Friday, September 28, 2012

Everyone has one

Everyone has a blog post about the perfect recipe for being a super homemaker.  I have read them all. I have tried them all.  And unfortunately, none of these blogs, recommendations etc can make me stop being lazy.  I could probably sit on my butt all day watching re-runs of The Office on Netflix, eating chips and drinking coke all day.  I won't lie, I may or maynot have had days like this in the past.  The only problem with days like that is that the dishes don't do themselves, the laundry still doesn't get put away and dinner doesn't magically appear (thanks to JK Rowling, I was expecting a house elf, and got stuck with my dog instead).

I seem to have found a pretty good niche for myself recently.  Not to shabby considering I have been a stay at home mom for just over a year.  I spent the first part staying at home being all huge and pregnant.  I couldn't move around as easily as I can now and so I fell into a pattern of being horribly lazy.  I did the bare minimum.  Well, then we got the chance to move, and I decided that I was going to start fresh.  And I did.  I have been working very hard at keeping a very tight home.  So I have taken an idea here, a thought there and totally made my own routine.

And to make sure I fall amongst the masses proper, let me tell you what I do.  Let's call this Randi's 8 Step Program.  [Disclaimer, these are not in any particular order.]

Step one:  Do one load of laundry a day.  From start to finish, I do one load.  At least.  Don't have enough whites for a full load?  I find light towels to throw in.  Are all the clothes except for the ones I am wearing clean and put away?  Then I strip the beds of their sheets or bathrooms of their towels.  With a house of four people, it's easy to find at least one load of laundry a day.  We also cloth diaper, so I always have diapers to wash.  Most important, put them away (this is my kryptonite, I hate putting clothes away)

Step two:  Make the bed.  Well I make all the beds [Lucy does help in her room].  A messy room is easily dismissed if the bed is made.  Also, if my bed is made, then I forget about how tempting it looks to just crawl right back in.  Making the bed is easy peasy because it's just pulling the blankets up.  I even through some pillows we weren't really using on the bed to make it look more complete.  So now, every day, my bedroom looks clean even if it's because I shoved the mess into the closets and under the bed.

Step three:  Do the dishes.  This might be my second most hated chore.  I hate doing the dishes.  But dammit, they have to get done.  Right before bed, I load the dishwasher and run it.  First thing in the morning, I unload the dishwasher.  If I don't do the dishes for a day, which happens on the weekend, my sink gets filled so fast it takes me two loads, sometimes three, on Sunday to get caught up.  So now, I do the dishes every day.  (except for weekends still because hell, I get lazy.)

Step four:  Declutter something.  Clutter builds up FAST.  You bring in the mail, set it on the counter with the intention of going through it later, and then what happens?  You forget and it sits there.  Do this for three days in a row and all of a sudden, you have a pile.  So everyday, I declutter something.  Maybe it's just cleaning out my sock drawer, maybe it's the pantry, maybe it's that silly drawer in the office that NO ONE EVER USES but some how gets filled with junk.  Either way, I declutter SOMETHING every day.

Step five:  Put something away.  I am notorious for saying to myself "I should paint a painting today" and then I get out all my paints and supplies, only to be distracted by Dexter crawling behind the recliner, again, or Lucy wants a snack, or the mail just came, or, oh look, a butterfly just flew by, and then next thing I know, I haven't started painting but all my crap is just laying around the living room.  And it sits there for days because "I want to paint today."  So while my paints sit out, not being used, I put away the bread that Matt left out from his sandwich, the toys that Lucy pulled out, the socks Dexter pulled off his feet, or the lint that is sitting on top of the dryer.  Eventually the paints get put away, of course, unused again, but everyday, I put something away.

Step six:  Wipe down the bathroom.  This is probably the easiest thing I do next to making my bed.  I keep a cleaning rag under the sink and when I get out of the shower on my way to get dressed, I grab the towel, wipe down the sink and the top of the toilet, and BAM! done.  I don't clean it every day, I just wipe it down.

Step seven: Sweep/vacuum/mop.  My house is 90% hard wood floors.  I have two kids and three two dogs.  Our dogs are mainly outside dogs, but somehow the daily dog hair tumbleweed floats across the floor.  I have a toddler that manages to produce more crumbs with one chip than an entire bag of bread crumbs.  With a newly crawling baby, I can always tell when I need to mop due to the color of his shirt by the end of the day.  So everyday, I have to sweep.  Every other day, I use the swiffer wetjet.  I do not like the swiffer wetjet, mainly because I hate the cleaning solution it comes with [not because it's not "green" but because it leaves a sticky soapy residue and it foams up in my Hoover Floormate and that bothers me].  I am planning on making my own cleaning solution for it as soon as this container is empty.  And once a week, I use my Hoover Floormate, and I vacuum/wet wash/wet pick up the floors.

Step 8:  Coffee.  This is the most important step of my day.  I have at least one cup of coffee a day.  I am not a nice person without it.  There is nothing better for me, than to sit in our recliner, first thing in the morning, while everyone is still sleeping and drink a cup of java.

So these are my step.  It seems like a lot.  I know, but really?  This all takes me maybe two hours.  Maaaaybe.  But, oh my gosh, you say, there are 7 more hours in the day before Matt gets home, what do you do with the rest of your day.  Well, I will deep clean something, get dinner ready, go to play dates, go to the store for groceries, and I trail the crawler, and constantly pick up after the toddler.

What do you do every day?


  1. I think I'm going to have to go co-rando and start doing all the things from this list. Our house is small and gets cluttered fast. This is a great checklist to make sure things get done, and doesn't seem too overwhelming

    Love Letters 7.10

  2. I love this checklist!

  3. Love this! Putting clothes away is also my kryptonite!

  4. This comment has been removed by the author.

  5. I don't know how I missed this post but I love it. It fits in perfectly with what I'm trying to accomplish this month... making a list is a great idea. Thanks Rando :)

  6. Great list, however, Swiffer actually says on thr back of the solution "Not safe for children or pets" you might want to swap that out sooner than you think!!

    With Love From Hollywood,
    Fashion Addict
    Follow me on Pinterest!

