Project Home-maker!

I am embarking on a self improvement programe.I will explain this in a sec.I hope you all don't mind but I am gonna add it to the hot topics.I would like to become a well organised mother/wife and person.I think it will help me clear up a lot of issues and also help my life and the life of my children;I feel it's really important to do this.

To give you all an idea of the way things are currently here's how my house is run;

Kids; baby is 3 months old,breastfed.Sleeps mostly through the night,doesnt really nap in the day.
Teo is 4 1/2 and hyperactive.He does not really have a schedual/routine apart from meals and bedtime.In between he pretty ,uch watched TV,plays in the garden,some nights we go for a walk.Thats it

Housework: Is sparodic,I usually don't clean everyday.Kitchen every 2-3 days,this means it gets trashed,looks nasty and does not motivate me to clean it.Bathrooms are left until they get nasty as well (soap scum on baths,spots in mirrors,full trash cans,toothpaste in sinks).Bedrooms arent TOO bad,clothes are left on floor sometimes and beds are NEVER made in my house .Lounge is covered in toys most of the day,I make him pick them up at night and put them in the ottoman (sp?) it doubles as a toy chest.He reFUSES to play in his room EVER.Apart from that it's pretty tidy.

Cooking; Sparodic.I usually wait until we get STARVING before making anything,it\s usually snacks all day.Not really unhealhty ones but no REAL meals.Maybe once a week I will cook something.

Shopping,I try to go on the weekend when I can leave little boy at home with daddy.

Work; 3 days a week I have kids for a half day,2 days a week a full 10 hour day.(these days vary)

As you can see,my life is packed full.I am a professional procrastonator.I have no routine.No organisation or schedual so to speak.I am looking into putting my son in preschool for a half day 5 days a week.

So...I am going to (tonight) put together a schedual,chores list and TRY and stick to it.i will post it here!it might not be up until later.

My goal here is to start having a clean organised house and life,to cook nutritious meals for my family and myself and in turn have a more organised day and life and feel better about myself and more able to cope without letting things get untidy or on top of me!

I hope this makes sense?I would appreciate any input.Please be patient with me,it really does not come naturally to me.I would love to be more like some of you ladies on here in your home lives!I also am going to try and copy some of you with the cooking/shopping thing.

I will pick out say 20 meal recipies and put them in a box in my kitchen,each weak choose 7 and write everything on my shopping list that I need to make them and get them when I do my weekly shop...is this what you do?Oh god I SUCK at this already...no ***slaps self*** I must think positively,I CAN do this...ok...

Off I go to write lists n such!

great idea angel!
I am BY NO MEANS a super organized person and could def. benefit from this thread too!

If I can make one suggestion about your meal plan is that when you pick your meals, try to lump recipes together that share some of the same ingredients. That will help you save time and money. For instance, if you need chopped onion in 2 recipes go ahead and chop all the onion and then you'll be one step ahead for the next meal. Also, if you don't have a crock pot - get one! It could be your best friend! Even if you only use it once a week that is one meal a week you don't have to spend so much time on!

I look forward to seeing your schedule and I'd love to see your meal plan too!

Lou Lou wrote:great idea angel!
I am BY NO MEANS a super organized person and could def. benefit from this thread too!

If I can make one suggestion about your meal plan is that when you pick your meals, try to lump recipes together that share some of the same ingredients. That will help you save time and money. For instance, if you need chopped onion in 2 recipes go ahead and chop all the onion and then you'll be one step ahead for the next meal. Also, if you don't have a crock pot - get one! It could be your best friend! Even if you only use it once a week that is one meal a week you don't have to spend so much time on!

I look forward to seeing your schedule and I'd love to see your meal plan too!

Oh god,I am gonna sound so stupid here....whats a crock pot?

a slow cooker.....

omg angel i sound just like you, like seriously i could have written your OP!!! lol, now i feel bad for you :cry:

im so gonna stalk this thread and i hope to get something out of it as well!!!

Great idea Angel!

I'd say with cleaning, clean as you go along. You see stuff on the floor sweep it (mop maybe twice a week). That way it's always nice and there's no big clean. Have a weekly laundry day(s).

With the bathroom, spray the loo/bath/shower a couple of times a week and actually scrub it once? Wipe the sink if you see toothpaste on. And give the bathroom a weekly clean, just spray/sweep in between.

Little bits a long the way help lots!

