Routines

One of the things that has really helped me as I've evolved as a wife, parent, and homemaker is to have routines in place. Not schedules, but routines. We always have an idea of what is going to happen next because we do it the same way each time.

Not that things always go according to plans. Quite the contrary. With three kids and LIFE, things often get out of whack. But, I've also found that I'm able to quickly restore order by reverting back to the routine.

This also helps to (somewhat) alleviate the "what do I do now" syndrome.

I am a messy by nature. I also like things to be neat and orderly, and STAY neat and orderly. I think this is why I hate to clean, because things just get so out of order and yucky so fast. Especially with kids that seem to follow behind you, undoing everything that you just did.

One thing that has helped me is to understand that there is a difference between "messy" and "dirty". A house can be messy and clean at the same time. Messy just means that the kids have thrown some toys around and that you still need to put the laundry away. But, what's important, is that underneath all of the toys, the floor is vacuumed regularly, the toilets are sanitized and the dishwasher is run. That's what makes a clean house.

As I've learned this, I've set about establishing a routine for myself and my house cleaning duties. Rather than run around like a chicken with my head cut off trying to clean my whole house every day, I break it down and do a little bit each day. This insures that most of my house is clean all the time. It may look messy, but it's clean.

I'll share my routines in the next post.