Reduce Stress & Have a Cleaner Home with this Routine for Moms
I’m not about to tell you that I am stress free or that my house is ultra organized. I am like the rest of you – always running around from school to soccer to dance. Somewhere in between I manage this site, make dinner and get some clean clothes ready for the next day. I have found that if I don’t do 4 certain things daily, my day becomes more more loony and I’m more frantic. Keeping with my routine helps me to reduce stress.
Here’s how this Smart Mama makes it through her day:
Reduce Stress with this Routine
First Stop: Make the Beds
When I walk into my bedroom after a long day I love seeing my bed nicely made. It gives me a sense of relief that before I know it I will be laying in that bed, snuggled with the remote.
Very quick every morning I straighten up my bed. Nothing fancy but to a point where it looks nice. I recently bought new sheets that are super soft and fall so nicely on the bed when I make it. Treat yourself to new sheets, maybe that will encourage you to make the bed quicker 😉 I’ve found some great ones at BeddingStyle.com.
Yes, my kids “try” to make their beds. I’m a firm believer of kid chores, but to be honest, I can’t stand a messy looking bed which is what you get with my 5 year old and even my 10 year old. I typically “touch up” their bed after they leave for school.
Next Stop: Stinky Clothes, No More
Every afternoon there is at least one afternoon activity, sometimes three! Between school and sport uniforms and the clothing my husband and I wear, the hampers get full quickly. I used to wait until they were totally overflowing and then I would do laundry. I found that this method just stressed me out because it left me with so much clothes to wash, fold and put away in one sitting. Now, to be less stressed, I do laundry every day. I run the first load of laundry just after the kids get dressed for school. Sometimes the load is tiny, other times it’s not.
Regardless, I wash, fold and put away and the hamper is never up to that stressful status. I try to get this all done before lunch.
My Robot Cleaner
The feeling of walking around a dirty floor is icky, to me. Kids and adults are tracking in dirt all the time. While I have shared the horrible statistics of germs that enter the house through the bottoms of our feet, we do walk around, at least part of the time, in our shoes.
The fix to this would be to sweep or vacuum the house daily. Do you have time for the that? I don’t. I have found that my iRobot Roomba to be the BEST helper in my house. I turn her on – or one day I will actually take the time to program her (yes, she can run on a schedule) – and she goes about her business vacuuming my house. She gets all the dog hair, human hair, dirt and other nonsense that lands on our floor. She knows where there is a step and doesn’t fall. She was the BEST INVESTMENT I made last year.
By the way, they now make a robot mop!!! That’s next on my list! See details and pricing here.
Before You Go to Bed, No Dirty Dishes
I run our dishwasher nearly every night. It’s the last thing I do before I go lay down. We purchased a new one last year and she’s wonderful. The kids have learned that after dinner, or any meal, they need to rinse their dish and place it in the dishwasher.
In the morning, I open the dishwasher and unload while I’m getting breakfast on the table and making my tea. When I leave to take the kids to school all dishes are put away.
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Your Home Management List
How do you manage your home to reduce stress? Please share in a comment below, your routine each day.