Have you got a lot going on right now?
Any time you’re feeling overwhelmed by life, it’s a good idea to pare back on your To-Do list and give yourself a mental and physical break from as much as possible until things get a little easier.
If you have a lot on your plate right now, or you’re feeling like you are trying to juggle too many things and struggling under the weight of it all but you can't slow down because it will be too hard to pick up again later, one simple option is to define your daily basics and make a plan for those to get done easily, so you can press pause on everything else if and when you need to, and know that your day to day life will still run smoothly.
In our house, our daily basics are:
- Food: Making sure meals and snacks are covered for everyone, for the day
- Laundry: 1 load each day so we don’t fall behind and have it build-up
- Dishes: All done by the end of the day so we can start again with a clean kitchen in the morning
- Quick tidy: Everyone’s stuff gets taken to their own room
Those are our daily basics. Here's our plan to make sure they get done:
Food
My husband takes care of breakfasts, lunchboxes for the kids, and dinner for himself and the kids. I do my own meals (I eat plant-based and batch cook and freeze my lunches and dinners) and do the baking (bread, cakes, muffins, etc). The kids get their own snacks and help with baking and cooking dinner when asked.
Laundry
I keep the laundry moving by throwing a load into the washing machine each morning, hanging in the afternoon, and folding and bringing in the dry washing from the day before. The kids are responsible for putting away their clean clothes, and they each have their own washing basket, so if they need a particular item or notice their basket is full, they’ll put their own load of washing on too. This way, we stay on top of the washing, they have what they need when they need it, and we can get to sheets and towels regularly too. I have certain days for certain types of washing (towels on Monday, sheets on Saturday, etc), but everyone in the family knows how to do a load and can wash whatever they need whenever they want.
Dishes
We don’t do the whole “you cooked so I’ll wash up” thing because of our cooking situation, and because I like to wash up as I go but my husband prefers to cook first, and then wash up after dinner. So I wash as I go during the day, and he takes care of the evening dishes. We ask the kids to bring in any of their dishes, lunch boxes, and glasses to the kitchen at the end of the day, and all dishes are done before we all head to bed.
Quick tidy
Our lounge room is minimally furnished so it’s easy to tidy in just a few seconds. At the end of each day, every family member takes whatever belongs to them back into their own room and the lounge room is left neat & tidy for the next morning. The kids rooms are their responsibility, I don’t stress about whether everything is put away properly or if the room is a bit messy, but we only give pocket money on Saturdays if bedrooms are clean and tidy so that works really well as an incentive!
Those are our 4 daily basics, the things that keep our home running smoothly during the week.
I’d love to know yours too! Come visit at the Beautifully Organised Mums FB page and let me know what your daily basics are.
x Marissa
