My Little Black Box

A while ago, my mother-in-law recommended a book to me. It's called "Get Your Act Together." See, she knows me - I have a problem. I like to have a clean house, I mean C-L-E-A-N! I do quarterly deep cleanings of my whole house (which takes 2 weeks out of my time each quarter), which includes carpet cleaning. Here's the problem - I have a life! Go figure. My husband works full time, goes to school full time, is 2nd Counselor in the YM, and is a dad. I teach piano part time, am a mom, am pregnant, and have church callings of my own. And, as a family, we like to do things together - go figure! So, how do I get all the housework done that I want to do and feel I need to do? Call me a little OCD, but I do feel like I need to do it. Anybody ever heard the phrase, "Our homes are temples?" Well, do you ever go in the temple and find it filthy? Yeah, I know, I have a problem.

Enter my mother-in-law and my good friend, Melanie. When my mother-in-law told me about this book, I kind of shrugged it off. But then Melanie posted an entry on her blog about the book and the system it gives you help keep your house clean and keep your sanity at the same time. This is Melanie's entry. And here is my little black box (sorry about the picture from the couch, that's what happens when you have the stomach flu!):



Inside this little black box are cards. I have divided the cards into categories: days of the week and months of the year (so, I have 19 categories in all):



My cards are as follows: Daily cards, Weekly cards, Bi-Weekly cards, and Six-Month cards:




On one of these cards, I have listed chores for myself that I need to complete every day (like cleaning necessary parts of my kitchen, making beds, cleaning bathroom counters) and the amount of time each chore takes. I put a copy of this card behind every day of the week tab. I also have a card that gives me a list of things I am "allowed" to do at the end of each day, by myself (exercise, blog, read, etc.).

I also have bi-weekly and weekly cards. Bi-weekly, I do laundry, so I made 2 cards and put them behind the days that I know I do laundry, again with the amount of time it takes to do one load. For each day of the week, I have given myself chores to do (I like to split mine up per room) that completes BASIC cleaning of the house, errands, etc. Those are my weekly cards.

Every six months, I complete deep cleaning of a room (which takes roughly 2 hours and includes cleaning the carpet in that room!). This DOES NOT include basic cleaning tasks that I should have already done. So, instead of deep cleaning my house every quarter, I only do it twice a year now, but it should stay as clean! And each month, I have a card that allows me to "indulge" in an activity that I don't normally do (hang out with a friend, get a massage, buy a magazine, go off of my diet - after I have the baby of course). Finally, I have a Yearly card where I do chores that only need to be done once - aka, defrost and clean out freezer, clean the fridge coils, etc.

I'm really hoping that this will help me be less stressed out when Caylee comes, because I don't foresee me just giving up on cleaning. If anyone has experience with this system, please let me know what you think of it. If you are interested in doing this, and don't want to do all the research/work, I can send you the copy of my cards. Hey, I copied the idea from Melanie, so can you!