Saturday, January 5

this hurts me more than it hurts you



It has become normal around here to clean one time a week on Saturdays.

I used to get all the cleaning done by doing one job a day.  That worked for a good many years.

Since we moved into this house, though, I have had not just Jackson, but Lena has really stepped into her own as a solid household helper.  It's like after all these years, she's finally coming off the bench and into "the show".  (Yes, I'm watching the game as I write this.)

A usual Saturday morning includes cartoons, a bigger breakfast, and then an hour of regular chores and house cleaning.  Jack had basketball today, though, so we tackled it after dinner!  And we got it all done except the kitchen floor, which maybe I'll still tackle if I have playoff nerves working through my system.

So I post the house cleaning chart and everyone just chooses the jobs that seem the least tiresome.  Oh, and PJ took a bath, so he was content for a good 40 minutes!  It's not a deep clean, for sure, but if we do the minimum every week, at least, we keep on top of things.  I leave toilets and bathroom/kitchen floors for myself and I usually re-do the sinks, too.  While doing those tougher jobs I just try to keep the two kids moving and in less than an hour, we finish.

I think the kids realize that their help each day around the house frees me up to play games with them in the evening, like tonight.  I'm also able to fully devote myself to homeschooling and food prep during the week days.  I don't even do dishes throughout the day, because I know in the evening we'll all work together to get the place picked up.

In this case, and with the cozy size of our home (read: small, which I love BTW), it doesn't take a village, but having two extra pairs of hands to help really makes a difference!

1 comment:

  1. These are great skills to teach the kids and I love that they understand that when all pitch in then all get to play. Love, Janenne

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for sharing!