Need Help with Daily & Weekly Routine of Home Life!!

I grocery shop on Tuesdays when he's in preschool. I do laundry whenever we're just hanging out at home...about 1-2x/week. As far as cleaning, I pick up daily, but my husband and I clean together on the weekends.

There's lots of good advice here; I'll just add that I keep it simple. I pick up the kids rooms as they're getting ready for school. Then tackle 1 room a day for vacuuming, dusting, etc. Laundry I do about once/week. It takes me all day (but have time to do other things in between loads) as we have 6 in our household, but I prefer to do it this way as then I have that good feeling at the end of the day that I'm DONE for a whole week! Mission accomplished! I like that feeling! Moms don't get it with much else, as all cleaning is nonending!

L.,
I am a stay at home mom of Cole(4)and Jakob(3) and child care provider. I do most of my house work during nap time, except the vaccuming. I do laundry on Monday and Thursday. Sweep daily after lunch and mop everyother Monday. Tuesdays I clean the bathrooms, I have 3. Wednesday, I tackle the dusting and organizing any paperwork that has made its way to my desk. I also, vaccum in the morning while everyone is having breakfast. Thursday I plan for the next week the activities we will do, and gather all the supplies I will need. Friday I pay bills and talk with my sister.
Our daily routine starts with breakfast at 8:00, play time until 9:30 when the little ones lay down. During that time I have a little group time where we read stories, sing songs,play a game or an activity of some sort to go with our topic for the week. At 10:00 the older ones either go outside or to the family room to play. The younger ones get up and we have a little play time with books and an activity. Then at 11:00 I feed the little ones their lunch, and get the older ones their lunch ready. 11:30 brings the older ones having lunch and the little ones their bottles. 12:00 is T.V. time while I clean up from lunch, change diapers, and get mats out. At 12:30 I start laying evryone down. My boys stay up and have a little mommy time before heading to bed at 1:00. 1:00 to 3:00 is when I clean the house. 3:00 is snack and bottle time. 3:30 the older ones are outside or in the family room playing and the little ones are by me in the livingroom. I put dishes away/put them in the dishwasher, and start preping any thing I can for dinner. My husband arrives home at 4:30 and either cares for the little ones, or finishes dinner. It helps to keep this routine on a daily passes. Everyone seems happier. Hope this helps.
J.

Hi, I am a SAHM while running an in home daycare. I have a 2,3, and 6mo old, and I watch 4 children in addition every day m-f. As we all know the miss conception of SAHM's is that your house has to always be clean because you have sooooooo much free time, yeah right lol! What I do is one day I vacume/sweep/mop, one day I dust/do mirrors, one day I clean the bathroom, and everday I have a goal to get one load of laundry folded and a new load into the washer. I make my kids pick up their rooms every night before bed (but encourage them to put their toys away still through out the day) which means they put them in the closet and out of view lol, but then one day a week we go through and organize the toys in the closet/in the storage bins in the closet. Hope that makes sense lol. Anyway After a 1 1/2 of being a SAHM after being a working mom I've found this to be the most effective way to keep the house clean/organized without cleaning all day long and still being able to spend quaility time with the kids. HTH
B.

I, too, am a new SAHM. It does get overwhelming, especially when no one else is around or willing to help out! I try to do one "major" chore a day (cleaning bathrooms, vacuuming, all the laundry, etc). Sometimes it doesn't get done, but oh well... I love being able to hold my baby whenever I want to and if my husband (or me) thinks I haven't done much, I remind him he can trade spots for more than a day!!!
I also hear the flylady program is great! My sister-in-law uses it and swears by it!

I have been at home for over 4 years now. It is hard with a 4 and 6 year old. You just have to tackle a room a day. The kids are old enought to keep picked up. I try to do 2 loads of laundry a day to stay on top of it. It is hard, I feel less organized since I have been home. While working you have to have better time management skills, they slack off a bit once your home. Just do the best your can, don't kick yourself for staying home. It is is 24 hour job once your home, so pat yourself on the back for what your do get done.

Good Luck with it.

Hi L. - Something to think about is to assign each day 1 or 2 things to do. There will always be the things like dishes, picking up toys, etc. each day...Dusting high and low on Monday, vacumn on Tuesday, bathroom #1 on Wednesday, things like that.

Dear L.,
Thank you for asking this question.. I am a SAHM of 3 also, Emma Rose age 5, Stephen 3, and Logan 4 months. I have been feeling so overwhelmed and thought it is just me. So I thank you for asking a question I never thought to ask. I was reading some of the responses and I went to flylady.com and I did the first thing today, and I feel so much better. I also cheated and did day 2 also but now I feel like I have a guide, a map and I do no longer feel as overwhelmed. If you get a chance check it out, I am courious what you think. So here is to getting our homes cleanier so we can enjoy being with our kids more. Have a wonderful day.
D.

