1 day ago
Showing posts with label New House. Show all posts
Showing posts with label New House. Show all posts
Someone once asked me how I "do it all". Five young kids seems like a lot, and I think they were wondering how I keep the house running, homeschool the kids, and still find time to blog and read and all that.
My answer to the "how do you do it all" question is the same now as it was then - I don't.
At that time especially, I let certain things around the house slide in order to fit everything all in. But the other day someone made a comment about how I manage to keep my house so clean, and I realized that somewhere along the way I got back on top of the housekeeping. For the most part. I still feel like I don't keep the house as clean as I would like it to be, but for having five kids it's not too shabby.
(I would show you better pictures, but the thing that has to slide now is this blog - taking pictures takes time! Maybe I'll do a quick house tour on Instagram later this week.)
Anyway, I thought I would share a few of my (very basic) cleaning routines and habits that have helped our house not be the disaster you might expect it to be with five little kids!
Sweep the floor and do the dishes every day.
For me, I feel pretty good about the state of my house if there isn't visible dirt on my wood floors, and if the kitchen sink and counters are reasonably clear. After every meal I wash the pots and pans immediately and clean out the sink, and I think that helps me never have too much of a disaster in the kitchen. I usually end up sweeping once a day, usually sometime in the morning while the kids are doing bookwork. There is a lot of dirt in the mountains! These two things are the bare necessities of cleaning for me.
Have the kids pick up their toys at set times during the day.
Every morning before breakfast I ask the kids if their rooms are cleaned up and if their beds are made. I also ask them to clean up toys before lunch and/or nap time (I only have one kid who still naps, but nap time is still clean up time).And then I'll have the kids pick up before dinner so everything is reasonably clean before bed.
Straighten up clutter before bed.
Before Derek and I head up to bed each night, we usually start the dishwasher, pick up any toys that were missed, and straighten up the living room. I'll straighten up the books in the school room, put any stray dishes I find in the kitchen, and just generally do a quick declutter. Since we do this every day it usually doesn't get too bad, so this takes us maybe 5-10 minutes.
Vacuum and clean bathrooms around once a week (or as necessary).
Over the course of a whole week, I'll usually do a quick vacuum job and rotate through cleaning all three bathrooms. Sometimes these things need to be done more often, but I get to these chores at least once a week.
Dust and wash windows every 2-3 weeks as part of a whole-house cleaning day.
These chores are usually part of a whole-house cleaning day every 2-3 weeks. Some people rotate through different types of chores each week on a looping basis, but I like to have the whole house clean at once in a while. So every few weeks I'll do a good declutter and try to clean as much of the house in one day as I can. I try to do this before we have guests over for dinners too (though that doesn't always happen).
Do a little bit of laundry every day.
Laundry is the one chore that never ends. I usually throw a load in at least once a day, and then the clean/dry clothes sit in baskets until I get a chance to fold them. I hate folding laundry, so I'll usually save it up and do it all once a week, when I have a mountain to deal with and it's very overwhelming (but at least I can do it while listening to an audiobook, right?). Thankfully Derek helps me so much with the laundry though - when he has time he will fold a bit of laundry each night, so sometimes I don't have to tackle my weekly mountain of laundry!
And one final thought that helped me a lot...
Realize that real people live here.
When I was first married, I used to get very uptight about keeping the house looking good all the time, until I realized that I do not live in a show home. A real family lives in this house, real people. Real children eat at that table and spill their food sometimes, those real books stacked in the corner are really being read, a real dog leaves his hair all over everything, a real toddler is potty-training. Though I still breathe easier in a tidy house, and I try my best to make sure our home environment is generally clean and comfortable, I've loosened up my standards somewhat. Better a happy family in a messy house than a stressed-out family in a show home. There is a little made-up proverb for ya.
How do you handle housekeeping routines?
Wearing: These new duck boots that I ordered here. At first I felt a little clunky in them. But I know they will be great for ice and snow this winter, so I kept them and they've been growing on me!
Drinking: Coffee with a splash of half-and-half. Derek and I made a no-fancy-coffee pact for the month of November, and I'm trying my hardest to stick to it. It is embarrassing how much I can spend in one month on just coffee!
Picking: Rock for behind the new wood stove that Derek is installing this week. Our old house had a wood stove, and I loved that thing. It added a coziness to the living room and was a life-saver when the power would go out. I could even cook on it! We decided we wanted one in our new house too, but I had a terrible time picking out the rock for it. Our old wood stove had this really pretty grayish natural rock behind it, with lichen even growing on the rock, and it was so pretty. But real rock is expensive, and fake rock doesn't grow lichen. I made a decision though, and Derek took the week off to get the rock up! It's going to look good I think.
Reading: Long Before Luther by Nathan Busenitz. The subtitle is "tracing the heart of the gospel from Christ to the Reformation", and it looks really fascinating! I just started it.
Preparing: For the girls' birthday party this Saturday. I have struggled for a long time on how to handle birthday parties with five kids. Five individual parties each year was out of the question, but I also didn't want them to never have a birthday party during their growing up years. I still don't know exactly what my plan is, but this year I decided we'd do one combined party for the girls, and one for the boys in the spring. The girls requested a "princess tea party" birthday. I just ordered candy canes so I can hot glue the curved part onto plastic cups - you know, to make little "tea cups". I'm fancy like that. Hey, you would be shocked how hard and expensive it is to find a basic teacup these days, so I had to improvise!
Feeling: Like I need next week off after all this party prep. But moms don't get vacation time.
Trying: To be more consistent in my Bible reading. I typically wake up before the kids each morning to read, which works great when I can make it happen. However, I'm finding that other days the kids pull me in a million directions right after I wake up, which leads me to sometimes forget. I've been feeling especially spiritually weary lately, and I know it's because I haven't had enough consistency in my daily quiet time. This week I've been settling the kids with their breakfast and sneaking away while they eat, and that seems to be working better!
Following: Speaking of Bible reading, I started this Bible reading plan in earnest, and I am loving it. It's been a while since I tried to read the Bible within a certain time frame. At first I was a little intimidated by the sheer volume of reading each day. Now that I'm into it though, I am loving reading bigger chunks of Scripture at a time. Going in-depth with one section is important and meaningful, but I'm at a stage in life where increasing the quantity of Bible reading is more doable. The name is fitting, "keeping the feast". I feel that way right now when I finish reading for the day, like I've had a feast.
Sporting: A new hair color! I tried to edit this photo to make the color the most accurate. It's basically a little darker and richer than my natural color, and on my previous honey-highlights, it has a red-maroon tint. Last winter I went with straight-up burgundy hair, so this is a subtler version of that. I'm told it will fade out really well, and I'm liking it alot!
Wondering: If you've noticed that my blogroll in the sidebar has expanded a bit? I found a few new blogs lately that I'm enjoying!
Considering: A social media break. I took a Facebook break for the month of December last year, and it was so lovely. This year I'm considering taking a break from Instagram too! Just trying to figure out logistics of how to still share blog posts and still get Christmas photos printed into books easily (since I normally use Chatbooks connected with my Instagram). Question: how do you typically read this blog? Do you come to new posts through social media, or do you use a blog reader, or just type in the url when you want to read new posts? I'll put a poll below.
Listening: To Christmas music. Yes, I am.
Watching: Derek and I recently re-started watching The Middle from the beginning. We were watching Blue Bloods for a while, but we needed a break from drama. In general we are more comedy-type people, and we relate to the Hecks! Maybe you have to be from a certain type of family to appreciate that show, because the only people I know who have loved it as much as we do are other members of my family...but we all find it hilarious.
What have you all been up to?
Linking up here.
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