This is my motivation post.  I need to get motivated to staying on top of my house cleaning.  I've been pretty focused lately on health and food and kids and budget... and my house is showing it.  So here is a post I wrote up a couple years ago for another blog, when I was more on top of all things domestic:


I thought I would post my cleaning schedule for those of you who can't get enough of schedules. This schedule is designed to keep your house clean - NOT spotless. Go see Martha Stewart if you need a spotless house....better yet, go see a shrink. You need to get your priorities in order. Spotless homes and small children are not congruent. If you fail to get everything done everyday, then at the very least your home will be tidy. This far surpasses the  total chaos   pit of despair  mess that reigns without some sort of schedule in my home.

Being an accountant by trade, I am an excel freak. So my schedule is posted as a spreadsheet on my refrigerator. Feel free to write it up in whatever way works for you. You could use index cards for each day/category, make a list then laminate it, write it on a white board where you can check it off as you go...the possibilities are limited only by your imagination. (now that the girls are older and like to help, I have each day printed on a sheet of paper inside a clear plastic jacket - the kids like to mark off the chores as they get done... when they actually do get done!)

Here is my schedule:

DAILY: Straighten all rooms
Do dishes and put away
Make beds
Plan meals
Do a load of laundry
Wipe bathroom sinks
Wipe down shower after use
Clean stove/oven as needed
Pay bills
Water plants/garden
Feed/water pets

WEEKLY -
MONDAY: Empty wastebaskets/take trash out
Clean toaster, microwave, coffeemaker (i.e. regularly used small appliances)
Wipe cabinets/appliances
Sweep/mop downstairs 


TUESDAY: Clean kitchen sink
Clean bathroom mirrors
Clean toilets
Clean ceiling fans
Choose a monthly task


WEDNESDAY: Empty wastebaskets
Sweep kitchen floor
Spot-clean walls/floors
Change bed sheets
Choose a monthly task


THURSDAY: Clean kitchen sink
Clean bathroom mirrors
Clean showers Spot-clean floors


FRIDAY: Empty wastebaskets
Dusting 
Sweep/mop upstairs


SATURDAY: Clean kitchen sink
Choose 1-2 monthly, bi-monthly, bi-annual, or yearly tasks

MONTHLY: 2x - dust out of reach areas/polish
Check dryer vents
Vacuum in/on/under furniture
Clean refrigerator inside/top/under
Wash kitchen curtains
Turn mattresses
Wash garbage cans
Wash windows inside

EVERY OTHER MONTH: Dust blinds
Wax floors
Clean kitchen drawers/cupboards
Wash curtains
Wash whole stove
Wash windows outside
Baking soda in drains to clear sinks
Clean throw rugs

BI-ANNUALLY: Carpets cleaned
Rotate seasonal clothes
Clean closets/drawers
Check smoke detectors/replace batteries (do at daylight saving time each year is an easy way to remember)

YEARLY: AC/heating system maintenance
Wash walls
Wash blinds

I know, I know....it seems overwhelming. But the reality is, you are doing most of this anyway. You just didn't realize how much you were juggling every day/week. Or you did, and it made you want to fake your own death and disappear to a tropical island somewhere. Utilizing this schedule will help it be more manageable. Really, if you are following this schedule on a regular basis, most of the daily and weekly stuff just isn't so bad. It's when you fall behind that the tasks can become laborious. For instance, if you haven't so much as looked at the blades on your ceiling fans since the day they were installed or you moved in, then it is very likely going to be a highly time consuming chore the first time you clean them. But after that, each week will be a pretty quick and painless assignment to dust the blades off.

Also, you can shift items around as needed for your home. Our garbage is picked up on Tuesday morning. I was scheduling to empty the wastebaskets 3x a week, so I did MWF to accommodate getting them emptied the day it needed to go out. Our last home was only one level. I just split the house into two sections and swept/mopped half the house on Wednesday and the other half on Friday. Also, I assigned everything from Mon.-Sat. I like having Sunday off from any chores. You can set up your schedule for every day of the week if you like or maybe you would rather do more during the week and have off Saturday and Sunday. Just be realistic about what you can get done in a day without totally neglecting your kids.

Oh, yeah. Here's the really important part....your husband should be helping you get this all done. 


Stop laughing - I'm serious. 


