So it seems I need a bit of structure to my days. Today ends week 2 of being home with Anne and all in all it's going well. We have enough going on most days that I don't feel bored out of my mind or lonely or depressed. (Thank you Summer for being here-I'm sorry I was ever so mean to you. But that's another blog.) The part I'm struggling with is her naps. When I was home only 3 days a week, normally one day was full of visiting someone, thus a shorter nap time, leaving only 2 days a week where I had the full 2-3 hours of her sleeping. There was always lots and lots to get done and I never really strayed from working diligently. Now that I have 5 days home, with maybe one day being so full of something I don't get the full nap time, I'm finding myself reading or watching TV during her naps more and more. I really have nothing wrong with this at all. In fact, I'm completely fine with spending maybe 1 hour of her nap doing this, but I find that it's happening more and more for longer and longer periods of time. And let's face it: 1. I need to stay busy to be happy (ie, I need to do chores) and 2. My house is not clean enough that I can justify not doing work almost every single day for at least an hour. So...it seems I need some sort of schedule or plan.
I'm not sure how to go about this. In one of the green housekeeping books I read, she said that in another country (France, Germany? I can't remember.) that their cleaning is such that one entire month is dedicated to cleaning one room. And you clean that room throughly for that month. Like spring cleaning clean. She said that benefit to doing this is that on a day where you don't feel like cleaning the toilet, that's ok, because you could always do a more appealing choice of chore in that room. It gives freedom yet structure. I've thought about doing that myself on a smaller level. Maybe dedicate each week to a room? But part of me thinks that there just aren't enough "chores" or projects per room to take up an entire week. Plus, that means I'd be cycling through and cleaning each room like every 6-8 weeks. And come on, how many times a year do baseboards or vents or cabinet fronts really need to be cleaned? Certainly not 6-8x a year! So anyway, although that is appealing to me, I'm not sure it would work.
I would really like to hear from other stay at home mamas on this. How do you keep busy during your child's nap? How do you deal with chores-do you have some sort of system going? I know you're out there! So I'm excited to hear your responses on this one! Thanks!!
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4 comments:
Alas, I'm not much help - I'm much TOO busy during A's nap, but that's because I work from home four days a week, part time. Maybe house chores or cooking or phone calls?
I had to put myself on a schedule otherwise I would sit at the computer or sleep the whole tiem during his naps. Unfortuantely, I don't have as long a time period as you. L only naps about an hour and a half or so. But I put myself on a weekly schedule of the basic chores I wanted to make sure happen every week. Like, thoroughly mop the floors on Wednesdays and thursdays I choose one organizing project. I give myself 30min to surf and read blogs whatever and then I try to keep to my schedule. I fall off the wagon OFTEN but my schedule helps me get back on. You have to schedule in some true downtime too or you will feel totally spent.
Just my thoughts....
april,
i struggled with that ALOT when i first quit!!
i find that when char is ready to go down for her nap (usually like 130pm or so), i dedicate a whole half hour to cleaning. usually i pick up, sweep, do a quick bathroom cleaning, and put a load of wash in. the extra time left over (usually half an hour to an hour), i do whatever i want. which usually means reading and dozing off simultaneously. so by the time she wakes up, i got something done, but also got my rest in and i am ready to take on the rest of the day.
recently, i started a "calendar" of chores much like farrah said.. monday is wash day (washing, drying, and putting away), tuesday is kitchen day, wednesday is basement day, thursday is bedrooms day, and friday is vacuum/dusting day. that way, at the end of the week, you know you got all the basics done.
also, dont worry about getting EVERYTHING done while she is napping! there is no reason that you cant be folding the laundry, sweeping, whatever you need to do while she is still awake. luckilly she is at an age where she can entertain herself while you get your stuff done.
dont stress! and always allow yourself a break in the middle of the day. if you were working, you would get a break!
-kate
Thans for the comments guys-it's actually really helpful. I think I will just have to sit down and figure out what basic chores to do what day. And I am totally up for and intending to do time for me during her naps as well as chores. Thanks again!
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