Creating Homemaking Routines

The one thing I seem to have the most trouble with is housekeeping.  There are just too many things I'd rather be doing than cleaning sinks and bathrooms.  And let's face it, they will just need to be cleaned again tomorrow.  It is never ending!  

I used to keep a spotlessly clean house. Yes. I did. Believe it!  But life happened.  A series of life happenings started in 2010 that kind of shut me down for a while.  It became a success for me to just get through the day with the kids fed and some school done.  The apartment we lived in got more and more cluttered.  The carpet more worn. The sinks and bathrooms more overwhelming.  Life can do that to you.  

But God restores all things and 2013 was my year for restoration.  God mended my heart with the birth of our sweet Simon.  And He opened a path for us to buy a home.  A home that I am determined to keep clean and clutter free.  A place for refreshment.

How am I going to do this?  I looked back to the time when I was able to stay on top of the chores.  I had a routine then.  But it wasn't one of my own making really.  At that time I was purchasing an e-book annually that had a cleaning schedule already laid out for me.  I used it for several years until I thought I had a good routine down and then I quit buying it, thinking I could keep it up in my own.  I didn't though. 

In the interim I tried a couple of other resources.  One in which I used color coded (I love color coding) post-it's to arrange tasks for specific times of the day.  This was visually appealing to me, but too detailed as I was never on schedule and so I constantly felt behind. The other I tried used e-mail reminders as motivation to complete tasks.  I quickly learned to ignore those e-mails.  Yeah, that didn't work so well.

So with the new year coming up quickly, I decided to go back to my favorite chore schedule! MOTIVATED MOMS. I love it because it not only schedules the little day to day things (so I get to satisfy my "box checker" tendencies and look like I'm actually getting  something done, but it also includes the annual home maintenance things that we tend to neglect or forget (such as changing the furnace filters).

This is from the printable e-book version, posted on my fridge.

I was truly excited about ordering the e-book for 2014 when I got a big surprise.  They now have an APP!  Yay!

AND, I CAN COLOR CODE IT!!  Yes, little things make me happy! Perhaps the most exciting thing about the app for me is that I can assign tasks to different family members so it's not all on me :)

More Great News!  Motivated Moms is on SALE thru 1/2/14!

• Get $2 off all e-books using code MM2014.(regularly $8)
• Android apps are $5.99 at Google Play and Amazon (regularly $7.99)
• iOS app is 99¢ (regularly $1.99) and a year subscription, an extra 12 months, can be added for $5.99 (regularly $7.99). That's a total of 14 months!  Can you say "BARGAIN"!!

  
New year, new home, new baby, and a new app for a new start on my housekeeping routine!  I can't wait to get started!