The New Maid

I wish I was making an announcement about the new cleaning lady who'll be coming over to our house once a week...but alas, the cleaning lady is still plain old me, upgraded to Maid 2.0 with a new plan of action.  After our big clean of the house this past weekend, I really, really wanted to get crackin' on the cleaning schedule.  I intended to create one after the last big clean...but it didn't happen.  So I set to work on that yesterday, and after some searching, I found a template that I thought could work for me.  This isn't the first cleaning schedule I've created--my first one was scribbled hastily on a scrap piece of paper, and it stayed in my nightstand drawer for a few moves.  Why was it in my nightstand drawer, you ask?  Because I wrote it after I went to bed late one night, when inspiration hit me and I thought, "I need a cleaning schedule to make life more manageable!"  I crawled out of bed, found a scrap of paper and a pen, and wrote out the bare bones of a plan.  I want to say that was at least 4 years ago?  In case you couldn't guess, a piece of paper shoved in my nightstand has not at all helped me keep my house clean.  That first attempt at a cleaning schedule (and all my research since that has unfortunately not resulted in anything concrete) was at least a little helpful in that it gave me some direction when creating my new, improved cleaning schedule:

it looks good, so I'm hopeful that it's functional as well!

As you can see, the schedule is already hanging on my fridge, right next to our calendar.  I'm hopeful that checking the schedule will become part of my morning routine, so I'll know what's on the docket for the day.  I tried to give myself a lighter load earlier in the week, because Mondays are short days for Abby at school (which therefore cuts into my naptime hours to get anything done), and Tuesdays are busy with Jake's gymnastics in the morning.  I'm not sure how only doing laundry twice a week is going to work out--I will probably have to add extra loads here and there since Dan has a habit of springing things on me (like, "Honey, I'm going to bed since it's almost midnight...oh, I meant to tell you that I spilled coffee all down the front of my uniform today, so I need it to be washed before tomorrow..."), but if I can make it work on Mondays and Thursdays, I'll be pleasantly surprised.  I don't know if you can see the detail of my schedule from that picture, but I put certain tasks in bold font--those are the "deep clean" tasks, and I tried to space them out so that I do light cleaning most days, with one day a week devoted to a deep clean in one area of the house (bathrooms, kitchen, floors, etc).  Hopefully this will keep me from having to "company clean," which has been my ad hoc cleaning schedule for the last few years...and we don't have company over nearly enough to keep this house clean on a regular basis!

The Company Clean--my previous haphazard approach!

I'm sure I've forgotten some crucial things that should be on the schedule, so I will tweak it this month and have a better product next month.  The stars must have aligned to make the timing right on me finally setting up a schedule--yesterday was the first Monday of the month, and I was able to start my schedule on Week 1, Day 1.  That totally pleases the OCD in me!  :)  I had done laundry on Sunday (not knowing my new schedule would call for Monday laundry), so I spent yesterday doing a few more loads, as well as folding and putting it all away!  I know this will make Dan happy--I think one of his least favorite things is overflowing laundry baskets all over the floor.  So I've already checked off the tasks of one day, and the sense of accomplishment I derived from checking them off will definitely keep me on schedule.  Hooray for my new cleaning schedule!  Please tell me I'm not the only person who gets excited about stuff like this!  :)

The List vs. the Time Suckers

I wrote my list of things to do today last night before I went to bed...and I think I may have been a little ambitious.  I had sort of a dual-list going--I wrote down the things that I really wanted to get done that have been bugging me or that needed to get done today at the top of the list, and then I wrote down my hopefully-will-get-done tasks at the bottom of the list.  Then I realized that I had a few more things to add that needed to get done, but I had already drawn my line and there was no room at the top of the list...so I wrote those extra things at the bottom, and my list got all jumbled.  I almost rewrote the list entirely (yes, that's seriously how anal I am), but I opted to just go to bed and deal with an imperfect list.  The list was a good motivator this morning--I felt very on-task as I consulted the list and starting checking things off.  I wrote a few "gimmes" on there that HAVE to get done every day so that I would guarantee myself the satisfaction of crossing at least a few things off...is that cheating?  I hope not, because it felt great to cross a few things off pretty early in the morning!  I still have a lot pending on the list and the day is quickly getting away from me.

my 4pm progress...not great!

