I am writing a blog post after more than 6 months. Even when I update my food blog few times a week, I am not so motivated in writing this blog. Don't know why. It should actually be easy since I don't have to shoot pictures for this blog.
Anyway, coming to the point of this post, we are all busy in our lives. We manage our work, home, parenting, relations. How do you hit a balance? It is hard. Trust me when I say hard. It is hard work at every step. If you walk in to a house where everything looks great, you might not understand the effort it takes someone to make it look that way. Even if they hired someone to clean every other week, it still needs a lot of effort to maintain it that way. I cannot tell about others, but here is how I manage my household chores. My house is not picture perfect by any means. It used to be spotlessly clean before I had kids. Now, it is a challenge to keep a place without their markers, pencils, paper, toys, hair bands making their appearance.
Being a working woman with two kids under the age of 7, doing many things from paying bills to grocery to laundry and everything you can name, I have to be disciplined about a lot of things. Firstly, I need my own time for my hobbies without which, I would be lost. So, I make time for those along with managing everything around the house. Here is what all I do and how I manage them. Read manage, not do. Everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses and way of doing stuff.
If you divide the whole managing the household chores into parts, here is what I come up with. Order has nothing to do with their importance. I am typing as it comes to my mind.
1. Cleaning
2. Cooking
3. Grocery shopping
4. Other shopping
5. Laundry
6. Bills / Bank stuff / Other financial obligations
7. Car maintenance / Registration / emission test etc
8. Gardening / Yard maintenance / Grass cutting etc
9. Home maintenance / Repair
10. School work for kids if there are any
This list might have to be updated. That's all I am getting now.
Let's take a look at these things in a little bit more detail.
Cleaning:
I repeat - If you can afford a cleaning person, hire them. It makes this job easier. First of all, if you have clutter, you cannot keep your house clean. Be it cleaning lady or not. It is just impossible. So, everything has a place, a place for everything needs to be followed. If you do follow this, unless you argue that a pile of clothes can stay on the floor, your house will be pretty neat. Don't wait to clean your house until it gets really messy everywhere. You can clean each part as it needs and maintain others making it easier to keep it that way. When you finish brushing, wipe off the counter. I always have a rag on the counter for this job only. Once every couple of weeks, I throw all of them in the washer along with other cleaning rags/towels. I spray the anti bacterial solution on the potty all around and wipe it clean every other day and sometimes every day if it needs it. Bowl doesn't need as much cleaning as the top and sides of the potty, which I do it once a week. Sink can be scrubbed in a jiffy by spraying and wiping it down. Pay attention to the faucet and fixtures and open them up and clean if you see dirt inside. Sometimes they are beyond cleaning, replace them.They don't cost too much.
I vacuum the house when I have 15 minutes to spare. I can vacuum my main floor in that time. Two rooms and master bed room in that time. So, if I do one part today, the other part some other day, it still covers the whole thing. I vacuum the main floor at least twice a week. With kids spilling a lot of things, it really needs it. Upstairs is once a week and sometimes when there hasn't been much activity there, once in two weeks. I clean the basement once in 3 months or when I have a party so that gets cleaned too. Dusting has to be done once in 2 weeks or at the maximum 3 weeks. I can dust one room in about 5 - 10 minutes and even this you can do in steps. No need to finish all of them in one day. I have a pack of micro fiber clothes that I use and then wash them. Once a month, I take out all the cushions of the couch and vacuum there too. Kitchen needs cleaning every day if you are into every day cooking. Counters need to be wiped down and the floor needs to be swept at least every other day and sometimes every day. I steam mop kitchen once a week or sometimes I push it to once in two weeks, but I sweep or vacuum every other day. Bath tub is cleaned as needed but the bathroom floors get vacuumed every week. Mopped as needed.
Freezer and Refrigerator need cleaning too. How often depends on how much you buy and stock and how cleanly you have maintained them. I go through my pantry stuff once every 2 - 3 months and clean it up as needed and re arrange the containers as needed.
