Making my house a home is a process I really enjoy. I am continually trying to get better at this task. Setting up homemaking routines has been very helpful because I never have to think, “What should I accomplish today?” My brain runs on autopilot for routine homemaking tasks.
In Little House in the Big Woods, Caroline Ingalls tells her daughters, “Wash on Monday, iron on Tuesday, mend on Wednesday, churn on Thursday, clean on Friday, bake on Saturday, rest on Sunday.”
Thankfully, I don’t need to have days set aside for ironing, mending, and churning. But it is very helpful to schedule certain tasks for certain days.
In my own life, I have tried to follow Caroline’s advice by doing most of the laundry and some baking on Monday, errands/baking on Wednesday, cleaning on Friday, and gardening/extra household projects on Saturday. I homeschool my three kids, and we have obligations outside the house on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. Our only goals on Tuesdays and Thursdays are finishing schoolwork, making dinner, and doing small household tasks that don’t take a lot of time. We also go to church on Thursday night. Sunday is a full day with both morning and evening church services and ministries in between.
Routine #1 – Laundry
While I can’t wash every load on Monday, it helps make the week go smoothly if most of our clothes are clean on this day. When we are out of this house for a special activity on this day, it really does throw the rest of the week off! So I try to stay home on Mondays as much as possible.
Each of my children has a hamper for their dirty laundry. My husband and I share a hamper for our dirty clothes. I have a separate hamper for his work clothes, all our church clothes, rags, and kitchen towels.
On Monday, I wash towels, sheets, my husband’s and my clothes, and the boys’ dirty clothes. Wednesday are set aside for my daughter’s dirty clothes and my husband’s work clothes. On Thursdays, I wash our nice clothes. Rags and kitchen towels are washed as needed.
I used to dread laundry day because folding and putting away everything took a long time. When I taught my kids to fold and put away their own clothes, laundry day became much easier. I highly recommend teaching your kids this valuable life skill!
Little ones don’t even have to fold. You can teach them to put their clean clothes in fabric bins or dressers. The inside of my kid’s dressers does not look perfect, but it doesn’t matter. It is far more important to teach your children to do this job than for their dressers to be perfectly organized. And it frees up precious time for you to do other things!
Routine #2 – Errands/Baking
Whenever I need to schedule a doctor, dentist, or orthodontist appointment, I make the appointment on Wednesday. This is the day I also go to the grocery store, get gas, and run any errands I need to do. Even though we don’t live that far from the nearest town, I try to do all these things on the same day to save gas.
Recently, I have been trying to bake all my family’s bread. To do this, I need to bake two loaves on Monday and two loaves on Wednesday. The reason I do this is because I can only fit a double batch of bread in my mixer, and I only have two bread pans. To be more efficient, I would like to purchase a larger mixer and more bread pans so I can bake all the bread in one day.
Every week, we also try to bake a double batch of muffins to have on hand for easy breakfasts. We’ll put one batch in a container, and the second batch in the freezer for another day. My eleven-year-old daughter loves to bake, so I have passed on the job of weekly muffin baking to her.
Routine #3 – Cleaning
In my family growing up, Friday was always our cleaning day. This way the house would be ready if we had any guests during the weekend. I have continued this tradition by designating Friday as cleaning day. The kids are responsible for dusting, vacuuming, and mopping their rooms. They also have the chore of either dusting the rest of the house, cleaning their bathroom, or mopping all the floors. These chores are switched out monthly. My oldest son has the responsibility of vacuuming the van on Fridays as well. My cleaning day checklist is vacuuming the house, cleaning the master bedroom and bathroom with this cleaner, wiping off the kitchen cabinets and appliances, and cleaning out the refrigerator and wiping it down.
We try to vacuum the house and clean the bathrooms twice a week. Mondays or Wednesdays are the days we fit those chores in.
Our daily cleaning includes emptying/loading the dishwasher, washing pots and pans, wiping off kitchen counters, sweeping the dining area, and general tidying.
Routine #4 – Extra household projects
Whenever I have a gardening project to do, I tackle it on Saturdays. Yesterday, I pulled up most of our broccoli plants since they were starting to flower. I also lay down more landscaping fabric. Saturdays are also the day I get to extra projects that we don’t have time for during the week. Again, this past Saturday, my daughter and I went through all her clothing. We bagged up all the clothes that are too small for her and hung up the spring/summer clothes that still fit. Next Saturday, I plan to go through my boys’ clothing. Having a day set aside to take care of extra projects helps me not to stress about getting “all the things” done during the week.
Create Your Own Homemaking Routine
Everyone’s daily to-do list and personality is a little bit different. Some people like schedules with specific times. These people would do well with daily time block schedules. Others work better with a general routine for every day that can be adjusted as needed. I would encourage you to find a homemaking routine that works well for you and your family. Once you establish a routine for basic household tasks, it will free up your mind to think about other things you need to accomplish. Knowing that you have a plan to get everything done helps you feel relaxed. Also, your home will be a much more peaceful and enjoyable place to live. Happy homemaking!
