Family Schedule: Monday

So in Part One, I showed you what a week at the Howard House looks like and in Part Two shared my reasoning for why and how I felt decluttering was a super important step before cleaning could even happen. Now I want to go into further detail on what I actually do on each day.

On Mondays I tackle the Kitchen and Laundry!

I grouped the kitchen with my laundry day that way I can scrub the kitchen, then throw the cleaning towels into my hot load. I scheduled the kitchen on Mondays because some how, over the weekend, the place just gets totally trashed. For the kitchen, I usually use Ajax to scrub my white sink(obviously someone who never has to clean a sink designed a white sink - eye roll)and counter tops. I have usually run the dishwasher the night before so that gets unloaded. I try to reorganize my shelves and take inventory of what we are getting low on. This really helps my menu planning and why not do it while I'm moving and wiping down items anyway. I wipe down the cabinet fronts and drawers, and once a month, I get out the wood polish and oil my cabinets. I try to washout the fridge and organize it while I'm taking inventory too. I sweep and use the wood cleaner on the floor and at the end of the day, I lay out the clean rug that I've washed!

When I stay on top of this and do it every week, I've found that it only takes me 30-45 minutes to clean the entire place down and be finished. I've also found that when the boys see me doing this in the kitchen, I'm blessed with a nice amount of quiet time! It's a great time to pop in a sermon tape or some praise music!! Maybe they are scared I'm going to make them work?? I haven't cleaned the inside of my dilapidated oven since moving in the house, anyone have a great way of doing this??

The laundry also got moved to Mondays because I try not to do any real work during the weekend and by Monday it is super full. I usually end up doing two loads of laundry on Monday, a warm load and a hot load. I'm so blessed to have a new washer and dryer at this house and they hold a TON! We've been dealing with a diaper rash with Morgan, so we've had to switch to disposable diapers for a while in order to heal his cute tiny heiny, but normally I would have a third load to do as well. Washing is the easy part, putting it away seems to be my nemesis. Since I've started with the schedule it has been much easier as I feel true accomplishment when I can check it totally off my list for the day! I've also found that if I get it all started early, I can carry the boy's clothes upstairs at nap time and then, poof, I'm done!!!

Are there any great tips you could share to make kitchen cleaning any easier? Anything you do in your kitchen or laundry room that has helped you get it all done faster or better?? I would love to hear!

Family Schedule: Part Two

So in Part One, I talked about what my week looks like in just a quick overview form. I'm really hoping that by getting all these habits started now, by the time a third child enters our home in June it will feel like old hat. My other goal while doing all of these things is to declutter each area as I go.

I read a statistic the other day that said ~ cleaning a house that is cluttered and messy takes 40% longer to clean than an organized house!

That means if I usually spend an hour cleaning everyday, that if my house is cluttered with papers, junk I'm not using, and toys that aren't being played with, I'm spending an extra 24 minutes a day wasting my time!! I don't know about you, but I know a TON of things I could do in 24 minutes - FUN THINGS!!

My other reason for really wanting to get organized is that it's just nice to have a peaceful and welcoming home. I've always wanted to have a home where I could open my door and welcome in anyone at anytime and I'm almost there. We've be able to bless many other people with things we don't need anymore and it's just freeing to have a home for everything. Not to brag but the new kitchen island I got for Christmas has three lighters in it for candles and is TOTALLY empty other than that. I'm wondering if I can put non-kitchen items in there, you know, like off season clothes and underwear, hehe.

I'm not sure if I'm doing this stuff right, but I would love to hear what you do as I share all next week about what each day looks like. If you have suggestions, ideas, cleaning cheats, or things that didn't work I would love for you to share!

Brothers

Family Schedule: Part One

So the last time I blogged about goals it landed me in and out of the ER for the next three day and then an overnight admit to the hospital.....so we'll see what this throws my way! I always love that just when you think you have things figured out, God has a sense of humor and knocks you on your behind!

In an effore to meet goal #3 and #5 for the new year, I really felt like I needed to get on some sort of schedule. I always had a rough plan in mind but the weekend would roll around and I would realize I hadn't really accomplished any full tasks and I would have to OVERHAUL clean. Not only was this hard on me, but Tom, who works so hard already, was having to help out alot! He doesn't mind and does it with a happy heart, but I didn't feel this was really fair. This also started cutting into our family/free time and this is not what I wanted to spend those precious hours on.

So this past week, I really started writing down my plan. It has evolved over the week as I realized some rooms are better to do on certain days and certain rooms can't share a day with another chore.

So here is a peek into what my week looks like.

I'm hoping by sharing it will keep me accountable and I will get to hear some tips, tricks, and schedules that you follow!

