By Shannon at the Southern Schoolhouse
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When the kids were younger, it was hard to manage cleaning the house during the week. In the beginning, I would wait and do everything on Saturday. Then Sunday rolled around and I was preparing for the week. It was as if I didn’t even have a weekend break. My Saturday was consumed with cleaning, washing and folding a lot of clothes. My Sunday was spent preparing for the week. All of my kids were active in sports and dance. When Kayla started playing soccer, her games were played on Saturday. As a result, my all day cleaning did not happen. At that point, I knew I had to come up with a better plan that worked for my family. I decided that each day after work, I would choose something to do. Of course there were things that needed to be done daily such as the floors swept, dishes, etc. The other items, I decided would be separated and one completed each day.
It took me a while to see what worked best for our schedule, but eventually, I found a routine that I could manage. Since Monday school days aren’t always easy, I chose this day to be a pick up and organize day. I would also wash one load of needed clothes. It is so easy on the weekends to just leave things out and out of place, especially with little ones. Tuesday would be my day to dust the house (my least favorite thing to do). Wednesday was a good day to clean the bathrooms because it was mid week and they stayed mostly clean through the weekend. Thursday was laundry day. I am not sure if there is a best day for laundry day, but this helped me to not have it all piled up on the weekends. Especially in the winter, when clothes are layered and bulkier with jeans and sweaters. Sometimes I would do a load in between if something was needed, especially when soccer and football started. Then there was Friday…. Friday was like Monday, time to vacuum, pick up and lay out needed items for the weekend so we were prepared for the weekend activities.
Over the years, I have found that carving time out for rest is so important. The weekends are not made for cleaning and cooking. Our kids grow up too fast to miss out on family time and activities. My thought is, why not do that during the week when you are already in the workflow. As the kids got older, it was helpful because I could post a weekly chore schedule on the refrigerator calendar for them. This is something we decided on when the new calendar month was approaching. Chores were switched out and shared so that it was fair for all ages, fit schedules, and supported the homework load (that is another whole article within itself).
This is how I managed keeping up the house during the week but you may have better ideas. Every family situation is different and you have to find what works best for your family. Just make sure that you carve time out for yourself because you have to be at your best when it comes to being able to manage a job and a family. Please share what works for you and your family.
*I have gone through many types of calendars over the years but this is the one we use now and my all time favorite. Number one, it is magnetic and fits perfectly on the refrigerator (a place people look multiple times a day). It has holders at the bottom so the current page can be held in. After each month, it can be easily torn off. I previous calendar pages in the back just in case it is needed, to remember certain dates.
