The first week of domesticization 4

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The first week of staying at home with the boys went really well.  We went grocery shopping on Monday and Wednesday, met up with friends on Tuesday and Wednesday, and had a visit from family Wednesday through Thursday.  We were so busy, it feels like a blur.

The first week of Domesticization

And with all the activities during the week, I also started cleaning my own house again.  It has been almost 7 years since I’ve cleaned my own house.  When my husband and I got married, I received a piece of marriage advice from one of my eight aunts that we have employed these past 7 years.  That is, while both us are working, we’ve always hired someone to clean our house.  That way, our weekends could be spent enjoying each other, instead of cleaning the house.  When we decided I would stay home with the boys, the housekeeper was one of the first easiest nonessentials to go.  I was feeling ambitious, and came up with the following cleaning schedule:

Everyday
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Dishes Boy’s Bathroom Kitchen Dining Room Big Boy Room Patio
Make beds Half Bath Family Room Study Baby Boy Room Playroom
  Master Bath Hallway Laundry Room Master Stairs
I did pretty good Monday and Tuesday, but lost inspiration as the week went on.  Realistically, a perfectly clean house would be nice, but I like getting out too much to stick to cleaning the house EVERY week.  So I’ve decided to modify the schedule so that the rooms we really live in (bathrooms, kitchen, and living room) are cleaned every week, but the rooms we don’t spend much time in are cleaned every other week.  This is called continuous improvement in the engineering world, aka we’ll get something 80% there, and then spend till the end of time trying to complete to 100%, but never get there.  Anyways, here’s the new cleaning schedule:
  Everyday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday
Week 1 Dishes Boy’s Bathroom Kitchen   Dining Room Laundry
Make beds Half Bath Family Room   Study  
Master Bath Hallway   Laundry Room  
Week 2 Dishes Big Boy  Room Boy’s Bathroom   Patio Laundry
Make beds Baby Boy Room Half Bath   Playroom Change Sheets
  Master Master Bath   Stairs  
So I started working from the new schedule today.  While cleaning, I found a few things that had obviously never been cleaned.  The fan in the master bed room had so much dust on it that I had to vacuum the floor to clean up the mounds of dust from cleaning the blades.  And in Big Boy’s room, I found an abandoned spider web that had once been a comfy home to your neighborly spider.  I’m not sure where the spider is though…

 

 

 

4 thoughts on “The first week of domesticization”

  • Charlene

    I love your aunt and her advice! I think it strange that so many people feel guilty about paying for a cleaning, which is arguably an essential, but will spend money on frivolities.

    • From Engineer to SAHM Post author

      The advice my aunt gave me is about the only piece of marriage advice I’ve listened to. It did save us from having some fights early in our marriage!

  • Jenny

    You’re so much more organised than me! Love your first post! My dream is to one day have a cleaner. I imagine it will never happen though! Did you ever meet the spider?

    • From Engineer to SAHM Post author

      Thank you! I think the organization is remnants of my old job. I now dream of having a cleaner again. Someday… I never did find that spider though.

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