The first thing I want to post is my homekeeping schedule. For copyright reasons I will not post all the details that are in my actual schedule since many of them are from Martha Stewart’s book verbatim, but I will give you the general idea of how this works in our home.
Every day–make bed, manage clutter and things that should be wiped or cleaned as I go, sort through mail, and sweep the kitchen floor.
Weekly in each room I wipe windows and vacuum the vents
Monday–kitchen and dining room
Tuesday–living room
Wednesday–bathrooms
Thursday–bedrooms and library area (if applicable)
Friday–office, entryway, stairs (if applicable), and hallways
Saturday–rest
Sundays I alternate between those things that need to be done monthly instead of weekly (i.e. dusting and vacuuming closets, flushing sinks with baking soda, vinegar, and boiling water) and those things that need to be done each season (i.e. cleaning oven and refrigerator, turning mattresses, wiping baseboards and moldings)
I also take the first week of spring and the first week of fall for spring and fall cleaning (i.e. laundering blankets, cleaning gutters) with much more work in the spring than the fall after being inside for so long.
I have all my duties specifically written out and posted on my refrigerator so I can see them easily. I work on these a bit while the kids are awake so they watch the example of me working (especially for my daughters), but the bulk of it is done before they wake up in the morning. If I need to, I will try to finish up during their naps. BTW, as I have said before, these are my goals and are rarely reached, but there is much more order in my home with these goals than there would be without them.
June 19, 2009 at 9:00 pm |
I’ve been challenged and encouraged by your words, Courtney. This has been a struggle for me lately. I find myself constantly going back and forth between what I have heard from so many other Christian women for so long. Many say:
“Don’t even try to have a schedule with 4 kiddos under the age of 5. You’ll just feel depressed by the end of the day.”
Others live by a rigid, no room for flexibility, schedule. Their rationality: You HAVE to be that rigid with a family this size.
I feel like I fall somewhere in the middle and I am becoming okay with that. I am usually an all-or-nothing person and it is hard for me to accept the “middle ground.”
Now that we are beginning to fall into a routine, I am working on a schedule for us and I think that will work well for me. I definitely need some kind of structure and I think it’s wise for me to have it- especially if I want to feel like I’ve accomplished anything.
Thanks for the wisdom and for being so transparent.
June 20, 2009 at 2:07 am |
Mandy I am unsure of your child status or if you are married and know that this comes from a single, childless, young Christian woman with little responsibilty. I am really bad with the “all or nothing” issue. Since I’ve been working in the psychiatric field for the last five years I have learned that this is a negative copping mechanism that can be unlearned. Like I said, this is sort of the pot calling the kettle black (me being the pot) because I struggle with this in many areas of my life (not studing at all for a test because I waited too late to start; getting up too late to follow my schedule to a “T” so I sit around and watch movies all afternoon). I am saying this to say that this behavior can be undone slowly. I have made a daily schedule for me recently. When I showed this to my accountability partner she said it looked good but she wasn’t going to hold me accountable to following my schedule but instead asking if I did X,Y and Z this week to bring glory to my Father and Savior. I think she really got to the heart of the issue. The issue isn’t following the schedule but bringing glory to God.
My main motivation for my recent schedule making was to make sure I didn’t get to the end of the summer and then ask myself “what did I accomplish” and come up with nothing. I really want to be intentional about my time this summer, which is coming together slowly. One thing that I have done on this schedule to make it a little more free is to block of an area of time and make a list of what needs to be done during this time. For example- in the morning on some of my days (according to my work schedule) I have two hours blocked off for showing, breakfast, reading my bible and straightening. This way I don’t feel confined to follow this schedule outline with 15-30 mintue intervals. Like I said, I don’t think there is a right or wrong way, as long you know what your purpose is for the schedule. If it is to read more, center your schedule around that; if is it homeschooling, center it around that.
Like I said, I am not coming with all the answers, just some things I have been milling over and trying to deal with, just trying to be an encouragement.
–R
June 20, 2009 at 10:43 am |
Thank you, Rachel, for the advice! I think intentional is a great word. I am trying to be very intentional as well. I have 4 little boys and life is crazy. I am just like you in your examples of “all or nothing”. Totally me. And I totally need help. I totally need grace. Thank so much again!
June 20, 2009 at 10:44 am |
Courtney- Did you listen to Driscoll’s sermon on Trial and Women? I think that’s the right one. 1 Peter 3. It was super-beneficial.
June 21, 2009 at 2:24 pm |
Thanks Courtney! Just curious, when you list “Living Room,” does that mean you dust, vaccuum, straighten, etc? What exactly does that include? Does the vaccuum wake up your kiddos?
June 25, 2009 at 2:50 pm |
Kacie,
I fluff and rotate sofa cushions, dust all surfaces (furniture, light fixtures, electronics, vacuum the floor and upholstery, and discard/store old magazines and books we don’t want out anymore). I vacuum when the kids are awake. They think it is fun anyway and get their play vacuum out to “help” me.
I can’t wait until next weekend!!!
July 3, 2009 at 3:11 pm |
Which Martha Stewart book?
July 7, 2009 at 12:50 pm |
Hey Steph!
It’s Martha Stewart’s Homekeeping Handbook. I miss you!
July 27, 2009 at 9:22 pm |
I miss you too! I have your email in one of mine – I keep everything!
Will be contacting you soon, Sunshine!
July 29, 2009 at 9:14 pm |
SO HELPFUL. By the end of the last school year, I felt like I was up to my eyeballs in mess and it was driving me CRAZY!! I have never had a cleaning schedule (neither did my mom, so I never learned one… not that it’s her fault… anyway) and I’ve been really motivated to start on this year so stuff doesn’t get away from me like it did last year. So thanks! I definitely need some encouragement in that department and a schedule like this is very concrete. I’d cook and bake and garden and can until the cows came home but cleaning is jut not my, ahem, “area of giftedness.”