My Housecleaning Plan

One of my many (101 to be specific) goals, is to "stick to my housecleaning plan for a whole year." That's number 16 if you're checking out the master list. Now, I didn't make this goal because my house is dirty, I actually keep it pretty clean. My Mama raised me right when it comes to cleanliness in the house. (I'm like the exact opposite of a hoarder.) And being home during the day enables me more time to keep it clean than when I use to work 9-5. You'd think with those two things why would I need a plan or a goal regarding my house? Well, I'm really forgetful and I do much better having a plan/system/routine. I need to have stuff written down or it's highly likely I'll forget it.
I've tried various "systems" when it comes to cleaning.

First there was the one I learned as a kid: spend hours and hours on Saturday cleaning the whole house, getting the whole family involved. That doesn't work for us now because Erik and the kids would much rather play on the weekends, for example: in the summertime we're usually off camping. Also, with me being the at-home-mom I see no reason to ask Erik for help cleaning on the weekends, it's something I can get done during my "work hours" during the week.

 So, that led me to wondering if there was another way. I googled cleaning schedules and came across Flylady. It seemed to be the answer and I jumped in headfirst, creating a binder, cleaning lists, etc. But it got to me too much for me and all the focus on decluttering just plain didn't apply to me. (Remember, I'm the anti-hoarder. I don't have clutter.) So after trying it for a few months it kind of sizzled out.

 From there I tried to not have a system. I'd spend some time doing the major cleaning one morning a week, but it seemed like I was always realizing I was forgetting something in my "major cleaning"  and having a huge project, for example try not wiping off the baseboards for a whole year, they get nasty and become quite the task. I knew I needed a system of some sort but nothing as complex as Flylady's, so I finally came up with my own "plan" towards the end of last year.

First, I brainstormed the "big/major" jobs that needed to be done every week, similar to the Flylady's "house blessing". I came up with:

-Bathrooms: sinks and counters, toilet, shower cleaned. Shower curtain bleached as needed.

-Kitchen counters wiped down thoroughly, microwave wiped out, sink cleansed and stove top cleaned

-Trashes out

-Sheets changed

-Main traffic areas vacuumed (which assumes the main areas are also picked up)

-Upstairs dusted

-Laundry as needed (who's kidding who, this is more like a DAILY job!)

-Mop tile as needed

-Downstairs as needed

Then I decided to tackle the more detail oriented jobs monthly, with my goal being that at least once a year these things would be completed if I stuck to my schedule. I figured I could focus on one area each month and within that month would be able to complete the task, since some weeks are busier than others. Here's my monthly breakdown:

January: Entrance, Stairs and Living Room (since Jan is when we put away Christmas decorations, this worked perfectly here) I will do  more detailed vacuum and dusting, clean out/organize the closet and drawers, wash walls and baseboards, clean the inside of windows, wash blankets that we keep on the couch and vacuum/fluff couch cushions. Also, vacuum/dust ceiling fan. Basically anything in these areas gets cleaned in detail.

February: Kitchen 

Clean frig inside and out, blow out back of frig, clean stove/oven, wipe all exterior cupboards/counters, insides of drawers/shelves cleaned, vac/shake/shampoo rugs, mop floor really well and dust up above cabinets.

March: Kids Bedrooms

Straighten/organize closets, drawers; wash all bedding, wash curtains, clean windows, walls/baseboards, dust pictures, clean light fixtures/fan, vacuum under beds etc

April: Windows--inside and out including screens, front porch

May: Master Bedroom & Closet

The same as kids bedrooms, basically

June: Hallway and Linen Closet

vacuum, dust, walls, baseboards, pictures dusted, clean out/organize closet

July: Shampoo carpets upstairs 

August: Downstairs

Vacuum, dust, Straighten blankets, craft areas, file if needed, bathroom deep cleaned, windows, rugs, trashes out, spider traps discarded/rotated, stairs vacuumed