Even with the list, I've been distracted--Jake's train needed new batteries (both the remote and the train itself...where did I put the 9V batteries??), I posted a bunch of stuff for sale on the sale site here and people are coming by to look at things and buy stuff (very time-consuming!), and during Jake's nap time, he opted not to sleep and instead opened up his piggy bank and showered his whole room with coins.  So much for my getting-stuff-done time.  Just as I was coming back downstairs from that clean up effort, the biggest time-suck of them all arrived in the mail: our Christmas cards.  I knew they were coming (hooray for me for being on top of things and ordering them already!), but now they are here...and I have to open the annual one-woman Christmas card factory.  The factory hours are awful and the pay is literally nothing, but it's a dirty job and someone has to do it.  It's such a process--I have to print our (much made fun of) Christmas newsletter, fold said newsletter in a way that it fits well in the slighty-too-small envelope, write a personal message/sign each newsletter, stuff the newsletter and photo card into the envelope, address each envelope, stamp each envelope, seal all the envelopes, and mail them.  It is going to take me hours, and honestly, I don't even want to open the box and start the process!  The box is currently taunting me on the counter.

such a menacing little box

Despite all my protests, I really love Christmas cards.  I love sending them to 80 of our closest friends and family all over the country (and world!)--some folks we've known since we were born, some folks we've met at previous duty stations, some folks getting our card for the first time this year.  I write a ridiculous Christmas newsletter chronicling our family adventures by month for the whole year--Dan endlessly derides my efforts and says no one wants to read about our lives in such detail, but I don't really care.  :)  I seriously love reading other people's newsletters--I get disappointed when we get a photo card with nothing written on it...  I think Christmas cards should be personal--a (somewhat quaint) way to connect with friends and family in an impersonal world.  I love reading cards and getting a little glimpse into their lives and years.  When I visit my parents' house around Christmastime, I scrounge their counters for the Christmas cards that they have received, and then I read them--I don't even care if I know the people.  Cards are one of my favorite holiday traditions, so I guess I'd better open that box and get busy.  Hopefully I won't disappear into the black hole that is preparing Christmas cards for mailing...if you don't hear from me tomorrow, please send a search party to save me from my misery!  ;)

Mom Brain

I need a list.  My memory is phenomenal for things like song lyrics and the ridiculous things that Dan says that I can use against him at a later date, but other than that, I need a list to help me remember things.  I use a list every time I go grocery shopping--I would be lost without it.  I use a list every time we go somewhere, even if it's just for the day, to make sure I don't forget something crucial, like Alex's favorite lamby or the kids' coats.  For long trips, like our crazy vacation this past summer (to NY for a wedding, then to Disney World for 4 days, then to the beach for a week), I had 4 typed pages of stuff we needed for each leg.  I just am a list person.

A snippet of my Disney/beach packing list...

My need for a list has gotten worse over the last few years, but I've really noticed my memory failing me lately.  I call it Mom Brain, and it has gotten worse with each kid.  Michelle Duggar must be like a lobotomy patient by now.  Even with my trusty list, I sometimes forget things...which never ceases to baffle me.  If it's on my list, then it should be in the car with us...but somehow that's not always the case.  Sometimes I forget to check my list...which makes me wonder if I need a list to remind me to check my list.  This is not good.  My memory clearly isn't as good as it once was, and I'm starting to think that I need a daily list of some kind to keep me on track.  In order to be a Good Housewife and feel like I'm accomplishing something (anything!) every day, I need to be able to focus--a list might help me do that.  Here is what my mornings usually look like (based entirely on this morning's particular nonsense!):

• Wake up, get the kids' breakfasts and make Abby's lunch (I just recently wrote myself a list for her lunchbox contents, because even though it's been the same every day for the last 2 years, I still struggle to remember when I'm half asleep)

Abby's lunch list...on the fridge!

