Check it off!

Here's what happens when you are a mom and a blogger - you forget what you wanted to write about. Every day there are moments where I think "ha - that is something to explore!" and have an idea in my head of a great post. By the time I sit down, it is gone, and I stare at a blank screen while the minutes tick away and I could be doing something else while I have my amazing 20 minutes of both kids sleeping. And then you get to read mundane nonsense!

I'm home with the kids. Yeah we keep busy and have lots of things that we do scheduled and unscheduled, but I do have some time to get things done for the moms group, preschool, around the house and all. The time I have to do housework is in little tiny slivers - a few minutes here and there, along with the tasks that the kids can help with during their playtime. I'm a list writer, so if it isn't on a list, it doesn't get done. I've actually been known to add things I've already done to a list just so i can cross them off. There are little scraps of paper all over the place with partially crossed off lists on them. I prioritize (who doesn't) and in addition to the things I need to do, I have the things I want to do. Sometimes the things that need doing can get shoved down the list in favor of things I want to do.

So I grocery shop, cook, do laundry when it really needs doing, clean up big messes, but leave small ones. I like to do things well, so if I clean (and that "if" is quite a big one) than I do it really well. Cleaning out a room completely in order to reorganize and scrub it is a dream. Of course, that is a world I no longer live in - I have a few minutes here and there to get something started or finished and if I don't do it immediately I forget what it was and it never gets done. Honey is great at pitching in, and has his own way of doing things. As pleased as I am when he tells me he has cleaned the bathroom, upon further questioning I find that no, he did not clean the shower door, and no, he did not clean the floor around the toilet, and no, he did not wipe down the outside of the toilet. So my version of cleaning might be different, which is maybe why I always feel like I have unfinished business. Honey and I also have different priorities. He may decide that he will spend a half hour cleaning the hall and family room carpet, when I'm feeling like our kitchen is a pit.

Well, I've come up with a perfect, completely compulsive, anal retentive solution, and it is working! We now have a chart in our cleaning closet with a list of chores to do each day. So on Mondays all the bathrooms get cleaned and there is a line for each part of that - wipe down baseboards, clean shower doors, dust light fixtures...etc. Tuesdays is the bedrooms, Wednesday is the family room. You get the idea. Each day when I have a second, I can look in there and see what needs doing that day. Once it is done, I check it off. Honey can do the same. I'm finding that I get something done every day, and whether it is a lot or a little, I feel like I've accomplished something because I have checked it off the list! I know whatever Honey is choosing to do is something that I will appreciate since it is on the list. It's a fabulous thing! Our house is pretty clean after a week of sticking to the list, and this week it has been easier to do since we got the big layer of grime off last week. So yeah, it is a little insane that this is making me so happy, but if it works...