September: Bathrooms (upstairs)

Wash rugs, straighten drawers/under sinks; cull towels, supplies, etc; clean windows; scrub floor; clean light fixtures; walls,ceilings,baseboards; shower/curtain

October: Dining Room

straighten/organize hutch; windows/sliding door; wipe down all chairs and stools; baseboards and walls; floor mopped; dust/clean fireplace; dust/clean dried plant; organize "command center"

November: Laundry Room

Wipe down washer/dryer/shelf; clean out behind washer/dryer; clean floor well; clean out bench (it holds hats, scarves, miscellaneous junk); window; walls,baseboards

December: Downstairs Closets

Organize wrapping supplies, vacuum, cull/organize, dust

I had my plan, so I typed it up and printed it out and slid the 2 pages into a plastic sleeve. I keep it in my command center and every month as I move through the tasks, I use a dry erase marker and cross off the  things I've done. Forgive this upside down picture, but wanted to give you an idea of what that looks like:

That way I know what I got done or not so I can try to get to it before a whole year rolls around if it's needed. So far this year I've done a pretty good job of sticking to this plan and I hope I can stick with it for the long haul! I like that I'm not killing myself cleaning every single day, but the house is still getting  clean. It's totally doable for me and still leaves me time for other things during the day, like writing or volunteering at the kids' school-two things I'd rather be doing anyway!

Do you have a plan/schedule for your household chores or do you just wing it? 

Homemade Cleanliness

I was on fire this week when it comes to all things homemade in the cleanliness department. My laundry room was in desperate need of cleaning and re-organization, so I took the opportunity to cull out some old/chemical laden cleaners and make my new "no poo" cleaners!

I started w/ an all purpose cleaner. Once again, I got the recipe from WellnessMama. (I'm really starting to love that blog!)

All I needed was borax, washing soda, liquid castille soap and essential oils were optional, but who wouldn't want to smell a nice lavender scent while cleaning!? The washing soda and borax I found at Target, and are probably at any drug store. I ordered the castille soap from Mountain Rose Herbs, but I've seen it in the natural food section at my local grocery store, too. I found the spray bottle for cheap at Shopko.

I put my new all purpose cleaner to the test today when I cleaned the tops of my kitchen cabinets, which get coated w/ dust mixed with grease. All it took was a tad bit of elbow grease with some spray and a scrubby and now my cabinet tops are whiter than they've been in a long time! I also used it in the girls' bathroom and it cleaned the sink and counter beautifully. I'm keeping it!

Next, I whipped up a homemade "oxyclean stain treater". Anyone with kids need a laundry stain treater  and I was all over trying something cheap that works. 

All I needed was some hydrogen peroxide, baking soda and water. Oh and an opaque spray bottle, but the hydrogen peroxide one works perfect just add a spray top!

I've tested it but don't have anything to report as I've yet to fold the clean clothes sitting in the hamper. This weekend, probably. I put it to quite the test, I used it on Lindsay's blue sweatshirt that she wears all.the.time.

Next up on the list was homemade laundry detergent, even though I still have a large container of store bought stuff. I was going to wait til the store stuff was gone but I got impatient.

This time I needed baking soda (that big bag I found at Costco for way cheap/weight), borax, washing soda and soap (I used Ivory).

And this is what I came up with for a holder. I overestimated how big of a container I'd need, but it works. (It's a pet food container w/ a sealing lid). I'm in the process of testing the detergent right now and will let you know how the laundry looks once I get around to folding it. (That really is the worst part of doing laundry).

So, there you go. Have you switched to any homemade cleaning/laundry product yet?

How to be a Stay-at-Home Mom Without Kids

Transitions are tough. I was talking with a friend recently about how tough it was for her to transition into being a stay-at-home mom after working for years. I think being a stay-at-home mom is tough enough, but try throwing in this twist: the kids are all school aged, and no, she doesn't homeschool.

