Reality

At the ripe old age of 32, I feel like I frequently have to remind myself that I have a home and family to care for.  Like, the dishes won't get done or things won't get picked up unless I do them.  Things will just sit and sit until I give myself that wake up call that these things are my daily responsibilities.  Whoa,  when did this all happen?  It all seems so sudden.   I grew up as the baby of the family.  You mean, I'm not the baby anymore?  All this responsibility is mine?  How did I get here so fast?   Where was the How to Run a Home for Dummies book when all this started?

A "Hot Spot"

Having four kids is one of the obvious wake up calls.  Breakfast, school, feed baby, soccer, scouts, lunch,  feed baby, dance, gymnastics, dinner, homework, feed baby, reading, hair, young womens, feed baby and hockey all while maintaining a home.  Did I mention feed the baby?  Don't get me wrong, I love every minute of it.  What I don't love is trying to keep all of this chaos in my head.

It is simple to love and nurture my kids everyday. Some days I have the 4 kid thing down. Other days,  I feel like I'm totally frazzled!  And the worst thing about that, it shows!  On the frazzled days I can't even complete a thought in my brain let alone carry on a decent conversation.

So I did what I had to do.  Get all that stuff out of my head and write it down.  Then I hopped on google reader and became inspired by other moms who seem to have things figured out.  This is why I love blogging so much.  I have been able to learn so much from other moms who have been there and apply it to my life.

My brain station

This is not the first time for me to be blogging about cleaning.  I always go through cycles of trying to keep my house clean all the time to crash and burn. Hopefully with these new tips I can make it a habit.  I thought I'd share the things I've added to my routine.

• Meal Planning-  I always seem to go through cycles of planning.  I HATE meal planning.  If I can get beyond that, my week is SO much easier.  I wrote down a list of everything I make that the family loves.  I first plan from there.  And if nothing sounds good to me that week then I try a new recipe.  Last week I let the kids each pick their favorite meal.

Shower/Get ready- Before the kids wake up.  HUGE time saver.  It's hard, but worth it!  Noon rolls around to quickly if I don't.

Swish & Swipe- Use 2 Clorox wipes to touch up bathroom sinks and toilet.  Brush toilet with bowl brush.  This takes seconds and maintains my bathroom with ease ready for use by anyone.  Daily.

Prepare Dinner in the Morning- LOVE this idea I got from Sarah!  Because who wants to spend an hour in the kitchen at that crazy busy time of day cooking dinner?  It's the dream to just pop something in the oven when dinner rolls around.  All ready to be cooked.

These next two tips I got from flylady.net.  She wrote a book called Sink Reflections that I want to get.  All her tips are on her website but I still want the book.

• Hot Spot-  Find the one or two areas in your home that is always collecting clutter.  That is your Hot Spot.  Twice a day, I have to check my hot spot to put things away to keep it from getting out of control.  It seems like a high maintenance task but not everyone puts things away ;)  I'm  still fighting to work on this constantly.  But I love the idea of it.

• Shine sink-  One of the Fly Lady's tips is to always have a shiny sink.  Always.  Start there.  Make it a habit and you'll feel much better about your home knowing your sink is clean.  I love a clean sink.  I have felt great to be able to maintain this one.

My favorite one of all (which I have done for years) is to start the dishwasher at night, climb into bed and fall asleep to that beautiful sound that's cleaning your dishes.  A reminder that the house is all clean. :)

Lastly, my lists.  Lists to keep my mind from going crazy!

• What's on the brain- My favorite.  Things pop in there that I forget way too easily.  I just write them down so I can think about them later when I have a minute and focus on the now.  Things to talk to Kev about, reminders, call backs, emails, school projects, etc... 
• Things to look up on the internet- Another fav for that free computer time I get in the afternoons during nap time. :)
• To do- Cleaning, Organizing etc...
• Errands I need to run.  This helps me lots.  I get in a PANIC when I get those random times of free time.  To run without the kids.  I usually can't think of a thing I need to do because of the pressure of sudden free time.  Not anymore!  I just have a looky at this list and I'm gone.
• Grocery list
• Costco list

All my lists are taped on my cupboard next to my calendar.  I call this my brain station.   Because this brain of mine needs extra space.  An external hard drive.

My hot spot recovered.  

Which now actually looks like this.

I love the sudden look of fall out my window!

What are your favorite household and routine tips?