• Get the boys out of their diapers--I need more wipes, so I grab a new pack and throw the empty refill in the direction of my computer
• Start emptying the dishwasher
• Discover that I'm really hungry--sit down to have my breakfast
• Check email and Facebook/news/blogs while I'm eating
• Remember that I need to enter Pampers Gifts to Grow points--grab the empty wipe refill bags that are laying around everywhere, and start to enter the codes
• Jake needs to go to the bathroom--help him, check on the boys to make sure the playroom isn't a disaster, play with them for a while
• Remember that I haven't finished emptying the dishwasher--go back to that project
• There's a stink bug flying around my kitchen--grab the dust buster and chase it down
• While I have the dust buster out, I may as well get up some of the dinner mess from yesterday in the dining room
• Wipe down the dining room table while I'm out there
• Find coupons that I was cutting over the weekend still sprawled out on the table...sit down to finish that project and get the coupons put away
• With the coupons are a bunch of old newspapers and junk mail--pick them up and put them in the recycling
• Geez, the kitchen counters are covered in paperwork, too...gather up the junk and go through Abby's endless school papers to figure out what to keep and what to recycle
• Jake and Alex are screaming--go into the playroom to put out the fire, play with the boys for a bit
• Remember that I haven't started the laundry yet, which I needed to do first thing this morning and it's already 10:30am...go down to the basement and get a load in
• What was I doing?  Oh yes, the dishwasher--I've only gotten the bottom rack put away thus far, so I start working on the top rack
• Call my mom, and start having a conversation about weekend plans...go to check my calendar, discover it's not on the side of the fridge, remember that I started putting dates into it this weekend and never finished
• Locate calendar in mess on kitchen counter, start entering all the kids' activities...I'm still working on February
• Hear my computer dinging--I forgot to log out of Facebook, and my sister is talking to me...go see what she has going on and realize I never entered all those Pampers codes
• Enter more Pampers codes...and while I'm at it, round up all our Kellogg's cereal boxes and enter those codes into the Kellogg's Family Rewards website
• See the two SoftSoap dispensers on the table next to my computer--I never made it to the bathroom with them after I went shopping this weekend...pick them up and put them away in the bathroom
• Where is the bath mat?  Oh no!  I washed it and left it out on the back deck to dry yesterday because it was such a nice day...but it rained last night and I forgot to bring it inside.  Ugh...
• Retrieve the wet bath mat from the back deck...go down to the basement and put it in the dryer
• I can't even walk in the basement because there is so much stuff on the floor--open a garbage bag and discover clothes that my sister-in-law let the boys borrow from my nephew...go through those to figure out what fits and what doesn't, throw the clothes in piles to be washed
• Jake and Alex are whining because they are hungry--look at the clock and realize that it's noon already and I haven't started making lunch!  Where are their plates?  Oh yes, still in the dishwasher...

these three monkeys have stolen my brain

 
My days go on and on like this, and I wonder why I never get anything done!  Dan says I bring it on myself, because none of these things are pressing or crucial (little does he know how much life would go off the rails if I didn't do most of these things...) and because I need to just finish what I start instead of bouncing around from task to task.  I say that's way easier said than done with you have a 2-year-old and a 3-year-old constantly interrupting your thoughts and plans.  I don't really think he has room to talk, anyway, because he's one of the most absent-minded people I know.  I do recognize that my easy distraction detracts from my effectiveness around the house, so I think maybe a list will help me.  I'm going to try writing a list of tasks for tomorrow morning before I go to bed tonight, and I'll report back on my progress...perhaps being able to scratch things off my list will remind me that I am actually a productive person, even if it takes me a few detours.