I Don't Know How She Does It!*

{*"it" clearly being "blatantly blog while the floors are so grubby"}

I have been asked a couple of times about my daily and weekly routines by people who are kind enough to assume I have it "all together". (Stop laughing Mr A, maintain the illusion...) 

Now I could list my day to day doings here and hope you don't fall asleep by the second paragraph (or break in while we're at swimming and steal our six year old tv) but I thought instead I would explain how I developed our routine, as that would probably be more helpful. 

I'm not, however, going to pretend it's foolproof. I still struggle with getting everything done, but I'm the kind of person who prefers to struggle within a defined framework. ;)

Let's jump in, shall we?

Time

First up, work out what you're working with.  

If you have a high intensity baby that only naps 20 minutes a day, or you work all but three hours a week, then that's the grand sum of the time you've got. No point starting in on a housework schedule that doesn't fit your life. If all you can manage is wiping the counters daily and vacuuming once a week, then no point stressing about the window tracks! Do what you can, forget the rest until your situation changes. 

So work out what hours (or minutes!) you have available. You also need to work out what times you have set arrangements, like swimming at ten and dinner at six. Then you know your limitations and can work within them. 

I am lucky to be a stay at home mum so I have a fair whack of time to play with. Here's how I do it:

We wake in the morning, and then have about two hours before we need to be out the door. Because of organised out-of-home activities (like playschool and swimming) and the unorganised disorganised unscheduled activities like painting and gardening that we do at home, we are busy for the rest of the morning until we eat lunch (usually with Mr A) at 12:30. 

Then the girls nap for two hours from 1pm until about 3pm, and dinner prep starts at 5:30pm, we eat at 6pm, and then it's dinner clean up, bath and bed for the girls. I knock off at about 8pm, because I flat out refuse to do housework at night. 

To keep track, I draw all the information on a military-inspired timeline, like this:

{Just to make it perfectly clear: this is just an example. I DON'T actually wake up at 4am. Ever. EVER!}

So that gives me two hours in the morning, two hours kid-free in the afternoon, then about two and a half hours after nap time: six and a half hours total. Because I'm not a masochist, I don't use all these for housework! I read somewhere that housework should take about 15 minutes per household member per day, and I think this is about right, if you count housework-done-with-small-children-underfoot as taking twice the time, and a new puppy as three people. 

Tasks

Next step - work out what jobs you need done, starting with the necessities and working down to the less-than-vital. These will fall into weekly and daily tasks. Here are a couple of my examples:

Daily

• Shower
• Dress children
• Laundry
• Feed chickens
• Make bread

Weekly

• Grocery shop
• Clean bathrooms
• Change sheets

Some of these daily tasks fall into obvious locations on your schedule. Write them in first. 

Then fit the rest of your daily jobs in the gaps.

Make sure to fit in the other things that are important to you, too!

Now to the weekly jobs. 

I write the days of the week in a row, then write the set activities we have to attend underneath them (like play group or science time.) This gives me an idea of how busy we are on any given day. 

Now, some of your "to do list" chores will have obvious days they need to be done, like putting the bins out on a Wednesday. Write these chores in next. 

Others tasks can be done any time. Some will take a lot of time and energy, some will be quick and easy. Pick times during your week where your time and energy matches the task. Don't expect to find the motivation to deep clean the kitchen when you're rushed or exhausted! This will take a bit of thought and probably some trial and error, but eventually you will find a workable fit of jobs to days. 

For example, I pay the bills on Friday, a day when we are quite busy and sitting still for 15 minutes is very welcome. I grocery shop on Mondays when I have only one child in tow, and I change the sheets on a Thursday when I have the time to do a extra load of washing. 

Because my days are all very similar I can schedule in a set time on my daily time line for weekly tasks, but if you have variable days you can obviously use any suitable time you have. 

I write all this info out on a whiteboard that lives near our kitchen. Having in in a central location, where I see it all day, keeps me on track.

It looks a bit like this:

I haven't included everything on my list in this example. Not even close! I change and add to the list regularly - I'm always having earth shattering realisations that I haven't cleaned the skirting boards in a year and a half, and I should probably stick that on the list too...

I also include the children's activities on my real board, as well as any craft or lessons I want to get done with the girls that week. It's my brain. In erasable marker. (Did I mention hanging it out of the way of small kids? Do.)  

You will also notice I included a "monthly tasks" line on Fridays. That's for things like washing the dog or the windows, sweeping the back path and other stuff that isn't weekly but does warrant doing occasionally. I keep that list in a notebook and tick them off as I go.

One nice thing about having designated days for specific tasks is that if I notice the bathroom is a bit grubby on a non-bathroom-cleaning day, I give myself leave to ignore the grime, knowing it will get cleaned soon enough. Because if I cleaned the bathroom today, then the sheets wouldn't get done, starting a horrendous domino effect of undone chores... egads! 

So that's how I organise my week. 

I'd love to hear how everyone else runs theirs, I'm still new at this game and I'm sure there are a multitude of different ways to skin this same cat. So please, share away!