" and is desperate need of a deep-cleaning!
Tuesday the girls got to stay home from school because of the weather so we had a lot of down time. While they were having lunch and watching a movie, I spent a few minutes online looking for suggested cleaning routines.
I'm a list lover! I love lists, schedules and spreadsheets...I probably should have been an accountant.
----Yes, both my children are in school.
----Yes, I have a college degree and worked as an Elementary School Teacher for 11 years.
----Yes, my husband and I own a small business that I help with.
The decision for me to take on this new role is something that my husband and I discussed and have agreed to try on a trial basis to see how it works for us. I will still go into the office, but it will for just a few hours a week to help keep the office clean and organized.
There are many, many reasons why this decision has come about, but in the interest of respecting my husband and the personal nature of our relationship I will refrain from telling all the dirty details to the world.
So having said that let's continue....
I need to get my house in order. We are a family of 4 + dog. Our oldest child is Alex, 18, and then the youngest is Lily, 6; plus we have a Dachshund named Ellie Mae. Our house is "lived in" and is desperate need of a deep-cleaning!
Tuesday the girls got to stay home from school because of the weather so we had a lot of down time. While they were having lunch and watching a movie, I spent a few minutes online looking for suggested cleaning routines.
I'm a list lover! I love lists, schedules and spreadsheets...I probably should have been an accountant.
During my search I came across several blogs/websites that had some really good suggestions and lists. I settled on the "Daily House Cleaning Routine" from the House Wife How To's blog. I didn't care for the style of her print-out so I remade it into a list format and printed multiple copies to post around the house. This way I could remind myself the goals for each area as I moved about the house; until I am able to commit it to memory.
What appealed to me was the idea that with regular maintenance I could have my whole house clean and tidy in 45 minutes or less each day, with the exception of the time it takes to wash and dry the laundry and the little messes created while cooking, crafting, etc.
Unfortunately for me before I could reach the 45 min and under status I needed to give the whole house a once over. Lucky for me the author of the blog has a series entitled "How to Get an Organized and Clean House in 30 days. She is on day 27, but I am just getting started. Today will be day 2 for me. Because I love a good list I took her daily posts and turned them into a 5 page document (see below) that listed the main idea for each daily task and included a link to her website so I could read the details if I needed to.
She breaks the daily tasks into 3 tasks; Cleaning, Organizing and Maintenance.
What appealed to me was the idea that with regular maintenance I could have my whole house clean and tidy in 45 minutes or less each day, with the exception of the time it takes to wash and dry the laundry and the little messes created while cooking, crafting, etc.
Unfortunately for me before I could reach the 45 min and under status I needed to give the whole house a once over. Lucky for me the author of the blog has a series entitled "How to Get an Organized and Clean House in 30 days. She is on day 27, but I am just getting started. Today will be day 2 for me. Because I love a good list I took her daily posts and turned them into a 5 page document (see below) that listed the main idea for each daily task and included a link to her website so I could read the details if I needed to.
She breaks the daily tasks into 3 tasks; Cleaning, Organizing and Maintenance.
Yesterday I completed my tasks, but it took me all day. Today I managed to do the Daily Cleaning Routine in just under 45 minutes. I'm thinking tomorrow I will shoot for 35 minutes :)
I'm already seriously looking forward for the next 30 days to be over...I'm not exactly the love to clean type - think Monica from "Friends." I don't mind cleaning and I do get satisfaction from a job well done, but I'm not interested in being a maid. Which is why I'm hoping if I devote myself for the next 30 days I will be free to have more time for learning new skills like sewing or knitting, plus having time to read a book, make handmade cards, experiment in the kitchen, take yoga or what ever I want to do.
I have 2 children who can help out as well by keeping their own stuff picked up and helping with the "Daily Cleaning Routine." Alex puts the dishes away, runs the vacuum, takes out the garbage and cleans 2 bathrooms in exchange for privileges like having a cell phone with unlimited everything, as well as doing her own laundry. Lily helps with collecting the trash cans from each room in the house the night before trash day, loading the dishwasher, loading the washer/dryer and folding laundry and she loves to "help" cook.
Join me on my adventure in whole house cleaning and organizing. Lord only knows what I will find under the couch or in the back of the cabinets or worse yet ... under the washer/dryer as those haven't moved since we remodeled the kitchen 4 years ago and we needed access to the pipes in the wall behind them.
Well it's time to stop putting it off and tackle the refrigerator. Wish me luck.
Got to run...
Any tips for me? How do you keep your house clean and tidy? How do you divide the chores up in your family?
I have 2 children who can help out as well by keeping their own stuff picked up and helping with the "Daily Cleaning Routine." Alex puts the dishes away, runs the vacuum, takes out the garbage and cleans 2 bathrooms in exchange for privileges like having a cell phone with unlimited everything, as well as doing her own laundry. Lily helps with collecting the trash cans from each room in the house the night before trash day, loading the dishwasher, loading the washer/dryer and folding laundry and she loves to "help" cook.
Join me on my adventure in whole house cleaning and organizing. Lord only knows what I will find under the couch or in the back of the cabinets or worse yet ... under the washer/dryer as those haven't moved since we remodeled the kitchen 4 years ago and we needed access to the pipes in the wall behind them.
Well it's time to stop putting it off and tackle the refrigerator. Wish me luck.
Got to run...
Any tips for me? How do you keep your house clean and tidy? How do you divide the chores up in your family?