Monthly Archives

May 2020

Organization

My Weekly Cleaning Schedule (and a Free Printable!)

I shared a couple of weeks ago over on my Instagram how I have silly names for all the chores I do each day of the week, and several people were interested in it, so I decided to share!

I have always been a pretty “clean and organized person,” but I never really stuck to any sort of routine, I would just do things as needed. But then I had a child and when I went back to work after maternity leave, I was feeling very overwhelmed about keeping up with my house and so I knew it was time to start a real routine. So even though it’s summer, and I’m technically home right now, don’t think that this isn’t for you if you are working outside of the home full time. This is about getting a little bit done each day so that you never have to do a lot at once.

First, there are a couple things I do every single day (or weekday). A load of clothes is one of them. I know that may seem counter-productive to some, but trust me on this. I never spend more than 5-10 minutes folding and putting away laundry. I start a load as soon as I’m dressed in the morning, flip it over, and fold it while I’m waiting for my son to fall asleep after I put him down for his nap. During the school year, I start it on my way to work, Ethan flips it on his way to work, and when I get home, I quickly fold and put away. Because it’s only one day’s worth of clothes, it’s never overwhelming. (Also, our washer has an auto sensing fill, so it’s not using excessive water. We haven’t noticed any difference in our water billing since I used to only do clothes once a week or so.)

I also vacuum every day. I realize most people don’t need this, I just have a hairy dog and a crumb monster child, so it works for me. If you don’t need a daily vacuum, just consider that a quick kitchen floor sweep. I usually do this in the evenings after my son goes to bed.

The last thing I do every day is dishes. We actually don’t have a dishwasher (pre-renovated kitchen problems), so I wash by hand at the end of the day, let them dry on the counter overnight, and put them away first thing in the morning. I know this sounds like a lot. I promise it’s not.

Then each day of the week, I do one chore or task that needs to be done on a regular basis but not every day. I came up with names because I’m nerdy like that, but it helps me remember! On Mondays I mop, hence Mop Monday. I mop all the hard surface floors in my house. on Toilet Tuesday I clean my bathrooms (we have two). On Wash Wednesday in addition to my load of clothes, I also run a separate load of sheets, and one of towels. On Third Thursday, I rotate through different things that don’t need to get done every week, but should still be getting done somewhat regularly. One week I’ll dust my flat surfaces and shelves, the next week I’ll do windows (again, dog and toddler), and the week after that I’ll do my kitchen. I’ll throw away anything in the pantry or fridge that needs to go, as well as clean the outside of my appliances. On Free Friday I just catch up on anything that I may have missed through the week. Inevitably there will be something that didn’t get done, so I give myself a buffer. And on the weekends, I don’t do anything but the dishes and vacumming. I keep the weekend open for bigger projects around the house.

And that’s it! I spend about 30 minutes each day keeping up with my house, and it keeps me on track so I don’t wake up one day to a bathroom that hasn’t been cleaned in a month. I never have to worry about doing a huge cleaning day, or spending all my weekend working on housework. Although our house is in a perpetual state of disarray because of projects going on at any given time, the general cleanliness is usually up to par.

If you’re reading this in the days that it was first written, join me on Instagram, as I’ll be walking through each day on my stories. You can do it with me! You can either screenshot the photo above if you are wanting to save it on your phone, or if you’re a paper kind of person, you can click the link below to download and print your own copy. Check it off each day as you go! I can’t wait to get cleaning together!

Click here to download the printable cleaning schedule!

Well, that’s all for today, friends. Have a fabulous day!

May 31, 2020 by
House Progress

Nursery Status: What’s Done, and What’s Next?

My big project as of late has been the nursery. of course. The big accent wall was a huge undertaking, and will definitely be the focal point of the room. Since then, we’ve done a few things, but still have a lot to do.

We moved the crib and rocker (ours isn’t sold anymore!) from our son’s room into the new nursery. I used some fabric dye to dye the crib skirt that we already had on hand.

I also painted the dresser that was previously in our room and gave it some fresh knobs from Hobby Lobby. For the dresser, I used a satin finish paint from Home Depot in the color Gentle Sea. This was a quick, slap a coat of paint on kind of project, not the kind where I did a step by step tutorial. I didn’t use very much of the paint that I bought for the dresser, so I ended up painting the inside of the closet with the same paint. It’s a fun little pop of color, and it makes the tiny closet special.

So, I still have a lot to do in this space before it feels “ready.” I have a bunch of projects, things to buy, and a few things I want to make.

