I did Flylady. R was a baby and I was overwhelmed and it helped me get a sense of sanity back. But it was all too much. So I 'quit' and just kinda kept the same rhythms for a while. Then we moved and had another baby and started homeschooling and had another baby and it just went from bad to worse. Ugh. I'm so embarrassed.
I did the Grand Plan Challenge. Well part of it. About 2/3 of the way through, as I surveyed the work I had done, you couldn't even tell anything had been done. And I wept over Adam's curse. Oh how I longed for a time when I could clean and it would stay clean for more than 5.2 seconds. That's all I was asking. And then I refused to clean anymore. Because it's not like you could tell or anything. So why waste the energy.
Then I read Large Family Logistics: The Art and Science of Managing the Large Family. (Blog here, book here.) And Jesus and I had a very nice chat while I read the first chapter of the book. And by chat, I mean that I read slower and slower because of the mounds of shame and guilt that I felt piling up on my shoulders. (Thankfully, I am saved by Grace and don't have to live in hopelessness, even with my housekeeping!). The first part of the book dissects the Proverbs 31 woman. I've heard sermons on Proverbs 31, I've read some commentary, but this little prologue was amazing. And enlightening. And poignant. And I hated it. At first. After I chatted with Jesus some more, I realized my own folly and decided that I truly wanted to bless my family. I wanted my daughters to grow up knowing how to maintain their own home and I wanted my son(s) to grow up knowing what to look for in a wife. Not that I'm the epitome of wife-ly-ness, but if I'm striving to be like the model God has given me, I think he will at least be able to see when someone may look nice on the outside and she may even have all the right answers, but her actions don't match up.
That's my goal.
So I finished reading the book and I stayed up late making pretty pages for my new Family Binder. It may seem silly, but pretty makes me feel polished. And polished is as polished does, at least in my brain. Or something like that.
So Monday morning hit, and I woke up at 5:15am (at least 3 hours earlier than usual. Yes, I'm a late riser, I'm fully aware). I finished my morning routine. Sat and watched the sunrise, ate breakfast with my love, and read my Bible. In peace. As in, Silence. It was awesome. Day 1 of the LFL system went down very well. My house became cleaner, my day a little less stressed, and the guilt became lighter.
Tuesday hit and I woke up at 6:15am. Yes an hour later, but when setting my alarm, I temporarily forgot exactly what time I'd woken up and set it for what I thought was early enough to do all the stuff I'd done on Monday. Oops. Mr. P was already almost done with his chores and had already eaten breakfast without me. I did have a good day after that though, getting all of my routines done and having plenty of time to read and play with the kids. And my house was even cleaner than the day before. A modern-day miracle if I ever saw one. I did what felt like no extra work and got more done.
Wednesday and Thursday continued the same, and when I had an unexpected (but always welcome) overnight guest on Thursday last minute, my house looked like I'd cleaned all day. Except I hadn't! ::sneaky laugh:: I'd been out all day on errands and we even went to a friend's pool to play for hours. I got home just in time for naptime and to sit down and read a little more in my book before finishing the crock-pot dinner at 5. I did almost nothing in preparation for my friends to come over and spend the night and it was awesome.
Then Friday, I was scheduled to have more people spend the night for a MOPS retreat. And I did about 30 minutes worth of clean up after the 6 children had run through my house all morning and read some more in the afternoon.
So, here it is Saturday and I feel almost guilty for how little I've done and how clean my house is. And I wanted to share this with you. If you are a mom of multiple kids, this is a great book to help you find your bearings and get your feet under you again. It's very similar to Flylady, with a few noticeable changes: Day-of-the-week assignments (laundry day, kitchen day, office day, etc), and it has a large focus on children's chores.
The author is a farm wife, and both she and her husband grew up on working farms, so they are not shy about doling out chores to the kids. I thought my previous list was a lot, but woah! Her list is intense - BUT DOABLE! In fact, my kids enjoy all the chores. Did you catch that? They ENJOY it. R has her own binder of responsibilities since she can read and she loves pulling it out every morning and following the list. She knows what's coming and gets right to it. She reads B's chores for him and they both get started on the day without a lot of interference from me. And gone are the days of standing over them to get their work done. I do some fun timed challenges, pitting them against each other and themselves to get rooms tidied. But probably the most effective consequence of not doing what they're supposed to is the punishment of: You don't work, you don't eat. We have used this one for serious chore neglect in the past, but the author heartily recommends this consequence. It's straight from the Bible. And it works like a charm. There's nothing like a rumbly belly to remind you to get to it so you don't miss the next meal! Before you call DHS on me - R and B have only missed one meal all week due to chore neglect.
I will caveat this with the author's frequent reminder to "Inspect what you Expect." Meaning, check their work frequently. Don't stand over them while they're working, but when they need to be done or say they're done, check it! Praise them when they do a good job and gently correct when they miss some things. Or inform them that they won't need to set themselves a place at the table at the next meal if needed.
My husband has been thoroughly impressed and blessed by the results. He has a pleasant morning with me with a hot breakfast, a lunch packed for him, and he's off to work feeling loved and respected. And when he comes home, the house is clean and the kids are ready to play with him (on a floor that isn't covered with stuff!).
So, I wanted to share my printables with you. These are the pages I use in my binder to help keep me organized. The two I'm posting today are the Bathroom Daily Chore sheet and the Bedroom Management Sheet. The Bathroom sheet I have posted in both bathrooms; not in my binders. The Bedroom management sheet is in both my binder and R's binder so she can use the same schedule to deep clean her room.
Check back all week for more printables!
Please don't share these as your own, link back to this post, thanks!
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