The inside of our home is now my sanctuary.
In late April, I brought in someone to help me start cleaning up our house. To say the boys’ rooms were problematic was an understatement. It wasn’t their fault: We have five pets, and I hadn’t gotten in to help them declutter or clean much in probably three years.
Over the course of three visits, my helper and I tamed the mess entirely.
The first visit, we tackled Porter’s room. I’d already packed up a good bit of things that he’ll want to save, so a lot of our project was rearranging books and actual de-furring every item and surface. And, getting rid of a lot of trash, too.
But with her first visit, I gained momentum to keep going on my own. I cleaned up the mess in the dining room. I tackled boxes in our bedroom. I re-arranged our bedroom.
The second visit was Oliver’s room (which was not in as bad shape as the others because he has a cat that lives in his room so his room had to be cleaned at least a little), and also the bathrooms in the house.
The momentum continued after her visit; I kept up maintenance cleaning and managed to make the kitchen desk shelving (and desk and kitchen table themselves) presentable and useable.
The third visit was Liam’s room and all the floors in the house, and some dusting.
And, all of a sudden…..I have a sanctuary baseline to work with to maintain.
We have a four-bedroom, single-story house with all luxury vinyl plank and tile flooring throughout. And two and a half bathrooms, one of which has a tile and grout shower and a garden jetted tub.
It’s a big house. Big by my standards, anyway.
So, here’s my new summer schedule….. I worked it out and the actual work each day should not be more than an hour and a half on the heaviest work days. The schedule will change in the Fall both because the big boys will be off at their colleges and my schedule will change too:
The Weekly Schedule
Sunday: Church & Rest & Maybe Swimming
Morning: Zero chores. Head to church and Costco.
Afternoon (3:00 PM onwards): Make beds, pet care (which involves changing puppy pads and scooping cat litter), two loads of laundry, unload/load dishwasher, scan for fur balls & five-minute pickup, swipe toilets, wipe down all counters, boys to maybe swimming.
Monday: Sheets & Swim (Oliver goes swimming on Monday afternoons)
Daytime Block: Make beds, pet care, four loads of laundry (sheets), unload/load dishwasher, scan for fur balls & five-minute pickup, swipe toilets, wipe down all counters.
Weekly Task: Quick dusting of main areas.
Floor Task: Steam mop primary bath and bedroom.
Afternoon: Swimming with Oliver.
Tuesday: Volunteer & Bathrooms
Morning: Volunteer time
Daytime Block: Make beds, pet care, two loads of laundry, unload/load dishwasher, scan for fur balls & five-minute pickup, swipe toilets, wipe down all counters.
Weekly Task: Clean bathrooms.
Weekly Task: Mow one yard segment (our grass is not in one section— there are 5 distinct sections of grass).
Floor Task: Steam mop kitchen and laundry room and powder room.
Wednesday: Volunteer & Bare Minimum
Morning: Volunteer time
Daytime Block: Make beds, pet care, two loads of laundry, unload/load dishwasher, scan for fur balls & five-minute pickup, swipe toilets, wipe down counters.
Weekly Task: None. Rest and recover from the drive.
Thursday: Catch-All Floors
Daytime Block: Make beds, pet care, two loads of laundry, unload/load dishwasher, scan for fur balls & five-minute pickup, swipe toilets, wipe down counters.
Weekly Task: Swiffer/sweep all floors.
Floor Task: Steam mop living room, dining room, and hallway.
Friday: Projects & Swim
Daytime Block: Make beds, pet care, two loads of laundry, unload/load dishwasher, scan for fur balls & five-minute pickup, swipe toilets, wipe down counters.
Weekly Task: Project Day (this is where I will do things like clean out a closet or unpack a box in storage in the attic or under the house).
Floor Task: Steam mop boys’ bedrooms.
Afternoon: Jared takes youngest swimming.
Evening: Date night.
Saturday: Yard & Flex
Daytime Block: Make beds, pet care, two loads of laundry, unload/load dishwasher, scan for fur balls & five-minute pickup, swipe toilets, wipe down counters.
Weekly Task: Mow one yard segment.
And having the schedule worked out like that, I feel free to create the kind of daily rhythm I struggled to establish and maintain when the boys were younger. I’m not 100% sure that two loads of laundry per day will be necessary, even, but if I don’t keep it in the schedule I won’t stay on top of the laundry and then there will be a dozen loads to do in one day.
I’m finding that I loved raising my boys, and I love even more now that two are successfully out of high school and the third is solidly in middle school. Motherhood has not been easy or come naturally to me and I am realizing I have been mostly in survival mode for nearly twenty years.
Now that there is room to breathe and no toys underfoot, my psyche is relaxing quite a bit. And I love chatting and spending time with my big boys now that no one is little. I was not the baby-person in the household; most people know that person was solidly Jared.
I realize that house cleaning is not rocket science; I was learning to tend to my house as a young child. It’s not lack of knowledge or even lack of discipline; it’s that somewhere over the last twenty years of life and motherhood, I lost my bearings.
And I’m under no illusion: it will take work to maintain this momentum, and I deal with mental illness and there will be days I just cannot.
It’s strange though, to go from feeling hopeless about the state of our house in April to all of a sudden feeling like I could have guests over right now if I wanted to.
There would be more photos, but the beds are not made because it is sheets day.
I’ve long since struggled with waking in the morning, but with this schedule and a sense of hope and feeling of gratitude about my life, I managed to wake up at 5:00 this morning and have my quiet time before everyone else was up. That is the magic part of the day for me, and my days don’t feel complete when I oversleep out of depression or exhaustion.
A win.
