How In The World Do You Get It All Done?

I am asked this question at least once a day, "How in the world do you get everything done and keep your house so tidy?" To be honest with you, I really don't know. I guess it must have something to do with how I was raised and it has just kind of rubbed off on me LOL!


No seriously, awhile back, I was introduced to Managers of their Home by Titus 2 Ministries. I first heard about them because I watch the Duggars show 18 Kids and Counting. I noticed that their house and their kids were mostly always tidy and very able to do chores and such. It got me to thinking about my own home and what needed to happen inside. Frankly, I was tired of the house being messy or nothing was done, or I ran out of day with only half of what I wanted to accomplish completed.


It was then that I saw the Duggars schedule hidden behind a cabinet door and they explained what it was. I was instantly hooked and wanted to know more. My friend Becky had purchased this book, so she let me borrow her copy to read and get familiar with how to schedule my day. It's funny that as a mother and a wife, I know about scheduling, but I had no clue how to lay my day out. Since then, though, I have read the book and put its advice to use. Here is kind of what my day looks like:

• 5:00am-6:00am: Get up--Quiet time with the Lord, take shower, let dogs out
• 6:00-6:30am: Personal computer time
• 6:30-7:00am: Wake Stephen up, get his breakfast done
• 7:00-8:00am: Wake kids up. Kids do morning chores, eat breakfast. Any leftover time is free time until school starts. Morning chores consist of: making bed, picking up dirty clothes from room, picking up any dishes from the night before from room, putting away toys, wash face, bursh teeth (after they have eaten), and putting away any clean clothes.
• 8:00am-12:00pm: School Time. Most of the time there are a couple of breaks in this time so that minds can relax and refresh. During the breaks, the kids play with their toys, help take the dogs out, and sometimes we go on a walk.
• 12:00-1:00: Dad comes home from lunch. This is the lunch hour at our house.
• 1:00-1:30: Afternoon chores. These chores usually consist of doing lunch dishes, folding a load of laundry, taking the trash out, straightening the living room, or running errands.
• 1:30-3:30: Mom's work time, kids free time: this is the time that the kids usually get for free time while I work. It works out great this way, because I get a quiet house while they get to play.
• 3:30-4:00: Prepare house for daddy's homecoming. Stephen gets off work at 4:00, so we always try to go through the house and straighten anything that is out of place so that when he comes home, the house feels like a place of rest and relaxation instead of a chaotic place of dissaray and disorder.
• 4:00-5:00: Prepare dinner. My man loves to eat dinner at 5:00. This way, he doesn't feel so sluggish closer to bed because he ate later. Sometimes Kayla helps me prepare supper, although I do not require her to. She just loves to help cook. Other times, they are outside playing with friends.
• 5:00-5:30: Dinner time with the family
• 5:30-6:00: Clean up supper dishes
• 6:00-8:00: Free time for everyone. The kids are usually outside playing and I am usually working during this time (unless one of our favorite shows are on tv and then we are watching something together)
• 8:00: Shower Time. The kids are really good about keeping themselves clean. They have been around some of their friends that don't care about personal hygiene and realize how stinky they would smell if they did not keep themselves clean so they always take a bath every evening.
• 9:00-10:00: Free time. 10:00 is bedtime around here since we homeschool. Since the kids are older we let them stay up an hour later this year.

So there you have my schedule in a nutshell. This could not be pulled off if I did not have such great kids. We have raised them to be tidy children--not so meticulous that things have to be straight all the time, but we have a motto in our home "Everything has a home, and it must be put back when finished using it". My kids like the feeling of peace and contentment as well as their dad when they come in from outside. I never really have to get upset with them about cleaning up. They are more than happy to pitch in and help. I guess I am just blessed to have such wonderful helpers!

Since they were born, we have instilled in them the importance of being tidy. When they were toddlers, we always sang the cleanup song as we cleaned up and I loved listening to them sing, "Clean up, clean up, everybody do their share". I guess those words have always stuck with my children, because they do their share. They wash dishes once a day for me, so each of us take a shift--one does breakfast dishes, one does lunch dishes, and one does supper dishes. It is the same way with the vaccuming and dusting and laundry as well. Everyone around here pitches in and does their share of the chores.