Wax on, Wax off....Wax on, Wax off....

Oh, the disciplines of Mr. Miyagi from Karate Kid. "Wax on, wax off".... If only I could be THAT disciplined with the simple, daily things in life.

I have wanna-be wood floors ( I believe they are called Pergo floors) in our living room and carpet in the bedroom, and I am so thankful that we have this set-up because it's easy to clean and there's no dirt (or poop for that matter) being smashed into the main room. But if you have anti-carpet flooring, you're all-too familiar with the sneaky, fluffy dust bunnies that bed down underneath your couches, entertainment centers and corners in a matter of seconds. You gotta be on your game to keep those little stinkas from showing up on the day someone just happens to "drop by" your house. Here recently, I've had to put my foot down and say, "No more dust bunnies! I'm sick of them!" What did I do? What's my game plan?


Monday: Sweep and mop floors in whole house (after Laney is asleep)
Wash diapers
Run dishwasher after lunch and unload before dinner (this is key!)

Tuesday: Clean both bathrooms top to bottom
Run dishwasher after lunch and unload before dinner
Wash light-colored clothes

Wednesday: Dust blinds, ceiling fans, flat surfaces
Clean out fridge
Mow grass (Hugh)
Wash diapers & towels
Run dishwasher after lunch and unload before dinner

Thursday: Sweep and mop floors in whole house
Weekly Trash run (Hugh)
Prepare next week’s menu & grocery list
Run dishwasher after lunch and unload before dinner
Wash darks

Friday: Grocery shop
Run dishwasher after lunch and unload before dinner
Wash sheets

Saturday: Wash diapers
p/u farm milk
Vacuum whole house
Prepare Sunday lunch
Run dishwasher after lunch and unload before dinner

Sunday: Worship, reheat food & REST – Do NOTHING.


1.) I do most of my "floor" cleaning at night and really try to seize my time with Laney in the daytime. I can clean mop ten times faster after she's down for the night than I can when she's awake.  Everything else like laundry, vacuuming, unloading the dishwasher, etc.. is done throughout the day. Maybe I can manage to get the floors done during the day once my part-time job ends in June. I will probably change my schedule up a bit once I get a bit more time at home.

2.) Why don't I run my dishwasher at night? Been there, done that. That plan didn't work. I waited for the water to evaporate on the dishes and dry off, but by the time they were ready to be unloaded, I was ready to go to bed. Come morning, I had numerous tasks to start the day, one being unloading the dishwasher asap so dishes wouldn't build up. And I know how the Carson family works, we have grown to love the dishwasher, even though it uses SO much water. So, knowing that, I love running the dishwasher around 1:00 after Laney goes down for her nap. It also provides nice "white" noise for my occasional naps. I clean up from lunch, load it up, run it and unload it before dinner, so that while cooking, I can put the dishes in there right way. Laney started helping me upload the dishes when she was about 15.5 months. She actually hands me the dishes and bowls. We've only broken one bowl (ha!) and I've only had one smashed toe thus far (from a plate landing square on it.) Laney loooves to help unload the dishwasher!  My goal is to start using the dishwasher every other day.

3.) The dust bunnies have to be DEALT WITH twice a week in our house, partly due to the fact that we have a dog that contributes to the making of the bunnies. :)

4.) Saturday night is my night of work. I cook for the upcoming week. I cook a pot of rice for Laney and all of our meals. We're big rice fans. I make Laney's applesauce, yogurt, and oatmeal for Sunday morning. (We eat eggs every morning except Sundays). It's easy cooking all of this at once because these are "simmer foods". I also cook our Sunday meal Saturday night. I'm not a big fan of going out to eat after church. I don't mind it every now and then, but I'd rather come home, eat, put Laney down for her nap and bed down myself for some much needed rest. This plan works well, but once I am back at home again, I'll probably start doing this during the day as I'm playing with Laney.

5.) I wash diapers every other day, but if I am to have the same schedule every week, there has to be a day where I was diapers two days in a row, and that's not a big deal at all. If I could, I'd wash them every night to prevent smells and bacteria from building in the diapers, but as you can see, there's other washing to be done.

6.) Cleaning out the fridge. We were THOSE kinds of people that had hair growing on some ground beef from a month back, so I just had to work this into my weekly schedule. I despise cleaning out the fridge. I just can't stand it, but if I get into the habit of doing it, then it's no big deal. Plus, I loooooooove coming home from grocery shopping only to find a super clean, wiped down empty refrigerator. Notice the order of events: wednesday-clean out fridge, thursday- make grocery list, friday-grocery shop. If I can't get out Friday to shop, then we go Saturday morning.

Any advice as to how I can tweek this any more? Have I forgotten anything? What does your schedule look like?