In Pursuit of a Tidy Home

Over the years, I have found the best way to keep our home tidy is with a system.  While this is nothing new to many people, I wanted to share my current system that I have had in place since last summer and has been working very well for our family.

I used to try to cram all of the chores that needed to be done into a day or two.  The entire day would be spent doing laundry or cleaning.  These days were not fun and often I would get so over-whelmed with all that needed to be done that I would simply choose to not finish all of the chores.

I strongly encourage all of my readers to develop a system of your own to maintain your home.  Right now, I am a stay-at-home mom with two little ones.  My daughter is in preschool 4 days a week, and my son is home with me all day.  I do still teach piano lessons from our home 4 afternoons a week, as well.

MONDAYS

The best decision I could have made Fall 2015 was to leave Mondays wide open.  I no longer have students scheduled on Monday afternoons and my daughter's preschool program is only Tuesday-Friday.  Starting the week with an extra day to catch up has been nothing short of a luxury this past school year!  While I know our Mondays will not always be so free, I have been taking advantage of the extra time by using Mondays to prepare for our week ahead.

• Laundry
• lights/delicates
• darks/jeans 
• kids
• linens (either kitchen or bathroom)
  

As I mentioned above, laundry used to be one of the chores that I would save for once a week.  It would then take all day (and sometimes two or three!) to wash, dry, iron (when necessary) and put away.  While I've never truly despised laundry, I would definitely not look forward to laundry day.

• Meal-planning/Grocery Shopping

Many people do this on Sunday but for now, I use my Monday afternoons to plan the meals for the week and complete the bulk of our weekly shopping this day.  During the week we keep our meals very simple.  We generally eat the same things for breakfast and lunch everyday!  While some may get bored with this, I have found it is the easiest way to not have to worry about planning out these meals.  It also makes shopping easier since I know exactly what we need to purchase each week.  For dinner, we always have a protein and a vegetable.  The protein in normally baked and the veggies are either steamed or roasted.  There are so many different combinations for veggies and proteins, we have yet to get bored with this!  Occasionally, I will add a pasta or starch to this meal.  

• Budget balancing/ Bill paying

Finally, Mondays are the days I balance our budget and pay bills.  Expenses from the previous week that did not get recorded are recorded on this day.  I take our spending cash for the week and deposit any checks on this day.

TUESDAYS

 Tuesdays are technically our first day of the week.  Once a month, this is also the day of my monthly teacher meetings.  During those weeks, Tuesday chores are normally spread out through the rest of the week.

• Bathrooms
• Master
• Hall
• Studio
  

• Studio
• Tidy
• Dust
• Vacuum

WEDNESDAYS 

Wednesdays are a busy day as I have one early afternoon student before picking my daughter up from preschool.  

• Floors swept/vacuumed
• downstairs
• upstairs
  

In addition to vacuuming/sweeping the whole house on Wednesdays, the kitchen floor is also swept as needed.  I do the bathroom floors on Tuesdays.

THURSDAYS

Thursdays are my second laundry day, as well as a day to catch up on any other chores that were not completed on their normal day.  Because I do laundry two days a week, the loads are typically smaller which means less time is spent folding and putting away (yay!).  

• Laundry
• lights/delicates
• darks/jeans
• kids
• linens (kitchen or bathroom)
  

FRIDAYS

By Fridays, my house is generally clean and most of laundry is completed.  If it is not, I can use this day to complete it.  If we are having dinner guests over the weekend, I use this day to plan those meals, shop for them, and possibly clean the hall bathroom again.  

AS NEEDED

There may be a few who scoff at my "as needed" list... I know many do these chores weekly, and I think that is fabulous.  I used to strive to complete these chores weekly, and it drove me completely bonkers.  So I decided that for right now, these chores are completed quite literally, as needed.  Typically, these chores are needed in our household twice a month, sometimes more.  If I have a lot of time during a weekday, I will complete needed chores then.  Otherwise, they are saved for Saturdays.

• Floors mopped
• Sheets changed
• Dusting
• Tubs cleaned

I would love to know- do you have a system for staying on top of your household chores?  What does a tidy home look like for your family?  Are there chores that you don't get to as often as you would like?  Please comment below and let me know!

At Home with Madame Chic Book Review

Jennifer L. Scott's second book, At Home with Madame Chic: Becoming a Connoisseur of Daily Life delves into daily life rituals and the importance of living a passionate life.  While these two topics seem like they may have little in common, Jennifer examines the importance of seemingly mundane tasks and decides to see what life would look like performing her chores with patience and mindfulness.

At Home With Madame Chic is broken into two parts:
Part 1 "Chez Vous" ("At Your House") begins with  Jennifer giving insight into how to get your home in order through organizing and decluttering while simultaneously finding pleasure and peace in the process.  One of my favorite quotes from Part 1 appears in chapter one as Jennifer is describing the pride and pleasure many French people take in making a home: "... a passionately pleasant home life sets you up for a very happy life in the outside world."

Part 2 "Les Routines de la Journée" ("Routines of the Day") is subdivided into three sections: the pleasures of the morning, the pleasures of the afternoon, and the pleasures of the evening.  These pages are full of wisdom and ideas of how to "live in the moment" throughout each day.  Included are lists of candle scents and music albums that are specific to different times of the day.

A story that stuck with me from Part 2 can be found in the last chapter under a subheading entitled, "Trying to Change Other People Is So Not Chic."  Jennifer shares a story of her and her husband and their difference of opinions relating to dinner rituals.  I'm sure by now, all of my readers know my admiration for Jennifer and her books.  My admiration was taken to a new level when I read that she prepares a home-cooked meal nearly every night, serves it at a set table (complete with candles and music!) all the while knowing that her husband may not be eating the prepared meal.  I was convicted on several levels with this story (from being grateful for Chris always sitting down eat our family dinners to realizing that if I know it will only be the children and myself home for dinner, there will be no cooking, and finally, my own general nagging to try to persuade Chris that my way is the best way in every arena of home).  Rather than nagging family members to persuade them to do things your way or that your way is best, it is recommended to rather "be the change [you] want to see in [them]."

I would highly recommend At Home with Madame Chic for anyone looking to find pleasure and peace in everyday living.  Of Jennifer L. Scott's three books, I would definitely say this one is my favorite!  I especially love how she doesn't make the reader feel like her way is the only way to do things and offers different suggestion for people with different lifestyles to maintain their homes.  This book ends with a sweet story Jennifer shares about driving by her childhood home.  This book truly encourages one to cultivate a home-life that one can cherish and  look back on with found memories.