It's hard to feel any sense of achievement when your house is in a constant state of this ^
I was feeling really down about the state of our house. I usually write a 'to do' list daily, then take things off the list as they get done. But lately I've felt like I haven't been able to get much on my list done. And those remaining very important (but not absolutely necessary) jobs sit there taunting me and making me feel stink. So today (well, yesterday now that I have time to write this) I decided to do something different. I wrote a list of the things I did do instead.
So here's my list. It's from the time I got up until midnight (figured that was fairest) I'm sure I've left stuff off. And I'm sure maybe there are things on there that others don't consider 'work' - but hey - I tried to include everything (including the things I do for myself - cos equally important for sanity):
So here's my list. It's from the time I got up until midnight (figured that was fairest) I'm sure I've left stuff off. And I'm sure maybe there are things on there that others don't consider 'work' - but hey - I tried to include everything (including the things I do for myself - cos equally important for sanity):
- Washed one load of dishes
- Breakfasted the kids
- Engaged in some sort of intelligent conversation online
- Washed a load of nappies
- Washed a load of delicates
- Had a shower (then Etta and Abby had a bath)
- Read 10+ kids books to kids
- Brought in washing
- Made up nappies
- Dressed 2 x kids
- Took kids to dental nurse
- dropped clothes to clothing bin
- Hung out two loads of washing
- Washed more dishes
- Fed kids lunch
- Made marinade for chicken
- Got two kids to nap
- Read (grown up books. To myself)
- Napped for almost one hour myself
- Played with kids in paddling pool
- Dressed two kids
- Made cupcakes with kids
- Put all the dishes away
- Changed all the nappies
- Tidied and Vacuumed Etta's room
- Put a painting up in Abby's room
- Tidied and vacuumed Abby's room
- Played cars in the hallway with Abby
- Read articles on immigration/Trump blah blah online
- Picked up takeaways for kids dinner
- Took photos of birds
- Helped kids with their dinner and sang happy birthday with cupcakes
- Re-vacuumed Etta's room after cupcake disaster
- Cleaned up cat vomit
- Looked at export options for payments on Google Adwords for MIL
- Made dinner for the grown ups
- Brought in one load of washing
- Put Abby to bed
- Dressed Etta for bed
- Did part of Etta's bedtime routine with her before leaving for pub quiz
- Edited photos of birds
- Went to pub quiz (the fun activity of the day)
- Attempted to resettle one itchy 21 month old
I think this is a much better way of accounting for my time than just taking things off a list. Look! Lots of things! I did lots of things! The other way I do things just makes everything I did invisible and presents me with all I have yet to do. Which in turn makes me feel useless and pretty stink. Lame!
So maybe if you're feeling a bit crap about the state of your house/washing/dishes/human relationships give this a go. Make sure you write it all down. I reckon you'll find you do a lot more than you think! And maybe a lot more things with/for your kids than you think. And at the end of the day, that's a pretty important thing.
This is actually what comes of me ignoring the kids to do chores* - Etta reading to Abby.
* Only sometimes... On the odd occasions where they aren't yelling/hitting/pushing/zombies to kids TV (AKA technological babysitter)
