Whoa. It’s definitely an “accidentally pour the creamer into the French press, not the coffee cup” kind of morning.
Someone (let’s call him James) was up all night hacking his doggie brains out. I felt so bad for him. It was mostly dry heaving, so it wasn’t messy, but his little pup face looked miserable… he got sick every hour after 3:30 AM. And I got a scary glimpse into how I’ll feel after caring for a crying newborn throughout the night.
Everyone in the family is exhausted this morning. Some of us didn’t even bother to get out of bed for breakfast.
I had grand plans for breakfast but resorted to cereal. It required the least amount of brain power to prepare.
Panda Puffs, cashews, banana.
The Daily Chore Calendar
This is a timely post because I have sheets to wash after last night… eww.
One of my biggest stressors is a untidy and dirty house. That doesn’t mean that my house is spotless. Mostly, it means that my house drives me crazy because we don’t clean often enough. When I walk into the bathroom and see hair all over the floor, my blood pressure climbs. Because I tend to clean the whole house at once – a 5 hour endeavor, I always put off cleaning, even though I know it will make me feel less stressed.
So I’ve been trying to find a way to keep my house cleaner. My first attempt was a vague declaration to ‘keep my house cleaner,’ which didn’t work because three weeks passed before I cleaned anything, and then I spent 5 hours on a Sunday scrubbing the entire place. Our second attempt involved hiring a maid. First of all, can I just say that maids are awesome? You hand someone $80, go away for a few hours, and come home to sparkling house! Awesome. However, $80 a pop really added up, and we could only afford her once a month, which meant the house was dirty and stressful 2.5 weeks out of the month.
But finally – FINALLY! I have found a method that works me for. Presenting: the Daily Chore Calendar.
I put a little stick-it note on my desktop and identified one chore per day to accomplish. The first week was the worst because I had to deep-clean the bathrooms and kitchen, but maintenance is SO easy. Most days only require 15 – 20 minutes of work.
And I’ve been really motivated to stay on top of my schedule and not miss any days. A few people have come over and remarked how clean the house looked, which I LOVE. Positive reinforcement, I’m telling you!
Also, I think the Daily Chore Calendar is helping reduce my dirty-house-related-stress because I can look at my messy bedroom and think, “That will be clean on Tuesday,” not “WHEN AM I GOING TO HAVE TIME TO CLEAN THAT?! AHHH!!!” Having a schedule is really, really nice.
So – that’s my new magic cleaning trick! It makes me feel very Susie Homemaker to have a cleaning schedule. Heh.
Do you clean on a schedule?
Awww poor James! That breaks my heart for him! I hope he’s 100% soon!
And oh my gosh – the daily chore calendar!? That is AMAZING! You are definitely a girl after my own heart 🙂 I don’t usually clean on a schedule but I DO try to do a little every day so I’m never left with an overwhelming amount at one point.