And Don't beat yourself up if you can't stick to the schedule with an 18 month old and a newborn! It is impossible for me to really cook and clean with my infant at home, except after the kid goes to sleep. Now I batch cook on Sundays to have things ready to eat at a moment's notice. Best for a fussy 10 month old and me!

The only time I can clean his room is on weekends when DH can distract him and I can get in there to change sheets and vacuum. Otherwise, he's either asleep in his room or crawling all over the place and is afraid of the vacuum.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous[b wrote:]I'm both SAHM and WOHM [/b]since I'm teacher- and it's more overwhelming to be home because it feels like you should be doing something every single minute, but that's simply not possible.

For the broad picture:

Friday: clean the house so that it's clean for the weekend (and any possible guests who might come over)

Saturday: laundry

Sunday: put away clean laundry, make grocery shopping list

Monday: grocery shopping

Tuesday: general cleanup

Wednesday: laundry

Thursday: put away laundry, general cleanup

My mantra when I'm home for the summer is that dinner must be prepped while little one is napping- so dinner must be about 80% "done" by about 3 PM (meaning everything is chopped, marinated, put together and in the fridge before she wakes up)

Unless there's a disaster involving poop, vomit, or paint, I don't do laundry unless it's one of my laundry days. We have enough bathing suits to get by.

Not sure if it's helpful, but it's how I manage the full day at home with 2 kids (ages 7 and 2)

No you are not.

I'm just saying that I have a good idea of what it's like to be home all day, since I get 10 consecutive weeks of vacation when I'm home with both of my kids full time. Plus I took off 3 entire years with the birth of my first, so I've been home with kids just as long as I've worked full-time with kids...? I wasn't trying to derail your post, OP- just saying that I understand both the challenges of the working mom and the stay at home mom. I don't consider either scenario to be easy.

You're nesting and want to be super organized and clean a lot as a result. I totally get it. If you enjoy it, go with it. If not, stop worrying about it and forget making a schedule. You sound a little over-the-top. I get it -- I've been there. But if you take a step back and look at it from the outside, you'll realize this really isn't that important, and you don't really NEED a schedule to do this stuff. And if you want one, just make one for the non-daily stuff and see if it works.

When the baby comes, you're not going to be doing any of this stuff. Trust me. I organized everything, was on top of it all, etc., while pregnant, and I just had #2, and the house is a disaster. It just is what it is. Good luck!

You are a teacher, Op! You can do and organize anything! Seriously! I was teacher trained middle school, so I use a lot of the org techniques I learned then. I make a check list of "to do's" on a white board and indicate a deadline. Certain things I do daily like laundry, dishes, clean up after meals, grocery shop and meal planning. I basically make a plan in the morning and try to walk to the grocery store at 7 or so. I find if I get up, shower, and then grab babies/get up babies I feel better and more productive through out the day. DH and I use Sunday afternoon to vacuum, mop, clean bathrooms.

I do worry from knowing that you taught that you are feeling overwhelmed. I know you said you had anxiety in the other thread but have you been screened for post-partum depression? Please to evaluate whhere you are and get appropriate help. Teachers work 80 hour weeks--or at least I did and all my colleagues--from 5am to 10 or 11pm. So the hours aren't much different and I have twins rather than 30 8th graders!

My routine is super simple. Cook every 3 days. Set a timer for 30 minutes everyday and clean. Grocery shop/ target twice a week. Exercise = scroller walks or baby wearing with ds. That's it!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your daily activities can be completed by 12 noon everyday. I'm looking at your list and thinking that's not much. They are only 3 people living in the home. 2 adults and 1 infant. It's not much compared to living in a home of 5 or more and still keep everything organized.

OP here. I know. I'm new at this and have a lot to learn about organizing my schedule. It shouldn't be hard but some days it is. I'm always interested in hearing how people manage their households.

I only mentioned the SAHM aspect because sometimes people share how they get creative with cleaning and doing chores with a baby in tow all day and making more mess as I go.

I'm the pp here is my suggestions. You ultimately have to find a routine that works but first you have to identify what tasks you can combine and what tasks you are spending way toomuch time on than is needed. For one week write down every activity of your day from the moment you wake up until sleep time. Use a stop watch to keep track of how long you are spending on each activity. After a week review you log of everything and start identify tasks you can group together and eliminate any wasteful time. Also thinking through this stay focused on your goal to be more efficient and reduce time doing toomuch work and spending more time with your child. Something for you to consider that may impact your day, are you an anxious person? can you multitask without being anxious? If this a problem you have to address this first. I'm not sure if you have work experience but some of the skills at work are transferable to your home. YouTube has great videos on organizing your home. For example if it takes you a long time to prepare meals you can cut down cooking time by making freezer meal bags like these http://newleafwellness.biz/2015/02/17/17-freezer-meal-prep-sessions-that-will-change-your-life/

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your daily activities can be completed by 12 noon everyday. I'm looking at your list and thinking that's not much. They are only 3 people living in the home. 2 adults and 1 infant. It's not much compared to living in a home of 5 or more and still keep everything organized.

