This Blog Has Moved!

I moved my blog on New Years Day, 2010. If you haven't come to see my new blog, head on over HERE now. This blog will be available for archive reading but I won't be posting here anymore. I hope you'll join me at my new bloggy home!

p.s. I am slowly but surely moving all the blogs I follow over to the new blog, so if I haven't come to visit you for a while, my advice is to leave a comment on my new blog, so I don't miss you in the shuffle!

About Me

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I am a bereaved mother and wife. I began this blog to help me look for the "good things" in life after my daughter, "Babybear", died in July 2005. Three years later, her daddy, my husband, "Bear", died in November 2008. (You'll find a link to their stories on my blog) And now, as difficult as it is, I continue to look for the good things in my life as I learn my new normal with my pup, "Furrybear", at my side. And the angels on my shoulder...

Saturday, January 12, 2008

SMART Habit Saturday - January (1st update)



See my original post re: January SHS here.

My SMART habit for January is to try forming schedules for myself in various aspects of my life, including cleaning, shopping, menu planning, etc.

1st update:

Not really a whole lot to update at this point. This week was very hectic and alot of things came up that were not originally planned. However, I did finally officially join FlyLady. I have been peeking at her website for over a year now but I finally decided that I will officially join and get the email prompts. I may not do everything the way the prompts come up but maybe it will help motivate me.

I have always liked the zoning aspect of it, and in fact, on my pantry door where we keep the calendar, etc. I have a list of Zones. I have on several occasions tried to make my own zoning schedule because I work outside the home and FlyLady's zoning schedule doesn't really work for me (for example she does her whole house cleaning on Mondays but I'm at work on Mondays).

With my current job as a cleaning lady (ugh!) I know that I can clean an entire house in 5 or 6 hours, so why can't I clean my own house in this same amount of time? Well, there are many reasons, such as the fact that I never really have a block of 5 hours where there isn't anything else to distract me from getting my house clean.

I should try and adopt some of my work schedule at home too. Here is what my schedule is like in each house:

  • clean each bathroom (full bath - 40min-1 hr. depending on size, half bath 15-20 min. depending on size)
  • dust entire house
  • vacuum entire house (including floors that do not have carpet)
  • wash floors
  • clean kitchen

In each home, I have a rotation schedule, which adds various chores over a 4 to 6 visit rotation. This is different in each home, depending what each homeowner wants.

My home is much smaller than most of these homes, so I know I can do it, I just need to DO IT. Just before Christmas, I actually DID this one day, with a bit of help from my husband. So I know it can be done!

It sure would be nice to start from scratch, because in addition to just cleaning, I find that I need to organize everything as well. For example, I can't just pile up the papers on the desk, I need to look through them, which of course eats up a good chunk of time!

I would love to hear what YOU do. Feel free to leave me a comment!

6 comments:

Christine - Tutorial Addict :) said...

I would love to tell you what works for me - except I don't know yet!! I have also decided to set up a routine for the household this week/month/someday soon. When you get yours set up let us know if you have any tips for us other routine loving ladies! Have a SMART week!

Rebecca said...

I had a schedule that blocked out my time but I need to write up a new one. When I had my schedule I had zones similar to what you described assigned to different days. Some things like doing the dishes were a daily thing, laundry would get two days, sweeping is a daily thing but mopping was once a week. I've realized that before that kind of schedule for cleaning is going to work I need to get the organization out of the way. So I'm working on each room until it is done, while surface cleaning the rest of the house. Once my kitchen is reorganized cleaning I think will be faster and having it look nice to begin with will motivate me to keep it clean.

Have a great week! I hope you find something that works for you. And I can understand not wanting to clean your house after cleaning other homes all day, I'd burn out on cleaning really quick.

Dawn said...

I do the FlyLady thing, too. I think it works really well. I don't like how she does everything on Monday, either, so I break mine up over the week. I also delete of ton of the e-mails without reading them because they are kind of overwhelming, but at least they are reminders to get things done. Good luck on your schedules. I'm trying to do the same.

Sarah Coggins said...

I think the problem in our own homes is that we are too easily distracted by other things we need to do. Some days my house looks like it was flipped upside down, shook and then plopped back in place.

Anonymous said...

i have a cleaning schedule and I split things up over the week. monday- kitchen
tuesday-fish tank
wednesday- dust and vaccuum
saturday- laundry

etc.
It helps to not feel so overwhelmed and that I have to get everything done in one day!

Jennifer @ Fruit of My Hands said...

I really like Flylady too, although the email got to be a bit much for me. I check into her site when I need inspiration, but her attitudes really help me, like "housework done imperfectly still blesses your family" and keeping hot spots under control, making routines, etc.