when your name isn't Danny Tanner
anyone else struggle with balancing life's demands? of being a wife and mom AND keeping your home in order? not to mention exercise, spending time in the Word, grocery shopping, meal-planning, coordinating your family's social calendar, etc.? of course you do. if you say you don't, well then, you can now admit to telling your first lie. :) i've talked to other moms out there and it seems we all are trying to figure out how to get everything done! i have noticed on several occasions, facebook statuses often include the never-ending pile of laundry, so i know i'm not alone.
i am, nor have i ever been, one of those "clean the entire house in 5 hours" kind of people. hats off to you if that is you, but i either 1) have the attention span of my 8-month-old, or 2) never have that much time in one chunk! instead, i am the "drive myself crazy" kind of person who has to complete all my "work" before i can "play". this leads to one side of the extreme or the other, where i am literally running around all day because the "work" never ends (and i only have 1 child!) OR i sit and stare at my computer, giving in to hours of mindless entertainment because i don't want to face the reality of all there is to do. either way, the work still doesn't get done! how in the world does that happen?
well, if you're like me, you're not looking for a mom-of-the-year award (i dropped out of that contest months ago). i simply want to be excellent in what God has called me to do; which, at this point in my life, is to be a wife and mother. i desire to run my household with excellence (not perfection, ladies) and joy. i want to enjoy this time of my life and not wish it away for the days when my children are grown and i have all the time in the world to clean and cook and meet other's demands. let's be real, if it's not happening now, it isn't going to happen then. besides, i want to be an example to my children of someone who exhibits peace, self-control, joy in serving, and who enjoys my family! a wise women once told me "you cannot impart what you do not possess". running around crazy does not lead to joy or peace.
so, here's my personal plan. i am semi-nerdy, so i made an excel spreadsheet, listing all the chores i could think of. i broke it WAY down (i.e. i didn't write "clean the bathroom, i listed "clean shower, clean toilets, wipe down bathrooms, etc. each as separate chores), then made a 1-month calendar (week 1, week 2, etc.) that only included weekdays and started assigning tasks to particular days. i thought through my busier days (i.e. i have bible study on tuesdays, so i tried not to overload tuesdays) and portioned out the chores accordingly. i also tried to make it make sense. if the trash comes on wednesdays, i go through the house and collect all the trash cans on tuesdays. i chose two days for laundry. i will plan to only do laundry on these days.
my goal here is not to be legalistic. i am anti-legalism (i.e. feeling guilty for not completing a checklist). my goal here is to have some sanity and to have an endpoint where i can say i've done my chores for the day and i can move on to other projects, activities, or just rest! now, schedule changes may necessitate some tweaking. i.e. you may have guests coming into town, you need to clean the guest bathroom but you still have a week to go before it's time for that chore. my hope in this is that routine cleaning will give me the freedom to "spruce up" a room but won't require the day-long process that it now involves. routine cleaning (hopefully) means less "deep cleaning".
i hope that this idea is encouraging to you. this week has been the start of my new plan, so we'll see how it goes! just in the two days i have implemented this plan, i feel more at ease. for example, i am able to sit down and post this blog because my three tasks assigned to today have been completed. i can now move on to other projects and activities and not feel guilty that there is laundry to wash or a bathroom to clean. i don't have a name for my "plan". any suggestions?
i am, nor have i ever been, one of those "clean the entire house in 5 hours" kind of people. hats off to you if that is you, but i either 1) have the attention span of my 8-month-old, or 2) never have that much time in one chunk! instead, i am the "drive myself crazy" kind of person who has to complete all my "work" before i can "play". this leads to one side of the extreme or the other, where i am literally running around all day because the "work" never ends (and i only have 1 child!) OR i sit and stare at my computer, giving in to hours of mindless entertainment because i don't want to face the reality of all there is to do. either way, the work still doesn't get done! how in the world does that happen?
well, if you're like me, you're not looking for a mom-of-the-year award (i dropped out of that contest months ago). i simply want to be excellent in what God has called me to do; which, at this point in my life, is to be a wife and mother. i desire to run my household with excellence (not perfection, ladies) and joy. i want to enjoy this time of my life and not wish it away for the days when my children are grown and i have all the time in the world to clean and cook and meet other's demands. let's be real, if it's not happening now, it isn't going to happen then. besides, i want to be an example to my children of someone who exhibits peace, self-control, joy in serving, and who enjoys my family! a wise women once told me "you cannot impart what you do not possess". running around crazy does not lead to joy or peace.
so, here's my personal plan. i am semi-nerdy, so i made an excel spreadsheet, listing all the chores i could think of. i broke it WAY down (i.e. i didn't write "clean the bathroom, i listed "clean shower, clean toilets, wipe down bathrooms, etc. each as separate chores), then made a 1-month calendar (week 1, week 2, etc.) that only included weekdays and started assigning tasks to particular days. i thought through my busier days (i.e. i have bible study on tuesdays, so i tried not to overload tuesdays) and portioned out the chores accordingly. i also tried to make it make sense. if the trash comes on wednesdays, i go through the house and collect all the trash cans on tuesdays. i chose two days for laundry. i will plan to only do laundry on these days.
my goal here is not to be legalistic. i am anti-legalism (i.e. feeling guilty for not completing a checklist). my goal here is to have some sanity and to have an endpoint where i can say i've done my chores for the day and i can move on to other projects, activities, or just rest! now, schedule changes may necessitate some tweaking. i.e. you may have guests coming into town, you need to clean the guest bathroom but you still have a week to go before it's time for that chore. my hope in this is that routine cleaning will give me the freedom to "spruce up" a room but won't require the day-long process that it now involves. routine cleaning (hopefully) means less "deep cleaning".
i hope that this idea is encouraging to you. this week has been the start of my new plan, so we'll see how it goes! just in the two days i have implemented this plan, i feel more at ease. for example, i am able to sit down and post this blog because my three tasks assigned to today have been completed. i can now move on to other projects and activities and not feel guilty that there is laundry to wash or a bathroom to clean. i don't have a name for my "plan". any suggestions?
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