( Warning : This post will sound very anal to those who does not have to do housework )
Housework can be overwhelming. There are so many tasks to be done you don’t know where to start. Or you start doing too much on one day and end up with back pain. I figured out a 5 day schedule while resting from a backache which act up on me 3 times during the past 2 months. The chores are divided up into early mornings, late mornings ( after I get back home from sending the kids to school ) , and before bedtime. The first and last session only takes up 15-20 mins, whereas the bulk of the work is done in the late morning session which takes around 1-2 hrs to complete . Following the schedule allows me to have the whole afternoon off. The weekends are my free days where chores should be done at a minimum or even better, delegated to the children *evil smile*.
( Note : I did not include ironing in my schedule because I totally despise ironing. It is done while I watch the night news with the husband. )
First step, take out a piece of paper and start jotting down all tasks that needs to be done in each area, as in the picture below :
Take time and be detail . Go through all the rooms , pet-related chores, closets , etc .. When do you change bedsheets ? How often does the fridge needs to be cleaned ? Sweeping behind the sofas ? Assign frequency next to the tasks.
Step 2 : If you have Excel, this would easy things up. Type in all the data under 3 columns ( Area , Task, Frequency ) so it looks something like this :
Step 3 : Sort out the data by Frequency. Look at the ‘ Daily ‘ tasks group. Which ones should be done in the morning right after you wake up ? For me, after I wake up and shower, my tasks are the followings :
- Put dishes away
- Make Coffee
- Prepare Breakfast pintos
- Wake Kids
- Turn on Washing Machine
Mark these tasks by placing numbers next to them in the 4th column. Now, there are some chores that if done before bedtime will make life easier in the mornings. Mine will be washing dishes , throwing away the wet trash ( don’t feed the house pests ! ), sorting out laundry and place into washing machine. Mark these tasks so you can use Excel’s sort function to organize them later ( mark them N1, N2, etc… )
Or, you can just use the copy and paste function to create a new list, which ever way suits you better is fine.
Okay, I will have to pick the kids up from school now … Please come back tomorrow for part 2 !
