Daily Schedule

Every time the seasons change, I find myself yearning for efficiency, cleanliness and a better schedule. As we head into fall, those thoughts are just as prevalent as ever. As a result, I've been logging a lot of hours on Pinterest, looking at the schedules, cleaning logs and home-binders of perfect mothers across the internet.

That's not me.

Although I wish it was, I'm at a point in my life where I can finally admit that I will never be able to keep up with a household binder. It's basically just one more thing in my already packed to-do list. What works for me is simplicity - a to-do list, maybe some reminders and a grocery list. A regular wall calendar with appointments jotted down does just fine, though I do appreciate the reminder system in my phone too. I just wish it were easier to input appointments.

So this week, in addition to potty training my middle child (I just take the diapers away and let the chips fall where they may, it worked with my oldest and *knock on wood* so far so good with my middle child.), I'm also trying a new daily routine. It's not set in stone yet, but I'm trying to wake up an hour before everyone else so I can take care of me first thing in the morning (coffee, check email, etc.) and then I can tackle the rest of the day. Of course, that means waking up at 6 or 6:30 in the morning, but hey. I'm also working on designating the hour after the kids go to bed to picking up the house, doing dishes from dinner and showering. That's not easy. Once the kids are in bed, I pretty much just want to collapse and most of the time I have work to do, but I'm trying. It requires extra effort at night, but I've got to say that it is so worth it the next day.

One great resource I've stumbled upon in my quest to change my life is cleanmama.net. She has some great printables and ideas to help you change your cleaning routine into something manageable. With 3 kids under the age of 5, I find that just scheduling time to clean is the hardest thing of all. She's great at breaking the process down into daily tasks so you're not tackling the whole house every day. I think that if I can stick with her routine, I can eventually get my house to a place that I'm happy with it.

I'm wondering if anyone else has a daily routine that they follow. If you do, what does yours look like? I'm trying to get some ideas to make things easier on everyone. :-)