Things to Do:

  • Paint the window frames
  • Finish stripping the door to the closet and bathroom
  • Reinstall the closet and bathroom doors
  • Deep clean the windows and floors

Things to Buy:

This is the big one, as I feel like I need to collect a ton of little things to make the room put together. Some things are specifics I have in mind, others are things I’d like to find thrifting (hopefully I can do that soon!).

  • Curtains (I just placed an order for these, but the shipping is going to take a while. I’m not even sure they’ll work, so I may end up returning.)
  • Curtain rods
  • Footstool (I’m loving this one.)
  • Crib sheets I like basic white ones for easy washing.
  • Small art work (I don’t have anything in particular in mind just yet. I’d love to find something vintage.)
  • A frame for the over-the-crib painting. I bought the painting at a flea market sans-frame. I’m hoping to find the right gold frame in the right size for the right price. Not too much to ask for, right? (If you have a 36x24in frame without glass or matting, let me know. I’m scouring FB Marketplace daily.)
  • An accent pillow for the rocker. I put the one from my son’s room in here, I’m not sure if I love it.
  • A lamp (nothing specific in mind, not sure if I’ll go thrifted or new)
  • Tall plant?? (I need something with some height in one particular corner to disguise an awkward wall length. I like the look of olive trees, but we’ll see.)

Things to Make:

  • Shelves for book and art displays

There is still so much to do in here, and with stores being closed and shipping being delayed, it seems like I’ve been unable to get moving in here. Hopefully soon I can get things moving! I have been working feverishly on the door refinishing, and I will share a full tutorial of that process once it’s finished. That’s all for today, friends. Have a fabulous day!

This post may contain affiliate links.

May 27, 2020 by
House Progress

Backyard Updates

Backyards are a tricky thing, aren’t they? I don’t have a green thumb, I have a giant dog who ruins grass, and I have never particularly enjoyed being “outdoors.” But, part of being a homeowner and making improvements to your home includes the outdoors as well. My toddler loves to be outside. Now that the weather is nice, he would rather be outside playing with the hose and some trucks than doing anything inside. So, I’ve been spending more time than ever in the backyard lately.

After painting the porches, I had a lot of paint left over. I accidentally overbought. Which turned out to be a blessing in disguise because I had extra paint for projects on a whim. Since spending so much time in the backyard, I’ve been able to dream up more things I wanted to do with the space, and it’s been nice to have supplies on hand. We have this swing and arbor in the backyard that came with the house. It was pretty sad looking, and we thought about taking the swing down and making some kind of grilling station, but the more we sat in it, the more we thought it should stay. I was swinging one day when I realized I had extra white paint from the porch railings, I might as well just paint the thing.

So I did. I used my paint sprayer and sprayed the whole thing.

As for the pea gravel firepit to the right, you may remember my early stages of this from last summer. Well, we bought pea gravel last summer, but it wasn’t enough, so we just sat around with a half pea graveled firepit for a year. I told Ethan I wanted to finish off the firepit for Mother’s Day, so my Mother’s Day present was literally a truckload of pea gravel and a wheelbarrow. Some people get perfume, I got literal rocks.

But we sat out here on Mother’s Day and made s’mores for dinner and it was wonderful. It’s already a much used space. My son is also loving the fresh pea gravel for his shovels and dump trucks.

We (and by we, I totally mean I, with Ethan just along for the ride) also decided to build our son a playhouse. We used all scrapwood we had in the garage and leftover paint from the porches. We don’t have plans for this, but basically it went something like this: I looked at the piles of wood in the garage, drew a picture of what I thought could work, and Ethan built it two days later.

It is definitely a more family friendly backyard now, and we enjoy spending time out here so much now that things are fresher and nicer to look at. 🙂 Now we just have to do something about the dead grass…

My favorite thing about this yard is what it looked like just a year ago. Everything we’ve done in the last two months has been one project leading into another as far as supplies go, and I love the way one thing inspired another.

I wish I had photos of when we first bought the house two summers ago…there was no fence, there were awful metal garden bed edgers that were just full of weeds, there was a broken chimnea in the middle of the yard. It was in rough shape. I’ve heard it said that with outdoor spaces, you just do a little more each year, and soon enough you have a space you can really be proud of. I have so many more plans for next year already. I’m already focusing on learning more about gardening and have big, green plans. Maybe next year! Well, that’s all for today, friends. Have a fabulous day!

May 13, 2020 by