Resetting My Homemaking Routine

 

After posting yesterday I thought long and hard about my schedule, how I'm using it, what my future looks like (at the moment...we all know that changes on the whim of others' schedules), and what I hope to accomplish each day and week, I thought I'd try to get my head sorted out and I might as well write a post while I do just that.

I really do like the idea of a set day to do certain tasks, but the old adage of Wash on Monday, Iron on Tuesday just doesn't apply to my life.  However, I do know that having a set daily routine of tasks (Rising, Morning, Midday, Afternoon, Evening, Pre-Bed) was really helpful in the past.    It was something I learned while doing Fly Lady 25 years ago and it was helpful when I was having a day when if it was a disaster, I still got something done because I could focus on the few tasks that were especially allotted to that time of day.  I'd let the habit drop but I'd re-incorporated it solely out of the need to go through each day with a four-year-old in the house and honestly it was a huge help. 

I've kept up with those daily routines (and the home blessing which I prefer to do twice a week), because I found them so beneficial.  But there are others that I really would like to add in.  For instance, one of the things I was meant to do yesterday (Tuesday) was to stop and think about next week's menu.  I generally plan my menu for the next week on Friday, but I can see that planning on Tuesday for the coming week would mean that I have a better idea of what I might need if we have something special coming up and be able to shop ahead for anything that was absolutely necessary to those plans.  

Now that I'm signed up for daily emails all over again, I have all the Fly Lady routines at my fingertips and it's a helpful reminder to me why I thought certain routines were worth using and keeping in my own homemaking.  

While I felt it was important at the time I first joined 25 years ago to do everything she suggested, over the years I let some of those things go because I had them under control.  However, I am a big believer in 'going back to the basics' at some point in every routine, recipe, study that I do.  This helps me to get my foothold once more on a path that I might have wandered from.  

I spent the better part of yesterday afternoon scanning through the site, printing out the routines because I felt they would be especially helpful to me and then resetting my Home notebook.  Fly Lady calls it a "control journal" but I choose to keep certain things in this Home Notebook, which I keep near my chair in the living room and others in a separate notebook in my desk in our room where I can keep sensitive information more private.  I do use my Home Notebook at some point in every single day, but I see that I could use it more often and more wisely, so it felt good to take time to revamp that.  

What I learned today as I read and scanned is that I'm not as far off as I'd thought I might be with what I do.  I vary a little in when I do things.  My zones are sometimes all over the place.  This next month I'll try working by her schedule and see how, after two- or three-months of practice, it suits me in my home.   

My biggest fear was that I wouldn't have time to write or garden each day, that I'd find myself working in the house all of the time and I'd become a slave to my home.  If I stick to her plan, I won't!  I'll have plenty of time to step back each day and do other things.  That was a huge relief.  I like that she makes decluttering a part of everyday, at least here in February.  I'll follow along for the rest of this month with her plan, even though I did declutter heavily last month.  It's one task I feel it can't hurt to keep ahead on.  

Whatever Fly Lady was once upon a time, she has expanded and improved over the 25 odd years since I last used her plans to get my own home under control. I received far fewer emails than I'd thought I might on Monday.  One of those was meant for Tuesday, so that I'd know what was ahead.  One email was solely for the purpose of promoting one of her products.  You can buy cleaning items and Control Journals and all such from her now.  Back in the original days, you made your own, which I chose to do on Monday.  That's the nice thing about working with her.  You do not have to have her products in order to get things done and do them well.  The end result, with or without spending any money will be the same.  She also has her own vlog which will be helpful to those of you who like to watch or listen and learn.

Today is just day one of this for me, but I'll keep you posted in the daily diary about how things go.  

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