Keeping a household clean after you get married have kids is a huge task. Having this chart helps you to make that point abundantly clear with your significant other. Sit down with him sometime after the kids are in bed and before you become completely comatose, and go over the list of tasks, assigning them between the two of you. If your husband still needs more convincing that you need his help, then I suggest the two of you read Babyproofing Your Marriage. This book makes it clear that if a man wants you to meet his marital needs (nudge, nudge, wink, wink, say no more) then he needs to step up to the plate in a big way with the housework. Really, once you have kids, housework is the new box of chocolates/bouquet of roses. I remember telling a girlfriend of mine after the first baby, "Hubby did the dishes, cleaned the kitchen and swept the floors last night. It was the best foreplay I've had in a long time!"

Enough said. Divvy up the housework and give yourself grace on those days it just doesn't all get done. Your house will live to see another day. (and you will too!)

Posted in: chores, Slow Lane on Wednesday, December 16, 2009 at at 8:00 AM 0 comments    

After our first experience with dumpster diving yesterday, we feel like our lives are changed forever.  First of all, it was keeping David from sleeping last night.  He was blown away by how much good food was in the trash and wondering why can't the food get distributed to the needy.  It is a hard reality to face.  To realize that the dark, underbelly of this creature that we call abundance is an incredible amount of waste - it's a painful pill to swallow.

Obviously, we aren't going to be able to correct the system.  But, we can do our small little part - like forming our Dumpster Diving group.  A small band of us working together can help take some of the waste and let it do what it was created to do - feed and nourish a human being.  I am looking forward to our first meeting this Friday night.  And after some more diving on our way across town to go to church, we have some awesome stuff to share with them!  See this little beauty?  This is an organic Simply Coffee iced coffee which retails for $1.99.


See this... this is a box which had 44 of these in 3 flavors (latte, mocha, and vanilla) which we found in a dumpster this morning.  They had a sell by date of 12/11, so they went in the trash on 12/12 and we rescued them on 12/13.  I'm not a coffee gal, but hubby had two of these today and attests that they are delicious!

Posted in: dumpster diving, Slow Lane on Sunday, December 13, 2009 at at 8:21 PM 0 comments    

The other day on Facebook I posted before going to bed:

"You know it's cold when... you put long johns on under your flannel pj's to go to bed!
Okay, your turn!
You know it's cold when..."

I have been really enjoying all the creative responses: (and feeling sorry for some that I know are based in reality, like mine!)

• you need to turn the heater on.  What can I say, I live in Phoenix!
• you put long johns on under your flannel pj's and THEN turn on your electric blanket and then go to bed!
• you realize that really cool ice sculpture in the kitchen WAS actually your sink!  
• Al Gore says the earth has a fever.
• you have to put down carpet pieces to make a safe path from the street to your front door cause you cannot chip the ice from your north facing driveway.
• you dream to live inside an erupting volcano head.
• when the icicles knock on your door and ask for hot chocolate!
• the Redbox at the grocery store won't take back your rental because it's frozen!

Posted in: Slow Lane on Friday, December 11, 2009 at at 8:00 AM 1 comments    

Posted in: Slow Lane, snow on Wednesday, December 9, 2009 at at 9:17 AM 0 comments    

Up early, of course, since my kids haven't learned the art of sleeping in yet.  The good news is that David's work is shut down for the day.  There is no way they could be installing dish network today, so I am glad to see they figured that out!

The official snowfall total in Des Moines was 14 1/2" but we have one last pocket of snow moving through so another 1-2" possible.  Currently 14 degress, but feels like -6 with windchill and temps are supposed to keep dropping down to zero today.

It is still dark, but here is our view from our front window.  Just a bit of glow from our porch light to get a peek.  That's our porch surrounded by snow, with a big drift running through our front yard.  Trinity looked out the window and said, "Whoa, Dude!" (they grow up so fast, ha-ha!)

More pics when the sun comes up.

Posted in: Slow Lane, snow on at at 6:27 AM 0 comments    

Posted in: Slow Lane, snow on Tuesday, December 8, 2009 at at 9:58 PM 0 comments    

Our national weather alert radio just went off.  We went from a blizzard watch to a blizzard warning.

Last check on the tv showed that most schools that didn't close today are scheduled to close early.  I didn't go to my weekly bible study this morning and that was probably a wise decision.  It wasn't so bad this morning, but the snow is picking up now and I would be out driving on bad tires in bad weather.  I almost went in the ditch yesterday just going a mile over to a neighbors house, much less to drive to West Des Moines and back in the midst of a winter storm.

