Housework hints

On my quest to enjoying motherhood, I've discovered that organisation is key. Life's not all that much fun when chaos reigns (even if you're sitting doing puzzles with the kids).

One aspect of organisation is housework. Mess stresses me out pretty quickly so I find that having the house in a semi-organised state really helps me enjoy time with my kids and husband more easily. My house certainly isn't organised, or clean, or tidy. The bedrooms are usually messy, the carpet barely vaccuumed and the dishes often piled high. But I find that if I'm able to get a little bit of housework done each day, things don't become overwhelming. I guess I aim for a general state of 'a little bit messy but pretty organised' consistently.

Here's how I made my housework routine work for me. I hope it gives you some ideas!

1. I do one biggish job each day eg. tidy a bedroom, clean a bathroom, vaccuum.

2. I cycle one load of washing most days. I make sure I fold and put away the washing on the day it has dried - otherwise there's trouble. I've been known to have a washing pile two metres high, just waiting to be folded!

3. I write job charts for the two older kids. I find that from the age of three, the thought of having their own jobs and a chart that they can tick off with a texta, is very exciting for them - and very helpful for me! As an example of age appropriate chores, this is what my girls are doing at the moment:

GB4 (Daily jobs: make bed, open blinds in the morning) Mon: Tidy bedroom, tidy kiddie bookshelf/ Tues: Put away her folded washing, empty preschool bag/ Wed: Tidy bedroom, tidy kiddie bookshelf/ Thurs: Put away her folded washing/ Friday: Tidy bedroom, tidy kiddie bookshelf

GB5 (Daily jobs: make bed, homework and school readers, empty school bag, put away clean dishes) Mon: Put away folded washing Tues: Tidy bedroom Wed: Put away folded washing Thursday: Tidy bedroom Fri: Put away folded washing

This may seem like a lot but I've been doing this with them for about a year and have built it up slowly. I started them on one or two jobs a day. I think GB5 started out making her bed and tidying the kiddie bookshelf (when she was three) and GB4 started out by opening the blinds and making her bed (she also started at three). Once they got into the swing of it, I was quite amazed by how helpful it was, not having to worry about doing a lot of those annoying little jobs!

4. The most important thing I've learnt lately about housework is to let myself off the hook. Life goes on and is just as happy if the house is dirty and the bedrooms messy. We all have off days when we can't pull it together and great days when we get heaps done. It's just part of life :o)

What's your housework routine? How do you make it work for you and your family?

How cute is the housewife photo! It's by Theresa Thompson http://www.flickr.com/photos/theresasthompson/