Keeping House || weekly chores

I mentioned in my last post about doing my weekly chore in the morning routine. I have a specific duty I do each day to make the house run a little smoother and flow. This allows for each area of the house to get attention and keep clean.

Monday- Laundry and Bathrooms

I gather ALL the laundry around the house and separate it into towels and undergarments, darks and lights. I also wash all the bedding :)

In the bathrooms, I clean it all: toilet, shower, cracks and crevices, mirror, counters- everything! I also check the rugs and the shower curtain and see if it needs washing. I will normally wash these once a month, though I'm wondering if I should be doing it more often!

Tuesday- Downstairs Dust and Detail Downstairs

I go room to room and dust everything. We have lots of Ikea wood furniture in our house and you can see every speck of dust that meets it! So this really is a must. I usually start with the living room, then do the pathway into the dining room, then the dining room. 

When I "detail" the downstairs, I pull up all the couch cushions and vacuum there, pull everything out from under places and vacuum under there, pull out my boxes and make sure everything is organized and wipe down appliances and cabinets. I also go around and clean pictures on the walls and the electronics.

Wednesday- Clean out the Fridge

And that's all I do! I clean out the fridge and that's it! Wednesday is my day of rest in the middle of the week. But I clean out the fridge, throw that out then come back and clean the shelves and such. I replace the baking soda case every week because I'm highly OCD sometimes and prefer to not cut close on yucky smells. This is also the day that I make inventory on my items that I may need from the grocery store as far as produce goes. 

Thursday- Upstairs Dust and Detail Upstairs

Again, I go room to room and dust everything. I usually start in the bedroom and dust there, then go to the office. Not too many places to keep up with. 

Similarly, when I detail the upstairs I vacuum everything, pull things out, clean out the closet and vacuum that, then under the bed, the mattress- again OCD, and I organize all of our bins. We LOVE our Ikea Expedit series furniture!

Friday- Bake Day and Windows

Friday is fun day for us! Sometimes Jon can work longer days during the week and get Friday off but he always comes home in a wonderful mood! My chore is windows for Friday. I go around, vacuum the window sills and wash the windows- a very boring chore that so often gets forgotten about :)

Friday is also bake day! I will bake a fun treat for the weekend. The house always smells amazing on on Fridays. I also love to make homemade applesauce on this day, too! Mmmm. Apples and cinnamon! I pack Jons lunch so I always make sure this is eaten! I will also bake bread once a month and prepare for the next weeks meals on this day.

Saturday and Sunday

Saturday is fun day for us. After my morning workout, we do something fun with each other. It varies every week, but it's probably both of our favorite day! It's also Jons only day to sleep in, so he appreciates my morning workout! 

Sunday is church day and our day of rest. We take afternoon naps, do not worry about any "work" and just appreciate our blessings! Sometimes we'll go do something in the afternoon, but it's always a family occasion ;)

And there ya go! Even more of a glimpse into our day to day. Of course, this is a goal, but most days I do it! It feels good to get it all done with and not leave anything out. I'm a checklist kind of girl!

Keeping House || day to day

I've been lazy. Very, very lazy. I thrive off routine, I need it to function throughout the day. I quite my out of the home job to be a better housewife and wife in general. We prayed about it fervently and really felt like this was the best. Additionally, we have one car, so we were spending more in gas than I was making at my current job. But when the housewife isn't preforming housewife duties, there's a problem.

When Jon was deployed, I had an awesome routine, Separated into morning, afternoon, and evening. Super fast and easy. Got everything done. Then when he came home for R&R, it crashed. My routine changed and I was at a loss. Things got out of hand very quickly. My house was a mess and I was a mess. Anxiety quickly went up and I spent a lot of time outside the house, wasting gas. Who wants to be in a messy house?? I've noticed myself becoming like that, again, so I am changing it. I have finally developed my new routine.

Morning

I wake up at 6:00 with my husband and make him breakfast and pack his lunch. Then I get my breakfast ready: smoothie, banana, eggs. Then I have my devotions. Every morning I read the book of Galatians. It is such an uplifting and humbling book in how we should carry out our day to day! I read my devotion for the day and my study passage. I do the Kay Arthur inducitive method so I make notes and symbol my Bible right up! If I'm making dinner in the crockpot I start it now. Then I get started on my day.

In the morning:  I unload dishwasher, clean breakfast dishes, dust dining room table, sweep dining room/kitchen/bathroom, wipe down bathroom, wipe down kitchen, vacuum living room, feed the animals, clean the kittys litter box and do my chore of the day. 

Then, I do my workout of the day. Currently, that is Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred! She really beats you up! Slowly but surely I will loose these 20 pounds I've put on from marriage! That's my first goal :)

At 9am, I go on a 3 mile walk with a dear friend of mine and her son. It's refreshing to get out and breathe! We talk and support each other in our weight loss goals, it's wonderful to have someone go through it with you. Plus, I get a nice tan going out! We usually finish around 11 after stops for the baby and such. Then I come home, shower, eat lunch and start my afternoon routine.

Afternoon

Normally, my afternoon is my free time. Tuesdays and Thursdays it's dedicated to Stampin Up. Most of the time, I take it easy though. Once I start school again, this will be the time I get that done. I will read a book, watch TV, take a nap, surf the internet, blog, organize something or work on my list of things to get done. Maybe do my nails or bake something fun! I also schedule my appointments for this time. About 3:30-3:45 is when I'll start dinner if it's not already in the crockpot. I tidy up the house and try to make it as inviting as possible for my hubby to come home to. I light a few candles and make it smell pretty. I get myself ready: fix my makeup (even though he tells me I don't need it- HA), check my hair and my perfume.

Evening

This starts when hubby gets home! I look forward to it every day! Usually dinner is ready when he gets home. We've started to make a point to eat together at the table :) He prays and we eat and talk about our day. We then have a couples devotion. After dinner, he has some unwind time and will usually play video games. I clean up dinner and take Griffon out on a walk! We don't walk long, usually only 30 minutes unless Daddy comes with us! When I get back from the walk, he will turn the video games off and we will have couple time until bedtime, 10pm. We will play board games, watch a movie, play cards, watch TV or go somewhere fun! I begin my bedtime routine (yes...don't judge!) around 9:00pm, giving him a few more minutes to get some gaming in! What can I say, the boy loves video games! After I get done and ready, I come down and do a quick sweep for the morning! We always head up together!

And that's my day! I feel soooo much better when I follow this routine. I do very good when I can cross things off and know everything is done!