Temporary? Insanity

Okay, so the title isn’t really all that applicable, but I just love ripping off movie titles and twisting them around into post titles. My girls are sleeping and therefore, I am blogging.

I had to share these cute pictures of Emma “helping” me yesterday. The best bit was that she was singing a Cinderella song while she did it.

Next time she spills strawberries on my floor, I might just have her do this:
But since she only has a one minute attention span, it would quickly turn into this:

So we had a nicely productive day yesterday. I got my kitchen cleaned (including the floor!) with a wee bit of help from Emma. It was fun, actually. We romped around on our hands and knees, each with a damp cloth, scrubbing at the sticky bits, picking the hard crusty bits off using our fingernails (yeuch!), and giggling as we made funny faces at each other.

Who knew cleaning could be such fun?

As part of my decision to refocus my priorities, I sat down with a pad of lined paper and one of my favourite ball point pens. I pondered the empty sheet for a minute, then divided it into three columns; Daily Tasks, Weekly Tasks, and Monthly Tasks. I then assigned weekly tasks to each day of the week, and scheduled the monthly tasks on my calendar.

It’s a work in progress, of course, since I just started yesterday, but I’m excited almost beyond reason about it. This only makes sense if you have some idea of how incredibly lazily I’ve been living my life up to this point. We’re talking serious levels of sluggishness here. My life as a homemaker and mother has been chaotic and disorganized. I’ve had no daily or weekly schedule, and have more or less just muddled my way through with no clear idea of where I’m going or how to get there. There always seems to be so much to do, that I end up giving up before I’ve begun.

And so I had fun getting organized yesterday. Organizing is, of course, its own reward, but bragging about it makes it so much more enjoyable. Here’s a sampling…

Mondays: Clean out Fridge and Reorganize Pantry. Make Meal Plan and Shopping List.

Tuesdays: Deep Clean Kitchen and Wash Floors.

Wednesdays: Dusting, Reorganizing Girls’ Bedrooms, and One Big Project.

Thursdays: Vacuum Entire House.

Fridays: Clean Bathrooms (All Three of Them!).

Saturdays: Laundry Catch Up Day (get done what didn’t get done during the week).

Tasks like laundry and vacuuming are to be done on a daily basis along with other daily tasks, but days are alotted to give them a special focus.

Monthly tasks include things like developing pictures, visiting teaching, family council, and reviewing finances.

I’ve even pulled out my “Family Planner” and am keeping it next to my bed so I can review it every evening and morning (thanks for the idea Lara)!

I think that as I make better use of my time, I’ll find that I have more of it. I don’t see giving up my computer addiction as a noble sacrifice I’m making for my kids, I see it as a necessary step to changing deeply ingrained bad time management habits, and becoming a person who has time for her hobbies, instead of stealing time for them.

I don’t know if any of that makes sense, but I’m happy, so that’s good enough for me.