Weekly Plan - I Finally Have One!

Confession time:
I have laundry that was washed 2 weeks ago that is still not put away.
I have not done a focused cleaning of the bathrooms since we had company over a month ago.
I cannot even remember the last time I mopped the kitchen floor.  
The house is kept to a standard of "sanitary" (after all, no one licks the kitchen floor, right?) but it is certainly not ready for company at a moment's notice.
This is, I believe, part of why "virtual coffee" is such a great idea. :)

About 2 years ago I was home, not working anymore, and pregnant.  Following Rachel Anne's Home Sanctuary blog, I decided to create a real housekeeping schedule.  I went a bit crazy with it, using Excel, and outlining pretty much everything I would ever do to run a tight ship, right down to separating the mirrors and the bathtub from the bathrooms in general.  It was quite successful.  And then, the baby came. 

There was a readjustment period, as you would expect.  But the readjustment period probably shouldn't have lasted a year and a half.  Seriously.

So here I am again: home, not working, and pregnant.  And my house is a shambles.  Part of that has had to do with having Sam at home.  I don't know exactly what that's about, but there's something that paralyzes me when he's not working.  Maybe I think it's a perpetual weekend.  Maybe I feel obligated to keep him company.  Maybe I use it as an excuse to be lazy.  I can't get anything productive done, and if I do, it's in spurts of about 4 minutes at a time.  That, and the kitchen was always a mess because there was another adult making food and not cleaning it up.  A minor complaint, but sometimes in my head it got really major.  Oh, the joys of pregnancy hormones.  But he's working again, and all is right with the kitchen. 

This week I was inspired to get serious about making a schedule again.  It is a very simple one.  It allows for ONE major item per day, and one or two other minor items per day.  Laundry is broken up into 3 categories and takes 3 days.  My Fridays' "major item" is "catch up" - allowing myself plenty of flexibility.  There is nothing written on the weekend days.  I want to consider those my "off" days, even though there are still the daily minimum requirements to making the house function.  This is a schedule I think I will be able to maintain after the next baby comes.

Housekeeping Schedule - 2011

Not listed are those daily things.  They are:
Dinner prepared/cleaned up
Pick Up (Minimum Maintenance - or some variation thereof)
Dishes (sink and counter clear by bedtime)
Sort mail/eliminate junk papers

These things alone will make everything less stressful.  Wanna know why?  Because I haven't even been doing them.  Granted, I was too sick to stand up for a while there, but that's over and we're done with that phase.  (Thank God!)

So I have been slowly but surely making my way to getting things picked up since Wednesday when I drew this schedule out on a piece of paper.  Yep, it's just a large page, no white board, no dates.  Simple as can be.

That's the way it's gotta be to work around here.

Now I'm off to finish watching Sid the Science Kid with Lizzie.  Sid is her latest TV crush.  Oh, she loves him.