Closet needs cleaning every season. I have huge tote boxes or bags where I keep the clothes that I won't need for another 6 - 8 months like summer clothes in winter and vice versa. Do a cleaning and re organization of shoe closet every 3 - 4 months too if not more often. If you have kids, you will need to go through their closets at least twice a year and either donate the clothes that they have out grown or store it for later use. Otherwise, your closet will be over flowing with clothes.
Cooking:
I won't go much into detail. You can see that I cook like a crazy person by reading this blog - Versatile Vegetarian Kitchen. I can only tell you one thing, use some kind of planning and skip cooking once or twice a week if you cannot handle other things (I cook every day no matter what since that is my stress buster).
Grocery Shopping:
I am one of those who love grocery shopping. At the same time, I am very picky about buying certain things in certain places. Be it for the quality or be it for the price. Having said that, I always combine the grocery shopping with something else that comes on the way and planning plays an important role. We use about 3 - 4 gallons of milk every two weeks. I don't go to buy 2 gallons. I always buy 3 - 4 gallons so that I don't have to make a trip just for that. Same thing applies to the rest. Try to go through the pantry, freezer and refrigerator to make sure you are not buying multiples of the same before going out.
Other Shopping:
No input here since everyone has their passion, favorite store etc, but it falls under the chores.
Laundry:
Some people have a laundry day. I don't. I never let any basket get over filled and wash as soon as it becomes enough for one load. However, I do wash couple of loads in a row in winter. To conserve the energy. When you are drying one load after the other, it uses less energy and when not winter, I air dry them. So, I wash one load at a time so that it is easy to dry and fold. Whatever you do, make sure you fold and stow them away to their places. Don't leave the clothes in dryer for days.
Bills / Bank stuff:
I take care of these too. Some people create a spread sheet and note down which bill is due when and go by that. My approach is very different. I do online banking for everything. You will be amazed how much stamp money you will be saving. I check the mail and if there is a bill, I log in to my bank account and schedule before its due date. That way, I won't forget it. If you have to make a call to your mortgage company, or insurance company or to shop around for a better rate for your house or auto insurance, they all fall under this category. Be vigilant, don't post pone stuff. It never gets done.
Car maintenance / Registration / emission test etc:
Each car needs oil and filter change about once every 3 months. Each car needs registration renewal every year. Emission test every year. This is without any issues. You have to make sure couple more things are taken care of like flushing the whole lubrication system or brake fluids etc for the suggested mileage. And yes, I take care of these things too. If your car battery is older than 3 years and your car is giving starting problems, don't wait till the nth moment. Replace the battery when it is still smoothly running.
Gardening / Yard maintenance / Grass cutting etc:
Again, if you can hire someone to do the grass cutting, mulching, hire them. I hired someone to cut grass this year. Till last year, we used to do it ourselves. It gets easy if one is cutting the grass and one is edging and blowing which are not really hard for a woman either. I have even cut grass myself and I tell you it is not hard. Then there is fertilization spreading, weeding and trimming the bushes that I take care of myself. Mulching is also done by ourselves unless we are too busy that year.
Home maintenance / Repair:
I am very possessive about my home. It is after all an investment. I can do a lot of home maintenance stuff like replacing parts of a toilet or fixing a leaking faucet. But periodically, you need to make sure the caulk is good or replace them. Same goes for bathroom grout between the tiles.You will have to take care of staining the deck if you have one, weeding in between the patio stones, drive way sealing every few years. House is a big responsibility. If something needs fixing, don't postpone. Fix it right then and there or call someone to do it if you cannot handle. You don't maintain, you will end up losing lot of money. If you have to upgrade your floor or cabinets or counters, they all need work even when you are not actually doing it. If you can, hire a handy man for whatever you cannot do or find time to do. If you have wood sidings, you need them painted every 5 - 7 years.
School work for kids if there are any:
This is actually not very bad. It is something to do with kids and depending on how much work they bring home and how much help they need. I won't go in to detail since this is with respect to which grade your kid is in.
