Monday, August 2, 2010

So, how did it go?

Well, day one was a success, I guess. I did accomplish everything on my outline, even though the "enjoy children" part wound up being 5 - 10 minute snippets of time instead of the larger blocks I would prefer. Hmmm... Not so good since they are the reason I'm home in the first place. But hey, I did twice the laundry I'd planned. Yay me! I'm also thinking this whole outline thing could be greatly streamlined by grouping activities and organizing my To Do list. Flylady (www.flylady.net) has really pushed me to have daily routines. Everyone has them, even if they aren't truly "routine". I mean, the dishes really do have to be done every day. The kids need to eat, every day. Even the most unpredictable and topsy turvy schedule has elements that repeat. By grouping these things I'm hoping that even when our schedule changes - like we transition from summer to school - the every day chores won't get pushed aside until they pile up and take over all our fun time. So, let's group! (And yes, most of this is taken pretty directly from Flylady. Why reinvent the wheel?)

Morning basics :
  • unload/load dishwasher
  • sweep
  • declutter
  • throw in a load of laundry (I'm quite amazed at how much laundry a family of five can create. If I do a load every day I stay on top of it though, and don't have many laundry marathons. That makes me very happy.)
  • make bed
  • water garden
  • get kids moving on their jobs
Weekly Basics (AKA Daily Chore):
  • vacuum/mop: Monday
  • clean bathrooms: Tuesday
  • water plants: Wednesday
  • dust: Wednesday
  • clean/declutter refrigerator: Thursday
  • mow lawn: Friday
Theoretically, this should all take less than two hours per day. Because life with three kids and no boss looking over my shoulder affords plenty of distractions, it will be interesting to see how long all this actually takes.

And now, on to today's outline.

  • Wake up/Me Time (Also known as slumping over the computer reading email and drinking coffee.)
  • Get kids moving - breakfast, clothes, hair, etc.
  • Swimming lessons
  • Morning Basics
  • Lunch
  • Daily Chore
  • Enjoy the rest of our day! I'm thinking today I'll let the girls help me build a photo book (or four) from our Disneyland pictures. We literally have hundreds of good pictures, so I'll need all the help building books that I can get! :) Or, maybe we'll just go play in the yard. The weather has been so nice lately - we need to enjoy it all we can!
  • Dinner I've found that if I start cooking dinner much after 4:30 we're eating too close to bedtime. We have to jump right up from the table and start the pajama/toothbrush/story routine and I feel rushed about getting back to cleaning up dinner so I can have a little Me Time before I crash for the night.
  • Bedtime for kids!
  • Bedtime for grown ups!

2 comments:

  1. TiffAugust 2, 2010 at 12:47 PM

    I guess I should check out this Flylady website. I need all the help I can get. Daniel has his own little routine, but I don't have any overall one and that would probably help me be better organized and clean. Just out of curiosity, when are the kids bedtimes and yours?

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  2. Ms. FluffypantsAugust 2, 2010 at 1:43 PM

    Tiff, definitely check out the fly lady. Her site isn't anything awesome to look at but she has a lot of really good ideas and she simplifies things in a way that makes it seem like no big deal to just take care of business so you can have more time for fun. Way back when it was just me and Elise (Shawn was working in Hawaii till she was almost 8 months old) I did really well with routines- my house was spotless, she and I did something fun every day- but I drifted away from that. Now I'm going back to it if it freaking kills me! ;D

    Oh, and I start Alex's bedtime around 7:15 - 7:30 then start on the girls. Some nights I do them together, some not. I try to have every body tucked in before 8:30. Then I hang out till 10:30 or so. How do you do things?

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