Hello to all my readers,
I need some advice!
I have been finding it very hard to stay on top of the housework lately because I have been sick or my ankle is throbbing. I try to do as much as I physically can but it just barely puts a dent into the daily mess.
Any suggestions? Besides the awful "not-feeling-well-feeling" this has been one of the most frustrating parts of being ill and dealing with this dumb ankle of mine.
Thankyou!
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Because I get overwhelmed too, (3 little ones) I decided that I needed a plan. What I did was took out a sheet of paper and made a list. I would focus on one room/area/task a day. This is what my sheet looked like:
ReplyDeleteMonday: Vacuum House
Tuesday: Clean bathroom
Wednesday: Laundry/tidy kids rooms
Thursday: Mop Kitchen/bathroom
Friday: Dust
Saturday: _________________ (whatever I wanted)
This way I was doing something everyday but it was only a little and by the end of the week, my house had been cleaned. If I felt like doing extra on one day, I would; but there was no pressure. I LOVE my list and it has helped me like you wouldn't believe! Hope this helps!! :)
I know you've said your husband helps (as he should), but I imagine you feel it is your job to do it and you are maybe struggling with that? Is there a chance the two of you could divide up what needs to be done and each of you could have "jurisdictions" to take care of (yours being things you can do with your physical limitations). And, you described your home as a "daily mess", but if you focus on cleaning up after each mess as it occurs as part of the process of doing whatever made the mess, you might find the daily mess less, well, messy. Most of housework isn't the deep cleaning stuff, it's the clutter of things not picked up and put back in their place. Give yourself some freedom from it and focus on identifying specifically what needs to be done and why. Then see what you can do to divide the jobs between you and hubby so you can feel success instead of frustration. Hugs to you.
ReplyDeleteHI again,
ReplyDeleteSince you asked so nicely :) , here's my advice:
* Sit down with your husband and write down the top 3-5 things that are important to both of you. In our house it's food, clothes, and clean flat surfaces (basically that means clear and clean tables and made beds). Everything else takes a back seat. As long as those things are done - we're basically good! We also make sure we clean the bathroom and vacuum the carpets at least once a week and sweep the kitchen floor every night after dinner. Now that my kids are older they do the last two but my husband used to pick those up before they were big enough. We also make sure things are picked up and put away as we go, which means no huge scramble to put away everything at once and leaves the floors clear.
* Is there anything you absolutely can't do with that ankle? Come up with a plan to get it done together.
* Do one "big thing" each day rather than trying to do everything each day. For example, I do the ironing on Monday, laundry on Tuesday, we vacuum thoroughly (moving furniture) on wednesday, clean the bathrooms and wash sheets/towels on Thursday, Friday we pick up anything we didn't get to during the week and write up errands/shopping lists for Saturday and Saturday we do the errands, baking and laundry again. Sunday we rest (at least in theory!). That way we don't get really behind.
* Re-evaluate what you do and why you do it. We live on a very busy street and dusting gets to be important. Our bathtub very rarely gets really dirty so a quick rinse and wipe each week works just fine - it only needs a good scrub every once in a while. Just because my mom scrubbed our tub each week with a brush (necessary due to our rediculously hard water) doesn't mean I "have" to!
Hope those are helpful!
And we'll keep up the prayers!
Lea