Maintaing Order In My Home

When I became a mother I never thought I would end up being the mom with spreadsheets detailing chores, to do lists, and a schedule of activities. But I quickly realized that not only does having that kind of control bring harmony into my own life, my son thrives on it. I have realized he loves the menus for dinner, the chore list detailing what to be done that day, and must recently what needs to be accomplished in the morning and evening in order to inusre I am not being a nagging mother.

I realized I wanted to enjoy my time with him and not be constantly asking him to do this and do that. So I have a monthly chore chart that I am trying out for the first time this month. I was just doing a basic week to week but time is limited with being a mom, the day job that pays the bills, and of course my passion which is this blog helping others save money. You can actually see the chore chart for September here.

I have a binder that sits on my coffee table with different important information in it. The following are the pages you will find in it

1. The first page is the that weeks activities that I printed from Cozi (this also includes my son's specials at school, that weeks dinners, and what he has chosen for breakfast each day)
2. The monthly menu for dinner
3. Then on the next page is the monthly chore chart
4. Then comes the page detailing what needs to be done in the morning for my son before school and behind that is the details on what needs to be done after school until his 8:00 bedtime which is strictly enforced on school nights
5. Then comes the lunch and breakfast menus at school
6. Finally any printable recipes for dinner's that week are in pages in the back for easy access.

Our days are not detailed down to the last minute but on school day's an alarm wakes my son at 6:30 giving him a little over an hour to get ready for school. Some mornings he is awake and up before the alarm. Weekends he will be up by 7:00 and that is when he gets his cartoons since he doesn't get to watch t.v. in the morning during the week. I normally do my shopping on Saturday mornings and Sunday mornings while he is watching his TV or after we are done running other errands in the afternoon. Every other week finds us at the library which is on the local college campus looking for books and just hanging out.

We also plan outings based on what is taking place that costs no money or very little money since I like to save money for other events that might come along that are little more expensive but something my son really wants to do. We do the Home Depot and Lowe's Building Workshops for kids when there is one that interests him. Some weekends will find us just hanging out at home. Weekends lunch is served at 11:30 and dinner's are normally between 5 and 5:30 for the week. We also have a pass to NASA that we enjoy on the occasional weekend when cabin fever hits.

So there you have it, how I manage my home and maintain order. I do allow for things to come up because they sometimes do and it's an opportunity to show my son how to go with the flow. We like order, that is apparent because when we get off schedule his mood is not sunshine and roses when things change on him. I have tried to be laid back but there was just too much chaos for me and with all that I carry on my plate I like knowing there is one area of my life I have control over.