Please, don't get me wrong, I'm not saying it's harder to be a stay-at-home mom whose kids are in school all day, (for sake of abbreviation, we'll call them SHMWK) than a traditional SHM (those are w/ kiddos at home). I'm not even saying it's harder to be a SHM or SHMWK than a working mom, because honestly they are all different and tough in their own rights. What I'm saying is the transition to one or the other can be tough.

It's taken me several years of transitioning into my role as a SHMWK. I had a tough time of it, and my friend did too, and she came to me for some advice since I'd been there, done that. And so I thought I'd share with you what she and I talked about, and maybe it would be helpful to someone else out there.

The first thing I struggled with was guilt. Guilt that I had this wonderful flexibility of not needing to work, kids gone to school all day and freedom to do, basically, whatever I wanted all day long. Most of my friends w/ kids have to work, and those that are home with their kids now will need to go back into the workforce when their kids all skip off to school. Especially in this economy I think my position is pretty rare. And so I felt guilt. I struggled with thoughts of "Maybe I should get a job" and "What do I do  all day?" (It's pretty obvious what you do all day as a SHM mom, but a SHMWK, not so much). But what it boiled down to was the fact that this is the best arrangement for my family right now and Erik prefers that I be "jobless" and flexible instead of nailed down to a specific schedule. And No, I'm no "trophy wife", but since he does own his own business and has some flexibility there, it works better for me to be flexible too. It makes the times when he does get out of work that much better because we can go do fun things as a family.

So, if you are a SHMWK, get over the guilt and embrace your position. You can do so many great things in this role! You might not always be in this place, but you are for now, so make the most of it!

Along with this I think comes the struggle to balance everything. Yes, you are the mom and it's your job to take care of your family. Yes, your primary responsibility, or "job", is to keep up the house, feed your family and do all the other mom things. But it's not like you need to spend your whole entire day housecleaning or cooking. If those are things you enjoy, then by all means, go for it. I do have days where I spend a majority of time in the kitchen, but that's something I enjoy. The cleaning, not so much. At first, though it's easy to feel like I should have this spotless house with the laundry always done and a ton of freshly baked/cooked goods because I was at home. Yes, we need to keep up our house, but you can do other things! Being a SHMWK means you can....

• volunteer in your kids' class--but you don't have to say yes to everything. Don't go hog wild and sign up for all the opportunities to help with PTA (because there are a lot) But definitely get into the classroom and get to know the school, teacher and other kids. It's a wonderful opportunity to be involved in your kids' lives at their school.
• Donate blood or volunteer in the community.
• Visit and spend time with friends that are SHM's, they will super appreciate the adult time/conversation.
• On the same note, offer to help those SHM friends with their kids. I've watched kids for some of my friends while they've had doctor appointments, etc.

It feels so good to get out of the house and give some of your time to help someone else out. I believe that as a SHMWK the one thing you have in abundance is time, so why not share it?

Along with your motherly duties and your opportunities to volunteer, you can also do things you enjoy. Spend some time practicing a hobby, working out, just relaxing--it's okay! Now, notice I didn't say spend all day in your pajama's on the couch watching Oprah and eating bon-bon's. You do that and you will feel like crud really quickly, and your family probably won't support your role either. Being a SHMWK doesn't mean you should just be lazy all day, every day. Yes, it means you have flexibility to do something you enjoy everyday, but remember I said earlier there's a whole balance thing going on? So do one thing everyday that is just for you. For me it varies, sometimes it a workout, or blogging or working on my writing. It's not selfish to do that. I guarantee that if you spend a little bit of time on yourself, you'll have that much more of yourself to give to those around you. If you are running on empty, you have nothing to give to your family or friends.

