Divide and Conquer

Also, a subtitle: "How I Keep House All While Maintaining My Sanity."

So, I'll be the first to admit that I'm not the best clean freak. My threshold of too much clutter is pretty high. I'm not a slob, but I just am ok with letting the little things slide. Home maker is a full time job, with being cook, maid, maintenance, construction, designer, and mother. How's a girl to survive having a decent home with basic chores done when the time is already taken up with a full time job?

For a while I would have my Saturdays be the cleaning day. Bathrooms, kitchen, vacuuming, grocery shopping, laundry, etc. etc. etc. Which, as the years went on sucked more and more and I ended up getting less and less done on the Saturdays cause come on! It sucks! Cleaning sucks. And I'm too tired. And annoyed after maybe four hours of cleaning and back to back loads of laundry.

And so, as a solution, I do a little bit each day. I don't know where I got it from or when that clicked per se, but oh man! Makes for a much better down weekend where I can relax and recharge. I call it the Divide and the Conquer.

Divide

Each day, when I get home from work, I do one or two chores. And then I'm done. That's it. Whhaaaaaaa? But, but, how?

Easy. Here's my breakdown, with my reasoning and little helpful reminders.

Monday-Toilets (cause that's what Mondays are for, duh) and Mei's laundry (Mei Monday, get it?)

Tuesday- Towels/sheets (these switch every other week with each other, depending on need). Trash (Wednesday is trash day, so get all the trash cans emptied and tossed). Also kitty litter (any day that has a T...for turd...means do the kitty litter).

Wednesday- Whites for laundry. Trash day. Vacuum day.

Thursday- Colors for laundry. Kitty Poo Duty.

Friday- Free day cause that's what Friday's are for! Sorta. I try to get my grocery list made up on this day. Or, use this day to catch up on a day that I might have failed to complete....

Saturday- Showers and grocery shopping. Cat Crap Duty.

That's it. I do dishes at the end of each day and try to sweep at the end of each day. The end. Chores check and check.

I found it amazing how much I could clean in only half hour to an hour and a half increments in the evenings. It's a little multi tasking at it's most beautiful form and a beautiful little tower of cleaning foundations. I will on a so often Saturday deep clean something in need of some major care...fridge, oven, dusting, the details. But when I don't have mountains of laundry or cat shi shi reeking the whole floor, I can do the details without too much worry and care. Done and done.

Conquer

Theoretically by the end of Saturday, everything has been managed successfully. My Saturday is no longer a day of cramming a week worth of chores into a day. It helps me to keep organized and in control of what I am capable of doing. It is away for me to eat the elephant, or the frog...whatever that saying is. I can keep a handle on the chores and then come Saturday, I can do what I want, practically guilt free.

Am I perfect? Clear and definite NO. Cause sometimes I'm tired and then I end up doing my towels and sheets on a Saturday. Or things come up and sometimes things get rearranged. For example, I don't remember the last time I vacuumed the upstairs. The horror! But. I don't feel too bad about it, cause I'll try again the next week. I'm still working on better habits and for the love, no one is perfect.

I divide the week up into little bitable parts and I am feeling much better come Saturday. For the most part. Cause let's be honest, there's more to a house than just chores. Ask me if I unpacked my books after the almost four months since our move....But at least I've got clean clothes. It's the little things.