My Housekeeping Project

Ahhh.... housekeeping. Probably my greatest downfall. Oh how I wish that my house was neat and tidy, so that at any given moment a guest could drop by and I would not be embarrassed to invite them in. Clutter is everywhere, and with 5 people running around our house, it seems to grow exponentially. I would love to walk into my bedroom and not see a pile of laundry sitting in a basket, waiting to be folded. So, I have decided that it is time to get a handle on this thing. One of the things that I want to teach my girls is how to organize and properly run a household, since they will be doing it one day. My current method is to do what has to be done, in no apparent order. Sometimes things don't get done that need to be, because other tasks seemed more important or because I needed to be supervising schoolwork and couldn't be in the other room folding laundry, or I remembered errands that needed to be done, and so forth.

I decided to begin my project at the library. I figured that there should be lots of books on the subject. How to organize and run a household should be a subject that there would be a wealth of information on. Well, as it turns out, there are lots of books on how to clean everything, but I know how to clean, I just want to know how to organize. I want to make up a schedule of when things should be done. Like do I do laundry on one day a week, or do I do one load per day? What is the most efficient way to do things? I checked out a half-dozen books anyway, thinking that there was probably some good information in each one, even if they didn't have exactly what I was looking for. I also put another half-dozen on hold.

I also created a spreadsheet to figure out what chores should be done on a daily basis and a weekly basis. I know, this is a bit nerdy, but this helps me to see what needs to be done and then figure out how to get it done.

And finally, I created a Household Journal of sorts. I found a website with free printable pages, and have five categories so far. I have a section for To Do lists, Calendar, Menu (for meal planning), Shopping Lists, and Event Planning (for things such as birthday parties). I printed up these pages and put them in a 3 ring binder with dividers.

My plan of attack is this: I will make a master chore list, and from there I will make individual chore lists for each of the kids. I will keep the master lists in my journal, so that if I find something that is not on my list, I can easily add it. I will also make sure that referring to my journal each morning is added to my morning routine. I am also going to make myself a schedule of sorts, to help me get everything done each day.

Stay tuned...