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ejagno

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I struggle to get all of my household tasks done Monday through Friday. When I redid my daily routines it was with the explicit purpose of arranging things so that
#1 - I would remember to take care of myself,
#2 - I wouldn't consistently overlook the little things that can often turn into big things if not taken care of
#3 - Have a guilt free day to myself as well as a day with my husband on the weekends.

It's not working out to well.

I have 24 areas/items/tasks that must be handled.
1. Master Bath
2. Master Bedroom
3. Craft Room
4. Office Area/Desk tasks
5. Laundry/Grand kids room
6. Hallway/AC unit
7. Dining Room
8. Breakfast room
9. Kitchen
10. Family Room
11. Man Cave (full size bar)
12. Guest Bathroom
13. Guest Bedroom
14. Large store room
15. Garage - 3 stalls & tool room
16. Front Porch (Acadian style across entire width of home)
17. Back decks (1100 sq. ft.)
18. Lawn - 1 acre
19. Vehicles
20. Personal care
21. Pet care
22. Mail
23. Errands, Shopping, Appts.
24. Gardening

Yes, I'm married but DH spends 6 1/2 days a week with his first wife, the restaurant. I think now I'm just the mistress of 32 years.LOL My kids are grown and gone. What I'm saying is that from mowing the acre weekly to caring for HIS labs, it's all on me.

I've tried plan after plan and I just can't seem to fit it all in. I quit working and still can't manage to stay on top of every single thing. I get up at 6am and generally don't get in bed until around midnight. There has got to be a better balance instead of feeling like a slave to my house.

I know life got in the way with accidents, injury, death and illness which left me with a neglected home but right now I'm just not seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. I feel like a dog chasing my tail or a hampster running on a wheel and getting no where. What am I doing wrong? I know I am not the only one with these tasks.
 

luludou

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Hmmm... seems I'm not the only one who thinks ther is just too much to do!!! I must say it goes faster with less... decluttering & decrapyfing sure help! I also like the one-minute rule Annie told us about... if it takes less than one minute... do it.
 

ChristmasPir8

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Can you hire a maid? LoL. Umm I wish I had better advice I prob have 1/2 less that and I don't get stuff done. Then again I'm lazy.... a habit to get in is if it's quick do it now, if it's in your hand put it where it belongs so you don't have to touch it twice.
 

missjane

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Ellen, from reading your posts, you do a lot more that just take care of the house! Some days you are taking care of grandchildren, running errands for DH, going to the doctor/dentist, etc.

I know because of the weather, you are having to work on the garage when it's cool enough, so that's thrown in there when you can do it and obviously, the yard too.

Slow down and ask yourself who you are doing all of this for. Can you lower your standards? When I first started taking better care of my house, I tried to compare myself to other people or the pictures I saw in magazines...let me tell you, girl...it wasn't going to happen, not in my lifetime! So I set priorities. I started in one room and worked on it exclusively while also keeping up with the "have-to-do everyday" stuff like sorting mail, washing dishes, clothes, sweeping. I even went longer between mopping and dusting while I was doing the deep cleaning...guess who noticed... no one, but me! I knew when I started in those rooms, it would be done thoroughly (sp) anyway...so I didn't let it bother me.

When I tried to work in too many rooms all at once, I felt like I was drowning. That's when I decided it wasn't working and I had to start working in one room at a time. I didn't leave it, even if I found something that went in another room. I made piles by room or by keep and sort later. I threw away what was trash and made a donate pile and a sell pile in each room. My computer room became the "pile collection" room for the sell or donate items until I was finished completely. If I was making a trip that passed by Goodwill, I loaded my van and away it went! Then, I had a big rummage sale! Last to be cleaned was the computer room after all the piles were gone. Once I got all the rooms completely decluttered and cleaned out, it is much easier, just a light pick up in each room each day.

I agree with Lucie, less stuff equals less work. I don't know what your routine is exactly, but have you tried making an hourly schedule for each day? I think you are feeling overwhelmed right now, and I completely understand, I really do, because that's how I felt about 5 months ago when I started really working to get our house back in order. I cleaned day and night for about 3 months. I got up cleaning; I went to bed cleaning. It's still not perfect, but it is at a point I am comfortable with for the time being.

