Homemaking can be made as difficult, thorough, or uncomplicated as you choose. In the end, it's up to the individual homemaker and the occupants of the home to determine what level of housekeeping is necessary for sanity and function.
Just doing the daily five will cut down on the chaos you might naturally feel in a home. Adding just a few extra tasks that can be done twice a week, help maintain the home at a slightly higher level. I've used these two days each week to keep my home running when I had no time at all to devote to the usual weekly and monthly tasks and yet we felt the house looked rather well. It won't do to go too long on just these two extra routines, but it can certainly hold your home for at least six to eight weeks.
Sunday Evening Reset is not a full-scale home blessing. It's intended to ease the passage on Monday and help bring a sense of order after the weekend. It's all done in less than an hour really but it makes a huge difference especially if you must be gone from home on Monday.
I don't know about you, but on weekends just now, I like to take it easy. Paper plates. Rinse and stack dishes. Sort of make the bed, but not fully. I just kind of let things go and I don't fuss about the house too much. But I do find as Sunday starts to wind down, I want to restore some sense of orderliness to my home. So I quickly do these things:
Rinse and load dishes. Wash what has to be washed by hand. Sweep the floor, wipe the counters and dining table, put the dirty napkins and dishcloths in the laundry basket.
Pick up the living room, freshen any florals in the room (or remove them if they are spent). Fold throws, fluff toss pillows, pick up toys.
Put away clothes that I might have draped here and there to air out over the weekend. Tidy my desk and dresser. All I'm doing honestly is just neatening things up. I'm not doing full scale cleaning or organizing.
In the bathrooms, I simply neaten and straighten.
Last but not least, I write down my planned menu for the week ahead and any extra kitchen tasks I want to accomplish. For instance, this week I added "Make apple pies for freezer" and "Make eggrolls for freezer". These are just the extra kitchen tasks I hoped to get done this week.
Look over calendar and make note of appointments or obligations.
If you work outside the home: make a lunch for tomorrow. Lay out your work clothes. Gather items that must go with you and set them near the door you will use to exit the house.
Monday and Friday Home Blessings are essentially the same tasks. You might do this on Sunday, especially if you work outside the home during the week. If that is the case, you might try the 'reset' at least mid-week so that you're not faced with a mountain of untidiness come Friday evening when you really want to relax and call it a week. It's worth giving up a couple of hours' time and will truly be a blessing to you in creating a calm home environment to return to at the end of the week. You'll touch on each room of the home that you typically live in during the week.
If there are rooms mentioned that you typically don't use during then leave those for another day and time.
Kitchen: Wipe down counters, put away excess dishes, grocery or food items that are cluttering the counters and run a load in the dishwasher if you have that convenience. Wipe down the stove top and any spills or drips in the oven. Wipe out the microwave oven. Go through the fridge and plan how you will use leftovers now. Pull items you'll need for the next day or three from the freezer to thaw and place them in the fridge. Pull the recipes you plan to use in the week ahead. (If you work outside the home, then go ahead and put together lunch for the next day or two, as well.)
Dining Room: Wipe the table. Vacuum or sweep the floor. Push chairs in neatly and clear the table for meals for the week ahead. Lay out fresh napkins and placemats if you use them.
Living Room: Clear tabletops of clutter, wipe away water rings. Straighten the items on the coffee table and neatly fold blankets. Empty waste basket. Fluff the pillows and vacuum the floor. If you have bookcases in the living room, quickly put books that might be out of place back on the shelves. Sort through magazines and newspapers and toss or put aside to recycle.
Bathroom: Swish the toilet, wipe the counter and faucets and sink down. Glance over the supplies. Do you have soap, toothpaste, tissue for the week ahead? Do you need fresh towels? Fold and neatly hang the dry towels and drape the washcloths to dry. Sweep the floor.
Bedroom: We choose to do our sheets on Friday. I confess, that Saturday and sometimes on Sunday our bed might only get the covers pulled up and the pillows put in place, but I really do make our bed fully Monday through Friday. Put away clothes. Hang or put in drawers those that are clean, carry the ones that must be washed to the laundry room. Tidy dresser and bedside tables. Empty trash can.
Plan Meals. I like to plan meals twice a week. It's true that I publish a seven-day menu plan but there may be a day when we aren't home, and an easier meal is needed. Sometimes a meal might net us more leftovers than we'd thought we'd have. Sometimes, we just plain want something different than what we've planned. I find that planning twice a week, once for the week and once for the weekend, is a tremendous help in reducing waste, and helps me to stick more closely to what my budget allows.6
Prep Meals. Sometimes, just chopping the vegetables you'll use during the week or weekend can be a tremendous help. Thaw meats you plan to use. While supper is cooking, do any baking you might want for the weekend or week ahead.
Last Monday, I cooked ground beef for the base of a Cottage Pie, mixed up and baked a meatloaf. While I cooked the main dish and vegetables, I mixed up and baked an easy cake while the rest of the meal was in progress. I like to have salad greens and fruit washed and ready to use through the week/weekend.
TIP: This prep cuts down on dishes throughout the week/weekend.
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7 comments:
You are a blessing to all that read your blog. I am currently going way back in your history and it is giving me so much joy. So many things to learn and put into action.
Texas, Thank you so much! I hope that you find many helpful things along the way.
Lots of good advice! Especially helpful for those who work outside the home and have children coming and going. I am retired, but I still enjoy an easy schedule to keep my home clean and tidy.
I do a load of laundry daily, so we are never behind. Towels are twice a week and sheets weekly, so on those days there might be another load. It seems so simple and less daunting to face a single load!
I want to get back to planning meals---I always did that; got lazy during the pandemic. I think, too, that I am just sick of dreaming up food!! Must we keep eating??? hahaha.
I do the Sunday reset some times on late Saturday. Need to get back to the home blessing instead of LORD we have company, scrub Hubby's bathroom and pickup fur bunnies from Charlotte
I know I'm 52 years old (how did that happen?), have been a mom for 30 of those years and had my own home since I was 21, but this was very helpful to me. I've been a full time work-outside-the-home for the past 25 years and honestly, I've never been great at housework or consistently keeping the house truly clean. Sometimes I just need a reminder. Thank you for indulging me, Terri.
lejmom, I love eating and I love cooking to create meals but even I get terribly terribly weary of cooking ad nauseum. Since John doesn't cook and Katie DOES but likes heavier spices than we can eat at our 'advanced' age, I am the chief cook. I am always looking for something new and interesting to break up my boredom.
Juls, lol, I understand that! The house is never attractive to others as much as it is when I've been unable to do anything at all, lol.
Karla, I didn't learn to keep a proper house until I was in my 40's. Up until then it was truly do what I saw needed doing and wish I could get to so much more.
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