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  1. Guest Post: Just Keeping Up

    Wednesday, February 20, 2013

    I just recently met another homeschool mommy and have enjoyed keeping up with her blog. She is a mother of three and homeschools all of them. I have asked her to write a guest post on the subject of cleaning. I hope that you enjoy it as much as I have.  Thank you soo much Misty for visiting with me and writing this post.
     
     
    Just Keeping Up!



    As a mom of 3 little ones I struggle sometimes just keeping up with the day to day tasks of running my home. Add homeschooling on top of everything else and it is overwhelming sometimes! Luckily a few years ago I got in the habit of a cleaning routine. I used to be OCD (ok, I still am a little) and felt that I had to have everything in order all the time. This feeling sucked the joy out of being a mom to my kids. I realized something had to give, and that is when my cleaning routine was born.

    Anytime you have a big task it is easier to split it up into smaller pieces. Your home is no different! If you feel you need to clean the whole house everyday it is SO easy to get overwhelmed. So, look at your house as a big job that the Lord has given you, and then break it down into smaller pieces.

    Daily Upkeep
    Dishes, sweep, make bed, general household duties
    Monday
    Bathrooms: Wash the floor, empty garbage, scrub toilets, sink, and bathtub.
    Monthly: Wash off cabinets, scrub baseboards
    Laundry: Jeans and Colors
    Tuesday
    Bedrooms: Dust, Vacuum floors, clean windows (rotate each week)
    Laundry: Girls clothes
    Wednesday
    Kitchen: Clean out fridge, clean microwave, clean windows,
    Mop kitchen, dining room and living room
    Laundry: White clothes, white towels
    Thursday
    Make Grocery list, clip coupons, check store ads for price matches
    Dining room: Wipe off legs of table, clean windows and curtains (bi-weekly)
    Laundry: Colored Towels and Delicates
    Friday
    Dust living room, clean and mop playroom
    Laundry: Daniel and sheets/bedding
    Vacuum rugs and couch
    Saturday
    Catch up on things that may not have got done through the week.
    Work outside.
    Mop living areas
    Laundry: 2 loads of “catch up” laundry
    Sunday
    Enjoy your family, rest!



    Now, I can’t take all the credit for this routine. I have tweaked it through the years, and after finding Time Warp Wife, tweaked it some more. It has been a huge help to me, and for the most part has stayed the way it is currently for over a year.

    Now, on paper it may look like a lot but it is really not. When I get up (normally an hour before the kids 6-6:30 ish) I start out with my Bible time. This is MY time, and if I do not get this it affects my whole day. Then I spend some time writing/blogging. When the kids get up we start our chores together. I feed them breakfast while they are doing their chores, and I clean my kitchen, put away dishes, sort or start laundry…you get the idea. These are my daily chores. They get done in the morning, and sporadically throughout the day as needed. The extra chores like dusting, vacuuming, bathrooms, I do not have a “set” time to do those. Some days it may be in the evenings, some days in the mornings or while the baby is napping. I do them as I get to them. And some days…they don’t get done at all!

    If you are struggling with keeping up, talk to your husband about what matters most to him. For mine it is wrinkled clothes, and a clean kitchen. So I make sure those are #1 on the priority list. I don’t make these #1 because he is a tyrant, but because he is my husband and I love him. I want him to be proud of our home, and be happy with the way I am taking care of it and our children. Your husband’s may be different. But talking to him may help you put your priorities in order and give you some perspective about what can be put off until there is more time.

    While I do think keeping a clean home is important I also believe that as moms of little ones we have to give ourselves grace. There are going to be days things don’t get done. As long as we have done our jobs to the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:31) then we can give ourselves this grace. We need to make sure we are saying YES to the things that matter, like our kids, not a drama on TV that we probably shouldn’t be watching. So there will be days that we said YES to a messy project, and NO to cleaning the toilet. There will be days that we said YES to a teething baby, and NO to dusting the bookshelves. This is okay! Our home is our sanctuary and we do need to take care of it to the best of our ability but our little ones are only going to be little for a while. So make sure to also take the time to enjoy them!

    Guest post by Misty @ Mimi’s House