The Routine

I am a go with the flow kind of gal. I love to just see what the day brings. That's my personality. Apparently that does not work with kids! Especially when you are raising highly emotional kids whose intestines are likely to implode with unpredictability. So I'm changing it. I'm becoming *gasp* responsible. Have you noticed what a four letter word that has become in our society? No one wants to be responsible any more.

My priorities have been changing since I've tried to reduce distractions in my life. Now I have a daily routine, a morning/evening routine, and a weekly cleaning routine. I definitely don't have it all together, but still, it has helped. Life is more predictable. There's less craziness. Things are calmer. I think I wanted to write about today because I'm sick and couch-ridden and missing my routine.

The number one key to loving my space is keeping it clean. Developing a routine that helps me keep things looking tidy has made me home feel twice as big.

Reading others routines helped me find one that worked for me (I recommend homeschooling blogs for this) so now I'll post mine.
7am wake up, scriptures (personal), breakfast, get dressed,
7:50 family scriptures and prayer
8:05 get son off to school
8:15 nurse the baby, look at calendar, exercise
9:00 morning clean up routine,
10:00 snack, spend time with Munchkin
11:00 lunch
12:00 Afternoon cleaning routine
1:00 nap/quiet time/ project time
3:15 snack
3:30 homework
4:00 kids play, dinner prep
5:00 dinner, clean up
6:00 family time
7:00 evening chores
7:30 get kids ready for bed (family prayer, read to the kids)
9:00 My get ready for bed time

Things to consider. I need 9 hours of sleep. I just do. So I don't make my bedtime 10:00 if I need to wake up at 7:00. I'm hoping to be asleep already at 10:00 so I made it at 9:00. My husband gets up for work at 5:00 but needs less sleep so it works out okay.

One other thing to note is I'm not overly rigid with this. Some nights there's a birthday or cub scouts and we just do the best we can. I've really been having a hard time emotionally the past 3-4 months and I'm cutting myself some slack to help. Tumbleweed only wears cloth diapers a few days a week. I have a little green guilt from that, but I had to prioritize and that just didn't make the cut. I also haven't baked bread in months. I really do miss that one. But it's okay. Because it didn't make the priority list (although I think it will get back on this month).
I have a lot of "dead time". Dead time is when there's nothing scheduled. Because sometimes there's a play date or a doctor appointment or I need a nap and try as I might, I can't have a set time for that stuff. Dead time allows me to adjust my schedule and play catch up if I need to.

With my routine I only spend about an hour every morning cleaning the house (yes, whole house) plus an extra 30-60 minutes in the afternoon doing things like cleaning the shower, mopping, organizing...that kind of stuff. We all clean up at night and sometimes it takes longer than other days. But overall, the house feels bigger, cleaner and more liveable and everyone enjoys it more.

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