New Year ~ New Schedule

It's been a busy season for sure! The holidays are now over, and throughout it all I have still been preparing for my challenge of living a modern day 1950's lifestyle. One of the most important things I needed to do was to have a schedule put in place. I've used other scheduling techniques in the past and some work better than others. This time around I am combining my modern day "FlyLady" approach with my vintage homemaking books to come up with a through schedule I believe will be kept.

The Good Housekeeping Housekeeping Book (1947) talks about a housekeeping calendar, "The home that runs smoothly and happily is one that is run by a plan or schedule, consciously or unconsciously. A schedule calling for a rigid hour by hour discharge of duties can never be applied to housework because it is difficult to meet and too discouraging."

The Woman's Home Companion Household Book (1948) says, "A cleaning schedule is a highly personalized matter, depending upon the size of the home and family, family habits, the age of the house, the amount of dirt in the neighborhood and many other factors." I know this to be true for a fact, because you can ask any Georgian about red clay dirt, and they'll have stories to tell! It stains like you wouldn't believe!!

It is true that a cleaning schedule is a highly personalized matter, but when you don't know where to begin, you feel a bit lost. At least that is how I felt a few years ago before I read the book, Sidetracked Home Executives (2001). My hard core, nitty griddy schedule comes from this book.

I'm going to walk you through how I got my schedule. To make a schedule box like mine you'll need the following items:

* One index card file box (I use a market found 1950's recipe box!)
* Colored index cards with at least 4 different colors
* Index Card Dividers- minimum of 43 dividers
* Pen
* 1 small yearly calendar that can be put on the inside top of your index card file box
* Clear Tape

Step 1: Tape your small calendar on the top of your index card file box. You can find a small yearly calendar either printable on the internet or checkbook register. Many times they print small yearly calendars that fit perfectly.

Step 2: Get 31 of the index card dividers and label each one, 1 through 31. One for each day of the month. Put them in your file box.

Step 3: Label the last four: Jan-Dec. One for each month. File these BEHIND your daily dividers.

Step 4: Separate your index cards into at least 4 different colors. One color will be "DAILY", one color will be "WEEKLY", one color will be "MONTHLY", and one color will be "SEASONALLY". You can use additional colors if you wish to divide chores into "Bi-Monthly", etc.

Step 5: This is the hardest part of schedule making, but once you do it, you only have to do it once no matter how many times you revise your schedule. Ready? Grab a sheet of paper and write down ALL the chores that need to be done. The best way I found to do this was to spend a few moments in every room. Don't just write down what you normally do, take time to write down things like scrubbing the baseboards, vacuuming the vents, turning your mattress, etc. Things you normally don't think of but possibly one time a year! The home books I listed above are also great references to remind you of things that you might overlook. Do your best here, and remember... if you forget something NO BIG DEAL.... it's index cards, simply add it once you remember it.

Step 6: Decide if the chore must be done Daily, Weekly, Bi-weekly (if you have cards for this), Monthly, or Seasonally. Again, depending upon your family type, you may have to vacuum the house once a week, but a large family of six has to vacuum daily! Fit the chore to your lifestyle.

Step 7: Once you have decided what chores need to be done and when, your ready to transfer them to an index card. Here is an example of how one of my cards look:

So, at the top I write how often the chore takes place. (Again, this will correlate with the index card color you've chosen for your weekly chores) Then I wrote Thurs, but don't worry about doing this yet! Then I write on the right hand side how long the chore should take. Underneath, I write the chore. Followed by a description of HOW to do the chore. Now, do *I* need to write down how to do the chore because I tend to be that forgetful? Nope. I write it down so that when I delegate this chore to someone else in the house THEY know how to do it. You might want to even write down WHERE to find the supplies they need. Explicit directions here will help you down the road when you encounter the person in your house that doesn't know how to do something!

lol! But... on the bright side, if I only have 2 days of my week that I have these jobs then I have 5 days that I'm not dealing with that drudging nagging feeling of "I should be doing this...." It's really not bad either when you look at the card and say, "ok.... this job just takes me 20 minutes to do. In 20 minutes it will be over!" Then I usually time myself and try to beat 20 minutes so it sort of makes a game out of it. Not that it makes me desire to do it anymore, but some rays of sunshine are better than none.

Not all of your cards will have days that they need to be done. That's good because then these cards can be inserted on various days of light cleaning.

