In this post I am going to try to put into words what is going through my mind, as well as write down a goal. I'm sorry if it seems more stream-of-consciousness, but I will do my best to make it coherent.
First of all, I really love staying at home with Eli. I was thinking about it last week, and realized that I have had far fewer meltdowns in the last year, since starting to stay home, than I did in 8 months or so of working full time. I really struggled with working, but am so much happier now that I get to be home with my baby boy and take care of our home.
That being said, there is so much more I know I could do to take care of our home. We live in a 2 bedroom apartment. And I realized, that if I can't take care of a 2 bedroom apartment, how in the world will I ever be able to take care of a larger home later in life, or even a larger apartment. My home will not magically clean itself (darn it). And unless I make the changes in my routine and attitude toward my responsibilities as a homemaker, I will end up disappointed with how I spent my time and the way my home looks. (I promise, this is not a post about me being crazy hard on myself, or being a perfectionist).
Yesterday I read an article on Meridian Magazine called "Wake-up Call for Wives". The article gives 12 tips for wives on how to make their relationship with their spouse better. A few things in the article struck me. One part tells the story of a man who works hard for his family, his wife is a full time homemaker. But when he comes home at night, tired from working all day, he is given his "share" of the housekeeping to do, which is a majority of the chores. The article mentions that though the wife was home all day, it looks like nothing was done to take care of the home, prepare meals, etc. Essentially that she was putting her wants above the needs of the family. I thought about this and realized that there are times I spend tons of time watching TV shows online, doing nothing on facebook, etc and allowing my home to exist in chaos. As a full time homemaker I feel like it is my job to take care of Eli, keep the house in as much order as possible (with help from my husband), feed my family good meals. There are far more productive uses of my time than constant facebook and hulu and pinterest. :) Granted, everyone needs time to themselves, the opportunity to explore personal interests and hobbies, or else you just might explode.
Whenever we have people over, David and I do our best to make sure our home is clean for their arrival. This has usually meant a crazy scramble to get every room clean at once. And once it is clean, we love the feeling of a clean home and always say "why can't it just stay this way". Well, I saw this cleaning plan on my friend's pinterest and decided to repin it. The idea is to keep a clean house, doing just one main chore a day--20 minutes and your done. Sounds awesome!
So, taking all this in mind, I have decided that I need to be better about our housekeeping and how I manage my time. I am limiting myself to 1 show during the day (while Eli is napping). If David is busy in the evening, then I might sneak another. I want to spend more time scrapbooking, sewing and my friend Jessie and I have decided to work on a Quiet Book together for our boys. (By the way, my scrapbooking goal mentioned in a previous post--yeah, WAY off track on that). Also, I'm creating my own house cleaning plan and, hopefully, it is one that, if I keep up on, I'll be able to do just 20 minutes or so of house work a day a keep a clean home. So here goes:
Daily: General pick up, dishes (with David's help), keep counters wiped down.
Monday: Kitchen-stove, counters, floor, sink
Tuesday: Front Room (Includes both living room and dining room)--sweep/mop, dust
Wednesday: Bedrooms/Hallway--pick-up, vacuum, dust
Thursday: Bathroom--toilet, shower, mirrors, sink and counter, floors
Friday: Laundry and Some type of organizing--closet, fridge, car.
Hopefully this fairly simple plan will allow me to keep the house clean, without spending hours each time I want it clean. And, when we do have people over, we can hopefully do a general wipe down/pick-up as needed so it isn't a mad rush every time. And now that my goal is written down, I'm more likely to keep it--or so they say. Wish me luck!
7 comments:
I know how you feel! My house seems like it's always such a mess and we do the same thing when people come over. I have realized lately too that I spend too much time on facebook or hulu and am trying to fix that/limit myself. Thanks for posting your cleaning idea, I need to come up with a good plan too, your seems very easy and manageable. hope it goes well
Your post was so motivating. I could definitely make better use of my time as well. (Dang you entertaining internet!) Thanks for the reminder, and good luck!
It's definitely hard to keep a clean house with little kids! I've found that only watching movies when I am a) cleaning or b) exercising is a great way to keep the house clean and me fit, plus then I look forward to those chores! Good luck!
you will find your life so much easier two or three kids down the road if you can establish good habits now. It definantly doesn't get easier. I, also, spend far too many useless hours on the computer. Facebook, Hulu, blogs, pinterest... and a 2000 square foot home is far more difficult to manage than 700 or 800 square foot apartments, so definantly learn now. I still have a constant struggle trying to find balance. Sometimes the house goes to pot, but I've been lots of time doing things I find fulfilling (sewing, or decor projects mostly... sometimes major freezer cooking). Sometimes the house is doing well, but I go weeks without having time (or energy once there is time) to do anything enjoyable for me, which makes me crazy and usually leads me to resenting Brian, since he sometimes find time for himself no matter how crazy life gets (its usually while I'm folding mountains of laundry by myself...), which is also not healthy for our marriage. Basically, as a homemaker it is HARD to find balance between nurturing kids, keeping house, serving husband and maintaining personal sanity & identity. You'll probably stuggle with it on and off most of your life. I'll be honest... I hate the I spend so much time wishing away my kids little-ness (becuause I know I don't acutally want them to grow up so fast) but I'm really looking forward to this fall: Allison will be in Kindergarten, Carter will be in preschool 2 or 3 days a week and it'll be just me and a (probably) napping Lindsey in the morning... I can only imagine what I might be able to accomplish if I have the discipline!
I have been working on this over the past several months myself. The other day I was planning a lesson for my young women at church and my thought was, it's not that hard, just make a choice and do it. Then I realized that is also very applicable in my life. It's something I have been repeating to myself whenever I find myself spending to much time in front of the computer or TV. Please keep me posted on your progress. I feel like we are kindred spirits my friend :) - even hundreds of miles apart. I'm so glad we got to start out on the motherhood/homemaker thing so close together!
hey em, so at the beginning of the year i started a similar cleaning plan!! and it has seriously made my life so much better! i have general things i do every day and then a room each day to focus on. my house has been so much cleaner overall since then, and a happy house has totally made my sanity and the sanity of my family so much better! i hope it works as well for you! good luck :)
Emily, I feel the same way--how am I ever going to keep a future house clean when I can't seem to keep up with a small 2 bedroom apt? Your plan is a good one, though. Thanks for the idea!
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