rou·tine

Dictionary.com tells me:

rou·tine

   [roo-teen]

noun

1. a customary or regular course of procedure.

2. commonplace tasks, chores, or duties as must be done regularly or at specified intervals; typical or everyday activity: the routine of an office.

3. regular, unvarying, habitual, unimaginative, or rote procedure.

4. an unvarying and constantly repeated formula, as of speech or action; convenient or predictable response: Don't give me that brotherly-love routine!

My problem has been that I want to take a break after I've set up my routine.  I've realised that I have to let things *get* routine before I even consider taking a break, but realistically, routines are at their most routine when you do them even on your day off...

It may seem like an obvious place to get to, but it took me a while to comprehend it.

Here's hoping I have!

Small Steps.

I was recently introduced to the delights of Hyperbole and a Half and specifically this Hyperbole and a Half: This is Why I'll Never be an Adult post that REALLY resonated with me.  It was fun to see someone articulate my housekeeping style so well. 

Even so, I was not proud of this part of me.  I think at work they would be surprised to find that I have problems with keeping my space clean because I have a very neat desk at work.  My neat desk stems from sharing a desk for a long time, and then the refusal to let things get out of control in such a shared space. 

Home is where you relax, right?  Relaxing and cleaning rarely go hand in hand (I have one dear friend who might say otherwise).  It is, however, much easier to relax in a space that is tidy and not lost under mess.




In the last few weeks I have focussed less on grand plans and more on trying to establish a routine that works for me.

I have an app called Home Routines that has been invaluable.  I first downloaded the app months ago and used it a lot to start with.  Then life got in the way and I got resentful that I was the one doing all this "stuff" and I stopped using it.

The house was a mess.  Life was hectic.  It bothered me.

In an effort to move on/grow up/find sanity, I figured I'd already bought it, I really should use it.  So, I revisited it, I re-jigged my lists, I got specific.

Getting specific helped me a lot.  "Empty all bins" is less likely to get done than listing 4 or 5 bins that need emptying, at least I could then check off 4 out of 5 bins that I emptied.

I also gave myself room to have down days.  I don't get through everything on my lists every day, or even most days.  I aim to add to my "regular" list of things I do every week though, just slowly expanding the routine to regularly be getting a little bit more done, I have a goal to have a minimum number of tasks done each day and a desire to slowly grow that number.

So far it is working for me.  I'm getting more done each day, I am developing a pattern, I am finding little ways to slip the small tasks into everyday life without them being a big deal.  BabyCakes has even started making the bed if he is the last one out!  The simple act of walking into a bedroom and seeing the bed made is very satisfying.   Don't get me wrong, you still have to look past the piles of "stuff" stacked along the wall, but I'm getting there.

I am still yet to make peace with the politics of cleaning, but again, I am working on it (more on this at a later date). 

I still have a long way to go before I get remotely close to the kind of clean house I aspire to, but progress is being made.

Oops.

Well. It's been nearly a year since I have posted. My excuse is I've been somewhat busy and/or tired for most of the past year. I do however have a few projects to work on, so I hope I can remedy that.

With Squiddley's arrival life has changed dramatically. Life with a child does tend to make one much more domestically focussed. A baby does not *make* you stay home, but it tends to be easier to stay at home. "Ducking out" anywhere doesn't happen for me too much any more, given that I don't usually have a hand free as I walk out of the door, and that's after I make sure there are no obvious puke/pee/poo stains one either of mine or Squiddley's outfits. The size of the baby is not an indication of how much extra work there is to do either. One look of our washing line on laundry day and you'll usually find half the line dedicated to Squiddley's clothes/sheets/wipes/nappies and the other half is for us bigger folk in the house.

I plan to organise my budget better, and plan more to leave less to chance in our lives. Its such a simple thing to say, but a big thing to do, so hopefully, that's a project that will have some longevity.

I've also been using Modern Cloth Nappies (MCN) exclusively for the last couple of months and have had lots of questions about them from friends who know that I'm using them. I've discovered that my opinions of the many different styles and brands change back and forth over time as Squiddley grows and fills them out differently. I decided that I should write about my experiences so that I can share them with interested folks without coming across as some kind of weird nappy zealot - there are enough ways I'm weird as it is!

So, that's my plan. Given that it has taken me hours to write this much, we'll see how it all goes.

Hopefully, I shall update soon with some MCN chronicles!