Do you have your first divider labeled as "homemaking?" I hope so, because that's the section we are working in, today.
A great first page inside the homemaking section is "Daily Chores." This is where you will have a list of all cleaning chores, laundry chores, and other little chores you'll be doing day to day. First, make a list of all the types of laundry you need to get done each week. For example:
Weekly Laundry
Bedding laundry
Towel and washcloth laundry
Girls' laundry (Older girls do their own. Start training for this at age 5)
Grown up laundry
Boys' laundry (Older boys do their own. Start training for this at age 5)
Animal laundry (dog blankets, sheets under rabbit cages, etc.)
Uniform/work laundry for any older, working children (generally ages 16 and up)
Next, divide up your weekly laundry tasks for each week day. Try to take the weekends off, if you can. For example:
Laundry Schedule
Mondays - Bedding laundry
Tuesdays - Towel and Washcloth laundry, and any pet laundry
Wednesdays - Girls' laundry - older girls do their own
Thursdays - Grown up laundry
Fridays - Boys' laundry - older boys do their own
Uniform/work laundry done by its owner whenever needed, or every Friday.
You now have a laundry schedule that you will be putting into your planner shortly. First, let's determine a daily cleaning schedule, and a few other things...
In putting together a weekly/daily cleaning schedule, instead of thinking of your house as room by room, think of it as what cleaning tasks need to be done one or more times a week. For example:
Cleaning Tasks that Need to be Done Once or More a Week:
Dusting
Mirrors
Appliances
Surfaces
Sinks
Toilets
Tubs/showers
Sweeping
Mopping
Vacuuming
Once you have your list, divide the tasks up for which day you will do which tasks. I suggest you divide most or all of your tasks up between four weekdays, and leave one weekday open for appointments, errands, and getting groceries.
For example, if you like to get groceries on Fridays, which may be your husband's pay day, then your cleaning task list may look like the following:
Daily Cleaning Tasks
Mondays - Dusting, Mirrors, Appliances
Tuesdays - Surfaces and sinks
Wednesdays - Toilets and tubs/showers
Thursdays - Sweep, mop, and vacuum
What other daily to do type of stuff do you need to add? Here are a few suggestions:
Other Tasks
Bathe animals
Clean animal areas/cages
Special baking
Special cleaning/organizing projects
Office work (work on planner, plan menu for the week, make a grocery list, work on the budget)
Daily house tidies (including wiping bathrooms and kitchen)
Daily special dusting
Daily quick vacuuming
Now let's put all of this stuff together. Below is a sample Daily Chores page, built off of the above examples:
Daily Chores
Mondays
Do bedding laundry
Tidy the house (wipe bathrooms and kitchen, as well)
Thoroughly dust through out the house
Quick vacuum the high traffic areas
Clean mirrors
Clean all kitchen and laundry appliances
Clean cages/living areas of animals
Tuesdays
Towel and washcloth laundry, and any animal laundry (sheets under cages, dog blankets, etc.)
Tidy the house (wipe bathrooms and kitchen, as well)
Dust main living areas
Quick vacuum the high traffic areas
Clean all surfaces and sinks in kitchen, bathrooms, etc.
Bathe any animals that need it, such as the family dog
Extra baking, such as making bread
Wednesdays
Girls' laundry (older girls do their own)
Tidy the house (wipe bathrooms and kitchen, as well)
Dust main living areas
Quick vacuum the high traffic areas
Thoroughly scrub all toilets
Clean all showers/tubs
Spend 15 or more minutes on a special cleaning or organization project
Thursdays
Grown up laundry
Tidy the house (wipe bathrooms and kitchen, as well)
Dust main living areas
Sweep and mop all hard floors
Vacuum all rugs and carpeted areas
Office work (work on planner, plan menu for the week, make a grocery list, go over the budget)
Fridays
Boys' laundry (older boys do their own)
Tidy the house (wipe bathrooms and kitchen, as well)
Dust main living areas
Quick vacuum the high traffic areas
Get groceries and run errands
Clean or give attention to any animal cages or areas that need it
Saturdays
Tidy the house (wipe bathrooms and kitchen, as well)
Dust main living areas
Quick vacuum the high traffic areas
Spend 15 or more minutes on a special cleaning or organization project, if you have the time
Sundays
Tidy the house (wipe bathrooms and kitchen, as well)
Now it's time to write, or type up your Daily Chores page. You can print it, if you'd like:
Don't feel like you have to print out any pages for your planner, because you don't. Many ladies enjoy hand writing all of their pages, and that is great:
Once you have your Daily Chores page done, put it into your planner, as the first page in your homemaking section, and follow it. If you want to type up pages for your planner, and print them out, you can do so, just tweak the printer settings to print your pages as 2 pages per sheet of paper. Or, if you are printing out a lot of pages, you can see about setting it to print as a booklet, and that way it'll print out on half sheets of paper, and doubled sided for you, already.
You would fold the printout over, like a booklet, then cut the folded spine off, and you'll have a stack of half sheets of paper already collated in the proper order, and double sided. Then use a disc punch, or a regular hole punch in the fashion described in the first installment in this series, to punch the pages.
If you wish to hand write your pages, then you may want to use official discbound filler paper, such as the nice Martha Stewart or Arc paper that can be found at Staples stores. Feel free to doodle, use washi tape, stamps, stickers, and anything else you'd like to pizazz it up, if you'd like.