Scheduling a stay-at-home-mom

I know every one, from working mom’s to stay at home moms struggle with having enough hours in a day. A common misconception is that us stay at home moms eat bon-bons while we watch soap operas and spend the rest of the day at the park. Trust me, that’s so not true!  There is a lot to accomplish in a day. I can easily find myself completely absorbed in cleaning the house all day long. It always feels like there are dishes to be done, laundry to be folded, floors to be cleaned, etc… Yet, on the other end, there are stories to be read, parks to be visited, crafts to do, classes to attend, homework to do, etc… and these conflict with each other on a daily basis, Monday thru Friday. Weekends are almost more challenging to find the balance since dad’s home and I want to give him a clean relaxing house to unwind in and we want to spend time with the kids doing fun things, not cleaning the house.

My solution is the one hour time blocks. I use a kitchen timer to keep myself on track for one hour cleaning spurts. It keeps me organized, on time and prevents me from getting overly detailed on a general project. I spend 1 hour in the AM and 1 hour in the PM each day doing clutter detail. Going from room to room in my house with a laundry basket picking up clutter and replacing it where it belongs. I start in my bedroom, pick up anything that doesn’t belong, stash it in the basket then move on to the game room, living room, kitchen, then on down the hall. I drop things off from in my basket only when I get to that room in my rotation. Does that make sense? In other words, if I pick up something in my bedroom that belongs in the girls’ bedroom, I don’t head directly there to drop it off, I keep it in the basket until I work my way back to their room. So, my basket is a constant rotation. During the clutter hour, I straiten books on the shelves, swipe down the counter tops with the stray towels that are inevitably around, I fluff the pillows, make the beds, run the vacuum and wash the dishes. Again, this is not detailed, this is just making the house look appealing at first glance. It keeps my house “company ready.”

Each day of the week I dedicate 2 hours to specific, detailed, tasks. Monday is laundry, Tuesdays is dusting, Wednesday is bathrooms and windows, Thursday is floors and cabinets/walls, Friday is bedrooms and catch up. I also take 1 hour every day just to myself. That’s my time to shower, read, play video games, what ever makes me happy and does not involve cleaning, kids or cooking. The final 1 hour block is dedicated to cooking. I also set aside 20 min’s after dinner to do the dishes and final sweep of the house so it’s pretty to wake up to.

 Here’s what my week usually looks like:

Monday:

1 hour (before noon) – clutter clean up

Rotate laundry from dirty, to washer, to dryer to couch

2 hours detailed – folding laundry and putting it away

1 hour (during kid’s nap) Me time

1 hour (before 5pm) - cooking

1 hour (before 6pm) – clutter clean up

20 min, after dinner: dishes, final sweep of the house so it’s pretty to wake up to

Tuesday:

1 hour (before noon) – clutter clean up

1 hour detailed (before noon) – dusting living room, game room, dining room

1 hour (during nap) Me time

1 hour detailed (before 5pm) – dusting bedrooms and hallway

1 hour (before 5pm) - cooking

1 hour (before 6pm) – clutter clean up

20 min, after dinner: dishes, final sweep of the house so it’s pretty to wake up to

Wednesday:

1 hour (before noon) – clutter clean up

1 hour detailed (before noon) – Bathrooms (we have two)

1 hour (during nap) Me time

1 hour detailed (before 5pm) – Windows/mirrors

1 hour (before 5pm) - cooking

1 hour (before 6pm) – clutter clean up

20 min, after dinner: dishes, final sweep of the house so it’s pretty to wake up to

Thursday:

1 hour (before noon) – clutter clean up

1 hour detailed (before noon) – floors (detailed vacuuming, hand mopping tile)

1 hour (during nap) Me time

1 hour detailed (before 5pm) – cabinets, inside and out wipe down

1 hour (before 5pm) - cooking

1 hour (before 6pm) – clutter clean up

20 min, after dinner: dishes, final sweep of the house so it’s pretty to wake up to

Friday:

1 hour (before noon) – clutter clean up

1 hour detailed (before noon) – Bedroom clean up, new sheets, toys in proper place,

1 hour (during nap) Me time

1 hour detailed (before 5pm) – Catching up on anything that didn’t get done

1 hour (before 5pm) - cooking

1 hour (before 6pm) – clutter clean up

20 min, after dinner: dishes, final sweep of the house so it’s pretty to wake up to

So, my day usually starts at 7am and ends at 9 or 10 pm. That means that in a typical 14 hour day, I am only cleaning 4 hours 20 min’s, cooking one hour and I get at least an hour to myself. The rest of the day, 7 hours or so, is taking care of the kids. We go to the park, the store, do homework, read books, play games etc. My kids know when I’m in cleaning mode that they either let me be, or help me. It’s not play time.

Does this schedule always work? Yes! Do I always do it? No! When I’m on task, it’s a great schedule that leaves me room to breath in my day and lets me go to bed at night not dreading the next day. It also lets me be flexible in when I do things; I can easily switch up any of the detailed tasks to what is an immediate need. Come on, you all know there are times when that bathroom just can’t wait till Wednesday and MUST be cleaned now. So, I just switch it out. What I also really like about this schedule is if I take a week off (or two) I don’t feel bogged down by the need to do the whole house in one day. I can just get back on schedule and know that in a week, it will all be good.

What do you think? Do-able? What kind of schedule do you use? How do you juggle everything that has to be done in a day?