Taking care of a home and making it beautiful takes a lot of work.

One thing I consistently fell into after Monica was born, was not know what to do. I knew I only had so much time and a lot of tasks that needed to be completed but I wasn’t sure where to start.

This led to a constant decision fatigue which made me less productive and more frustrated as I failed to set and carry out priorities effectively.

My mother (hi mom) had the brilliant idea to set a schedule for what to do when. (who knew moms knew things!!!).

It took a while for me to actually sit down and do this but it has been a game-changer.

I broke down the bigger, most important weekly tasks and separated them into different days. This ensures I know exactly what I want to accomplish when I wake up in the morning every day—and there is so much PEACE.

An orderly home is like oxygen to me and I think it sets the tone for the rest of the family. I know Stephen appreciates it whenever he walks in the door and he has a welcoming place to be. Of course, Monica is a crawling hurricane so there will almost always be something out of place, but I think a ‘contained chaos’ is manageable.

I typically do housework while Monica is awake. I save my computer work for when she is napping (as soon as she sees the computer she *has* to have it). As long as she is in the room with me I can keep an eye on her while I work and she *normally* doesn’t do too much damage, although I almost always have to clean up after her when I’m done with my thing.

I wanted to get in the habit of this with her from a young age so she would learn how to entertain herself, I’ve been so blessed that she is happy doing this and very rarely clingy. If you have a clingy baby, this will be harder. You can try doing tasks while your baby is napping, *or* you can try to start by doing one small thing every time your baby is awake, and see if over time they can adjust. I think a lot of things with babies is just getting them used to things—they don’t know how life is supposed to be so we have to show them!

If you’re like me and sometimes overwhelmed with all the things you need to get done, here is a SAMPLE of what my week looks like. This is *just* an example to give you an idea, then you can take it and make it work for you!

I should note, (in case it isn’t glaringly obvious) I don’t work outside the home. I do work remotely a few hours a week, but as I said, I typically try to get everything done while Monica is asleep. If you work outside the home or this will definitely be different but I do think you can still benefit from having a ‘schedule’ of sorts when it comes to housework. That way your time at home is more efficient, instead of wondering what you need to get done first!

MONDAY

1. Clean master bed & bath: I start in here because I actually think that taking care of your room is a little way of taking care of your marriage—and everything flows from that. I used to neglect this room the most because most people wouldn’t ever see it, but now I’ve made it my first task of the week. This usually takes me a little bit as I strip the bed, dust, clean the baseboards, clean the shower, toilet, countertops, mirror, vacuum, etc. But it usually lasts almost the whole week looking pretty tidy and it really does make a difference.
2. Laundry: I do this many days but Mondays I make sure to wash our linens and any other laundry that accumulated over the weekend.
3. Meal planning & Groceries: Usually I’ll go to the store and stock up on whatever I need for that week. Often I’ll actually at least start meal planning on Sunday, but Monday is typically when I finish making the grocery list before heading out to the store.

TUESDAY

• Clean out the fridge: Tuesday is my kitchen day. I go shelf by shelf in the fridge taking everything out, throwing away what is old and wiping the shelves down. I used to do this much less often but now it goes by a lot quicker and I love that every time I open the fridge it is organized and clean.
• Meal prep: After the fridge is clean I’ll chop some vegetables and maybe fruit as well to have ready to go throughout the week. I do a lot better with eating well when the healthy stuff is front and center and ready to go.
• Counter/surface wipe down: After the food is all taken care of, I go surface by surface in the kitchen and dining room (it’s really all one room because we have open concept but you know what I mean) and moving whatever is on them before going over them with a sponge and then a rag. My counters are black granite so they like to hide crumbs!
• Baking (optional): I like to bake Tuesdays as well but that isn’t a *must*, depends on what baked goods we have and if my sourdough starter is ready!

WEDNESDAY

• Floors: Wednesday is my more relaxed day, I typically take advantage to go out with Monica and run errands or do something fun. However, I do make it a point to vacuum our main living spaces and mop the kitchen and dining room.
• Laundry: Wednesday I will also do at least one but typically two more loads of laundry.

THURSDAY

• Rest of the house: The rest of the house takes significantly less time. We have a small house, but we also use the guest room, office and guest bathroom a lot less than the other rooms. Even Monica’s room doesn’t get very messy that often (yet). So Thursday’s I’ll vacuum the other rooms and generally tidy up. If guests are coming that weekend then I’ll do more of a deep clean in the guest bathroom but I don’t do this every week.
• laundry: we do a lot of laundry.
• baking (optional): sometimes I’ll bake some muffins or bread to have going into the weekend.

FRIDAY

• Odds and ends: Friday is my last call for serious housework. I really like to have the house chores mostly done so that over the weekend Stephen and I can do fun things, go out of town, or work on actual house projects. Typically this means doing a more surface-level cleaning of the whole house —especially the main living space. This really doesn’t take me very long, maybe a couple hours max. Then I pretty much ‘clock out’ until Monday.
• laundry (optional).

That’s it! So obviously this doesn’t include allll the housework (I don’t think anyone wants to read that), but it is kind of the bigger things that many of us have to do regularly. I realize that once I have more kids or some other life change, I will have to re-assess and maybe even dial down what I’m doing now. However, for the time being this has been working and I do think there’s something to be said for knowing what you’re going to do when.

Happy homemaking!

— miranda