|
When life is confusing,
overwhelming, and home management time is short (or non-existent), there is
still opportunity to have a neat and clean home.
Use the Working Person's
Housecleaning Plan to help you function as a higher level, keep the house
neat, and perform your home management tasks with a regular routine.
First, acquire the following:
1 index card box (3" x 5" size)
1 Working Person's Housecleaning Plan
PACKET (available on this web site)
1 Working Person's Housecleaning Plan
DIVIDERS (available on this web site)
Second, label the index card
dividers (if you make your own labels):
|
Daily DO
|
Daily Chores
|
(for cards 1-7)
|
|
|
Weekly DO
|
Weekly Chores
|
(for cards 1-31)
|
|
|
Laundry
DO
|
Laundry Chores
|
(for cards 1-4)
|
|
|
Monthly DO
|
Monthly Chores
|
(for cards 1-7)
|
|
|
January
|
February
|
March
|
April
|
|
May
|
June
|
July
|
August
|
|
September
|
October
|
November
|
December
|
|
2 _ _ _
|
Someday
|
(for jobs which must wait)
|
|
Third, put the WORKING PERSON'S
HOUSECLEANING PLAN packet cards behind the appropriate WORKING PERSON'S
HOUSECLEANING PLAN index card dividers.
Beginning tomorrow morning, do as
many of the "Daily DO" jobs as you have time for before you leave for
work. Return the cards to their appropriate place after the jobs are
done. When you return from work, finish the rest of the "Daily
DO" cards.
On the second day, start over
again with as many of the "Daily DOs" as you have time before leaving for
work. Return the cards to the appropriate place after the jobs are
done. When you return from work, finish the rest of the "Daily DOs"
and continue with the "Daily Chores" cards (cards labeled Daily
1-7) as time allows. When
these jobs are done, return these cards behind the other "Daily
Chores" cards so you will know which job to begin with next time (as that card will
now
be in front).
When you have extra time to tackle
your housework on your day off, complete the "Daily DO" cards, then tackle
the "Daily Chores" cards, then start the "Weekly DO"
cards. If you have more time, begin the "Weekly Chores" cards (cards
labeled Weekly 1-31).
Return the cards to their appropriate places after you have done these
jobs. If you don't get all the jobs done, put the cards for jobs that
are done, BEHIND the other "Weekly Chores" cards so you will know where
to start next (as that card will be in front).
If you have time past that, begin
the "Monthly DO" cards; and finally, tackle the "Monthly Chores"
cards (cards labeled Monthly 1-7). Return the "Monthly DO" cards to the appropriate
place. Put the "Monthly Chores" cards for the jobs completed behind
the other "Monthly Chores" cards so you will know which job to begin with
next time (as that card will be in front).
On weekday
days, do the
"Laundry DO" cards around your other responsibilities. These
cards you will write up (using the blank cards
provided) according to your current laundry situation. For instance, a family might have three batches
of whites, three batches of colors, and one batch of heavy dirt laundry a week.
Thus seven "Laundry Do" cards will be needed. A single woman
might only do one batch of whites, a batch of colors, and a batch of darks each
week. She would need to prepare three "Laundry Do" cards.
After the
"Laundry Do" wash is done, tackle the
"Laundry Chores" cards (cards labeled Wash 1-4). As each kind of wash is done, put these cards
behind the others so you will know which "Laundry" job to do next
time.
As each month passes, do the jobs
listed on the "Monthly" cards (those which are done annually:
January, February, ... those which are done semi-annually:
Jan/July... and those which are done quarterly: Jan/April/July/Oct) as time
allows. Refile these cards behind the next appropriate divider after the
job is done. If the job doesn't get done, file the cards anyway so you can
approach the job the next time it comes up for doing.
For instance, Mary works 8-5,
Monday-Friday. She purchased the "Working Person's Housecleaning
Plan" PACKET and the "Working Person's Housecleaning Plan"
DIVIDERS. She set up her index card box and index cards dividers, and
filed the housecleaning cards behind the appropriate index card dividers.
On Monday morning she did her
"Daily DOs" and got three of the "Daily Chores" cards completed
after work. She filed these three "Daily Chores" cards behind the
other "Daily Chores" cards so she would know where to start next time.
On Tuesday morning, she did her
"Daily DOs" and finished the remaining four "Daily Chores"
cards after work. These cards were filed behind the other "Daily
Chores" cards so she could start at the right job the next time. She continued this
routine as the week progressed.
On Saturday she did her
"Daily DOs", then her "Daily Chores" cards (she was getting the
routine down quite well now), and finally her "Weekly Do" cards.
Then she started on her "Weekly Chores" cards.
She got ten of these jobs done before she had to divert her attention
elsewhere. These ten "Weekly Chores" cards she filed behind the
other "Weekly Chores" cards. The next week she would tackle more
"Weekly Chores" card jobs.
On Saturday afternoon she asked
her husband to help her with some of the "June" jobs (as this was the
month in which she set up her card system). He agreed and they got four
of these jobs done. She refiled these cards behind the next month in which
she was to tackle them and planned to finish the "June" jobs (with her
husband's willingness and as time allowed) on the next Saturday
evening.
Sometimes Mary got ill and
although she went to work, she did little at home but sleep, wash, and get ready
for the next day's work. But when she got well again, she approached her
housecleaning by doing the "Daily DOs" first, then the "Daily
Chores" cards as time allowed. On the first Saturday after she was well,
she finished the "Weekly DO" cards and then started on the "Weekly
Chores" cards where she had left off.
Soon she was in control again of her routines, her home, and her life.
As each month passed, she did
as many "Monthy" jobs as she could, moving the cards forward to the
next appropriate place. Sometimes there wasn't time to do all the jobs,
but mostly she was making great progress.
Working outside the home presents
tremendous challenges, but with the plan in place, good routines established,
and persistence, any woman can gain more control and find a greater sense of
peace than ever before.
|
