My Housework Schedule (Part II)

Cream Puffs are a real treat!

Hello, everyone! Hope you all are enjoying the springy weather like I am! I intended on posting yesterday about my "revised" housekeeping schedule.  However, yesterday was my dad's birthday, and I made him his favorite dessert, Cream Puffs, instead of the standard birthday cake.  (He's not too fond of cakes.) So, much of my time yesterday was consumed by daily housework, Cream Puff-making and visiting with family.  If you are interested in the Cream Puff recipe, you can view it as well as some pictures of the process here. If you've never had them, they are simply delectable!  As my dad would say, "they're so good, you can't hardly sit still and eat them."

I am so excited about my new treasure, America's Housekeeping Book, that I hardly know where to begin talking about it! As I mentioned in several previous posts, I am trying very diligently to develop a housework schedule that is effective, efficient and user-firendly.  So, after receiving my new housekeeping "bible," it inspired me to re-work my original housework schedule.  Today is the first day of implementation, but so far, so good.  In fact I am presently using my "leisure" time to type this post!  This is my new schedule: 

My Housework Schedule

Time	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
Morning	*Breakfast *Check email, etc. *Tidy kitchen	*Breakfast *Check email, etc. *Tidy kitchen	*Breakfast *Check email, etc. *Tidy kitchen	*Breakfast *Check email, etc. *Tidy kitchen	*Breakfast *Check email, etc. *Tidy kitchen
Forenoon	*Light Cleaning & General Pick-up *Start laundry	*Light Cleaning and General Pick-up *Thorough room cleaning (Bathroom)	*Light Cleaning and General Pick-up *Thorough room cleaning (Living and Family Rooms)	*Light Cleaning and General Pick-up *Thorough room cleaning (Bedrooms and halls)	*Light Cleaning and General Pick-up *Menu planning for next week
Noon	*Lunch *Short rest	*Lunch *Short rest	*Lunch *Short rest	*Lunch *Short rest	*Lunch *Short rest
Early Afternoon	*Finish laundry *Put away laundry *Thorough room cleaning  (Kitchen and Dining Rooms) *Make preparations for supper *Leisure time	*Do ironing *Put away ironing *Make preparations for supper *Leisure time	*Special weekly task (vacuum  & mop floors) *Make preparations for supper *Leisure time	*Special monthly tasks (varies) *Make preparations for supper *Leisure time	*Marketing *Put away groceries *Make preparations for supper *Leisure time
Late Afternoon	*Prepare supper	*Prepare supper	*Prepare supper	*Prepare supper	*Prepare supper
Evening	*Wash dishes and tidy kitchen	*Wash dishes and tidy kitchen	*Wash dishes and tidy kitchen	*Wash dishes and tidy kitchen	*Wash dishes and tidy kitchen

As I work through the schedule, and read through my book, I plan on being more specific with my tasks.  I'm sure that I will probably adjust a few things as time goes by, but I think this is a good "skeleton" schedule.  One thing that I'm also going to do, suggested by the book, is to monitor how long it takes me to complete a certain task.  For example, I was surprised to find that my ironing yesterday only took about 1 hour and 15 minutes.  (I was in somewhat of a hurry, though, and didn't iron any sheets or clothes of my own--only Hubby's work clothes.) Today, I talked on the phone during much of my cleaning, (today was living room, family room and floors day), and therefore neglected to monitor my time.  Although, after thinking about it, it probably wouldn't have done me any good to watch the time anyway as I'm sure I could have completed my tasks much quicker if I hadn't talked and worked simultaneously!  One thing the book recommends is working toward effecient housekeeping; completing a task effectively in the shortest amount of time possible. The idea is to monitor your time, and then reflect on how to do things more efficiently.

In my last post, I showed you my new cleaning basket which keeps all necessary cleaning supplies in one place and conveniently travels with you room-to-room.  I got tickeled at myself today because even though I had my basket (and thus, supplies) in tow, I walked out of the room twice to go after supplies that were already in my basket! That's when I realized just what a good idea the cleaning basket is because it saves needless trips through the house to retrieve necessary supplies. Isn't that so much better than making 3 or 4 trips back and forth for various items as you need them? Why didn't I think of this before?! 

I'm so excited to share some of the book's helpful suggestions with you all...I just don't have enough time to write everything up that I want! However, it is now time to make preparations for dinner, so I'm off to do that! (On a side note, today during "lunch" I watched  I Love Lucy Episode #33, "Lucy's Schedule," in which Ricky puts Lucy on a housekeeping schedule...How appropriate!) =)