Friday, May 22, 2009

Stay At Home Mom Life Made More Easier

Excel has saved my life!! Okay maybe I exaggerate a little, maybe something more like..... Excel has changed my life!!

Ever so tired of feeling like I did not accomplish much for the day or not being able to fit in my daily exercising that I can never find the time to do I felt a strange urge to create a doable excel sheet. I also (even though he rarely says a word) had a feeling like sometimes my husband wondered what in the heck I had been doing all day. So it has been on the fridge even though I am a hater of putting things on the fridge. (Me likey things neat and orderly)

It was there for the world to see just what mom had been up to. Cleaning wise that is.
I also put in exercise for all six days of the week. Sunday I have the day off. I only cook. Guess what? After never exercising I have done 30 min. every day this week but Wednesday. Wed. was chaos. Lawyer stuff and all. That is a miracle in itself. Here is what I did.


I could not for the life of me figure out how to post this except to take a picture. Can you read it? I hope so. I have each day of the week and then Major Room. Under major room I list all the major rooms of the house. Then I list all the chores I think are doable for the day. I have a wild 2 year old so he takes a lot of time. You know?

Since it's hard to read here is an example of Monday:

Monday

Major room

Family room

Kitchen

Sunroom

M. bedroom

M. bath

laundry room

Laundry

shop for meats

cook dinner

exercise


As I do a chore I circle it. Major room stands for this: I pick one major room a day to do a complete & thorough clean. This means sweeping, mopping, dusting, wiping down of doors, baseboards, cabinets are wiped down, washing machines are cleaned, every surface is cleaned, glass is cleaned. I pick one room a day. Then I do the other things. Under exercise I write down what I did for that day. It has kept me accountable & I have actually done it AND I feel like I have accomplished something!! Yay.

S.A.H. M. 's take a lot of poo on themselves for doing the greatest job in the world & the hardest mental job in the world. Their husbands a lot of times don't realize what they do OR especially the VALUE of having a S.A.H.M. (Stay At Home Mom) in their family. We also beat ourselves up and under value ourselves. So for me, this has been a big accomplishment as I am a goal oriented person. I also don't like the "mental guilt" I feel or slight resentment I feel when my husband doesn't think I have particularly worked hard enough that day. And if I didn't so what? Being around small children all day will make a person crazy. I like that Mike can see what Jenn has been up to all day so it removes any self doubt or feelings of failure that I place on myself.

If I do any other things/chores I write them down below. This also frees me up to take Braxy to the park once or twice a week. I don't feel like I have to everything every day. Now, since I have implemented this I have put back into place some chore schedules for the older kids to help "maintain" our home. I am nobody's maid. None of should be. Lexi is in charge of the kitchen. It is her job to keep it orderly. Of course I am still in the kitchen doing dishes & cleaning but if I don't get to it then she knows whatever I have not done she needs to complete after dinner. Brandon is in charge of the family room which includes the foyer and dining room. It's his job to pick up daily in there. Amber has the sun room which is the smallest living room area off the kitchen. They have to maintain their own rooms and bathrooms. Once it is clean, if everyone picks up after themselves & the assigned child keeps it up it will take only 5 to 10 minutes of general cleaning. It will get the big "major" clean once a week as I get to it. This way the entire house stays neat all day.

So far, it has worked. The house is neat, clean & I love it. I have the sun room left to do tomorrow. I will say that I have had to stay on them all week to pick up after themselves. I have my eagle eye out and call them back into a room when I walk by and see someone left a mess or toy or anything laying about. I figure after a couple of weeks they will be in the habit. I love that I am exercising again & I was the only thing keeping me from accomplishing my goal. I realized that about a week or two ago. I have a lot of things that keeps me from many things I want to do but exercising is something that I keep myself from doing. I don't have to be in a gym to get fit. I brought out my beloved Jane Fonda Step (she has the most amazing step video from the middle 90's. ) And I keep it in my room and even the kids are stepping to a Disney show. That's 30 minutes and they are distracted from the bore of exercising while watching Zack & Cody. (Those twins need a good spanking. Anybody with me on that one?)

Anybody else use a chore list for themselves? I am just loving this.

4 comments:

Rhonda Parker said...

I love this! I too love Excel - but that's because I use it at work all the time. Even though both my husband and I work outside the home, somehow it seems like I'm the one doing 95% of the housework! :) I really like the schedule thing, as I too need to exercise, and it seems hard to fit it in; but I know that there is time I waste and accomplish nothing - it is possible to read a book while you're sitting on an exercise bike... althought with a two year old - not so easy! :) Thanks again for stopping by my blog. Yes, Thankful Paul is very busy - he said hello to me in less than 5 minutes after I posted! I was in shock, it was so fast. :) Have a blessed day, and I agree - God gave me two beautiful girls!

Mary Ellen said...

I have a similar list but instead of by days it's just a listing of the weekly tasks that need to be done in each room. Dave has even requested that I post it on the fridge so that he can see what needs to be done and help mark things off the list as well! Like Rhonda, I still do most of the homecaring even though I work outside of the home. But I enjoy it :)

jennyhope said...

this is too convicting for me. lol

Charlotte said...

Hi Jennifer,

About the only thing that I post on the fridge is my "Honey Do" list for my husband because he tends to forget things! But even that of late has been MIA. So right now, I just say "pretty please" and hope my sweet man gets around to it!

I hope that you and your husband have a safe, happy and relaxing Memorial Day with your sweet family!

P.S. I added a link on the side of my both so that you can easily follow. So sorry but I must have missed this little housekeeping chore. Maybe I should have had a TO DO list! Only kidding.