I hope I can begin by organizing my thoughts to you!! :D

I am now a SAHM with Jacob and even though (on good days) I have so much time to get things done I can't seem to stay focused on the tasks at hand. I can get dinner cooked every night and keep the kitchen clean but other than that everything is so so. I just don't know how to get it all organized. How do you ladies keep your day to day life organized? Do you have certain things you do everyday of the week? Please help me out....I feel so scattered!! Thank you!

Daphne, Maybe to start with you could make yourself a to-do list of things that need to get done each day. Then reward yourself for each task that you accomplish. For example, if you have to vacuum and dust the living room, once you get it done, you can be on the computer for 1/2 hour. Then onto the next task. Of course, taking care of Jacob takes the full day, but you can work in the chores around that. Just an idea.

First of all, congratulations on being able to stay at home! That is a wonderful thing.

Secondly, I think I understand your situation well. When I don't have specific goals, I tend to wander about aimlessly. Not only do I not accomplish chores, but I also don't find time for fun things (like needlework/sewing/quilting, etc).

Here is how I've worked things out: I don't like having certain chores on certain days because I don't like to do chores. I do only a minimal amount of cleaning. What I am doing is trying to develop habits. For instance, in the summer, I often started a load of laundry as soon as I got up, so that I could hang it out to dry around 9am. My AM routine includes going out to feed the ducks and gather the eggs right after my shower (about 9am).

I also try to plan each morning (or sometimes the night before) what I want to do that day. Unfortunately, I find that I work better with a deadline. So, while I intended to steam & puree pumpkin all last week, I didn't actually do any until Wednesday, when I had to make the pie. As a matter of fact, I just steamed a few more today, but have a few left to do yet.

Right now, I'm staring at a pile of paperwork and magazines on my desk. For some reason, when that stuff is sitting there, I cannot give myself permission to work on a craft. Yet, somehow, I can while away an hour or two on the internet. ;) I'm forever trying to get paperwork under control. It's much better than it was, but I still haven't perfected the art of handling paper only once (i.e. you do what needs to be done just as soon as you bring the mail in).

So, I would encourage you to think about how you want to spend your time, and how you can spend your time. It's up to you whether you actually make yourself a schedule, or simply start some routines.

Feel free to ask more questions. :)

I ditto the above.

Daphne it always looks like you have time on paper, but when you really look at a new mum's day, it's so shattered into little bites that it's hard to get anything done before the baby cries or the phone rings or something happens.

And when you do FINALLY get a clear space of time, two things fight for pre eminence--1 is the need for rest, and 2 is all the stuff that needs doing.

One thing I did that helped me when I got sick, was breaking everything down into 5 minute bites.

I even printed off a five minute task list of things I could do in 5 while waiting or on the phone. Kept it handy taped to the fridge so even when I was too tired to think, I could mindlessly do something in those little bites of time.

And I did my commercials on TV blitz. I'd work really hard during the commercial breaks on TV doing the housework, then my show came on and I'd collapse back down again. The commercial break was my signal to give it all I got. It's amazing what I got done just by doing it in the commercial breaks. Made me feel better too.

May I suggest a cordless phone for one thing so you can do other things from your 5 minute list, when you answer the calls, or talk to a friend or a store or whatever.

And another thing is an answer machine so you can screen calls and answer later when it's more conveniant.

Decide on dinner by 9 am that day at the latest. Always makes the suppertime samba go a little easier and a whole lot cheaper. (or 9 pm the night before if you are a night owl or it's a crockpot the next day).

It was when mine were babies that I developed my personal housekeeping rule.

You know the one.

A Load A Day Keeps the Dr. Away! (or the shrink at bay)

and that means:

a load thru the dishwasher, same time every day, unload same time every day. No worries about saving up till it's like shoehorned in. Make it simple, keep the loads light and just do em.

a load of garbage out per day or per two, going thru the house with the kitchen gbg, dumping in the basket contents from around the house, (and do have a trash basket with liner in each room for conveniance). Keeps things smelling sweet and looking nice.

And finally a load of laundry. Just shove one of whatever you have the most of, lights or darks or delicates in the morning as you get going, and then toss it in the dryer later at lunch, then sort in the afternoon and get it put away.