So today is a great day for cooking and keeping the kitchen warm!  I'm heating up a pot of vegetable soup and making a big green salad for lunch for me and the girls.  For dinner I'm planning on making black bean veggie burgers, oven roasted sweet potato fries and more of that green salad.  I'm hunkering for green salad today.  That's what I get for browsing through some raw blogs and seeing mouthwatering salad pics! ha!

Not much has changed in our landscape, but here is round 2 of the Midwest Blizzard '09 pics.

Posted in: Slow Lane, snow on at at 11:04 AM 0 comments    

If you have watched the weather lately, you would have seen that the winter storm that hit the west is now gaining strength and heading across the central states.  There is a "pink" diagonal swath in the middle of the storm that is going to have a blizzard.

That would be us. :)

We are having light snow this morning with heavier snow starting around 1pm - expected accumulations of 5-7" by 5pm this evening and 10-14" by morning.  Except...

The wind will also start blowing from 25-35mph with gusts up to 45mph.  This is what makes for a blizzard - heavy snow and heavy winds.  They are calling for drifts of 8-11'.

Let me repeat... that is 8-11 feet.

To give you some perspective, most ceilings are 8-9 feet high.  So fill your room up with snow, and that is how high the drifts are going to be.

I am going to be taking photos throughout this storm and posting them here.  So stay tuned to get a front row seat on the Midwest Blizzard of '09.

Posted in: Slow Lane, snow on at at 7:41 AM 0 comments    

...or put another way...
Are you willing to give up toilet paper?

Okay, so I'm not totally going no t.p. ... just mostly.

Here's the deal.  A lot of people have decided that filling our dumps with disposable diapers is just not cool.  So there is a growing number of women choosing to use cloth diapers.  Along with cloth diapers comes the concept of cloth baby wipes.  All of these get washed and reused.

Take that concept and apply it to the rest of the family.  Rather than using t.p. you make or buy reusable cloths.  They are called "family wipes."

A lot of families just use them for #1 and still use t.p. for #2.  I have opted for somewhere in between.  For myself and the girls, we always use the family wipes for #1, and for #2 we get an initial wipe with toilet paper, 2 whole squares, (I'm not quite as stingy as Sheryl Crow - ha!) then finish up with the family wipe.

The clean wipes are kept in a basket on the back of the throne.  I am keeping a plastic bag hanging in the bathroom for used wipes.  When it is time to wash them, first I add super hot water right in the bag with a squirt of soap.  Still holding the bag with one hand, I use the other hand to squish the bag and agitate the cloths inside.  I have also found that it is easy to twist the end shut and shake and squish the bag with both hands.  A quick rinse and they are ready to be added to the regular laundry.  This is essentially a quick and easy "hand washing" before putting them in the laundry.

So, there are lots of options for material to use - flannel and cotton being the most popular when I was searching the internet.  But I opted to use fleece.  There were two main reasons:

1. I like to take the path of least resistance.  No sewing involved.  Just cut the squares and you are good to go.

2. I still had a large fleece baby blanket hanging around, so there would be no cost involved to re-purpose it into family wipes. :)

The fleece is super soft and comfy to use as a wipe.  The downside is that fleece is actually water resistant by nature - not the most helpful property in a wipe!  This can be counteracted by washing with fabric softener and using dryer sheets.

I am very happy with our wipes and how long the toilet paper is lasting now.  The girls adjusted to the wipes without a bat of their eyelashes.  Older kids might be a harder sell.  But they love how nice and soft the fleece wipes are and none have been tossed into the toilet. (that was my secret fear of switching over to the wipes!)

I give it two thumbs up!

Posted in: family wipes, Slow Lane, thrifty living on Friday, December 4, 2009 at at 9:00 AM 2 comments    

Okay, so these days we are living more frugally.  One income, two kids, the desire to be debt free... you have to.

Also, I have been reading a great blog about a family that is slow living.  It is inspiring me.

Plus, we got a water leak in our pipe connecting from the meter in the front yard to the basement.  We know this because our water usage went from our normal 3000 gallons a month to 7000.  We can shut off the main valve in the basement, and the meter will still turn.  I am currently working on a barter deal with someone on craigslist with a backhoe to dig up our pipe so we can locate the leak.  But I digress...

