Tidy Tuesday

At my friend Mandy's suggestion, I'm going to try posting about housekeeping every Tuesday. The plan is that she will too, but given that she's a nursing student, we're all going to agree to cut her some slack if she falls behind.

The idea originated because this is a source of stress for the both of us. We spend an insane amount of time and emotional energy worrying about our houses. Which, frankly, is where the similarity ends. By nature, she's a much better housekeeper than I, she has a much smaller house, she has more help from her family, she has one pet to my 4 - I could keep going, but the gist of it is that I feel like I've walked into Martha Stewart's house when I go to her house. But, finding the time and the motivation for it is just as stressful to her as it is to me, so we're going to establish some schedules and form a buddy system, with each other and with any of you that want to join in.

The base of my schedule is a weekly routine that naturally formed during a time in my life when I was working less and actually had the time to clean my house. I would get up in the morning, unload the dishwasher, start a load of laundry, do a different weekly task each day, and then tackle a project of some sort, maybe a closet that needed an overhaul or windows, something you don't do on a daily or weekly basis. When I went back to work almost full time, I found myself slipping out of these habits and basically calling it done when the dishes and laundry were done. I stumbled upon Clean Mama's blog last fall and realized she had a very similar system to what was natural to me. So I spent a little time and came up with daily, weekly, and, starting with her chart for 31 days to a clean house, monthly tasks. Things were starting to look up around here when I received two quilt commissions, and then the holidays, and then bronchitis - and then I began to feel like I'd never cleaned a day in my life:)

My step-daughter & I were talking about cleaning routines the other day and she said that she had tried to come up with them, but she never accomplished them perfectly. To her, to you, and even to myself, I want to say that routines are a guide. They are to help you keep track of what needs to be done, not to judge and criticize you for anything that didn't get marked off that day's to-do list. It's like a diet - you're never going to follow it perfectly. But when you have months like my December and January were, they can be invaluable for helping you get back on track, cutting through the overwhelming nature of it to just get started.

So here is my very crudely written, basic chore chart which is set up for a 4-week rotation. It's my plan each Tuesday to post it here in such a way that you can tell what I did and didn't do. Mandy suggested we also include any pictures we want to, any little spot of our house that seems picture worthy. I hope to add linking capabilities and we can all share in these accomplishments much like we do our quilting accomplishments.

Speaking of quilting, which is what we're all trying to find time for anyway, here's what I've been working on this week:

And yes. Yes those are laying on a clean floor - thanks for noticing!

Edited to add: Linking up to Freshly Pieced for Work in Progress Wednesday