Housework 101

It's taken a lot of years to get a system that I have been happy with when it comes to the cleaning of our home. We used to do all our cleaning on Saturdays, but as the kids got older we found we would rather do family stuff on Saturdays, instead of clean all day. We also like to use Saturdays to prepare food for Sunday guests.

So here is a peak at the way things run right now.

I made up job cards for every room of the house.

Some rooms like the entrance and mud room, toy room and games closet are combined.

There is a check list for every room and also some monthly jobs.

So every day each girl (or team if they team up with a boy) cleans the designated room for that day and does one monthly job.

We do the monthly jobs instead of spring or fall cleaning. I found that I never 'got around to' a good thorough cleaning, so breaking it up into monthly jobs works better as long as they actually get done :)

Monday: Girls Bedroom Kitchen Chores Dining Room Tuesday: Downstairs Bathroom Upstairs Freezer Room Car/Van/Truck Wednesday- Laundry Room Playroom Babyroom Thursday- Living Room Playroom Babyroom Friday- Office Upstairs Bathroom Wash Floor Here is what the job cards look like. I made four on a page, printed them, cut them into cards and then laminated them so the jobs could be checked off with marker. Now that the girls are older they pretty much have the regular jobs memorized so they don't check off. For the monthly jobs we used to mark with stickers each job they have done, but now they write it all in a book.

So that's our method. What are some things that have worked for you in your house cleaning? If you'd like to share them, we'd love to hear :)

p.s. If anyone is interested in a copy of our job cards file, let me know what program you have (works, microsoft etc.) and I can email them to you.

Daily Dynamics

If you have a large family you know what that people are intrigued by large families and the way they do things. Really I feel quite ‘normal’ until people start asking all the questions (not to mention gaucking with their mouths open:) I inform people they only came one at a time, we got used to them one at a time and adjusted one at a time. When it was requested that I share on this blog a bit about how our family functions, scheduling and things of such my first thought was “I don’t feel qualified to share about any of these things.” I don’t feel like an expert by any means and even though people think we must be super organized parents and have a super organized household, the truth is I sometimes feel like things are far from that. Yes we have schedules, yes we have routine, yes we have lists (my hubby thinks I overdo it in this regard sometimes :) But honestly, there are days when I feel nothing is functioning according to plan, and the house is falling to pieces. And so even though I am going to share some of our tidbits with you in regards to how we do things around here, I want you to know that it isn’t all perfect. I think one of the biggest things I have learned in having a large family is that I need to relax. My house will not always look perfect, there will be finger prints on the windows (why is it that kids love to ‘finger paint’ in the moisture on the windows?), that there will be dust and cobwebs, there will be toys on the floor, there will be odd smells, and there will be days that it seems like nothing got accomplished. It took me awhile to get to the point of relaxing and if you ask my family they probably think I need more practice in the relaxing department, but I feel I have come a long way. But in saying that, I have a long way to go. There is a balance between perfection and messy. I like to think of it as the ‘lived in’ look. I used to be a perfectionist. Having lots of kids has slowly weaned me from that. If I want my kids to help out, I have to let go a bit, okay…A LOT :) But I have learned to be okay with that. There are times where I have had to walk away while a job is being done so I do not ‘nag’ about the way I would do it so much better. And granted there are times, because I have had years of experience, that there are tips I can and do pass on. But too many times I nit-pick and frustrate the people around me, so it is better for me to not watch. And of course as they get older, they do better, in fact ALMOST as good as me and it seems like there is a light at the end of the tunnel! So after saying all this…I will plan over time to share how we run ship around here. Some stuff has been trial and error. Some stuff has worked for us for awhile while other things may only be for a season. So to start, here is a sample schedule of our day. Of course being that we live on the farm, schedules can be thrown out the window pretty quickly. Just like the other morning when the house was abuzz because an unexpected calf was born. It is days like those where I have to smile at the excitement and realize that maybe today we won’t get everything accomplished that I may have wanted to. And that’s OKAY. And since Josiah has joined things have gotten shuffled a bit. But normally this is what our day consists of.

7:00-8:30 -Dad and Mom milk -Boys do rabbit and chicken chores -Girls make breakfast, dress kids and start on the laundry. SIDE NOTE: Each week the girls have their area of responsibility. They rotate between kids (dressing, changing diapers, and whatever other help is needed), meals and laundry. -After chores, everyone who wants to, eats breakfast. Our breakfasts (unlike the other two meals) is not a sit down together family kind of meal. 8:30-12:00 -School 12:00-1:00 -Lunch -Boys clean off table -Girls do dishes and sweep 1:00-3:00 -Boys pick eggs -Girls do their daily job 3:00-5:00 -If weather permits, outdoor activity -Otherwise games, reading, puzzles etc. -Mikaya naps 5:00 -Final supper preparations 5:30 or 6:00-6:30 or 7:00 -Supper -Boys clean off table -Girls do dishes and sweep 7:00-8:00 -Free time -Get younger kids ready for bed 8:00-9:00 -Girls (2 of them) milk 9:00-10:30 or 11:00 -Often games or individual reading So there you have it. Our day in a nutshell. So, is there something you have been wondering about our family and the way we do things? If so, here’s your chance :)