Just checked the other responses and it looks like others have suggested the flylady! I will leave my answer below anyways.
In the past I have used the Fly Lady. If you haven never heard of her check it out at www.flylady.net
It's basically a motivational tool to help organize your life. I am not currently "doing" the program but when I was using their help (it's free by the way) I felt my home was better organized and clutter free. She will also help you get a schedule down. Best of luck! It's hard work!

Congratulations! "The hardest job you'll ever love."

First, the housework. I am an extremely "type A" person, so lists are my friend. That said, here are some things that work for me:
-I have a set of little "flashcards" with all the chores on them. I literally just cut index cards in half, nothing fancy. They include jobs like vacuum, dust main floor, water plants, clean downstairs bath, etc. They are in a stack in the business card holder of the planner I use to organize my life. So every day, I do the chore that's "up." Then that card goes behind. The next day I do the next chore. And do on. Sometimes, if I'm ambitious, I'll do more than one. But what I like about this system is that 1) everything gets done top-to-bottom, so I'm not cleaning the bathrooms 3 times before I get around to dusting, just because I happen to notice the bathrooms need cleaning. And 2) I like that if I miss a day because I'm too busy, I can just pick up where I left off (as opposed to assigning chores to days of the week...with THAT system I found what I'd get overwhelmed the day after I missed something.
-For laundry, every person has a laundry basket in their closet (kids one each because for some reason their clothes can all be washed at one temp, hubby and I have separate ones for whites/darks). Every day, I throw one basket in the wash. It's easy for me to get through one load, and because it belongs to only one person, there's no sorting. Just fold and put away. And if you don't get around to it, at least you can stick it in the right room and if someone needs something they know there to find it.
-In the mornings, I tidy up each room as I leave it. Takes only minutes, but when I leave my bedroom, I make sure the bed is made and water glasses are coming out with me. I feel like as I make my way out the door for preschool, I leave behind a little "trail of clean." After we're done getting ready in the morning, I take a flushable wipe and wipe the counter, sink, and toilet. Not a deep-clean by any means, but always makes it look "company ready" and takes literally seconds.
I know it sounds really weird to be making cards and lists, but for someone like me who panics about stuff getting done, I've found that it's saved me a lot of time to just have the routine.

As for the kids, we have a pretty good schedule based on their own routines, but we can be flexible, too. We're usually up around 7. My 4yo gets a snack trap with cheerios and glass of water right off the bat. I fill them while making the baby's bottle. Then I don't have to worry about him getting irritable from not eating, or getting to breakfast ASAP. Baby gets bottle, and everyone's filled enough for all of us to get ready upstairs, then move on down to the kitchen. Around 9-9:30 we have breakfast, and head out the door. Preschool, errands, MOMS Club activities, whatever's on the schedule. We bring lots of snacks, Baby gets another bottle around 11:30, then lunch around 12:30. Baby usually naps on the go in the morning, then again at home in the afternoon. That's also quiet time for the older one. Then dinner, bath & bed at 7. Hope that helps. It's not at neurotic as it sounds. :)

Before I had kids I did all my cleaning one day a week- top to bottom laundry etc.

ha-- that so doesn't work later on.

After my boys came along I made a list of the chores that needed to be done weekly then picked one day a week for each one.

Every chore got done every week just not all on the same day.

Only having one chore a day besides the regular feeding and cleaning and raising of the boys really made it manageable.

Hope this helped.

K. :)

Try Flylady.net. She has a wonderful way of keeping on top of cleaning without making it a major chore. She offers many wonderful ideas and sends you encouraging emails to help you remember that life isnt perfect, so somedays your house wont be either. Good Luck!

Hi L.!

Congrats on staying home! It is HARD work!! I am not an expert by any means with the schedule thing. I have a 3 y/o and a 10 month old. I do know this. I have to keep in constant motion because chunks of things don't get done! So, as I am upstairs I grab the clothes before lugging kids and clothes down. If no kids are in hand, I will take a t-shirt from the laundry and wipe up the dust on the bannister as I go down. then congratulate myself on a job well done before I move on!! Another thing is this. Take time to just be at home. Then your kids will start getting their playing in and you will start to see windows. A movie is a great way to have some time if you really need to get it done. Don't feel guilty Either!! There are days you will be a rockstar and then the next day- it will look like a relief agency will need to step in. It's ok! Tomorrow will be a new day! The important thing is you stayed at home to watch your children grow and to participate in the process! You did not stay home to clean! Perspective is HUGE!!!

Hope this encourages you! You do a great job whether the house is cleaned or not! Your kids smile before they fall asleep because you were there, not because they have a clean shirt on! Good JOB!!

K.

I also have 3 beautiful children (Mac 16, Natalie 9, John 7)
the only thing that has worked for me and housework has been www.flylady.net
You don't have to do everything at once and they tell you what to do everyday. I use to be a SAHM but now I work full time and when I get overwhelmed with the housework, I go back to fly lady.