Ok,so I speant the rest of the day on this.Let me know what you think...It's gonn be really hard but knowing the way I am and my flaky ADD driven minfd,I NEED a schedual.I cannot do these things by myself




Daily Chores:

*Empty/load dishwasher
*Washing drying clothes
*Cleaning kitchen surfaces

Weekly Chores (one each day of the week);

*Vacuuming entire house (upstairs n down)
* Mopping floors
* Dusting all surfaces
* Cleaning Bathrooms
* Cleaning glass/windows

Monthly Chores;

* Bills
* Cleaning out Cars
* Cleaning out fridge
* Rearranging messy shelves (books DVD’s)
* Restocking Cupboards

Free Time Activities:

* Reading/Learning with Teo
* Time on Computer
* Personal Crafts Projects
* Phone calls
* Relaxing
Q = Quiet time for Teo (nap or playing in his room)

PS,Sorry about the poor format,it changed when I put it on here!

Thanks,I have my weekly scheduals based on what my neighbour is doing with work.SO some days I will have to get up at 7:00 Am,I think though,on those days i will still keep breakfast at the same time and the rest of my schedual!

Yeah,thats the idea.To train me lol.Screw that getting up early crap.That is one thing you will NEVER train me to do.It's just not natural for me.I get up early IF it's required on the odd occasion.I used to get up at 2-3pm before I had kids.I used to go to work at 5pm and get hom about 2-3am depending on where I went after work.I am still adjusting to being woken up,even after having a 4 year old wake me up ealry.I train him to go to bed at 7:30 get up at 7:30.If he wakes earlier i tell him to play quietly in his room.He will usually do this or go turn the TV on which I dont mind.

Of course he is older now, but my son knows he has to play in his room until 8:00 am on Saturdays. He wakes up at the crack of dawn, and used to run ask us if he could watch cartoons (tv shares a wall with our bedroom) so my sleep was always disturbed from that point on.

His room looks like a disaster zone by the time we get up.....but hey, what do I care HE has to clean it. :lol:


*** I too would keep your morning routine at the same time. Those two days it will just give you an hour before the whole circus begins for the day. Of course if you are like me in the morning you will spend the whole hour staring at the wall or something like a zombie...I am NOT a morning person. I get my best sleep after my husband gets up!

LOL,yeah me too.I wake up on those mornings at 7 just before they arrive.I stumble out of bed with the baby,throw on some gym pants and sit on the couch until the come in where I am sitting bleary eyed and croaky voiced .I remain there for then next half hour or so at least in the same state until someone asks for breakfast! LOL

Well your not alone Angel, I surprise myself sometimes with just how organised and neat I am at work and then how un-tidy I am at home.

I really struggle to get myself motivated to do housework, infact the only thing that really gets my butt in gear is when I know someone is coming over and I can in a matter of an hour or two, spring clean and make everything shiny.

The one room in our house that stays pretty tidy is the lounge but for us the kitchen is usually always a mess with pots and pans waiting to be washed, I get so sick to death of doing it all myself though that sometimes I will leave things soaking just to see if my DH will actually do something!!

I do clean the bathroom at least once a week though and that is because my hair gets everywhere so if I didn't it would just be awful.

I do cook every evening without fail and usually just after I have put Theo to bed so we do have some kind of rountine.

I wouldn't possibly be able to follow some kind of schedual though......not for me!!! I just need to snap out of being so darn lazy and when Theo is napping I should be cleaning instead of being on here moaning about being un-tidy!!!! :lol!:

though babe, I look forward to seeing how well you get on with following this! x x

I really like this thread. We don't have a strict routine, but there is one floating around there. When I'm off, I have to get up at 6:30am to get Jadah ready for school. Sometimes Jayden wakes up too, sometimes not. Today, she's up. I gave her a cup and now she's playing on the floor. Jadah leaves the house at 7:05am. Jayden sometimes will eat a big bowl of oatmeal in a few, then nap until about 9am. I could straighten the living room and do the dishes, but probably won't. I won't be cooking breakfast. DF washed clothes last night, so I should be folding laundry too. I thinkn I'm off to clean. You ladies have motivated me. I will definitely be applying your weekly recipes idea, Angel. Take care. I'll be back soon, as I can't seem to just clean straight through.

Thanks guys.I have decided that this weekend (today) I am going to spend cleaning up and getting ready and shopping.stocking up.Then hopefully everything will be clean for next week and my daily chores wont be so hard! Anyway...I also need some suggestions.I need perhaps some suggestions as to when I can spend time with Teo on his work or doing something for him and define that aside from 'me' time.

