Routines, Routines, Routines……Love or Hate Them??  

Over the summer all of our household routines go out the window.   Every year I promise myself that I will keep up with things over the summer and I never do.   But quite honestly, who cares!   That is the great things about routines, you just jump right back into them where you are, when you are ready.  For me that usually means the month of August.   As soon as I start seeing school supplies in the stores….I feel the need to get organized.   Of course, buying office supplies make me renew my desire to be more organized.   

I have posted over and over again about routines and how important they are.     But trust me once you start following a routine consistently, you will be singing their praises as well!  I have a real love/ hate relationship with routines.  I love to make them and feel so motivated thinking about them, but hate having to do them week after week.   But generally the wonderful feeling of being organized, out weighs my hate of doing the task.  

Being organized saves me time and money!  Have you ever been looking for something that you need right now, but end up buying another one because you can’t find the one you *know you have somewhere in your house.  That has happened to me too many times.  Actually right now, I know I purchased a paint scrapper, but can’t find it.  ARGH!!   My routines help me to stay more organized, which in turns helps me to locate things by putting things in their place. 

Every year, I adjust my routines a bit to meet my current needs and the things going on in my life.    I have actually spent the last few days working through my routines on paper for this coming school year.   

Two weeks ago, I started my new daily routine, which is going very well.  

If you are interested in what it includes, here is my revised daily routine:

MORNING (remember I am not a morning person)
Make My Bed
Make Tommy Breakfast
Switch Laundry

AFTER WORK
Reboot Laundry
Make Supper
Clean Off Tables
Check Backpack/Homework

EVENING
Wash Dishes
Wipe counters
Sweep Floor
Fold and Put Away Laundry

 By doing theses simple routines each day this week I have seen great improvements in the condition of our home by the time the weekend is here.  I am caught up on my laundry – no more Mt Washmore!   I can’t remember the last time I was caught up on laundry.   Tommy and I have been out the door each morning with no arguments.    I know my attitude sets the tone for the morning with Tommy.  If I am frazzled, I don’t have the patience with him that I should.    And honestly, a bad start to my day at home taints my entire day!  

This week, I focused on continuing to do my daily routine as well as adding the weekly cleaning schedule into my routine.

Monday – Dust House
Tuesday – Clean Bathrooms
Wednesday – Wash Floors 
Thursday – Vacuum House
Friday – Menu plan/ Prepare Shopping List or Clean Bedrooms
Saturday – Wash Sheets and Towels – Pay Bills/Budget Meeting
Sunday – RELAX

I used to clean my house every weekend.  I started to feel like I had too few hours off and that I didn’t want to spend my weekend cleaning.   So this week I tried doing a bit of my weekly cleaning each day.  LOVED IT.  By the time the weekend came, the house was still clean.  So on Saturday I stripped all the beds and washed bedding, towels and rugs, something I rarely get to.   

I really liked having a more relaxed weekend, so I think for me, spreading my chores out over the week is the way to go.   I ended up not being able to get to any of my routines on Thursday, but that didn’t matter as things were pretty clean anyways.  My house just wasn’t vacuumed until Saturday morning.   

As always, I am finding I need to adjust my routines to compliment what is going on in my life.   I hope you have been thinking about your routines and how to get back to the basics before school starts!!  I have been told by others, I just don’t have time to do a routine like this every night.   My routine and weekly cleaning takes me about an hour each night and I don’t have a dishwasher.  If you are lucky enough to have a dishwasher in your home your time spent will be even less.  I look forward to hearing how you are getting back into the swing of things before school starts.   

Hope you have a wonderful week!!!

Be Well –