Everything was re-sorted into containers/shelves by age. I bought one plastic bin and a hanging organizer – each were $5 at Walmart. I threw out a lot of empty boxes. And I have some things to go to Goodwill.

So here is the end result (sorry the picture is such poor quality):

I’m very happy with how it turned out. I have a couple more setup/decorating things I want to do in his room before the end of the week, but everything is mostly in order.

Now on to the rest of the house!

Christian’s closet has become a dumping ground for all the clothes he doesn’t fit into and all the baby gear we’re not using. Shut the door and his room looks nice and neat, although I’m still not finished decorating it.

But yesterday I opened the door and pulled all of the paraphranelia out, leaving the clothes in. This is the result.

My goal for today is to get all the clothes sorted into categories of age and whether I am going to keep them. (Some are going to Goodwill.) I’m very tired so I’m not looking forward to this, but I need to eat this elephant one bite at a time.

And by the way, my goal is to have his room organized and a couple decorating to-do’s done by the end of this week.

I’ll be back with my progress.

Last Friday I went on a cleaning whirlwind, and cleaned my entire house in about 5 hours. Since then, things have kind of slipped again.

Just being honest… sometimes it’s hard to stay motivated as a homemaker, especially when I’m not feeling well.

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I mentioned my daily routine in my post about my weekly cleaning schedule.

These are tasks I try to do every day. They’re my basic maintenance. Even if I’m not feeling well (which I haven’t been for the past couple weeks, thus the lack of posting), if I can keep up on these tasks, things stay afloat much better:

Pick up and put away. I try to have “a place for everything and everything in its place,” even when some parts of my house aren’t as organized as I’d like them to be. I pick up after A.J. leaves for work, before he comes home, and before bed.

Do dishes. If the dishes are done, the rest of the house seems about 10 times cleaner. I don’t have a dishwasher, so it’s vital to stay caught up!

Polish a bathroom. I try to wipe down the mirror, faucet, sink, counter, and toilet in one bathroom every day. (We have two.)

Do a load of laundry. As I mentioned, this has been helping me stay caught up rather than trying to get it all done in one day.

What is your daily minimum maintenance?

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I’ve been adjusting and tweaking my weekly cleaning routine ever since Christian was born. My original routine, which I had for months, was laundry on Monday, shopping on Tuesday, bathrooms on Thursday, floors on Friday, plus vacuuming and dusting twice a week.

I recently started doing a load of laundry almost every weekday, and I’ve really enjoyed that because 1) I’m not doing laundry all day long, so it’s less overwhelming, and 2) I have space to hang up one load, so I save money by not using the dryer.

A month or so ago, I tried making Monday my cleaning day and getting most everything done then, but it was too overwhelming and high-pressure with a baby in the house. I would like to have the whole house clean at once, but for now it’s working better to divide the chores among the days.

Another challenge I have is making sure my routine covers everything I need to do. I have some major organizing projects to finish and it’s hard finding time for those, as well as making sure I get in random deep cleaning like the oven, baseboards, etc. Here is my current routine that I’m working with:

Daily: One load of laundry, sweep floor as needed, keep things picked up.

Monday: Menu plan and shopping list (if it’s not done on the weekend). Clean out fridge. Clean Christian’s toys. Vacuum. Sweep and mop floors.

Tuesday: Dust and polish. Do grocery shopping.

Wednesday: Clean bathrooms. Empty trash.

Thursday: Deep cleaning and organizing projects.

Friday: Fun day – shopping, decorating, and/or relaxing.

I would love to hear what kind of routine you have for cleaning!

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3:30 am: I wake up with Christian.

7:30: Christian wakes up and starts crying. On my way to his door, he falls back asleep. Oh, well that worked out. I fall back asleep for another 10 minutes until the alarm goes off.

The morning routine commences; Christian wakes again and I feed and change him while A.J. gets ready for work. Then I pack his lunch and we both make our breakfasts – frozen waffles for him and frozen pancakes for me (hmm… I think I need to get better at the breakfast-from-scratch thing). We eat breakfast and read 1 Corinthians 11 while Christian sits on our laps and attempts to grab our Bibles and coffee cups.

After A.J. leaves, I write my list for the day – short, because it’s Friday and I’m starting to keep Fridays easier. Then it’s time for Christian’s nap. He’s so tired he conks out within minutes.

Now comes the crossroads of the day. I’m usually still so tired at this point that I just want to veg in front of the computer. But if I can get the day started off on the right foot, I feel so much better by the time Christian wakes up. Since I happen to be describing today on my blog, I have motivation enough to stay off the computer (after I jot down some notes for this post) and start getting ready.

Christian takes a wonderful nap, giving me time to put myself together and do my morning routine – straightening, washing breakfast dishes, folding laundry and doing another load, quiet time, and even peeling potatoes for tonight’s dinner.

11:15: Christian wakes up and I put him in his play gym so I can dice the potatoes. I put the peels in the garbage, only to discover that the used coffee filter with grounds didn’t quite make it into the can earlier. Did you know coffee grounds are quite difficult to clean up? Then it’s eating and changing and story time for Christian.

Around noon, I’m starving, so I eat leftovers for lunch while watching Gilmore Girls (I got them from the library recently so I’m going through a phase of watching them) and playing with Christian next to me.

I clean up a little, check the mail, read to Christian, walk around outside with him, and try to judge whether he’s tired or not as he rubs his eyes and yawns.

1:05: I put him in his crib to see if he wants to go to sleep. Eyes closed, thumb sucking, and a little whining, and he’s out. I work on a blog post for Hope Road. At this point I have a raging headache and just want to lie down. I browse bread machine recipes and RSVP to my cousin’s wedding. Then I lie down until Christian wakes up. He is taking amazing naps today.

2:40: Christian is finally awake. We go through the eating/changing routine, and then head out the door to run some errands. We get gas and go to Plato’s Closet, where I find two cute shirts, one for $3 and one for $6. I was going to stop at Payless (and no, I do not have sponsors!), but it’s almost 100° out and I don’t want to get Christian in and out again, so we head home and he falls asleep on the way. I transfer him to his crib (so nice that he’ll go back to sleep) and hop online while eating grapes. This nap is shorter and once he’s up, he eats again and I start the dinner process.

5:15: I make BBQ meatballs and mashed potatoes. It takes a long time to make everything. I take a break before cleaning up to walk around the neighborhood with Christian. We meet some kids who are staying three doors down. “Nice baby,” they say. We come back in and I get everything cleaned up before A.J. gets home. We all hang out together for a little while, and I get Christian ready for bed before we sit down to dinner.

8:00: Christian goes to bed. A.J. and I clean up and watch “Plants,” the final episode in Life. Then we talk for awhile and go to bed.

Conclusion: Wow, writing out all of the details of my day was kind of tedious… but it definitely kept me on track knowing that I had to write down what I did!

I wanted a place to keep track of the sometimes-tedious trivia of homemaking. Perhaps the pleasure of writing about that trivia, as well as the accountability of making it public, will help me to be more self-disciplined.

So join me for the real kick-off post, which will be a summary of my Friday’s activities, a la A Peek Into Your Day.

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