Everyone who knows me well knows I love to schedule things. Not filling up my days with appointments scheduling, but every minute of the day has a purpose scheduling. Even if that purpose is taking a nap! My mom loves to tell the story of when our family was going on a beach vacation when I was about nine. While she was packing up the car, she found a notebook in which I had written my "schedule" for each day we would be away. I had even written in times to have a snack or "drink a coke" - or at least, that's what she claims!
Well, old habits die hard and lately I've been feeling like I need to get a schedule in order to keep my home up, make sure I'm spending quality time with my son and start to get things organized around here.
The problem I sometimes encounter with schedules and lists are that I start out with the very best of intentions and then often fall off the horse when life gets in the way, as it inevitably does. My goal was to make a daily schedule that I could follow and live with. Also, it has to be flexible because my husband and I have Young Life commitments at least twice a week, and there always seems to be something else going on.
So here's my first attempt at getting on a schedule we can live with around here. I'm sure there will be some tweaking that happens as I begin to live it, but that's the beauty of a first draft, isn't iit? Also, by posting for all to see, hopefully this will give me accountability to stick with it!
6:15 - (actually the alarm goes off at 6:12 - my husband as apparently calculated the exact number of minutes it will take him to get ready in the the morning so he can get every possible minute of sleep. That's what I get for marrying a math teacher!) Husband and I get up, I make coffee, iron his clothes for the day and make his lunch.
6:45 - Husband off to work, I do my quiet time with God.
7:15 - I call my mom (yes, we talk every day - I know it's not what "normal" mothers and daughters do, but I love starting my day talking to one of my very best friends)
7:45 (or after) - Josh gets up, I change his diaper, and make and eat breakfast with him.
8:30ish - Josh has a half hour of playpen time while I do the Morning Routine (I cribbed this from my studies of 1950's housewives when I was doing my other blog "Move Over, June!" It seems to work well - I can get a lot done in just a half an hour!)
The Morning Routine consists of:
1. Loading and starting the washer
2. Cleaning the kitchen (empty dishwasher, load new dishes, clean counters)
3. Make our bed and tidy bedrooms
4. Tidy bathroom & run a disinfecting wipe quickly over sink and toilet
5. Tidy living room
9:00ish - Structured Activty with Josh (most of my scheduled time with Josh are ideas from the Babywise series, which I'm sure I will post more on later). This is time where we do an activity I choose, and lately I've been getting ideas from my Parents Magazines - more posts on these later as well!
9:30 - Josh has juice and a light snack. I have water and a small snack with him. Change Josh's diaper and change him into clothes for the day.
10:00 - Josh free play time (he plays in living room with toys independently - or as independently as possible!) I'm in the living room making calls, updating our finances, etc.
11:00 - Josh playtime with Mom
11:30 - Make and eat lunch with Josh, change diaper.
12:00 - Josh nap. I call my husband to check in or just leave a message and say "I love you."
12:15 - Mama nap time! (hopefully) Or reading or just resting a bit. I used to feel guilty about this, but honestly, it's hard to get up so early and go to bed so late (on my husband's schedule) without getting at least a bit of a breather during the day!
1:30 - I shower and get ready for the day
2:00 (or after) - Josh up from nap, change diaper. Josh free playtime and/or run errands with Mom
3:00 - Josh playtime with Mom
3:30 - Make and eat snack with Josh, change diaper.
3:45 - Josh playpen time. This is when I clean the room of the day. I will use a rotating schedule that will start out like this:
Monday - Bathroom
Tuesday - Master Bedroom
Wednesday - Josh's Room
Thursday - Entry
Friday - Kitchen
Saturday - Living Room
Sunday - Rest
However, if I have Josh's playgroup or something (as I do every other Wednesday) during this afternoon slot, I will simply pick up the next day with the room I was supposed to do today. So basically the rooms will just rotate regardless of day after a while - but this is how I'm starting out!)
I have a detailed cleaning list for each room that I will go through as well. I will simply work for 30 minutes (until the timer goes off) and get as much done as I can in that time. I will pick up where I left off on that day the next week.
4:15 - Get mail with Josh & read him a story (we read way more than this during the day usually but this is just to ensure we read at least once a day)
4:30- Josh free playtime, Mama check email, then play with Josh.
5:00 - Quick house tidy up - kitchen clean up, put toys away, etc.
5:30 - Move clothes from washer to dryer - fold previous load (if applicable) and put away.
5:45 - Josh bath (if needed - we try to do this every other day)
6:00 - Make dinner. Josh playtime with Daddy (this is usually when he gets home).
6:30 - Eat dinner.
7:00 - Josh in PJs, diaper changed, teeth brushed.
7:15 - Prayers with Josh and then he goes to bed.
7:30 - I do dinner dishes and clean kitchen.
8:00 - Free time (unless it's a Young Life night) to blog, hang out with my hubby, meet a friend for coffee, etc.
10:00 - I get ready for bed or try to be in bed by now. Sometimes it happens, sometimes not!
Well there you have it - that's what I'm going to try to stick to and see if things can get organized around here. I'll keep you posted on my progress!
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