Cementing our Routines
May 4, 2007
Hard to believe I’ve spent every Friday for two months now talking about little routines that make our life smoother and less hectic. (Click here to read the routines we’ve discussed.) I thought it might be a good time to take a breather and see how we’re all doing.
So, how are we all doing?
We’ve talked about our morning and evening routines, the evening one being key to how productive we are the next day. I’m still having trouble with that one. I don’t want to go to bed. I’m such a rebel!
We also talked about short routines we can do when we’ve got a tiny bit of time to kill, fighting spiritual anorexia, and our fifteen-minute after meal clean-up. My two-minute drill is no more now that warm weather is here (finally!), and I’m doing better and better on my after meal clean-up. I’ll catch myself starting something after dinner and tell myself, “Not until you’ve spent 15 minutes cleaning that kitchen!”
Tell me you talk to yourself, too.
So where are you at? Have you made any changes, whether or not you got the idea here?
And for those of you new to this topic, why does silly little stuff like this even matter?
It matters for the people who live with us, whether spouses by choice or children by God’s choice. What are we teaching them about life, responsibility? What kind of environment are we putting them in?
As a writer, I want to rid myself of nasty time-wasting habits right now, before I get that book contract I’ve dreamed of and become a full-time working woman again. I hear so often published authors talk about how they never cook or their husband does all the cleaning and sometimes laundry and cooking, too.
Frankly, I don’t want that for my family. My husband has a life, too. He has a job he feels called to do. I don’t want to ever get to the point where I’m expecting him to take on everything around the house. I want to know how to do things well so that I can handle writing AND family life. I want to learn how to be organized so that the house doesn’t fall apart for those few months when I’ve got a deadline scrawled across the calendar.
It’s critical that I weed out some things in my life now. In fact, I’m going to try to really cement some new habits and routines come summer. Child One will be out of school then, and, with more time in my day without having to take him to and from school, I hope to be able to tackle some things around the house — and teach my children some new responsibilities. Nothing they can’t handle. Nothing that isn’t good for them.
I hope these Fridays so far have been a help to you as much as they’ve been to me. Happy weekend!
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