So, we have a leak and this has almost doubled our water bill.

Now, I thought I was pretty thrifty in getting double duty out of my shower water.  But now I've discovered triple duty.  Woo-hoo!

Water use #1:  Either I or hubby takes a shower with the drain closed.  This way, the tub fills up as we shower.  (This also enables me to take a longer shower without feeling guilty about wasting water and propane.)

Water use #2:  When the tub is half full, it's time for the girls to get in.  Bath time!

and here is the latest, really thrifty part...

Water use #3:  When the girls get out of the tub, I do not drain the tub.  (I like to do this anyway in the winter to allow the ambient heat released from the water to warm the house)  I turn off the water at the toilet and for the rest of the day, we refill the toilet tank with the bath water.  I keep an empty gallon jug handy for scooping up the water and pouring into the tank. (editor's note: I have found that our small plastic trash can works much more efficiently at the task of scooping the water)

I got this idea because I am getting ready to switch over to family wipes instead of toilet paper.  I was researching what to make them out of on the internet.  One link took me to a forum where there was a great conversation going on the topic.  The comment that caught my attention was a person talking about how awesome the toilets are in Japan and how they are so much more efficient over there.  They have a model with a sink that is above the toilet so the water you use to wash your hands drains down and fills the toilet tank.

Awesome!

That is when I got to thinking about all that lovely bath water... and the light bulb above my head glowed. :)

( I know, some of you are still wondering about the whole family wipes thing.  I'll post more on that later.)

Posted in: Slow Lane, thrifty living on Monday, November 30, 2009 at at 9:00 AM 0 comments    

The kids wanted a snack and I remembered we were given a box of graham crackers at the food pantry.  I pull it out and start reading the ingredients, looking for that evil villian, hydrogenated fat.

Ingredients: enriched wheat flour (wheat flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin and folic acid), sugar, graham flour, vegetable oil (contains one or more of the following oils: interesterified soybean, canola, palm).....

Um, what was that?

Interesterified??  Helloooooo???

Time for an internet search.  The results?  Essentially, this is used in place of the trans fat forming hydrogenation process.  But the verdict is out whether it is in fact any better for you.  It's kind of like global warming - it just depends on which expert you listen to.

It's still some crazy bastardization of natural food, and therefore, if I was choosing my own food, I wouldn't include graham crackers in our diet.

But for now, the old phrase "beggars can't be choosers" comes to mind.

Posted in: health, Raw_Vegan Lane, Slow Lane on Sunday, November 29, 2009 at at 12:00 PM 0 comments    

Posted in: dress up, Slow Lane on Friday, November 27, 2009 at at 3:15 PM 0 comments    

I may have to go dumpster diving soon.

Actually, I was just reading about an organization that picks up the food being thrown away from various groceries.  It is then cooked and served to the homeless.  Now there is an idea to be explored!

Having recently joined the ranks of those whose food future is in peril, I would dearly love to get my hands on  some free food.  I could totally get into that.  I have gone dumpster diving in the past, back in Arizona.  I remember talking to a police officer about it too - whether or not it was legal.  I remember him answering that it was technically illegal, but it would just depend on the officer and the situation whether or not they would actually enforce it.

Amazing, isn't it?  That taking trash out of a dumpster is illegal.  Who would've thunk?!

Posted in: dumpster diving, Slow Lane on Thursday, November 26, 2009 at at 2:43 PM 0 comments    

Yeah, read that title with a lot of sarcasm!  Trinity sang on stage last night at church with the 4 year old - kindergarten class.  Of course, we were sitting on the opposite side of the sanctuary from where she ended up and couldn't even see her.  I had to run out and head back in two doors down so I could get her on video.  Otherwise, even David and Angelina wouldn't get to see her!

So here she is in all her performing glory. ;)
(don't forget - you need to scroll down and pause the player first so you can hear the videos)

Posted in: Slow Lane, videos on Monday, November 23, 2009 at at 8:35 AM 0 comments    

I took off with the girls to the nearest town today.  We were going to hit the food pantry/thrift store and then Walmart.  It was 9:30am and the sun still hadn't managed to burn a hole in the fog.

I love driving through the fogged in countryside.

I love how things suddenly loom up at you out of the murkiness.
Barns, and trees, and hillsides,
and cows...

Posted in: cows, pictures, Slow Lane on Saturday, November 21, 2009 at at 10:37 PM 0 comments