How We Do It

(Since everybody always asks...)

Everyone is always asking me, "So how do you do it?" I can never really answer them. Oh, I have used my share of snappy comebacks, such as, "Very carefully," or, "One at a time," or the more honest one, "I don't know." Some days I'm not sure I really do do it!

But in an effort to answer that question, here is a list of my basic daily routines. I developed these with the assistance of FlyLady. Thanks to her, I also have my weekly and Zone cleaning lists, which I work on in between my daily routines. I credit her 100% with our decision to have a fifth child; without her help, I could never have handled it. Of course, I don't always get everything done, not yet. But I can get most of it done most days, and with my fibromyalgia it really helps keep me focused when the pain is on.

Morning

  1. Wake up, make bed, weigh in
  2. Start coffee
  3. Shower
  4. Retrieve coffee
  5. Check weather
  6. Dress, clean downstairs bathroom
  7. Feed and water cats, wash delicates if needed
  8. Change Jarod, check older kids' clothes
  9. Put lotion on kids
  10. Clean everybody's glasses
  11. Check calendar
  12. Hand out vitamins and medicines
  13. Eat breakfast
  14. Take my medicine, make more coffee
  15. Clear and clean table, reboot dishwasher, clean counters
  16. Check on dinner, do prep work
  17. Reboot laundry
  18. Clean litter boxes
  19. Brush teeth, clean upstairs bathroom
  20. 5 minutes on hotspots

Lunch

  1. Fix and eat lunch
  2. Clear and clean table, reboot dishwasher, clean counters
  3. Reboot laundry
  4. 5 minutes on hotspots

Snack

  1. Make coffee
  2. Fix and eat snack
  3. Clear and clean table, reboot dishwasher, clean counters
  4. Sort mail
  5. Reboot laundry
  6. 15 minutes paying bills
  7. 5 minutes on hotspots

Dinner

  1. Start cooking dinner at 6
  2. Eat dinner
  3. Clear table after dinner, sweep floor
  4. Reboot dishwasher, clean counters
  5. Shine sink
  6. Feed fish
  7. Empty kitchen trash
  8. Reboot laundry
  9. 5 minutes on hotspots

Bedtime

  1. Get kids clean and into pajamas and picked up
  2. Sing rockabyes
  3. Read aloud a chapter off our reading list
  4. Take medicine
  5. Spend time with Brian
  6. And go to bed myself...

...So I can do it all again tomorrow! And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how it is done.