I've am mostly crazy, but there are a few things that I do that keep me from going crazy.
I have something that I do Monday thru Friday so I don't get overwhelmed with housework. Monday is laundry. Tuesday is bathrooms. Wednesday is vacuuming the upstairs. (I have carpet on the main level including the dining room so I vacuum that level about every other day.) Thursday is meal planning day. I plan lunches and dinners for two weeks at a time. It really helps me to not go crazy trying to figure out every night what to make. Friday is laundry again and budgeting. If I don't get one done on that day, I try not to sweat it and sometimes when I am feeling extra ambitious I do the next day's thing so I have less to do later.
Another thing that keeps me sane is Quiet Time. My mother-in-law told me about how she would have all of the kids stay in their room for a certain amount of time every day even if they didn't nap anymore. When we started this, the boys would fight me about it, but now that we've been doing it for a while it's no big deal. After lunch, every day (well, weekday) we go to their room and read until Grant falls asleep. After that I leave for some silence and the big boys stay in there for just a few minutes. I used to read to the boys for up to 30 mintues, which was great but now Cleod likes to read so I sometimes get a little nap too. I love Quiet Time!
Job time! The boys have to do a certain amount of jobs for things like TV, computer or treats. It usually works out great because they help clean up the house and then they have a break on the computer or TV and I have a break to do some extra cleaning or reading.
Also, I rinse my dishes after almost every meal and usually load them into the dishwasher right away. I LOVE an empty sink, but I will even deal with a sink of rinsed dishes. I have trained my children to put their dirty dishes in the right side only so the rinsed and unrinsed dishes don't mix. (Wow, I sound a little crazy, don't I?)
Bedtime rountine: Baths done by 7:30pm. Read scriptures, brush teeth, say prayers and let the boys read in bed until about 8pm. Then, lights out! (OK, I am a lot more flexible about the timing than it sounds, but I try.) I think that when the time changes next week I will start 30 minutes earlier. We'll see.
I have alarms on my phone for everything: pick Cleod up, start making dinner, boy's bedtime and even my bedtime, although I usually ignore that one. Silas hates that my phone is ringing all the time, but it helps me a lot.
Date night! We try to trade with our friends, Brett and Deruchette so that every other week we get to go out without paying a babysitter. I love this because we can go to the temple and not have to pay a babysitter a fortune. The last date we had, we each went and got the food we wanted (which were from different places) and came home and ate while watching a movie from Redbox. It was awesome.
I also plan my meals for at least two weeks at a time. I love looking at my list in the afternoon and knowing exactly what to make that night.
Anyway, these are some of my crazy quirks that help me to feel not-so-crazy.
7 comments:
I like the idea of doing one or two "chores" a day. I sometimes feel overwhelmed if I have to do it all. Not to mention my kids aren't patient enough while I try to do it andIi end up not getting it done anyway. You seem pretty sane to me...these things must be working!
Wow, I think all of those are things I have TRIED to do or PLANNED to do, but pretty much I've failed at all of them. Good job actually doing them!!!
Honestly, you are AWESOME!!!
This makes me feel like I can be so much better! Me, with no little children running around, either inside my tummy or out of it.
You're amazing, Robyn.
If you don't mind, I'm going to print out your day assignments and use them for myself!
(Is that okay?)
Great ideas Robyn, thanks for sharing! I like to stay organized so that I don't get overwhelmed too. I really need to improve my meal planning skills though - yikes. That is my big stress every day. You should blog your meal plans and recipes. ;)
You're awesome! I love a good schedule/routine!
I can't wait to get into our own place, maybe I can get into a good routine again.
These are great things to do! I set the days for my chores too, but I have been halfheartedly doing them. Thanks for the incentive to be better!
how funny is it that I never thought of breaking it up like that? I just try to hit the ground running, and get as much done as I can. planning it out and plotting it like that makes SO much more sense! you're brilliant.
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