Keeping House

As a home keeper, there are some things I'm good at: keeping the house clean, doing laundry, managing our schedule. In a nutshell, my main advice is when you come across a task either do it immediately (unless you're in the middle of another task) or write it on a To Do List that you actually work on. If you have a To Do List that you ignore, don't write anymore things on it.

Cleaning the House

Every day, I do a different chore. Mondays=laundry; Tuesday=clean upstairs; Wednesday=clean basement; Thursday=clean main floor; Friday=whatever else needs to get done (usually a load of laundry and making a grocery list). I sweep the kitchen floor at least once a day. Jamey, it seems, is incapable of walking through the kitchen without scattering two pounds of dirt. Also, we have a rule that a game, toy, etc. needs to be put away before another one can get taken out. So, if the kids are painting, the paint, paper, brushes, everything, needs to be put away and the table cleaned up before they can play Candyland or do a puzzle. The only exclusion is the playroom. They destroy that room in about 32 seconds, so we pick up the toys in there about twice a week.

Doing Laundry

I have an entire day devoted to getting the laundry done. And even though it's Monday, I start on Sunday night after the kids go to bed. That way, right away on Monday morning, there are clean clothes in the dryer to fold, and I feel like I have a leg up on the task. I'm not just waiting around for the wash and dry cycle. Sometimes there are three loads, sometimes there are seven. Sometimes, it all gets done; sometimes it doesn't. But I like having a day set aside to make sure all the dirty stuff is washed.

Managing the Schedule

This is where the iPhone and internet is a game-changer. We use Google Calendars and would have a real hard time using anything else. We have eight separate calendars all shared between Jeremy & me: Amanda, Amanda's training & races, small group; the kids; Solt family; birthdays & anniversaries; Jeremy; Jeremy's training & races. That way every event on the calendar is color-coded so we know who's doing what when. And if Jeremy doesn't want to see the kid's calendar, he doesn't have to.  It's so easy to whip out the phone when someone wants to schedule something. I can see if Jeremy has something scheduled, how long his workout is for the day, if we have four other play dates that week, etc. The really excellent thing is that Jeremy & I can both add and edit events without talking about it. If there's nothing on the calendar, we're available.

We've just added two more calendars to our view. Bethany shared her training calendar and "regular" calendar with us, so we can coordinate babysitting and training to fit everyone's schedules.

There are things I'm not as good at

Making creative meals, using coupons, ironing, doing art projects with the kids, doing a family devotion

If you have any tips for me, please let me know.