OP here. I know. I'm new at this and have a lot to learn about organizing my schedule. It shouldn't be hard but some days it is. I'm always interested in hearing how people manage their households.

I only mentioned the SAHM aspect because sometimes people share how they get creative with cleaning and doing chores with a baby in tow all day and making more mess as I go.

OP, don't pay any attention to this witchy poster. First, you have an infant, having a schedule and being able to stick to it are two entirely different things. I don't think you have anxiety or any other issues, but it can be a transition with sleep deprivation etc. Secondly, it's bulls*t that everything would be done by "noon" every day unless you were ignoring or neglecting your kid.

The Unf*ck your habitat website does have some good pointers. Also, I've picked up some good pointers on the Off Topic or Home Improvement when people talk about cleaning schedules. We're all different. For some people, these things come more naturally; others not so much. Also, some spouses are helpful; some not so much, and some vortexes of destruction leaving their crap all over the place.

One good tip I read was someone broke her cleaning schedule down over two weeks and just repeated it. Another was a mom who set a regular "10 minute tidy" at the same time every day with her kids.

For myself, I clean out the fridge the day b/f garbage pick up, then grocery shop. Keep running list on the fridge to write down if you've run out of something. Have a basic grocery list on your phone of the things that you buy regularly and shop to the list. I always change sheets and towels at the start of the week. GL and ignore the DCUM meanies--that's rule #1.

Anonymous wrote:It might be a light load, but it's stressful because as a SAHM I want to play with my son and enjoy precious time with him instead of managing of household. But, being a SAHM means it's my job to keep the house clean. That's what was decided, at least. If we wanted a cleaning lady id have to work to get the money to pay for one.

I wish someone would just give OP some schedule ideas. She said her other thread got high jacked by the same debate. Go to that thread if you want to debate.

The PP who said that this question is a bit precious is absolutely right. OP, I wonder if it would be helpful for you to get screened for anxiety. You don't have an unmanageable load by any means, but it sounds like you are struggling. I wish I could offer some helpful structured schedule advice, but my and my husband's household upkeep practice is to do as much as we can whenever we have a free moment. One of plays with the kids while the other dashes around cleaning the other rooms and throwing a load of laundry in, etc. But we both work full time so we have no choice but to be as efficient with our time as possible. I'm sure you can figure it out OP!

Check out the site "unfuck your habitat." It's basically an irreverent housekeeping blog. Use their schedules.

I posted a long, detailed response in your other thread, OP, and I'm sad to see it go off the rails.

Obviously, the routine will be different for everyone. But here's how I came up with mine:

First, think about what the kids need:
My kids are on a very predictable nap/bedtime schedule. They eat meals and snacks at specific times. They need lots of physical activity each day. They also need something that is a mental challenge each day and they need a little down time each day. These needs create your framework. So, e.g., I looked at my kids' basic needs and see:

Wake at 7
Breakfast asap
Kids do best with am physical exertion
Baby nap 9:30-10:30
Snack around 10
Lunch around 1
All 3 Nap/rest time 1:30/2-3:30
Small snack after naps
Dinner at 6
Baths/Bedtime routine 6:30-8

So then I come up with my list of things that happen daily (laundry, wiping counters after meals, sweeping up messes, wiping bathroom sinks, picking up toys, food prep/cooking) and weekly (sweep/mop/vacuum all floors, change sheets, clean bathrooms, shopping for food, errands). I have a monthly housecleaner for the real deep cleaning stuff.

Then I look at my lists and figure out what can be multitasked with childcare best.
Daily:
laundry--easily done while kids are awake. I may even have them help!
wiping counters after meals/sweeping up messes/wiping bathroom sinks--I do these things as the messes are made
picking up toys--this one is mostly the kids' job, so I just need to choose set times in our routine to make sure it happens.
food prep--this can be done while the kids are ensconced at the table/high chair when I am already in the kitchen. I just have to make the next meal while they eat the last one.
Dishes--again, these can mostly be done while the kids eat
cooking--The kids can help to some extent, but this is MUCH easier without "help," so it goes on the naptime list.

Weekly:
sweep/mop/vacuum all floors--this is a pain to do with kids around so it is a naptime chore
change sheets--naptime
clean bathrooms--naptime
shopping for food, errands--these can be done with kids in tow. They become part of the activity for the day.