(Since everybody always asks…)
Everyone is always asking me, “So how do you do it?” I can never really answer them. Oh, I have used my share of snappy comebacks, such as, “Very carefully,” or, “One at a time,” or the more honest one, “I don’t know.” Some days I’m not sure I really do do it!
But in an effort to answer that question, here is a list of my basic daily routines. I developed these with the assistance of the FlyLady system. Thanks to her, I also have my weekly and Zone cleaning lists, which I try to work on in between my regular daily routines. I credit her 100% with our decision to have a fifth child; without her help, I could never have handled it. Lately I don’t always get everything done, like I used to, and I wish I could either make this work the way it used to, or find something better.
Some of the chores (marked with a *) are on my kids’ chore list, and are supposed to be their responsibility. I also offer up my weekly chores for them to do for extra allowance.
Morning
- Wake up, make bed, weigh in
- Light altar candle and say morning prayers
- Check the calendar and reset the kids’ chore chart
- Clean glasses (mine and kids’)
- Get breakfast
- Give Kender eyedrops (3 of them, 10 minutes apart)
- Get Kender dressed
- Take my morning vitamins
- *Hand out kids’ multivitamins
- *Clear and wipe table
- *Reboot dishwasher and wipe counters
- *Clear bottle recycling
- Exercise
- Meditation
- Daily blogging
- Shower and dress
- Clean my bathroom
- *Reboot laundry
- *Clean litter boxes
- *Feed and water cats
- Brush Kender’s hair and teeth
- *Clean kids’ bathroom
- 5-minute pickup
- Plan dinner
- Circle time for Jarod and Kender
Lunch
- Fix and eat lunch
- *Clear and wipe table
- *Reboot dishwasher, wipe counters
- Take my lunchtime vitamins
- *Reboot laundry
- 5-minute pickup
- *Take Kender outside for recess
- School time for Jarod and Kender
Snack
- Fix and eat snack
- *Clear and wipe table
- *Reboot dishwasher and wipe counters
- Take my snacktime vitamins
- Check mail
- Desk time (paying bills, scanning papers, etc.)
- *Reboot laundry
- 5 minute pickup
- Check schoolwork for older kids
Dinner
- Fix and eat dinner
- *Clear and wipe table
- *Sweep dining room
- *Reboot dishwasher, wipe counters
- Shine kitchen sink
- *Sweep kitchen floor
- *Take out kitchen trash
- *Reboot laundry
- Bathe Kender
- Give Kender eyedrops (3 drops, 10 minutes apart)
- Bedtime story for Jarod and Kender
- Bedtime
And now the adults get some adult time…which tends to be taken up by either work or exhaustion, mostly. Oh well…
…And then I get to do it all again tomorrow! That is how it is done.