Mondays: Laundry & Kitchen

Tuesdays: Dining Room & Playroom

Wednesday: Bathrooms & Living Room

Thursday: Laundry & Bedrooms

Friday: Bills & Filing

Saturday: Family Movie Time

Sunday: Family Sunday

Do you follow a schedule or does going with the flow make your life easier? Do you have a plan for the week?

Family Fun at the Bouncy Barn

We were so happy to get some super cheap passes off of Groupon and were able to go to the Bouncy Barn for the first time last week!! It was such a treat and was a nice break from sleeping in the ER the night before.

It was supposed to be our long family weekend, but with two ER visits and an overnight stay at the hospital after being admitted we just barely squeezed in some fun! Daddy did all the work while I read a book and took picture!!

I love how good to the boys sleep after bouncing off so much energy!!! I hope we can visit again!!

Morgan had the best time in the ball pit!! He loves balls, and he loves saying "Ball" it's so cute!!

Playing Catch-up: Christmas

Our house with the lights!

Oh Christmas Tree!!

Our "banquet hall" I mean dining room. We hosted 12 people!! It was so fun!!

Opening up presents with Mama!!

My Truck!

New jammies!! We are addicted to Cars!

I hate character clothes but jammies are the one place I can stand it!

Trying out my new scooter from Nana and Papa while wearing my new play hat!!
The boy loves hats!!

We hope your Christmas was as great as our!!

Thrifty and Nifty Thursday: 105% Savings!!!

So I left the house this evening for the first time since Saturday, you know except for visiting the ER and hospital numerous times over the past 5 days!! Anyway, I had a great coupon that we had received when we moved to Sapulpa to Drug Warehouse. I was skeptical but it said it was worth $20 and to use it like cash!

So I got all the stuff above plus two ice cream sandwiches for a treat!! My Grand total was $20.23, then I had a $2.00 off coupon for the hair color, yes I color my hair, my dad just now got that....heheh! So when she hit the $20 coupon, she said, "Looks like I owe you $1.75." Huh-what??? And she proceeded to give it to me. I still can believe I got paid $1.75 to buy all this stuff, especially the $9 box of hair color!!! The Lord is good!!

A Fresh Start!

I love making lists!! I love checking off the things that I've accomplished - it's so fulfilling!!! Since it is a new year and things have now slower down from the holidays, we've decided to reevaluate some things.

1.) Budgeting - our next big goal is to sell/trade the scooter and a trailer we bought in the move, and buy Tom a car. It's getting hard for me to make it to Dr's' appointments and other necessary appointments these days - I'm still on the fence about it since I only need the car about 3 times a month, but it was a good run for two years with just our one car. We also are going to try and lower other expenses in order to cover the new cost of additional gas and insurance, this way we can keep our same $500 going to savings each month. Tom said we can look at the budget tonight...I'm giddy!!

2.) Menu Planning - in order to start from scratch and get us back on track, January is going to be an official "Eat us out of house and home" month. My goal is to not buy anything besides milk and things that are a MUST to complete a meal I already have in my cabinets!! I'm so excited, my goal is to spend under $100 on groceries this month to recoup some money from hosting 12 people twice over November and December, not to mention we have plenty of food in the house and I would love to have empty cupboards to scrub and clean at the end of the month!!!

3.) Cleaning - With baby number 3 on the way, I'm feeling the need to nest and get organized!!! I'm beginning to get some strength back on some days, so I've jumped in full swing with packing away outgrown clothes, cleaning out cabinets in the laundry room and bathroom, and have even re-organized the school/play closet. My goal is to have us pared down to essentials by the end of the month so that my life will be easier and our family time wont be wasted on cleaning and tidying the house constantly. I'm also hoping to implement a new weekly schedule to stay on top of the cleaning, just so I'm not overhauling the house one day a week, who has the time and energy??

4.)Prep for Baby - I'm also trying to get a jump on sewing new things for the baby. With Morgan, I waited until about month 7 to really get things completed, but I'm hoping that throughout January and February I can get most of my things sewn together. I've already got the diaper bag pieces all cut out and they are ready to assemble. Now all I have left is two pair of little slippers, a changing pad, blanket, and some bibs.

5.) Family Time - We have had so much on our plate lately that family time as slipped to the very bottom. We have had a house full of company, been driving here and there, and I did quite a bit of contract work in December. I'm ready to go back to quiet evenings at home together and just relax. This helps the budget too, so it's a win win!! Most nights this month Tom has been home around 5:30 which is a great improvement over the last 3 months AND he has TWO long weekends this month (on call Thursdays). Next month he is house officer and we are really looking forward to him being home most days!!

I can't wait to check these goals off by (hopefully) the end of January!

Have you set any goals for this month???

I'd love to hear about them!

I'm trying to keep my lists short for each month in an effort to not get overwhelmed and burnt out. Hopefully by the end of 2011 we will accomplish all the things that God has laid on our hearts as important goals for our family!!