The Mommy Schedule

In the spirit of back-to-school week, today I'm sharing my personal "back-to-household order" plan for this year. Eric says I'm always looking for the next best thing. Yup, I'm still in search of the magic wand that makes homemaking happen with out hard work. (Actually, I KNOW what it is...a maid & cook...but doesn't Eric already work hard enough without taking on the three extra jobs it might take to employ them?) So I'm sticking with hard work on my part...and going to tweak methods until I finally find one that works for me!

I've shared before some of my favorite homemaking resources...from FlyLady to Inspired to Action to the books Large Family Logistics and anything by Don Aslett. My favorite resource is, however, my friends!! And although I may never achieve the seemingly effortless efficiency of MJ, I have high hopes that this time I've found something doable and easy to implement for the whole family. Jodi (my sis) started me on this plan by making one for herself...printed out nicely and just a few basic chores for herself & the girls per day. Brilliant.

This is our family chore chart (tweaked from Erica's @ Confessions of a Homeschooler)...the kiddos earn tickets for each chore they do and get a prize when they have 25 tickets. I have assigned chores for each day for myself and them and wrote them on the daily cards across the top. Before, I was just picking some things that sounded good and sticking them in their slots...now that there is a plan, the system is much more efficient.



So take Tuesday for instance:


It's my errand day, so I need to put dinner in the crock pot before we leave in the morning, plus start a load of towels. Once we're back home, I have to finish putting laundry away from Monday (that's the day I wash all the clothing) and the kids take out the trash and fold the now clean towels. That doesn't sound too bad, does it? I think we can do this! And I might even mop my kitchen every week--fabulous!

So adding in the essentials like a daily schedule, house rules and a reminder about what obedience is and looks like:


And we have a happy crew in a semi-tidy and clean home! (Please pay no attention to the pile of stuff on the entry bench in the background :) !)

The boys doing school on Tuesday...Zane likes to wear his goggles while playing...go figure.

Next time I'll share exactly what makes up my chores each day. That is, if I'm done doing them and can sit down to blog. Naaah, I'll probably write before I do them, it's more fun.