A note on the whole housecleaning thing: At first I thought I should have all the daily chores done by the time the kids got home from school and weekly ones before the weekend, so that the time I had with my family was all "play time". And although I still try to set aside weekends for family fun, I've changed my mind about the rest. If I did all the cleaning myself and didn't have my kids help beyond picking up their rooms, I would not be doing them any favors. Part of my job as a mom is teaching them how to get along in life, and part of that is cleaning. So, I made a list of all the chores I do every week and picked out the two most kid-friendly chores for their ages now and set up a rotation. Every week one of them will dust (we use microfiber dusting cloths w/ just water, so no chemicals to worry about) and the other will wipe down the bathrooms (microfiber cloths again and I do the bathtubs for now) and they trade off on the jobs each week. They can do their chores any weeknight as long as it's done by the weekend and their allowance is based solely on this job.( I also made up a list of extra chores they could do for extra allowance since both are saving their money for big purchases. Things like helping with laundry, taking out trash, etc.) It's actually more work for me this way because they both need guidance 90% of the time on their jobs, but that's okay because I'm teaching them how to clean and how we all have to pitch in as part of the family. 

So, anyways, I hope that helps any of you transitioning into the unique role of being home without the kids. I'm still learning and working on being better at prioritizing my time and balancing everything, but I probably won't have all that down pat til I'm transitioning into a new role! :-)

Now it's your turn: Are you a at home mom w/ no kiddos? How did you transition to that role? What do you "do all day"? Or if your kids are still at home, do you plan to return to work when they go to school? 

Corn Mazes and Other Randomness

I took the girls to the local corn maze last week on their early out day. The weather was absolutely beautiful--perfect for an outing. The girls were kind of whiny when they first got home from school and I was kind of second guessing my plan to take them. I kept asking if they were up for it and they were, so we ventured out.

The maze started out in a bunch of hay bales, and we got lost immediately. Actually, Lindsay ran off ahead of us right away and as I hollered for her (I did not want to be looking for her in a corn maze!) Kera got kind of worried. She's my worry wart. She said something about wanting to go home. Lindsay finally came back to us and I made sure she knew we had to do the maze together. After that it was pretty fun, even if they argued once in a while about who was going to choose which way we would go. Eventually I just wanted to be done and take them home! It wasn't nearly as fun as I thought it would be when I imagined it.

After we got out of the maze, the girls went into the petting zoo area, I convinced them to let me take their picture in the pumpkin patch, and then they played on the playground equipment for a while. We were there about an hour total when I finally said it was time to go home. I had dinner to prep and homework to do and all the normal things. They whined and argued and complained all.the.way.home. It was soooo irritating. You'd think after going on a fun outing, on a school night even, they'd be happy and grateful. But, no. Ugh. Really makes me want to do more things like that with them. Not!

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I made chicken stock the other night according to recommendations in this wonderful cookbook that I got the other day. Instead of boiling the heck out of the bones & veggies, I was careful to keep it at a very gentle simmer for several hours.
 The next day I used that broth to make Sopa de Tortilla.
Oh.my.word.

It was hands down, the best soup I've ever made. Erik kept giving me compliments on it and I'm almost positive the difference was my homemade stock. I'm making stock that way from now on!

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My windows are clean. Like seriously. Both inside and outside.

They sparkle.

The screens and sills and everything is clean.

It took Erik and me several hours yesterday, but its sooo worth it. Our windows haven't been this clean since we moved in almost 10 years ago. A few of the taller ones still had paint specks from the original paint when it was built! Not because we're lazy, but the windows are like WAY tall. We've always just used that spray window cleaner stuff and called it good. Not this time. We used water and some vinegar for the hard water spots.

Yes, just water.

I invested in some awesome, wonderful cleaning cloths from a company called Norwex.

They are amazing. I can clean almost everything in my house with just their microfiber cloth and water! Cleaning has never been easier or cheaper. I'm totally not buying more of many of my cleaners. I've already been switching to more green ways to clean like baking soda and vinegar and these just help even more. I'm in love with my new Norwex cloths, but don't worry Erik loves them too! ;-)

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A sign of the humor in my home....
Yesterday I was trying to get the last little bit of ranch dressing out of the bottle, and so when I squeezed it it made that squirt splatter sound.