Hope that helps!
 

Ahorsesoul

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First off, stop mowing. If he says something about it tell him he can do it or hire someone. You need to give yourself a break. The rest of the items can be broken down to be done a little at a time. It all doesn't have to be done at once and it does not have to be done perfectly.
 

ejagno

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I'm starting to think that the frequency of doing these things are what's bogging me down. I've been trying to deep clean one room per day and just do maintenance on the rest on top of my daily tasks & personal care and it's just too much.

I find myself wanting to go all the way back to the 3x5 index cards just to keep it all straight. LOL Seriously, I'm trying, but feeling very overwhelmed at the moment.

Ahorsesoul: I hired two different people over the past two summers to maintain the lawn and at $90 per week I was very disappointed in the quality of work. I ended up firing both of them. I ended up with more grass clippings in my flower beds and garden. Half the time they didn't weed-eat but would go stupid with Round-up till my whole yard looked dead. Raking apparently went out of vogue because no one wants to rake up the clippings. Tree, shrub and garden bed maintenance is a whole different category as well as an additional $100 fee. Bottom line, for $9,880 per year in lawn maintence that is sub standard................I'd rather do it myself. This doesn't include fertilizing or pest control. Just for mosquito control it's another $80 per month from April through October. Oh the benefit of living on an acre of land. Big yard, big expenses.
 

teachermomof2

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Ellen~

Why is it you are tackling this all at one time? Are you decluttering or cleaning? I find that if I do a little each day with a few hours on Saturday my house stays pretty clean. Have you considered a cleaning lady?

Have you looked into flylady?
 

Cindylouwho

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Been there! I hear you!! This is where I was 6-7 years ago. I still have my fair share of struggles but things move much more smoothly these days. Good job posting everything you have to care for. That made it easy for me to copy and paste and plug it right into "my" routine - which I do have written down on index cards but no longer need them. Here is how I run my life now and it really works for me. I was in complete chaos before. I don't know your house or your situation exactly so you would of course need to tweak this but this is how things would run at my house. And if DH is around he just gets in the way. The 2 kids do help, but they also destroy so they probably cancel each other out! :). DH mows the lawn and I do the rest. However I am the one that ordered that grass seed and I made sure it was a slow-growing lawn! ;-) We live on several acres and the garden is huge.

Week 1: (The Master)
Master Bedroom & Bath

Week 2: (Hallway Rooms)
Craft Room
Office Area/Desk tasks
Laundry/Grand kids room
Hallway/AC unit
Guest Bathroom
Guest Bedroom

Week 3: (Living Space)
Dining Room
Breakfast room
Family Room

Week 4: (Kitchen & Entries)
Kitchen (and I add my Pantry in another part of the house)
Front Porch (Acadian style across entire width of home)
Back decks (1100 sq. ft.) - (get a blower and keep it handy)

Week 5: The Quarterlies (when there are 5 weeks in the month). Rotate tasks.
Large store room
Garage - 3 stalls & tool room
Man Cave (full size bar)
Lawn - 1 acre - There is a teenager out there that happily do the bulk of this for $15-20. Find that teenager. (Locate a Scout Leader and they will find one you can trust).

MORNING Routine (Done by 8:30)
Get dressed to shoes (I have indoor-only tennis shoes and I move faster in them).
Personal care
Unload dishwasher
(Online time only while having coffee in morning)
Pet care
Fast swipe of toilets with a tissue every use through course of day. Every time.
Mail

EVENING Routine:
Pet care
Gardening - 10 min
Dinner on by 6:30pm. (Have a plan and use slow cooker)
Do dishes on shine sink so it isn't waiting for me in the morning.
(Get to bed by 10pm so you are rested which will keep you from feeling overwhelmed. You will be rewarded with energy in the am)
Also, read a book before bed at least 15 min -- I find it slows down the world)

WEEKLY:
Errands & Shopping
Appts. - try to line these up on specific days.
Vehicles - Keep wipes in car and wipe down car at stoplights. (I do)
1 hour Speed Clean'g - Dust, Vacuum, Mop, Mirrors, Hot Spot, Empty Trash.
Laundry - Either do in 1 day OR do 1 load every day. I do it all in one day (6 big loads) and I make that my quiet day to watch tv while folding if I want or surf the web.
 

