(click the button above for more tackles)We are down to 3 days left of school around here and I am actually getting excited about this. The lazy days of summer are going to be here. Despite the news I just got today. - I have strep throat- which means at least one of my kiddos or hubby will probably come down with it also some time this week. ICK!! But me & the girls had a picnic in the back yard for lunch today and it was wonderful, just taking in the sunshine watching all the birds and just being with them. I take in every minute of it! So that being said, I just sat down and completed my tackle for today. I made my schedule that will make my life so much less stressful. I have a summer cleaning schedule. I am not a clean freak by any means, but it seems I get stressed easily because no matter how much I do, there is still a mess to clean up! During the school year, Monday is my big cleaning day. I spend most of the day scrubbing the house from top to bottom. But during the summer it is so much easier to do a little each day. What I do is I take my time first thing in the morning and that way I have the rest of the day for fun activities. I don't beat myself up if things get switched around, but I really do try to stick to it. I just made one general calendar for the summer, I am not completely rigid. It just helps me to stay on task and the kids understand a little better of what all needs to be done around here.
I made up chore charts for them. This is something new, but I asked each of them to pick one thing they would like to be responsible for and the rest are things like making beds and helping set the table. My philosophy and what I have told them is how much fun we have this summer depends on how much we can work together as a team. They help me, we can have more time to do fun things. We have a lot of fun things to do this summer!
I have put the calendar on here, it probably will be hard to read, it is clickable and if you want to copy to use yourself - go right ahead!
Basically it is:
Monday - Kitchen, laundry and sweeping
Tuesday - Bathrooms
Wednesday - Bedrooms, laundry and sweeping
Thursday - Living room, dining room, Toy Room, Halls and Laundry room
Friday- laundry and sweeping
Saturday - outside projects
Sunday - off!
Now I don't do the
FlyLady thing, but I did once sign up and got a few tips that I do use when I clean.
#1 is to set a timer. 15 minutes in each room or space. You are not allowed to leave that room to take anything any where else. You put it in baskets or whatever and when you are done you move things where they go. It is great how much easier it is to stay focused. I always used to get sidetracked and go from room to room never really completing any task. The max I spend each day doing these is 1-2 hours.
#2 You break the big projects into a weekly project and spend no more than one hour each day on them.
#3 Shine your sink! Don't leave dirty dishes in the sink when you go to bed at night. I always feel so much better when I come into a clean kitchen in the morning. When I come into a sink full of dishes, I am stressed before my day even really begins.
And notice I do schedule a day off. I mean there still will be messes to clean, but I am not doing anything out of the ordinary on these days.
This looks like more than it really is, but for me it makes my summer being home GREAT!!