All in a Day's Work...

This post is mainly for my benefit dear friends....I want to know your routine...that's right I'm being nosy and I want to know how you swing it all in a day's time!

As Mama's, I know that everyone has more on their plate than they can handle, so over the years (meaning over 5 years since N was born) I have experimented with different ways to get my routine all done in the 24 hours allotted in a day. When I worked a full schedule in the salon (when N was a baby) I hired somebody to come every other week and clean my house. I also had a job then that didn't require after hours computer work so the whole routine was pretty simple. I did a few loads of laundry a week, cooked supper when I got home and picked up toys, etc. and left the cleaning to be done by my hired person. Also, in that house we had 6 rooms (2 bed 2 bath kitchen, living room, playroom, plus a basement garage. So worse case scenario I could take a few hours and have the whole thing done! Fast forward one more baby, a job at home, and a house with 15 rooms and 2 kids home all day and it's been a challenge getting it all done.

When we made the decision for me to stop working during the day to stay home with the kids, we decided that part of that job would be also not hiring someone to keep house, because I "would" have time to do it during the day. So I started out trying to choose one day a week to get the cleaning done...never happened. I ran out of hours before the house was as clean as I wanted it. So then I revised my plan...clean a certain area each day and do basic kitchen, bathroom, bedroom every day. I try my best to get it done before the kids wake up but that doesn't always happen.

So my daily routine is this

Every day, make beds, unload dishwasher, swipe bathrooms, pick up stuff, one or two loads of laundry, washed folded and put away. (3 meals, and then clean up as you go)

Then I clean 2 additional rooms each day of the week (I combine the laundry room with a smaller bathroom) and then if all goes as planned by the weekend, the whole house is done. (When I say clean I mean, dust, take out trash, mop, and clean glass/mirrors, tubs, sinks, etc on bathroom day)

It all works beautifully until I get behind a day and then somehow I never get caught up. (Somehow I procrastinate mopping the wood floor cause I don't exactly know the best way to do it?)

Also I am addicted to products to make the whole process faster/easier!!! I use microfiber cloths and mops, method cleaning stuff (from TARGET and it's MY FAVORITE) and swiffer dry cloths sometimes. I have the vacuum for hard floors (cause we don't have any carpet anywhere.)

Mentioning METHOD, have you heard of it? It's chemical free and nontoxic. As you've read before I have asthma as well as both the kids, and I cannot clean with regular chemical cleaners. I have tried regular (clorox, etc) bathroom cleaners and wound up in urgentcare with lung problems, they are just too hard on our respiratory tracks. So I discovered method, they are all natural (they use plant derivitive cleansers and natural sanitizing agents) and that's all well and good, but I'm addicted to the scents (like grapefruit, cucumber, mint, lemon ginger, just to name a few) I would love to try the floor cleaners for wood as well but they contain almond oil, which is an allergen in our house. They are more expensive that regular cleaners but it's what we have to use and I love them!!!!!

Anyway, even with a "schedule" there are tons of weeks where I just can't seem to fit it all in a day. I do computer work at night and then somehow I never find time to get the vehicle cleaned out or the laundry put away....hmmm...I still think there's an easier method to all this, so give me some tips guys!!! Do you do house stuff in one day or do you spread it out over the week?