SO the other day I was reading one of my new favorite blogs, The Mommy Dialogues, and I found this great post on creating a chore list. Now I don't know about you but I like lists. If I can right it down, check it off, and see the progress of that to-do list getting smaller it somehow makes it easier to do. A reward system! Those red lines through a task, oh they make my heart skip a beat! I take being a SAHM very seriously, yes admittedly in the beginning I did have hired help. I have no shame in admitting that, I needed it! My PPD was so bad I could barely function, or stop crying, let alone scrub my toilet bowl! It was all I could do to breastfeed Claire, change her diaper, and maybe if I had the energy have a shower....eating was a chore for crying out loud. Those early months were made that much more bearable by having someone come in, only bi-weekly, to lend a hand.
However that was a short lived treat, once I got my PPD under control it was time to start being an organized, efficient, crafty, and clean SAHM....yet I still found it so overwhelming. Not because I couldn't do it, I could, there was just SO MUCH! I felt I had to do it all in one day. My husband works SO HARD to provide for us and I would feel such guilt about dirty dishes, or messy floors. It drove me crazy. I tried to do it all every day, and take care of Claire, and run a home based business at night. That my dear friends, is a recipe for disaster. My husband, for the record, never once pushed me to feel like this. He could care less, as long as I am happy. In fact he helps TOO MUCH. I have to tell him to stop, seriously.
At any rate back to the above mentioned blog post. I saw that chore chart and a light bulb went off in my head! If I have a list of small goals spread out through the week maybe I would feel less overwhelmed? Maybe more would get done? Maybe I would have more time for Claire? And you know what? I DO! I went out to Wallmart and bought a $9 whiteboard and wrote out my chore schedule on it in permanent marker, that way it is a permanent schedule but I can cross task off with a dry eraser and start fresh each week. I spread out chores across the week so that the days are fairly even, with Saturday and Sunday being "free time". Ryan's main responsibility is to bring home the bacon, but he also does all of the cooking (yes I am a lucky girl). I created a small section for him of "manly" chores, or as I like to call it a "honeydo list" of things that I can't manage.
My job is a SAHM, I work Mon-Fri, and have weekends off :D It works really well. Our house is already feeling much more clean and organized. If I see that something needs to be done, and I have already tackled my to-do list I don't feel bad because that chore is, say, a Tuesday chore not a Monday one. While Claire naps I cross off my to-do list for that day, and when she wakes up we HAVE FUN! Go to the park, sing, dance, play, and I don't feel guilty for a minute because my chores for that day are done. It is a silly simple little thing but for us it really works!
