Learning to be a {House} Wife

Since I quit my job last October to stay at home full time with my baby boy, I have found it quite difficult to get into a cleaning "groove."  Plus with remodeling going on in almost every room of the house, it makes it very difficult, to say the least, to get organized.  Just a couple of weeks ago, I ran across a printable cleaning scheduled that has literally changed my life...and our home.  Here is what it looks like...

I printed 4 of these out (a months worth) and stuck them to my fridge.  I'm only on my second sheet but I can already tell it's working for me.  And what great is it's actually more geared towards working moms, so I get everything done fairly quickly and then have the rest of my day to spend digging in dirt and playing catch with my 2 year old.

 I think the reason it works is that everytime I finish a chore, I can put a little {√} next to it.  I love being able to walk by it throughout the day and see more and more {√'s}, I guess it gives me a sense of accomplishment.  I also put a {√} each day by the "Daily Upkeep" tasks instead of just one at the end of the week for no other reason than it just makes me feel better.

I also love the way that it's customizable. Each day has a few extra lines where you can add your own unique chores. I added {clean mirrors} on Monday's schedule. It also gives you a place for your store list, which I think is genius. If I'm cleaning and I run out of something, I just add it to the list when I go to {√} something off.

To make myself even more accountable to keeping things clean and tidy, I think I'm going to start adding my sheet here each week so that I have to {show} what I've accomplished.  I'll also have my husband sign it just to prove that I'm not commiting {√} fraud (sorry, a little banking humor there).

I personally think this would be a great gift for Brides-to-Be.  If someone had given these to me at the begining of our marriage, I can tell you right now our house would be in a lot better shape than it is now.  I still feel like I'm playing catch up for the last 4 years, but it's getting better everyday.

If you want to try this out for yourself, find the free printable here.

If you haven't heard of emeals, it's a wonderful webside that offers weekly meal planning with printable grocery lists.  I've used emeals for a while now and absolutely love it!

Titus 2:5 - To be self-controlled, pure,working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled.

See Ya' Thursday {meaning}

One of my fondest memories growing up is every night, before I went to bed, my dad would say "See ya Thursday!"  It started out that I would have to ask my mom what tomorrow was, after which I would shout back.. "See ya [correct day]"  As I got a lil older, and began to learn the days of the week, I would ask my mom what [today] was, then I would name the days of the week until I reached the correct one and would then shout again.. "See ya [correct day]"  It didn't take long before it was like second nature to pull out the correct day of the week without any help from mom.  One night after again, for what felt like the 1000th time, correcting my dad, I looked at my mom and said "Wow, daddy doesn't know the days of the week, does he?" to which she answered with a small chuckle and "No, honey, I guess he doesn't."  Looking back now, I see more and more how my dad could take the smallest and most insignifcant of times, and turn them into teaching moments.  So tonight, as I'm tucking my baby boy into bed, I'll wisper softly, "Goodnight, love you, see ya Thursday."

Proverbs 16:23 - The heart of the wise teacheth his mouth, and addeth learning to his lips.