What I have learned over the last two years of being retired is that homemaking: all the things that are involved in running a home (cleaning, cooking, laundry, home repairs, finances, appointments, outside care, errands, organizing, planning and developing systems and routines and child care if you have kids) can be OVERWHELMING!
It's not a 40 hour a week job, but the more organized you are the smoother it will go.
God thought it was funny to bless me with a man that is the total opposite of me. His easy going personality makes keeping all the plates I balance a real circus act sometimes (most of the time). He also has a work schedule that he knows only one week in advance. His hours are always changing, so that makes life interesting too.
Everyone runs their home differently, nothing is perfect, it's all a work in progress and constantly changing to adjust to the uncertainties of life. These are the things that work for me.
On the days that my kids are sick, there is a massive snow storm, I have company or God has his own plan in mind, all this goes out the window and we just "wing it!"
There are daily tasks, weekly tasks, monthly and yearly tasks. And when I've experienced a big change in my life: a big move, a death, a new season, new systems have had to be tried out and adapted to the environment. My summer schedule is different then my kids school schedule. And my Monday schedule is different then my Friday schedule based on appointments and errands. My youngest son is in preschool Wednesday through Friday, so on Mondays and Tuesdays I don't get as much done as other days.
My oldest son, Samuel, is now 8. Sam has to feed the dog, vacuum, clean up dishes after dinner, dump the trash cans, help bring in groceries, dust, make his own breakfast and lunch, fold/put away his own laundry. I also don't do his laundry unless he brings it downstairs.
Organizing and planning and developing systems and routines are my forte! My A-personality makes this part fun for me. If I could do this every day, all day long, I would be ecstatic! Other people find this painful and don't know where to start. On the other hand, I HATE TO COOK, and struggle to meal plan and put out new meals.
Most of the time, I do at least one load of laundry a day, fold it and put it away. Dishes are washed or put in dishwasher after every meal, the house is vacuumed at least twice a week, bathrooms are wiped down 3-4 times a week (I live with 3 boys.), and at the end of the day everything is picked up and back in it's proper place. I love that my boys have a playroom that keeps their toys from taking over the house and the mudroom keeps the outside from coming inside. The master bedroom is on the first floor and all the other bedrooms are on the second floor. So I make my bed and keep the bedroom organized, but my boys spaces are just that, their spaces, and their beds are rarely made unless they do it or I have just changed the beds.
We just moved in to this house in July so I am still organizing closets, cabinets and working on the best places to store things. Plus we have 2 bathrooms and a kitchen to renovate, flooring to be replaced, drapes and blinds to hang and a lot of painting to do. So this means that dust and debris will soon become our close friends, but to keep everything from becoming overwhelming will require daily work.
One day a friend and I were discussing how we sleep differently with our kids: she co-sleeps and I used the CIO method. Neither of us was judging the other, but we realized that the other way would not have worked in our family. This is how it works in most areas from: diapering, meal prep and disciplining to finances, bedtimes and vaccinations. We thought about writing a book together and it would be titled, "WHATEVER WORKS." The table of contents would have topics like: The Best Baby Foods, The Best Diapers, The Best Discipline Techniques and when you turn to that chapter in the book it would say just one thing, "Whatever Works."
So ultimately that is what this post boils down to. I am very organized and run my home in a certain way and it works for me. You may not do any of this and it may work for you too and that is just fine.
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