Have a great weekend.
Anyway, coming to the point of this post, we are all busy in our lives. We manage our work, home, parenting, relations. How do you hit a balance? It is hard. Trust me when I say hard. It is hard work at every step. If you walk in to a house where everything looks great, you might not understand the effort it takes someone to make it look that way. Even if they hired someone to clean every other week, it still needs a lot of effort to maintain it that way. I cannot tell about others, but here is how I manage my household chores. My house is not picture perfect by any means. It used to be spotlessly clean before I had kids. Now, it is a challenge to keep a place without their markers, pencils, paper, toys, hair bands making their appearance.
Being a working woman with two kids under the age of 7, doing many things from paying bills to grocery to laundry and everything you can name, I have to be disciplined about a lot of things. Firstly, I need my own time for my hobbies without which, I would be lost. So, I make time for those along with managing everything around the house. Here is what all I do and how I manage them. Read manage, not do. Everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses and way of doing stuff.
If you divide the whole managing the household chores into parts, here is what I come up with. Order has nothing to do with their importance. I am typing as it comes to my mind.
1. Cleaning
2. Cooking
3. Grocery shopping
4. Other shopping
5. Laundry
6. Bills / Bank stuff / Other financial obligations
7. Car maintenance / Registration / emission test etc
8. Gardening / Yard maintenance / Grass cutting etc
9. Home maintenance / Repair
10. School work for kids if there are any
This list might have to be updated. That's all I am getting now.
Let's take a look at these things in a little bit more detail.
Cleaning:
I repeat - If you can afford a cleaning person, hire them. It makes this job easier. First of all, if you have clutter, you cannot keep your house clean. Be it cleaning lady or not. It is just impossible. So, everything has a place, a place for everything needs to be followed. If you do follow this, unless you argue that a pile of clothes can stay on the floor, your house will be pretty neat. Don't wait to clean your house until it gets really messy everywhere. You can clean each part as it needs and maintain others making it easier to keep it that way. When you finish brushing, wipe off the counter. I always have a rag on the counter for this job only. Once every couple of weeks, I throw all of them in the washer along with other cleaning rags/towels. I spray the anti bacterial solution on the potty all around and wipe it clean every other day and sometimes every day if it needs it. Bowl doesn't need as much cleaning as the top and sides of the potty, which I do it once a week. Sink can be scrubbed in a jiffy by spraying and wiping it down. Pay attention to the faucet and fixtures and open them up and clean if you see dirt inside. Sometimes they are beyond cleaning, replace them.They don't cost too much.
I vacuum the house when I have 15 minutes to spare. I can vacuum my main floor in that time. Two rooms and master bed room in that time. So, if I do one part today, the other part some other day, it still covers the whole thing. I vacuum the main floor at least twice a week. With kids spilling a lot of things, it really needs it. Upstairs is once a week and sometimes when there hasn't been much activity there, once in two weeks. I clean the basement once in 3 months or when I have a party so that gets cleaned too. Dusting has to be done once in 2 weeks or at the maximum 3 weeks. I can dust one room in about 5 - 10 minutes and even this you can do in steps. No need to finish all of them in one day. I have a pack of micro fiber clothes that I use and then wash them. Once a month, I take out all the cushions of the couch and vacuum there too. Kitchen needs cleaning every day if you are into every day cooking. Counters need to be wiped down and the floor needs to be swept at least every other day and sometimes every day. I steam mop kitchen once a week or sometimes I push it to once in two weeks, but I sweep or vacuum every other day. Bath tub is cleaned as needed but the bathroom floors get vacuumed every week. Mopped as needed.
Freezer and Refrigerator need cleaning too. How often depends on how much you buy and stock and how cleanly you have maintained them. I go through my pantry stuff once every 2 - 3 months and clean it up as needed and re arrange the containers as needed.
