Family Routines

An article by Joanna    6 Comments

I have long been seeking direction and guidance in home maintenance, cleaning and general nonsense removal. I started out by following Flylady, who has an awesome program, but I didn’t quite mesh well with it. I think mostly it was because I was jealous of everyone with a dishwasher and I work full time. I have also read “More Hours In My Day”, and that plan has had a great impact on my housekeeping. I follow the #flylady hashtag on Twitter, and there I met several lovely ladies who are also flybabies. I consider myself a half-flybaby. My Twitter friend QUEENofHARTS4 asked for some input and advice on her routines, since she’s writing them down today, and I told her I would type up my own and share them.

One quick note – I write my routines on index cards and keep them in a recipe card box. I have little separate file folders for them in the box marked Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Quarterly, Semi-Annually, and Annually. The daily folder has only one index card. Hubby likes to use this one as reference. The Weekly folder has one card for each day of the week. When that day is done, I move the card to the back of the folder – whether everything was finished or not, which is important. The Monthly folder has 4 index cards (week 1, week 2, week 3 and week 4). I move these to the back as that week in the month is finished. The rest each have one card.

So here they are, our family’s routines:

DAILY
- Breakfast dishes
- Lunch dishes
- Dinner dishes
- Make beds
- Pick up bathroom
- Pick up living room
- Throw away junk mail
- File mail & papers
- Pick up kitchen
- 1 load of laundry

If you were to consider this in a flybaby approach to routines, it would look more like this:

MORNING ROUTINE
- Wake up and dress in exercise clothes to the shoes. I also grab a bite to eat here, like a half banana or piece of toast.
- Start laundry (if not now, then after work)
- Work out.
- Eat breakfast and take supplements.
- Put away dinner dishes and wash breakfast dishes.
- Shower and dress to the shoes.
- Pick up bathroom.
- If I started laundry before working out, I switch it before I leave for work.

AFTER WORK ROUTINE
- Dress to the shoes in play clothes.
- Start laundry (if not started in the morning).
- Put away dishes from hubby & son, wash lunch dishes.
- Pack lunch for hubby and myself.
- Serve appetizer.
- Cook and serve dinner, washing as I go.

 BEFORE BED ROUTINE
- Pick up living room.
- Throw away junk mail.
- File mail & papers.
- Switch laundry.
- Set out clothes for tomorrow – my workout, my work, hubby’s work and son’s outfit.

Hubby is home in the morning and until just after lunch, so he takes care of making the beds.

Next up are my weekly routines – these are routines for each day of the week. If I don’t finish something on the day assigned, I don’t go back and try to finish it, I just wait until the next week when it comes around again. This helps avoid guilt and frustration – and I don’t get behind by trying to be a perfectionist. Even if I mess up and forget something or don’t get to it, I still move forward. It helps! These help hubby if he’s feeling generous too, because he knows what’s on my list and doesn’t have to ask. I do everything on the daily list, plus the list for each day of the week.

MONDAY
- Fold & put away laundry.
- Clean stove
- Clean kitchen counters
- Sweep kitchen, bathroom, pantry & laundry room.
- Mop floors.

TUESDAY
- Water indoor plants
- Repot indoor plants, if necessary
- Clean bathroom mirrors
- Clean toilet
- Wash shower curtain
- Change bed sheets

WEDNESDAY
- Dust TV, computer and appliances
- Wash blankets (cold weather only)
- Vacuum air conditioner filter (warm weather only)
- Vacuum upstairs
- Put away DVDs (hubby has a terrible habit of leaving them out of their cases! Ok, it’s my habit too…)

THURSDAY
- Vacuum downstairs
- Plan meals for the week
- Organize grocery ads and coupons
- Clean laundry room
- Clean pantry

FRIDAY
- Extra laundry – whites and towels
- Write greeting cards & letters (we send birthday and anniversary cards to our relatives)
- Write bills
- Organize mail by day to send out (I have the mail timed so I know what day to send it to get to the recipient on just the right day)

SATURDAY
- Grocery shopping
- Cook ahead for week (I like to cook and freeze brown rice for my lunches)
- Clean playroom/dining room
- Sweep porch
- Wipe down door frames & light switches
- Clean porch
- Decorate

SUNDAY
- Plan for next week

Now for the Monthly file. At the beginning of a new month (I use weeks Monday through Sunday, so when I get to the next Monday I will switch the card, even if the day numbers don’t line up perfectly.)

WEEK 1 – Clean refrigerator
WEEK 2 – Clean oven
WEEK 3 – Mend clothing
WEEK 4 – Clean and dust baseboards and under furniture

QUARTERLY – Each quarters I do one or two of these. Jan-Mar, Apr-Jun, Jul-Sept, Oct-Dec
- Clean laundry cabinets
- Clean drawers
- Clean windows
- Wash curtains
- Change furnace filters
- Move furniture and vacuum
- Clean cupboards

SEMIANNUALLY – this is typically Spring & Fall cleaning. In Fall, I move the furniture in preparation for the Christmas tree going up and make sure there’s enough room.
- Clean screens
- Clean closets
- Rearrange furniture

I know you are probably thinking that this is a ton of paperwork, but for me it really is the easiest way. I have these cards that I flip through, so none is really full of stuff – the list doesn’t look that long. My hubby is able to flip to the right card and know what to do if he wants to help with a chore or two, and it’s not big pressure to do everything at once. A blending of Flylady and More Hours In My Day is really what has helped me the most. I’m nowhere near as organized as I dream of being, but I’m getting closer!