That way it's never a mountain. (use the toss method to corral stuff, don't waste time folding, get shoe boxes, or whatever and just toss sox, ginch, vests, bras, towels, face cloths etc in their box)

oh and a thought or two about dusting and vacuuming.

I vacuum slowly around the house, leaving the vac out (but kick it to the side so nobody trips!) where I leave off, after 5 minutes or whatever it takes till I'm tired. It's a HEPA filter vac from Sears, does a good job grabbing and trapping dust.

I don't do it all in one day. Just slowly meander thru, grabbing the vac for a quicker picker upper if disaster strikes of course, but normally just poking thru the house over the week.

Leave it where it lies till next time or next commercial break or whatever.

And remember to vacuum your fridge so when you clean it, you aren't chasing weird little bitties with the damp cloth, that are magically magnetized to the fridge surfaces by the damp cloth. Instead you pick them up with the vacuum when you go thru the kitchen, and so the fridge stays cleaner longer.

And your stove. If you put baking soda on the spills, it leaves a snowy layer on the bottom, that absorbs grease, and spills turn into hard shiny clinkers that you can vacuum up with ease, thus keeping a stove going and smelling clean for literally months. Yes I've road tested this tip for years, so has my sister who I learnt it from. Works great.

The other thing is dusting. I got an ostrich down duster, and I use that to dust SO MUCH FASTER. Now I used to think it just blew it around. NOPE, I'm asthmatic, I can tell. It is more like a wool magnet style duster. But softer. So you don't move anything to dust.

The down grabs the dust, and you crack the handle against your ankle or shake outside to release it. The vacuum can pick it up.

This really works, and I can dust my way thru my entire house in about 5 minutes going at a high clip.

Bathrooms clean much easier if you just scrub the walls of the shower or tub enclosure with cheap shampoo and a body puff. When you are in there doing your shower or tub. Rinse along with you. Stays clean. Never builds up to truly scummy heights of soapy crud.

I spritz my sink, counter and taps with the mirror with Windex, and dry and polish in one move with the dead handtowel. (toss it to the wash daily).

Then I grab a paper towel and some home diluted cleaner in a spray bottle, and spritz the toilet just ever so lightly and wipe clean and dry. This takes care of the outside of the toilet, around the flush handle and the base. You can dampen some toilet paper with rubbing alcohol instead if you like. Sometimes I do one sometimes the other.

I do a figure eight and catch up any stray hairs or bitties on the floor and toss in the trash.

Use a little comet and the toilet brush to do the bowl area, then wipe up the rim with some toilet paper, and flush.

This doesn't have to all be on one trip to the bathroom. Divvy it up thru the day, visit by visit. Just leave it better than you found it, like the boy scouts motto.

Oh and life is so much simpler with next to nothing on the toilet tank or counter top. My bathroom unit study days are over, the kids are grown and gone, and speedier cleaning is my philosophy of the day.

Later when your baby is older and wants to play in the tub, pop him in when he is crabby (always seems to improve their mood) and scrub the bathroom while he happily plays with boats or ducks.

And toilet training is another bathroom cleaning moment. I always used to use that time waiting for toddler triumph to empty a drawer, clean the mirror etc.

Wiping down kitchen counters with a damp cloth after each meal prep, means that stuff just wipes off, no scrubbing action after pancake batter or soup has dried to a stony sullen mass that defies your efforts.

Bounty paper towels are tough enough that you can use them as a disposable and therefore extremely sanitary dishcloth. with just dh and me, I don't always do a load a day anymore of the laundry, so I've taken to using one sheet of paper towel as a dishcloth. Day's over and I toss it after wiping the corners of the floor as it's final act. Bounty really does last.

Otherwise a dishcloth should be changed out every day, and tossed to the wash. I use mine with my toe to pick up any little coffee drips and stray crumbs on it's way to the wash.

I like using my little swiffer sweeper with a damp cheap thin terry facecloth stuck in the holes. It picks up all kinds of stuff off the floors and leaves them clean enough that I don't worry about washing them. A sprtz of the cleaner diluted in water on top of stubborn spots to pre treat, often softens the spots up enough that they wipe right up with the swiffer and facecloth combo.

