First, one of the most helpful things that I have done to order my life is to create a cleaning schedule. This makes sure that I get done everything that I need to in one week. It has the basic chores on it, and then I add things to it as I need to.
This is a super easy document to create and post on your fridge. It gets the basic things done in the week instead of asking, “Did I vacuum this week?” “When was the last time I cleaned the toilets?” It also puts things like dishes and sweeping on the list everyday so I will do them.
Secondly, speaking of dishes, I have even created a schedule for the dishwasher. I know that it is helpful to have an empty or near empty dishwasher after dinner so we can load the dishwasher right away. That means that we have to start the dishwasher right after lunch (most of the time it is full, but there are days when it is only 75% full) and then empty it right after rest time. This makes sure we have an empty dishwasher for when it really matters. The kids are responsible to load their plates, bowls, silverware and cups, while the girls are assigned certain days to unload the dishes.
Third, you may have noticed that Wednesday is the only day that I have listed LAUNDRY! Yup, I am one of those weirdoes who does all the laundry in one day. I like this much better than doing a little each day. In that plan I feel like I am ALWAYS DOING LAUNDRY! BUT… in my plan I do laundry just on Wednesdays unless there is a reason to do it on another day. I start this plan early in the morning when I get up. I throw the first load in the washer at 6:00, and it is SUPPOSED TO BE ALL DONE AND PUT AWAY BEFORE WE LEAVE FOR CHURCH around 4:30. Since we eat dinner at church on Wednesdays, I don’t have to prepare for dinner which saves me time. I use that time in the afternoon to get all of the laundry done. The kids get up from their rest times around 4:00 and we use the few minutes before we leave to put laundry away. They carry their own piles to their rooms and put them away. The girls are REALLY good at this, but the boys are in the training process still. It is such a great feeling to work together to get all of it done before church. There may be a stray pile or two to put away, but it is usually 95% done when we leave… then I don’t need to think about laundry for another week.
Fourth, I plan out at least a week of meals at a time. Over the weekend, I sit down and look over the plans for the week… when we have evening activities, meetings, appointments,etc., and then ask Danny his schedule to make sure we are on the same page. After I have a clear picture of my week, I see what meat we have in the freezer and build my meals around that. I have a list of meals that my family likes categorized by meat or meatless which makes it easy to remember meals to add to the plan for the week. After I have a meal idea for each night, I make a store list of items needed to complete each meal. This whole idea saves me a lot of time and frustration because I know the night before what meal we are going to have, and I can put the meat in the fridge to thaw and can even prep the meal at a lull in the morning. I don’t wait until 4:30 to figure out what we are going to have… my stress is SO MUCH LESS when I plan and then stick to the plan!
So… those are just a FEW of the secrets that I have to make things run smoothly at this Super Hero’s house! Let me know what you think and what YOU use at your house….I need as many tips as I can get!
By the way…Many ideas that I have implemented have come from a fabulous book that my Aunt Jackie gave me – it is a MUST READ for EVERY MOM… even if they don’t have a large family! It is called Large Family Logistics by Kim Brenneman.
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