Ahorsesoul

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Cindylouwho, Sounds like you used some of Flylady's ideas. Love her.
 

AnnieClaus

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ejagno- Great post! I struggle too!

My plan was to do all the major chores on Sunday so everything is ready and in order for the week.

By major chores, I consider:

* Kitchen Scrub down
* Bathroom Scrub down
* Vaccuuming
* Sweeping&Mopping
* Dusting

When I do this I notice how much more calm my week is. Problem is, I don't always feel like doing it on my one of 2 days off from work. And doing it on a work day never works because frankly, I'm too tired after work! I feel I just need to get in the habit and get it going.

Hmmmm...... Some thoughts to ponder.

Annie
 

Ahorsesoul

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* Kitchen Scrub down
* Bathroom Scrub down

I cut down on cleaning time by washing one wall of the tub when I take a shower. I never really ever have to clean my bathtub this way. And I do the same with the kitchen sink. I scrub one side every time I do the dishes. I do flylady's methods so I also hardly ever do not have a clean shiny sink.

Annie, IMO, assign those jobs through out the week so you do not have to use your days off for cleaning. You do not have to complete the whole job in one day.
 

ejagno

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Okay, this is what I've come up with so far. I know that things will go easier once all of the decluttering is completed 100%, if there is ever such a thing. It feels like I get one area decluttered and by the time it comes back around it's back to square one. Generally the only meal I cook these days is breakfast. It's much easier to drive over to our restaurant and get lunch or dinner most days since I'm essentially by myself......and I do own a restaurant. LOL

MORNING ROUTINE
Personal
 Wash Face
 Brush Teeth
 Apply moisturizer
 Fix hair
 Apply make-up
 Get dressed to shoes
 Swish & swipe bathroom
 Bring dirty clothes to laundry room (start load if there is enough)
 Eat breakfast (Clean as you go)
 Take vitamins

Pets
 Feed fish
 Clean out kennel & freshen food and water for dogs

Master Bedroom
 Make Bed
 Clear nightstands (DH is a junk food junkie)
 PPT (Pick up, Put Away, Throw away anything that doesn't belong

Main Bathroom
 PPT
 Swish & swipe bathroom

MID MORNING ROUTINE
 Focus Areas:
Week 1 - Master bedroom, Grands/Laundry Room, both baths, Hallway
Week 2 - Craft Room-Desk/Office
Week 3 - Living Room/Bar/Guest Room, bath, storage, Back decks
Week 4 - Kitchen, breakfast area, dining room, Front Porch
Week 5 - Quarterly tasks-Garage, Outbuildings

LUNCH BREAK-REST

AFTERNOON ROUTINE

Front Porch

 PPT
 Check, sort, shred & file mail
 Water plants

Let dog's out for a mid-day run. Wash down kennel if there is any mess.

DECLUTTER A DRAWER CABINET, CLOSET FOR 1 HOUR IN FOCUS AREA


EVENING ROUTINE

Pets
 Feed fish
 Clean out kennel & freshen food and water for dogs

Personal
 Walk through & PPT in each room
 Take shower/Brush teeth
 Moisturize
 Dress for bed
 Check tomorrows schedule
 ME TIME until bed at 10:00 pm (if DH turns the tv off, grrrrr)
 
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AnnieClaus

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Ahorsesoul- One time I timed myself on my weekly house chores. My "House Blessing."

It only took 90 minutes! But- that's with everything picked up- clothes put away, mail dealt with.

So, my plan is to pick up throughout the week and then bust out the 90 minutes of the once a week chores.


Really want to get back on that. So nice coming home from work in the week and everything is basically done! I need to remember how that feels every evening and just get it done! My plan is to come home after church and "Get er done!"

Ellen- I like your Routines for certain times of the day! I look forward to hearing how things are going for you!

