My Daily 7

I recently came across this article while searching for crock pot recipes...

The Daily 7 for a highly successful household
by Stephanie O'Dea

The author, a crock pot diva master, is not fond of spending an entire day cleaning.  So, to somewhat avoid this, she has 7 things that are done (just about) EVERY day to keep the household under control.  Here are her daily 7:

Number 1: Make Beds Right Away
Number 2: Do One Complete Load of Laundry
Number 3: Empty All Garbage Cans
Number 4: Keep Your Kitchen Sink Empty
Number 5: Clean Up After Yourself and Help Children Do the Same
Number 6: Bathroom Wipe-Down
Number 7: Before Bed 10-Minute Clean Up

Though I loved her idea, I decided to adapt her list and make mine to fit our lifestyle and to be baby friendly.  Because having babies and young tots is a unique season (like all seasons I suppose) and you just have to do things a little differently! Surely if you have a newborn (or older baby who still doesn't sleep!!!) your goal might be to just get the dirty dishes in the kitchen or get dirty clothes in the hamper. That's great.  These things should make life easier, not completely stress you out.

Here are my Daily 7:

(Most) every day I should...

1. Make beds before leaving the house every morning. Operation train Mateo to pull up his blankets underway. His bed is really high off the ground but I think he can do it.

2. Wash and dry (or fold previous day's load) at least one load of laundry (M-F ONLY!  The only laundry I will do on weekends is diapers or to clean up emergency messes made.

Empty the kitchen compost and/or recycling bins before Aaron gets home (during nap time ideally).

Rinse and scrub off all dishes that are headed into the sink to keep counters clear.... and leave them on the right side so at least half of the sink is usable.  Then, when baby is occupied, trapped in an exersaucer, or perhaps napping, I can load the dishwasher quickly w/o a little person trying to climb inside.

Clean up after yourself and teach your kids to do the same (I.e. put shoes away as soon as we come into the house, hang up coats, put PJs away in the morning, bring dishes from table to the sink, etc.) Mateo has a little box in the entry closet to put his shoes in when we come in and is getting good at remembering to clear his dishes from the table. I let him clear other (not too messy) stuff from the table as well. Right now he thinks it's kind of fun.  He's not really tall enough to get them in the sink but he can put them on the counter near the sink and that helps!

Wash main bathroom counter/sink/toilet seat every night after the boys are in bed and change hand towels. I'm kind of obsessed with this and changing hand towels?!

Find homes for 12 random items each day (those random things that will become clutter...find a home for them- even if it's a recycle bin!) I sure do love a cleared off counter and dining room table.  I find it very therapeutic to declutter and organize/put away stuff. Finding just 12 thing a day (though I don't really count...) helps keep things from turning into chaos.

Now of course these are just the bare bones chores.  Deep cleaning still has to happen (well maybe not in eveyr household) but these will ideally keep that deep cleaning from getting totally overwhelming.

What are you Daily 7?