As for the rest of the house keeping tidy means de junking.

And that means 2 things:

#1: garbage cans in every room so that the spouse (we are sure it's him!) or kid (later) will toss their trash IN the can for easy pick up later.

and

#2: a charity box for giveaways. As you spot that something isn't being used, AND it's in your way, just toss it in the bin. When it's nearing full, call for pick up and the weekend before, do an extra dejunking and cull thru the house.

That way you are dejunking a bit at a time, never a huge pile of a job that overwhelms.

I forgot my laundry sorter. I have a rolling cart in my bedroom (so dh and I sort as we pull things off our bodies which accounts for most of the laundry volume).

It makes more sense than down in the laundry room where magazines feature such sorting racks.

Sort as you take off. Whether in bathroom or master bedroom.

Just get one, as they save a TREMENDOUS amount of time. You just do a wash as soon as one compartment gets full.

A true no brainer.

Mine is a nylon mesh so it stays aired out, dry and sanitary.

OH AND BIG IMPORTANT MESSAGE

Keep a stain stick near the sorter. Train you and dh to pretreat stains as you take the clothes off. MUCH easier to do that. Pocket trash goes in the handy dandy trash can (the one in every room)

forgot another important kitchen pointer.

Don't have a lot on the counters.

Every single thing you have out on the counters will get splattered with gunk or grease or batter NEEDING CLEANING usually AFTER it's turned rock hard and cemented itself to the object in question!!!!!

Save your sanity.

Keep the spices and the gizmos and the cookbooks and the pretties OFF the workspaces, and in cupboards or on shelves out of the line of fire so to speak.

Wiping down is a one motion 2 second event after each meal, not something out of a horror flick that you put off, while the monster continues to grow and grow and GROW on the counter, threatening you by it's presence, finally forcing you into a showdown of cleaning tools and firepower.:toothy:

hhmmm still with me?

Keep a spray bottle of Windex, and one of spray cleaner (I use something like Red Juice concentrate from Clean team but it's essentially a degreaser) under each sink ready to use for 1 minute cleanups.

If the tools are handy and you don't have to leave the room, you can do it, but if you have to turn your back on a toddler,

well you know!:D

Scratch the under the sink bit. Put in a high cupboard out of the toddler reach as drinking windex or cleaner is not high on a toddlers list of things to consume in an idle moment when mum's back is turned.

But do have them in each room up out of the way, but there, so when you have a moment, you can clean.

And why not use safer cleaners. Clean house clean planet used club soda as a glass cleaner. I didn't like it, preferring windex but while club soda might take a little longer to work, it won't harm a baby hell bent on drinking poisons.

Or vinegar in water or soda in water. Clean House Clean Planet was full of non toxic cleaning recipes.

I didn't care for them as cleaners, they weren't as efficient, but for parents of small children there are other considerations.

Whew! Margery! All that housework wore me out!

Anyway, as the mom of 2 toddlers and a teen, I've found that maintainance and routine are the key for me. I'm no flylady, but her concept definately works! (especially the baby steps part)

ITA, especially the baby steps.

Break it down into 5 minute or less bites and then make it a routine.

There are 2 ways to approach life.

One is reacting to brush fires. Always reacting at the last minute when you absolutely have to.

The other is to plan ahead, and deal with it with the least possible fuss and effort.

We all have some things that have to happen whether we plan or not, like meals or laundry.

By breaking things down, and forming little habits that help you, you still get the same things done, but a whole lot easier.

So wiggle out of whatever you can, and what you are left with, break into little bites and turn them into mini habits that you do without thinking.:D

And on the subject of prevention or wiggling out of what you can, things like eliminating clutter off counters, having less knick knacks to dust and putting mats at the entry simply stop a lot of housecleaning before it ever happens. Right at the source.

Like my laundry sorter method.:D

I have a similar problem to Daphne. Never thought of breaking it down to 5 minute slots. I've tried finding an hour each day to do the cleaning but with a toddler it rarely happens that way. I'll definately give the 5 minute clean ago.
Thank you.
Rachel.