Annie
 
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jinglemom

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Etagno, I've tried Flylady, the index cards and the year around houseworks holiday plan, but really ended up with a combination of what i like about each of the methods. I have about the same rooms as you, except dh handles the outside stuff. I needed more zones than flylady, but less weeks than the year around houseworks plan because it seemed the first rooms seemed to always need attention way sooner than the next time it would come up on te houseworks plan. I ended up with 7-8 zones that look like this:

Living Room/dining room/entry
Kitchen
Family room & toy closet (big closet under the stairs)
Master bedroom & master bath
Both Kids rooms/upstairs landing & kids bath
Office/craft room & 3rd bath
Laundry room and linen closets (2)
Outside storage/3 car garage but each done only in spring and fall (not a regular zone). i just fit this zone in then.

With the zones, I focus on the deep cleaning, When a bathroom comes up in a zone, it is done on the Thursday (my regular bathroom cleaning day, just more deep cleaned) For any decluttering or any other area that is bugging me, I do more the Index card method (without index cards). I just prioritize what i want/need to declutter and organize the most. Take as many days as needed, then move onto the next spot. I also try to schedule certain things on certain days, errands on Tuesdays, sundays are for meal planning, etc. All my weekly cleaning tasks that have to get done are designated a day too.

Mondays.. dusting all rooms and mopping the upstairs bathrooms,
tuesdays ...mop all downstairs floors/errand day
Wednesdays..clean the downstairs bath and are heavier vacuuming days (under furniture &,baseboards)
Thursdays..both upstairs bathrooms
friday..is my light cleaning/fun day..just vacuuming and my dailies, then I can do whatever I choose
saturdays..windows then 1-2 tasks toff my list of jobs that need to be done Bi monthly, monthly etc.
sunday..I try to keep as a day of rest so just do my menu planning this day

My day starts with my dailies (unload dishwasher from night before, switch laundry to dryer and start a new load, quick wipe down of bathroom sinks)..kids off to school

take a little me time as I eat breakfast and have coffee

Then vacuum (we have dark wood floors and a white dog so has to be done daily)....then onto that days cleaning tasks..then a section for that weeks zone (I divide each room into 5 sections (4 corners and middle) doing one section Mon-Fri) ..then onto mail, decluttering or whatever else I want to get done.

Afternoon is usually kids sports..then dinner

If I were to have to include gardening, I would do like Cindylou said and do 10-15 minutes a day and choose a day for mowing. I think your dh could help you with the weeding this way too. Ask him if he could do just 10 minutes each day before he goes to work. He could also clean a shower before he takes one himself. I also think trying to find a teenager for the lawn is a great idea...I know mine would LOVE to ride on one of those mowers...but to get paid too! :)
 
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Cindylouwho

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Yes, ahorsesoul, I LOVE flylady! My system is flylady mixed with Houseworks. Like Jinglemom, I had more zones than comfortably fit but even cramming it I still am in much better shape than I was before. Jinglemom, so you rotate zones on a 2 month schedule rather than one? Does that work? My "Toy Room" is the attic and it is a huge problem spot that is not technically in a routine.

Ejagno - your routines look GREAT! Well done!! What are your rough times of day so you know in the back of your head when your "free time" is? You said taking care of the house was feeling like a "job" so you want it to not feel like that. I often have this feeeling so it is very important to me to know the parameters of my day so when I look back on what I did each day that I'm not always saying I did housework. We need lives! :)

I'm spotting that 1 hour of declutter and think that is a possible problem area for long term upkeep. Flylady would make that 15 minutes. Same with the Zone - it's 15 minutes per day. This is so we don't burn out and then skip a day (which then grows to a month). I live by a timer and I find that I often re-set it for another 15 once I get going. But then I have to FORCE myself to walk away and be patient that it won't be all done in a day. When I fall off my schedule (like when I was gone over the summer) I know it will take a full month before my house will be somewhat pulled back together -- because that is how long it takes me to hit all the zones. And I am SO impatient.

MORNING ROUTINE -- Done by what time? (Are Pets and Master Bdrm in the Morning Routine?)