Step 9: All of my old housekeeping books designated a day to do things, i.e. Monday- wash day, Tuesday- ironing, etc. Labeling your days is still a very good idea and also frees your mind up knowing that everything is scheduled.... so schedule your FREE TIME or time you want to do things! My personal days of the week look like this:

Sun- Spiritual Day. Time to spend with the family. Only daily chores/basics need to be done.
Mon- Laundry Day. I still make this laundry day and with six people, it's generally an all day event. Nevertheless it isn't the back breaking work it used to be, so while the machine washes clothes, I can be doing other light cleaning jobs, quick errands, etc. Great day to plan weekly schedules, meals, etc.
Tues- Moderate Cleaning Day. Cleaning for 2-4 hours.
Wed- Specific jobs day... means I can sew, or schedule things that I want to get done. Mainly for me, that's various crafting projects.
Thurs- Heavy Cleaning Day. Cleaning for 4-6 hours.
Fri- Errand Day. Market Day. Light jobs.
Sat- Family Fun Day. This is a requirement for us especially with little ones in various sporting events. Saturday's are usually busy with these events.

Step 10: Time to File! Check your days on your card. If you do your grocery shopping on Friday like I do, then you'll see when you get paid next, and then file that card BEHIND that date (example Friday the 7th), you'd file the card behind index divider #7. If Tuesday the 4th is your moderate cleaning day, take all your Tuesday cards and put them BEHIND card #4. Once your done with the cards you've assigned days to, check out the cards that are left. Divide the chores up between your light cleaning days and if they are monthly chores be sure to spread them out over the month. I try my best to keep Wednesday's as my time to sew and craft, so I'd rather do one or two extra things on a Monday or Friday then have to do them on a Wednesday.

Check out your seasonal cards. Some of mine include things like: Fertilize the Yard, Clean out the fireplace, Plant annual flowers, Steam Clean Carpet, etc. Obviously these are seasonal things and I sure wouldn't plant annuals in Dec! So, I'd take the "plant annual flowers" card and place it BEHIND the month of April. Now, again, things like this depend on what area of the country you live in. You certainly don't want to be planting annuals until all possibility of frost has gone for your area. Same with cleaning out the fireplace. I'll clean mine out for the season sometime in March... if you live in the northeast, you may not do it until April! Either way, file your seasonal cards behind the month that it needs to be done. This is also a great reminder if you have a vegetable/fruit garden to know when to plant things for your area.

Another idea, if you would like another color for index cards, you can include things like family and friends birthdays! Simply write down the person and date of birth. You can also keep handy information like favorite colors, sizes of clothing, and other things they like on this card. At the end of every month you will grab the following months cards and file them ONE WEEK (or more if you need to!) before they're birthday. This will give you time to shop for presents or send a card. As you can see from this example, this system can be expanded upon in numerous ways. Keeping track of chores, gardening, birthdays.... wow!

HOW TO USE THE SYSTEM


Using the system is easy. I wake up in the morning go to my box and take out all the cards behind TODAY'S date. Instantly there is my to-do list!

Now, no one is perfect and there WILL BE days when you don't get everything done. According to the SHE Book, you can do one of two things.... 1.- Reschedule it! If it's super important and it must get done then file it to be done on the next possible day. 2.- Forget it! Really? Yep, really. If it's something that can be moved to next week or heck, next month... then forget about it and just move it to a later time (or month!) Just be sure not to keep bumping that same chore over and over again, else it really won't ever get done! ;)

I've made up a "monthly" card and put it 4-5 days before the end of the month that reads: PREPARE FOR NEXT MONTH. So, say it's January, around January 27th-28th, I'll pull out any cards behind the month of February and file those and make sure no birthday's are Feb. 1st!

Hopefully I've explained my system here in a very basic, understandable way. You can always add more to this system. If you follow the FlyLady you can add in your Morning and Bedtime routines. You can add additional dividers and use them for "zones", "daily missions", and more! When you come across a vintage household tip that really works in a certain cleaning situation, be sure to write it down on that particular chore card so next time you'll remember!

I do highly recommend if this system seems like one you would like to follow to read "Sidetracked Home Executives" by Pam Young and Peggy Jones. It's an easy, fun read and they add menu cards and jobs for kids and more. I simply shared with you the parts of my system that I have tailored to meet my families needs. I've added my own bits along the way.

So, this is my schedule. I'm actually very excited to have it completed and I feel ready to tackle the new year! This year is the first time I'll also be using an online family calendar called cozi. Since this is the first time I'm using it and am just starting I don't have as much to say about this program except that it is designed to inform the family of everyone's events, it's a helpful menu assistant, and the best thing is, it's accessible to all family members to schedule information on.

I hope you have a wonderfully organized, blessed new year!

Smiles,
Angela