This is a great idea, Angel.I look forward to seeing you carry it out, I know you can do it. You are going to feel really accomplished once you have this down. P.S. if you want some slow cooker or yummy healthy recipes let me know, I've got a ton

As far as my routine.

I wake up when LM does. I cuddle her for a bit and talk to her, DH or myself changes her. She plays with her hanging toys on her floor mat whilst sitting in her bumbo seat. I make breakfast.

DH usually is out the door by 8:45 a.m. I feed LM a bottle and her breakfast cereal at this point. Depending on when she woke up for the day.... she will go down for her first nap between 9 and 10 a.m. I then jump in the shower, get dressed, and unload my dishwasher. I wipe down the kitchen, ect. I start a load of laundry.

After I finish the kitchen, I will chill on the computer for a while, until LM wakes up from her nap. Then I devote an hour to playing with her, reading to her, over-seeing her tummy time, ect. She usually has some formula around noon, and I feed her baby food anywhere between 12:20 and 1 pm. She goes down for an afternoon nap anywhere between 1 and 2:30 pm, it depends on when she woke up from her 1st nap of the day. While she sleeps, I fold clothes for a while, wipe down or deep clean our bathrooms if they need it. I tidy up DH and I's room, or whatever. If I finish with this, I talk to friends on the computer, catch up on facebook, Parent Paradise, ect. When When the baby wakes up, I play with her for a bit. I will also do the vacuuming if I feel the carpet needs it

I start dinner around 4:30 or 5 pm. LM goes down for a short cat nap around this time as well. DH gets home about 5:15-5:45 p.m. We eat, and when LM wakes up, we all hang out as a family. LM gets her bath from DH around 7:20 p.m. She has her last bottle and solids for the night, then she goes to bed around 8 p.m. I stay up and hang out with DH for about 30 minutes to an hour. We usually watch part of a movie, or one of the many sitcoms we have on dvd.

We don't have cable or satellite, and I love it. I spend way less time wasting time watching rubbish.

I don't have exact times that I do certain things, but I keep it within a time frame, which works alongside my daughter's schedule

Holi, what sort of things do you like to eat? I could post you some recipes that are easy so you are not spending too much time chopping and peeling. What do you give Teo? Maybe fresh fruit and veg every day and regular meals would help his behaviour. I am in no way assuming you don't give him that already. I felt my house was getting pretty similar recently so I have just employed a cleaner now that I have a decent job and more money coming in. She is doing 2 hours a weeks for me and does the bathroom, kitchen and if there is any time left she can do ironing. I only have to worry about the living room, dining room, bedrooms and sun lounge then. I know you might not be able to afford it every week but what about getting someone in to help you blitz the place and then it will be easier to get on top of. You will get there hun. Do you think you may be depressed? I know I start to neglect everything like that when I am low, I stop looking after myself too, like washing and eating and then when I am starving I binge. If you think you are, see someone, maybe some meds could help. Another idea is SADS, maybe light therapy could help. Let us know how things are going!

galaxy wrote:Holi, what sort of things do you like to eat? I could post you some recipes that are easy so you are not spending too much time chopping and peeling. What do you give Teo? Maybe fresh fruit and veg every day and regular meals would help his behaviour. I am in no way assuming you don't give him that already. I felt my house was getting pretty similar recently so I have just employed a cleaner now that I have a decent job and more money coming in. She is doing 2 hours a weeks for me and does the bathroom, kitchen and if there is any time left she can do ironing. I only have to worry about the living room, dining room, bedrooms and sun lounge then. I know you might not be able to afford it every week but what about getting someone in to help you blitz the place and then it will be easier to get on top of. You will get there hun. Do you think you may be depressed? I know I start to neglect everything like that when I am low, I stop looking after myself too, like washing and eating and then when I am starving I binge. If you think you are, see someone, maybe some meds could help. Another idea is SADS, maybe light therapy could help. Let us know how things are going!

THanks Emma n everyone else who Is offering to send me recipies.I do actually know quite a few but,I could always use A few more so yes please everyone who has offered,

Also..I am not depressed Em,thanks for worrying,I have ALWAYS been messy,disorganised and scatty,its the way I've always been.I have ADD n just dont deal well with motivating myself.Thats why I fely I need to make the schedual public so all of you (*my cyber sisters:) ) will perhaps help when you see me online too much in the week,or my time on here is not during my free time perhaps you guys can shout at me n help me do my thing.

I ALWAYS tell myself 'later' but later never comes or is a few days later lol!