My new schedule...

[KoalaMama]

I've put together a new schedule to get us organized around here, and thought I'd post it here A) in case it's useful to someone else and B) to hold myself accountable in some way.

I've broken down everything we need to do into three categories - activities (things I do with the kids), home (housework - also done with the kids) and meals (dinner - yep, with the kids :LOL ). Here's what my week now looks like on paper.

Monday:
Activities - condo playgroup, music, baking
Home - living room
Meals - leftovers

Tuesday:
Activities - coffee club, painting/modeling
Home - master bedroom, laundry
Meals - casserole

Wednesday:
Activities - handwork/crafts, baking
Home - kids' bedroom
Meals - fish

Thursday:
Activities - KM playgroup, painting/modeling
Home - den
Meals - pasta

Friday:
Activities - DC co-op preschool, handwork/crafts, game night
Home - kitchen, weekly meal plan
Meals - burgers/pizza

Saturday:
Activities - swimming, movie night
Home - bathrooms, groceries
Meals - chicken/turkey

Sunday:
Activities - home theatre (puppet show, story enactment, musical etc... this one's a stretch at this point!)
Home - big cleaning task or declutter
Meals - beef/pork

I'm breaking the cleaning tasks into manageable chunks of time rather than assuming I'll get an entire room done that day. My goal right now is two 15 minute sessions in the room of the day. Things won't be perfect in a week, but they didn't get messy in a week either, so it's a start!

I'm also hoping to incorporate the starting and ending five I read about here, and the flylady hotspots focus. But we'll see if I'm biting off more than I can chew.

We're still in week one so this hasn't been tested yet! I'm hoping I'll feel as good about it in a couple of weeks as I do here at the starting gate.

[sapphire_chan]

I really like the category idea.

Now that my house is in "company order" (defined as, I could make it ready for company in less than 30 mins with dh's help) I've decided that I need a schedule to keep it this way. I'm trying to find a balance between "all this needs to get done sometime" and "at 10:23 pm I will blow my nose" :LOL

[Elowyn]

I like it! I need to make my own version of the starting and ending five. I already tackle my hot spots first thing and last thing, but could use a few more ideas.

[KoalaMama]

I still need to get my starting/ending five down too. Baby steps...

So far the activities and meals portion of my schedule is working well. I'm still not reaching my goals on the home portion though. But I'm trying to keep that attitude that missing one day is irrelevant to the goals of the next day. That helps!

[anthasam]

That is a great idea! I think I would have laundry listed every day though

Question: What do you mean by "starting/ending five"? Thanks.

[KoalaMama]

I do laundry every day, actually. At least a load of diapers. But I wanted to assign one day where I focused on catching up so that I didn't end up with the same situation we had last week - all the laundry was done on the fly for three weeks and no load of socks/underwear! I think if I had to do all laundry on one day I'd go nuts!

Starting/ending five... There has been mention of this here a couple times. The idea is you list five things that you do as your routine at the start and end of each day. So ending five might be pick up toys, load dishwasher, load laundry, wipe down bathroom sink, sweep kitchen floor. Then starting five would be unload dishwasher, move laundry to dryer, etc... Whatever things work for you that need to be done to start/finish your day. (I'm still trying to figure out mine.)

[Proudmom]

First, I wanted to commend you on picking an awesome name for your child. I also have an Eamon.

I like the schedule. I have been having a hard time breaking my tasks into manageable chunks. I used to clean it all in one day. This is now impossible.

I am currently trying to eliminate our excess (clothes, toys, books, cds, paper, etc). This should make the house a lot cleaner and enable me to focus on smaller pieces each day.

I also like the activity piece for the kiddos.

I am definitely going to make my own list...I will be back by the end of the week...

PM

[anthasam]

Originally Posted by KoalaMama

I do laundry every day, actually. At least a load of diapers. But I wanted to assign one day where I focused on catching up so that I didn't end up with the same situation we had last week - all the laundry was done on the fly for three weeks and no load of socks/underwear! I think if I had to do all laundry on one day I'd go nuts!

Starting/ending five... There has been mention of this here a couple times. The idea is you list five things that you do as your routine at the start and end of each day. So ending five might be pick up toys, load dishwasher, load laundry, wipe down bathroom sink, sweep kitchen floor. Then starting five would be unload dishwasher, move laundry to dryer, etc... Whatever things work for you that need to be done to start/finish your day. (I'm still trying to figure out mine.)

Ah, thank you. And I was hoping it was 5 *minutes*

I'll have to think of mine. The ending 5 seems to be easier: Run dishwasher, set washing machine to start on a delay, pick-up family room, [I have some blanks to fill in, it seems!]

[yogamama]

I like the idea of having a schedule/ routine and I have made a generic list of myself of things to at least touch on every day - maybe 15 minutes each. They are:

- laundry
- tidy up around the house
- heavy cleaning - vac, dust, floors, bathrooms
- kitchen
- paperwork
- misc items that I tend to procrastinate about

So, if I actually did 15 in each category, that would be 90 minutes a day - I THINK I could manage that.

[Shiloh]

I got a suggestion for schedualling.
1. Pair activities like ironing (lol I don't iron this is my mom's) she irons, fold's laundry and watches dr. phil.

I got a meal plan idea we used to do.
Sundays I cook one turkey/chicken and 1 roast with all the veggies.
debone the chicken and make soup stock.

Then that would become:
1. Pasta with chicken
2. Roast Beef and potatoes
3. Fajhitas - chicken and beef
4. chicken and mashed potatoes
=casserole, lasagna, roastbeef sandwiches, soups, chili etc.

you get the picture but I'd cook all the meat Sundays and wrap/freeze etc.
took me about 4 hours on a sunday but dh was home..but dinners were a snap.