I've been home now full time with my children for almost 4 months (including my maternity leave) now. My how life has changed since I was working full time outside the home. Naturally adding another child and now being a stay at home mom it was time to re work how I was doing things at home.
I'm always interested in how other people make things work, and how their days function so here's a little look at how I keep things sane around here.
The beginning of my week always starts with taking a look at my planner. This happens on Sunday night. I look and see what we have going on for the week, all of our events/appointments/play dates are kept here. It's also the place where I keep our dinner plans for the week.
The only way I can stay sane each week I'm realizing is to make a list. I make a list each Monday of all the things I want to get done that week, people I need to call, bills I need to pay. I keep it in the kitchen or next to my planner so I can see it everyday and start crossing things off my list. It helps me stay on track and not forget what I really need to get done.
When I was working full time cleaning was my nemesis. It still is, but now I have more time to get things cleaned during the week instead of waiting till the weekend to do all the laundry. At this point in my life and the season we're in with a little one I had to be honest with myself and what I can and can't do and stop feeling guilty about it. Here's a little break down of some of the major cleaning tasks I do and how I manage them:
Daily:
- each day I try and get a load of laundry done. I'm usually done with all of it by Wednesday or Thursday. Sometimes I'll do every other day if we don't have that much.
- every night I wipe down counters and make sure the kitchen is cleaned and things are put away. I hate waking up to a messy kitchen.
- pick up toys and take them back to their rooms.
Weekly:
-vacuuming.
- cleaning bathrooms/toilets. let's get real, I don't do this daily. I can't handle it, but I can do it once a week for sure. don't judge.
Now that Ava is home and not in daycare I try to schedule lunches or play dates with our friends who have kids as well so she can have some other interaction with children. We don't do this every single week, but I try to make it happen at least every other week.
I've also realized that if I don't eat lunch when she eats lunch I won't probably sit down and eat till later in the day. So to make sure I'm eating at a normal time everyday we eat lunch together everyday.
I also keep a little yellow notebook in my purse at all times to write down ideas, shopping lists, things I need to get done, etc. Basically whatever I need to remember and not forget I write down in that notebook. It helps me to remember, since I'm always forgetting things.
These days we have a new schedule, I've had to adjust what works for our family during this season of life and that's ok. In everyday I try to keep my perspective and keep my focus on the things that matter. I'm learning not to be so rigid on the routine, take the moments for what they are, take things as they come and always remember that God is first.
