A modern take on 1950s vintage housekeeping

I’ve been busy on Pinterest, pining away at ideas to help me keep my house tidy and organized; just the way I like it.  I have been falling down on the job this week I am afraid; it seems that when I go out, like to get my hair cut, or for Theodore’s immunisations, it takes all day and by the time I get back home I am too exhausted to start the housework! : /

But I suppose it cannot be helped, I just have to try and catch up or ignore it and live with it until next week.  Which method to you prefer?  I once read a book on organization that said that you should leave the weekly jobs if you don’t get them done on the day they are scheduled for or you will forever be playing catch up.  I suppose that is good advice if you really don’t have time to spare, but I find that if I just stop mucking around on the computer for a while I can often catch up on yesterday’s chores if I didn’t manage to get them done the day before. 

If you are interested in the weekly chore system I use, here are two chore charts that are currently hanging on my wall ~

 

They are both available for download here if you would like to use them yourselves.  Obviously there are personal things that you may want to change around, but I often find it helps to have some sort of starting point! 

I actually started with the traditional “Wash on Monday” nursery rhyme to create my weekly chore list ~ it was really useful to pin down what chores I need to think about doing once a week.  

Wash on Monday,
Iron on Tuesday,
Mend on Wednesday,
Churn on Thursday,
Clean on Friday,
Bake on Saturday,
Rest on Sunday.

And as for leaving the washing until later on in the week?  Well ~

They that wash on Monday
Have all week to dry;
They that wash on Tuesday
Are not much awry;
They that wash on Wednesday
Are not so much to blame;
They that wash on Thursday
Wash for shame;
They that wash on Friday
Wash in need;
And they that wash
on Saturday?
Dirty they are indeed!

 

Lol; so what does that mean that sometimes I wash on Sunday?  I don’t even want to think about it! 
> o <

Anyway, on a more serious note I find this statement to be very wise and true for my personal experiences regarding housekeeping:

...Our foremothers found, as others have, that having a certain day to do certain chores goes a long way to getting everything done. I have tried all manner of organizational tips and tricks for having a good schedule and always failed in the execution because of being overwhelmed. However, having one priority per day helped me get that priority done.

Not only will this work for your housekeeping, but for your business or home school as well. A priority-based schedule may work better for larger families and for ladies like me who just can’t cope with a stringent, minute-by-minute schedule…

So don’t think that you have to eke out your hours and organize your time by the second to get your house work done; I have found that with a simple routine it really is quite easy to accomplish a lot of work.  Now if only I could manage to apply those principles to my coaching studies and my sewing!  Oh well.  One step at a time I guess!

xox,

bonita