Today I made weekly chore charts. After spending the last couple days looking around at what needs doing on a weekly basis, I think I've figured it out. I'm doing fifteen minutes a day in different areas of the house.
For my week, it will go like this:
Monday - living room
Tuesday - bathroom
Wednesday - kitchen/laundry
Thursday - vacuum / dust
Friday - laundry
Saturday and Sunday - rest!
The living room tends to get a bit trashed over the weekend from use so I figured Monday would be the best day to tackle that. The bathroom was kind of arbitrary as it doesn't really require a TON of work but could use a weekly clean. Wednesday is going to be my not-so-favorite day as I hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate doing dishes but I will do them if I have to. When my son came home from the hospital and everything had to be sterilized and what have you, I got contact dermatitis from doing dishes. My hands were peeling for about a month and it was awful.
Before this place was remodeled, we didn't have a dishwasher. My biggest complaint about dishes is how our pots and pans, which I love, can't go in there. We had a big issue with a really nice set - the enamel started coming off and I was so angry. We were gifted a new set from a different brand last Christmas and they've yet to see the inside of the dishwasher.
Our washer and dryer is in a cubby in the kitchen so it makes sense to do laundry on the same day. I was doing laundry basically on demand but that felt like I was constantly doing laundry and I was getting angry about it, so I think having specific days will help. I don't generate a ton - my "mom outfit" for most days is pajama pants, easy access bra for feedings, a tank top and if it is cold like it is today, a hoodie and warm socks. The little man wears a onesie and pants and gets changed out of those daily (or more, if he gets it dirty) and his stuff is so tiny anyhow. My husband is the main laundry generator. One set of work clothes plus pajamas plus towel for his daily shower and boom. I've started separating out the towels a little more diligently so I can use the Downy Unstoppables with them. I get that it's basically perfume but they smell soooooooo good. I've only tried the purple (Lush) and teal (Fresh) but there is a new one called "Shimmer" in a pink top that I might try if I find it on sale. I don't like using anything with fragrance for little man's stuff so we tend to use Method Free and Clear on most of our laundry.
Thursday is my "why did I ever decide to have three cats and a dog" day. My one wish for Christmas this year is a Mint cleaning robot. This one, actually. We have hardwood throughout most of the house, bamboo in the kitchen and tile in the back hallway and bathroom. There are "Roombas" for that but they are darn near double the cost and I don't know if I'm wiling to ask for a $500 vacuum. The kid will be crawling soon and that's my big concern - there is absolutely no way I can keep up with the hair. We are getting the dog groomed soon as she's been shedding like mad but the cats are also getting their winter coats in and it is just hair tumbleweed city.
Dusting is... well, when we moved back in here, there was still a ton of sawdust and I suppose "regular" dust as a result of this place being under construction for about three years. We were both working a ton and never got it completely 100% un-dusted and there's still pockets here or there that I've been working on. We did a big clean before the kid came home from the hospital but this house just really likes its dust. It is over 100 years old so I don't think it will ever be pristine, but I am going to fight the good fight.
Laundry again on Friday and then a free weekend. I don't have a job outside of the home at the moment and I think giving myself a free weekend will make being home seem less crappy. Don't get me wrong, I love spending time with my kid but another reason I'm doing this is because for a while, days were blending together and I'd forget what day it was. Not that great when you are the person responsible for paying bills on time.
He was sleeping decently but after his vaccinations, he slept for almost sixteen hours straight, only waking for feeds and diapers and he turned nocturnal. I would be up until my husband's alarm went off at 7:30AM. On a "good day", I'd be in bed with him by 5AM. It took almost a week and a half for him to adjust back and now he's back to going to bed around 11PM, doing one or two overnight feeds and sleeping until sometime between when his dad's alarm goes off and 9AM. I can live with that.
I did make a weekly chores for my husband but it is significantly different than my own. On Mondays and Wednesdays he needs to empty the cat box - I will do it the rest of the days of the week - and on Tuesdays he needs to take the trash out. We don't have curbside service here so we hired a private company and they come Wednesday mornings. They are a bit dippy when it comes to their "single stream recycling" and general pickup rules but they are a third of the cost of the last place we used and generally tolerable. It works out to $1 a day which is way better than trying to get my husband to wake up on the weekend, load our car with garbage and take it to the transfer station. On Thursdays I'm having him clean his desk off as it is a big problem spot for him. It gets cluttered in dishes, garbage, you name it, it is probably on there. He did a big clean of it last month but it's starting to look horrible again and I just want him to keep up with it.
He gets Fridays and Saturdays off and then on Sunday, I'm requesting he do the dishes. Why? Because he tends to make a huge mess in the kitchen over the weekend and I'm tired of having to clean it up. A week ago I spent hours cleaning the kitchen and he's already trashed it. He has a mental block or something when it comes to taking the recycling down and chose to stack giant boxes on top of the kitchen trash bin, rendering it useless, and he also tends to leave cans in the sink. Not soda cans - mostly cat food cans.
Now for three cats, we flipped them to all Wellness wet food as two were having weight and skin issues. Our places is so small that we can't feed them separately and in trying other foods, the slender kitty would get lose too much weight or one or two of them would barf up the food or they'd just refuse to eat it. They like Wellness a lot.
It's helped immensely with their health issues but wet food grosses me out. I had an incident as a kid where, after a vacation, I came home and was told to feed the cats. I opened up a can of Friskies and there were maggots in it. Even typing this is making my stomach lurch. My husband understood that when we flipped them to wet food, he'd be doing the feeding. If I absolutely must feed them (he forgot and is at work, he's running late, the dog got past the blockade and ate the food, etc.) then I will but I prefer not to.
Hopefully we can stick with this. Obviously if the kid is having a fussy day and I just can't get away for 15 minutes, stuff can wait, or if there is a mess or an overload of laundry for some reason, I'll adjust accordingly. We also have some big and small projects that will require both of us so those will be weekend only things.
The dryer just buzzed and little man is asleep, so I'm going to try and finish up the laundry. I do assure you there is an end to what seems like infinite laundry, it just takes a lot of doing to get there.
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