My eldest said, "Oh Mom, you might have a poop mark in your underwear from that one."

Nice. Real nice.

Maybe things like this will keep me from having to deal with them dating when they get into high school...lol

Adventures in Summer Vacation

I've had a somewhat eventful summer vacation so far. It started with an ambitious idea of finally clean up the basement craft area & bathroom a.k.a. the pit. I had mentioned to E the other day that our vacuum wasn't working very well and he'd mentioned it to a customer that works on them and came back with the idea to check the belt. So, the other day I had the girls picking up all the crayons, markers and scraps of paper that like to usually live on the floor around their craft table and I was cleaning the basement bathroom. Then I got the vacuum and brought it down before I remembered I had to change the belt, so I ran back upstairs for the extra belt and a screwdriver. I flipped it over and unscrewed the cover to find the belt was in perfect condition. So I put the cover back on and started to screw it in, but found that the screws were not going in as easily as they came out, and not wanting to strip them I just left it with the cover mostly on. When I flipped the vacuum back over, I found that the cover to where the bag is had come off and there was dust and dirt all over. Seems that the hole in the bag had come off the part its suppose to stay on and so the bag had stopped catching all the dirt and instead it was all in the bag compartment and up against the filter area. It was gross but I was so grateful for that filter at that moment! So I cleaned out all the dust and dirt, cleaned off the filter and put a new bag in. Stood up the vacuum and turned it on. I could tell the front wheel thingy wasn't moving right, but it still had suction so I quick got the bathroom w/ the attachment and then I started to smell....burnt plastic! Yikes. So off it went and back over I flipped it, opened up the belt area and TA-DA I had managed to burn up the belt! So in goes the new belt and boy that was tough, seems they aren't super flexible and to get the wheely part back into place w/ a new belt takes a bit of muscle! The girls were watching me and asking me if it was hard and if I needed help. Ha ha, they are so cute. So finally, the belt is on and in place, I made sure the wheel could turn and then replaced the cover a bit better this time. I crossed my fingers and started the vacuum again to find it working just fine! Phew!! All I can say is it is a good thing I don't work on home appliances for a living!! But the basement was clean when we were through and E was pleased to see it. When we moved in I told him the basement would be his area and that I wouldn't intrude, but me and girls have taken over a good portion of the main room with our crafts/scrapbooking stuff so I'm gonna try to keep it cleaner for him!

Monday was our first real day of summer vacation--I don't count last Friday because it was so busy we didn't get to sleep in or anything slightly "vacation-y". And it was interesting. I had the girls help me make a list of activities they'd like to do this summer and things they'd like to eat for lunch to get some ideas for groceries and for activities that would entertain them and, hopefully, keep them from fighting out of pure boredom. We came up with some fun ideas, like going to the library for books, play dates, camping, fishing off daddy's boat and doing crafts. So I hope that if we do at least one fun thing each day that will help. We'll see...they have a tendency to fight over toys or being first and even if they are being slapstick silly it can turn into a fight in just a moment, it can be very wearing on my nerves!

Well I'm gonna jump into a task that I haven't had the nerve to tackle yet in my 6 years of being a mom, and that is making a birthday cake. I don't mean a cake mix into a 9x11 pan w/ a jar of frosting plopped on top, I mean a Tinkerbell pan (picked out by Kera) cake with her painted on top via frosting and cool new frosting set w/ all sorts of tips. It shouldn't be too hard, but I'm not very good w/ cakes & frosting, so I'm crossing my fingers! :-) I'll post pictures later this week when I finish it and maybe even in the process. Who knows, it might be a funny story, although I hope not!

Sorry, no pictures today (*note to self...leave camera on the counter so I can easily capture cute moments throughout the day) although I have a "to-do" list a mile long, so I better get to it!