Closet needs cleaning every season. I have huge tote boxes or bags where I keep the clothes that I won't need for another 6 - 8 months like summer clothes in winter and vice versa. Do a cleaning and re organization of shoe closet every 3 - 4 months too if not more often. If you have kids, you will need to go through their closets at least twice a year and either donate the clothes that they have out grown or store it for later use. Otherwise, your closet will be over flowing with clothes.
Cooking:
I won't go much into detail. You can see that I cook like a crazy person by reading this blog - Versatile Vegetarian Kitchen. I can only tell you one thing, use some kind of planning and skip cooking once or twice a week if you cannot handle other things (I cook every day no matter what since that is my stress buster).
Grocery Shopping:
I am one of those who love grocery shopping. At the same time, I am very picky about buying certain things in certain places. Be it for the quality or be it for the price. Having said that, I always combine the grocery shopping with something else that comes on the way and planning plays an important role. We use about 3 - 4 gallons of milk every two weeks. I don't go to buy 2 gallons. I always buy 3 - 4 gallons so that I don't have to make a trip just for that. Same thing applies to the rest. Try to go through the pantry, freezer and refrigerator to make sure you are not buying multiples of the same before going out.
Other Shopping:
No input here since everyone has their passion, favorite store etc, but it falls under the chores.
Laundry:
Some people have a laundry day. I don't. I never let any basket get over filled and wash as soon as it becomes enough for one load. However, I do wash couple of loads in a row in winter. To conserve the energy. When you are drying one load after the other, it uses less energy and when not winter, I air dry them. So, I wash one load at a time so that it is easy to dry and fold. Whatever you do, make sure you fold and stow them away to their places. Don't leave the clothes in dryer for days.
Bills / Bank stuff:
I take care of these too. Some people create a spread sheet and note down which bill is due when and go by that. My approach is very different. I do online banking for everything. You will be amazed how much stamp money you will be saving. I check the mail and if there is a bill, I log in to my bank account and schedule before its due date. That way, I won't forget it. If you have to make a call to your mortgage company, or insurance company or to shop around for a better rate for your house or auto insurance, they all fall under this category. Be vigilant, don't post pone stuff. It never gets done.
Car maintenance / Registration / emission test etc:
Each car needs oil and filter change about once every 3 months. Each car needs registration renewal every year. Emission test every year. This is without any issues. You have to make sure couple more things are taken care of like flushing the whole lubrication system or brake fluids etc for the suggested mileage. And yes, I take care of these things too. If your car battery is older than 3 years and your car is giving starting problems, don't wait till the nth moment. Replace the battery when it is still smoothly running.
Gardening / Yard maintenance / Grass cutting etc:
Again, if you can hire someone to do the grass cutting, mulching, hire them. I hired someone to cut grass this year. Till last year, we used to do it ourselves. It gets easy if one is cutting the grass and one is edging and blowing which are not really hard for a woman either. I have even cut grass myself and I tell you it is not hard. Then there is fertilization spreading, weeding and trimming the bushes that I take care of myself. Mulching is also done by ourselves unless we are too busy that year.
Home maintenance / Repair:
I am very possessive about my home. It is after all an investment. I can do a lot of home maintenance stuff like replacing parts of a toilet or fixing a leaking faucet. But periodically, you need to make sure the caulk is good or replace them. Same goes for bathroom grout between the tiles.You will have to take care of staining the deck if you have one, weeding in between the patio stones, drive way sealing every few years. House is a big responsibility. If something needs fixing, don't postpone. Fix it right then and there or call someone to do it if you cannot handle. You don't maintain, you will end up losing lot of money. If you have to upgrade your floor or cabinets or counters, they all need work even when you are not actually doing it. If you can, hire a handy man for whatever you cannot do or find time to do. If you have wood sidings, you need them painted every 5 - 7 years.
School work for kids if there are any:
This is actually not very bad. It is something to do with kids and depending on how much work they bring home and how much help they need. I won't go in to detail since this is with respect to which grade your kid is in.
Have a great weekend.
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