The Schedule

It's time to get back to business. I know I've spoken before of how schedule-oriented I am. Lately it's been very hard on me because we've just had chaos around here. The summer is never a good time for schedules, but add to the craziness of summer being really busy with events almost every day and it's probably not necessary to tell you that housework became very low on my priority list. Now that K-Girl is back to school I feel we have instantly gained some structure. So today I pulled down my trusty board and got back to work.

My poor board had July as the month there at the top, and it really hadn't been followed for more than sometimes getting an accurate meal or two up there. It's been feeling some major neglect. The thing is that when the board and I are well acquainted I'm a happier person. If the house is in dissary so am I.

I often get picked on for my board (yes I've got a tinge of OCD), but then just as often I have friends asking me about it. So I thought I would take a moment and blog in the name of my newly reacquainted schedule board.

First I'll do some explaining, a tour of sorts...

So before you get to the calendar part we'll look to the left. On the far left I have my every day To Do's. There's my morning, afternoon, and evening routines. They are the things I have to do every day, even weekends to keep the house running smoothly. It's not a lot honestly even though it looks like a longer list - most things take a moment or two. Under those items I have my "Today's To Do's" which are things that I need to take care of either that day or at least in the near future. As I think of something I've been needing to do or must get done that day I'll jot it up there so I don't forget. Up beside my routines I have "Grocery List" for those things that we run out of or need and might get forgotten at grocery/errand day unless otherwise taken note of. I think it's funny that my pen was really running low on when I noted "dry erase markers" on it. The contrast between that and the dark writing for bar soap gave me a giggle.

Now over to the calendar part of the board...

At the top I start off with the month and then further over I have "This week's Zone is..." and this week that is my Kitchen/Dining Room. What the zone is is that I've broken my house down into 4 zones - Kitchen/Dining Room, Bathrooms, Bedrooms, and Living Room/Playroom - and each week I cycle through a different zone. This is the time to really get that area clean - to do deep cleaning that needs done once a month. Being that there are 4 zones each area in the house gets a good thorough cleaning once a month. The rest of the month I just do the weekly stuff and maintain. So like I said, this week I have Kitchen/Dining Room as my focus. Since I am focusing on this area all week I don't have to takle the entire kitchen in one day which is honestly a little daunting with young ones. Instead I might clean out the microwave and clean the sink one day, do some organizing the next day, wipe down the table and the chairs really good and clear off the server another day. You get the point.

Next thing is that though it looks like my calendar is a full month, I do not use it that way. I use it as a weekly calendar so my Monday is from top to bottom under Monday and same with all the other days. Instead each row is a different set of information for me. It helps me keep track of everything and organize it nicely.

The top row is "This Week's Events:" and in that row I write the date and what is in my planner for each day...any appointments, playgroups, etc.

The second row is my meal plan. I write out what we will have for dinner each night, although it's flexible - I might use Friday night's dinner on Monday and flip it around depending on how my day is going and how much cooking I really want to do - it gives me what meals we have groceries for at a glance. Meal planning is the best thing ever. If you meal plan you go to the grocery store with a purpose and when you go with a purpose your bill WILL be lower.

Third row down is my "Weekly Plan". This gives me my cleaning focus for the week. These boxes almost stay exactly the same each week, but I might shift them around a bit depending on how busy I am on any particular day. So I typically have "Zone + Weekly Task: Living Room/Play Room" which means that in addition to doing a bit on my week's focus zone that I do my weekly upkeep in the living room and play room - dusting should it need done, vacuuming, windows should the dogs have messed them up, etc. Each of my 4 zones gets a weekly day too just for that upkeep. Typically I give myself a free day in this week's planning, but honestly right now I need to get the place back in order so I'll do a little that day I might have given myself a pass. The only other thing to mention is my "Weekly Home Blessing" which I do on the weekend - which day depending on our schedule. This is just a day to move quickly room to room and make things tidy, run the vacuum if I need to, or just put things back to the way they should be. If I do this correctly it will only take me roughly an hour. I'm not talking about a huge undertaking. But doing the home blessing will make it easier to move into the next week.

Ok fourth row is "Day Specific". There are certain jobs that have certain days that they need done. Garbage will more often than not always be Friday morning so I always need to make sure that is done Thursdays. These little jobs are posted in this row just as reminders that they need done that day. It also keeps me accountable to change the sheets each week and things like that.

The last row had been empty until today, but I'm seeing that there is something important that needs to be there now with K-Girl in school. So row five is now "School". She has a repeating 6 day school cycle with specials on specific days. I write them up there so that we know if she needs to take her library book with her that morning or if she has decided to pack that day I'll have that up there and anything else that is specifically to do with school. It's easier than keeping track in different places even though I have her school calendar with lunch calendar and specials hanging from my board.

So that's basically my board. When I get started and I really keep it going this method works WONDERFULLY for me. It's so much easier than when I used to have a daily checklist that was very specific. I posted about that way way way back here. My old organization method just didn't seem to hang on once E-Man came into the picture. It worked just fine with one, slightly older kiddo running around. Mostly it just got to the point that I was feeling discouraged because I wasn't able to check everything off the list each day. And as it became more and more discouraging I became less and less interested in doing it. My new system doesn't really have a checklist other than those daily routines that honestly really do need done, but even then sometimes don't but hey oh well. I know what my focus is that day and I do as good as I can. If it's not perfect there's always tomorrow/next week.

Oh and I got this awesome awesome magnetic dry erase/cork board at Wal-Mart. Oh how I loathe Wal-Mart, but I could NOT find one I liked ANYWHERE else. This is the board I ended up with and recommend to everyone and anyone. I love it. It's made by The Board Dudes. Click this link to go check it out. You can purchase directly if you prefer and loathe Wal-Mart as much as I do, because I'm sorry to say that is the only place I've found this one, though others might have it.

I hope this little run down of what works for me will give you an idea or two about what might work for you. Here's to getting back to organization! Yipee!!