Daily Routines

Once your house is pretty organized and pretty clean, having a daily routine makes it a much quicker and easier job when it comes time to do your weekly and monthly cleaning projects. This is what I do everyday...

1. Make Beds; specifically my bed. The older kids do their own. Why? See dust mite post! Plus I love the look of my bed made, it's pretty :)

2. Dishes: no explanation needed.

3. Laundry: see laundry post.

4. Straighten, Straighten and Straighten - seriously: I pick something up and put it where it should be, otherwise you get piles, lots of piles. I'll admit I make piles to go upstairs and piles to go down, but I take it with me the next time I go up or down. Unless I'm holding the baby.

5. Wipe down kitchen counters with cleaner of choice. I can't think of any other surface in the house that gets used as much as the kitchen counters, except floors. I do this at least four times a day. After each meal and then before I go to bed, I love waking up to a clean kitchen.

6. Mail: handle mail one time and decide where it goes. Garbage, recycle, coupons, things to do, or bills.

It doesn't take me long to do this, except straightening, that's an ongoing thing. When it comes time to do my weekly cleaning on Saturday* it's much easier, and quicker leaving more time to play!

*Right now my weekly cleaning day is Saturday because my husband is home and he'll take care of the baby. In the past Monday was my cleaning day simply because the house gets trashed during the weekend when everyone is home more.

Choose the day that works best for you, or do a little bit all week. I like to get it done in one day, but that's just me. Happy New Year!

Let Me Change Your Mind on Dusting...

Do you hate dusting? See these little guys, pretty gross right? They are dust mites, a member of the spider family, they feed off the organic material in household dust. Click on the links for more info. I dust at least once a week, if not more, in the summer there seems to be more dust because of the windows being open. Kids are great dusters, they take all their stuff off their shelves and dressers, dust and put it back on. My kids like rearranging their stuff, I wonder where they get that from? I'm realizing these posts might sound like my kids are little soldiers, believe me when I say they are not. They fight me a lot, but hopefully they are learning it's easier to just get it done so they can play faster.

P.S. These little guys also live in your mattress and pillows, one great reason to make your bed everyday.

A Place For Everything and Everything in it's Place

I'm going to use my husband as an example, sorry Ryan! Ryan finished our basement which was fantastic, but when he was done he left his tools and supplies in three different places, half of two shelves in the garage, part of the food storage room and so much of the utility room it gives me a headache. This is what happens; I want to hang pictures, but where are the nails, the hammer, measuring tape and the level? That's right they could possibly be in three different places, nor are they ever in the same spot twice. It takes me forever to find them! I went and bought a picture hanging kit and use my scrap booking hammer, and sewing measuring tape because I know where they are at. Why don't I just organize this huge mess for him? Because he wants to do it himself, he's afraid he won't be able to find anything if I put it away - seriously.

To save yourself time, money, energy and frustration there must be a place for everything. I going to use toys as an example. Eight years ago my son was given the Fisher Price farm. I bought a container to put all the little pieces in and stored it with the farm. We still have all the original pieces, which has been a fun toy for all my kids. By keeping like things together the kids can play with what they want, when they want to and don't have to dig for lost pieces. I got labels from my friend at Studio JK to help the kids and their friends put away the toys in the right box. I also encourage kids to clean up one thing before getting out another, but sometimes the Polly Pockets play in the Barbie's house, or the dinosaurs play in the Radix castle, no big deal. But when it's time to clean up, everything should be put away correctly, hopefully :)

My Philosophy on Laundry

I once heard a lady say "Quit trying to get caught up on laundry, because unless your willing to go naked, what are you wearing? That's right, potential laundry." So I did, I quit trying to be caught up and I simply try to keep up. As a family of six, including a darling, drooly baby, we produce a ton of laundry. This is my system, I wash and dry at least one load every day, but I refuse to sort and put away every day simply because it may possibly be my least favorite household job. If kids are old enough to help clean up their toys they are old enough to put their clothes away as long as there is a place for everything*.

Tips to cut down on laundry:
Have your kids wear their PJ's at least twice (unless they spill on them.)
Own 50 or so white wash cloths** so you don't have to fold everyday, unless you really love it. Wear your jeans more than once, unless dirty obviously, it extends the life of your jeans too!
If you have daughters (like mine) who insist on changing their clothes 10 times a day make sure when they clean up they don't just throw everything in the hamper (again, like mine used too :)

Have more tips? Leave a comment so everyone can benefit!

*Look for my post "A Place For Everything, and Everything in it's Place" coming soon
**Look for the post about my Mom's many uses of white wash cloths also coming soon.

First Things First

First things first, taking down Christmas. It took me three to four days to get all my Christmas decor up, and I expect it to take me that long to take it down. This year I'm going to go through my storage bins and make a DI (goodwill or other, whatever you use) pile, and throw garbage away, and put the stuff I want to keep away in an organized fashion. My categories are: wrapping paper/bags/ribbon/bows/tags, ornaments and other tree trimmings, kids projects, lights (in individual grocery sacks so they don't get tangled and don't forget to throw away the broken ones!) outside wreaths and garlands, inside wreaths and garlands, all other decorations. Every one's categories will vary, the idea is if stuff is put away neat and orderly next year it should be easier to get it out and up. Label the bins as well, I prefer clear bins so I can see what is in them.