MID MORNING ROUTINE -- 15 min?
 Focus Areas

LUNCH BREAK-REST

AFTERNOON ROUTINE - Is this short? If not, can you cram it into am or pm to open up your day? You already have a mid-morning routine. This is looking like a day of housework now.

DECLUTTER A DRAWER CABINET, CLOSET FOR 1 HOUR IN FOCUS AREA - Danger Will Robinson! ;-) An hour is a long time. How about 15 min? What time of day is this? Can you get into am when you have more energy? (Unless you have more energy in the pm?)

EVENING ROUTINE
DH's TV - :) Maybe get headphones you can attach to the tv so there is no sound. DH used to use them in our old house. He's usually passed out early these days so it is not a problem anymore. I have an white noise machine that really helps block out household noise like tvs and the dog etc....

10pm sounds wonderful! :)
 

missjane

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There are wireless headphones that can be used with TVs. I'm getting DH some for Christmas.
 

ejagno

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Okay Cindylou and JingleMom, you have saved me from myself yet again. I'm going back to the drawing board because you are both absolutely correct..........I'm spending all day every day doing Housework and I want to have time to do other things. I'll get back with you tomorrow. Thank you so much for sharing your plans and ideas. It really has helped me to put things into perspective. You are right, I was trying to cram my entire home into Flylady's 4 week intervals and I'd be killing myself. When I deep clean it's from ceiling to floor and everything within those walls. Doing this for 4 rooms in one week would leave me exhausted and burnt out. I've got to restructure how I do this.
 

jinglemom

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Yes, ahorsesoul, I LOVE flylady! My system is flylady mixed with Houseworks. Like Jinglemom, I had more zones than comfortably fit but even cramming it I still am in much better shape than I was before. Jinglemom, so you rotate zones on a 2 month schedule rather than one? Does that work? My "Toy Room" is the attic and it is a huge problem spot that is not technically in a routine.

Cindylouwho, it has been working much better for me. Our rooms aren't that big though. Basically everything anybody would see, gets cleaned weekly. The only thing that waits 7-8 weeks is basically under couches, behind heavier furniture, the tops of tall furniture (armoirs, refridgerator), high windows, really stuff that I don't think has to be cleaned every month anyway. (I slide the chairs and lighter furniture one or more times a week. I do add one or more sections of my kitchen (stove tops, refridgerator, cabinet or pantry doors, or whatever else needs to be cleaned after I do the dishes. So the kitchen is done more frequently. Zone stuff would again, be the things like the stove hood vent, inside a drawer or cabinet, top of fridge, under stove anything that can wait longer. I typically have 7 zones, so it is only 2 weeks longer. I just add an 8th zone when I want to do the garage, outside storage, master bedroom closet...vacation :) rather than cram it in with everything else.

Flylady's plan left out my my worst rooms, the Family room/toy closet (our most used room where the kids had all their toys), the office and laundry room which are constant dumping grounds. So even with the one extra room zone, it just didn't help enough. I always felt overwhelmed trying to keep up with the pace. This is definitely more manageable for me.
 
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ejagno

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Okay ladies, I didn't forget. I did manage to buy myself one huge calendar as well as a nice new timer. By the time I got home my legs weren't feeling to good so I just took it easy the rest of the evening. I'd been on my feet all day without realizing I hadn't rested my legs at all.

I cannot wait to get this started in the morning. I'm a very visual person and I need to see it all laid out in black & white for it to make sense. I'm still figuring out how to fit the dailies, weeklies, zones, monthlies, quarterlies and everything else into weekly plans. I guess that's why I had success with the 3x5's many, many, many years ago. LOL

I'll keep you updated on my progress. Thank you for the support!
 

AnnieClaus

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Go, Ellen, Go!

Looking very forward to hearing about your progress!

Managed to bust out my House Blessing.

Thought about not scrubbing the bathroom down but a little voice said, "That's all you have left to do!" So, I went in and did it.

Now, this week need to keep up on those "dailies!"

Cindylouwho and jinglemom- I like how you ladies came up with your own zones- and even added zones! Makes me think of ways to take a basic plan- like HGP and/or flylady- and taylor it to fit your own lives and house.

Annie
 
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