Updated Sep. 22, 2019. Originally posted Jan. 8, 2013.
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Why Routines?
Because we are creatures of habit, routines help us stay on top of the myriad tasks that fill our lives. Recurring tasks can be incorporated into routines, which eventually become habit, so we can keep things rolling smoothly without having to think about it. Then occasional tasks can be plugged in as needed.
[Tweet “The first rule of organizing is that like goes with like.”]
The first rule of organizing (whether objects or tasks) is that, whenever possible, like goes with like. We’re made in the image of an orderly God, who followed this principle Himself! He did not create things willy-nilly; rather, he created them by kinds. So we’ll begin by grouping our tasks into kinds, as well.
We’ll be building weekly routines, daily routines, and, finally, yearly routines. (These yearly “routines” are not quite as structured; they just provide a way to ensure that all the occasional tasks get done and you don’t have to do them all at once. Unless, of course, you want to.)
Part 1: Weekly Routines
We start with the routine for the week, because then we can plug in the daily routine(s) accordingly.
STEP 1: Designate a day of the week for each type of task. (These are going to be “containers” for your weekly tasks.)
My weekly routine looks like this:
- Monday – Laundry Day
- Tuesday – Errand Day
- Wednesday – Kitchen Day
- Thursday – Office Day
- Friday – Cleaning Day
- Saturday – Yard/Garden/Large Projects
- Sunday – Day of Rest/Worship
A couple tips: I’ve found that Mondays are not a good option for office or errand days. Too many “bank holidays” fall on Mondays, and it’s frustrating trying to get all of your errands done or phone calls taken care of, without knocking your routine out of whack. If you have a compelling reason to stick with Monday for one of these things, of course, do! (You have to do what works for you. 🙂 ) But be aware of this first.
Also, think about when errand day is when planning your kitchen day. They don’t have to be back-to-back (‘though that’s helpful), but you probably don’t want to be shopping for food on Saturday if you aren’t scheduled to prepare it until Friday.
STEP 2: Label a piece of paper, index card, or other writing material of your choice with each “day of the week” you’ve just created.
STEP 3: Using the list you made last week, write every weekly task under the most appropriate day of the week. When you’re finished, every single weekly task should be accounted for.
Everyone’s lists will be a bit different, depending on their households’ needs, but my overall list looked something like this (click on the thumbnails to view a bit larger):
(The bracketed numbers are ages at which I estimate I could assign the task to a child.)
My divvied-up weekly list would look something like this (with my apologies for the crazy lighting):
STEP 4: Again working from your list, copy over all of the monthly tasks to the appropriate day, but keep them separate. You could write them in a separate column, highlight them a different color, put a note by them – whatever. You just want to have all of your monthly tasks assigned to a day of the week, while still recognizing that these are every-four-week (or so) tasks.
STEP 5: If there are any preparations necessary for a given day (for instance, ensuring you have receipts for anything that needs to be returned, or library books to go back, on errand day), jot them down on the day before.
Over the next few days, I’ll post some more specific suggestions regarding the individual “days” (laundry day, errand day, etc.) to help you evaluate your lists. You may find you need to tweak things a bit before working them into a polished plan. That’s okay. (In fact, you may still tweak a bit over the coming weeks/months as you put this plan into action and figure out what works.)
Part 2: Daily Routines
At first glance, it may seem that we should have tackled this before the weekly routine, but it’s important to know what weekly tasks we have to deal with before we try to plug them into our days. The daily routine will need to incorporate the weekly tasks for the given day (Laundry Day tasks on Laundry Day, for instance), as well as addressing daily maintenance tasks like washing the dishes.
Routines are Built from Smaller Routines
Your weekly routine is really comprised of seven “mini-routines” (one for each day); your daily routine is likewise comprised of a number of smaller routines.
These will generally include a morning routine and an evening routine, one or two in the middle of the day for maintenance cleaning/tidying (unless these are part of your morning/evening routines), and a slot for whatever the day’s focus is (laundry on Laundry Day, for instance). Some people may wish to divide the evening routine into a dinnertime-ish evening routine and a separate bedtime routine.
Routines Become Habits
If this sounds a little daunting, don’t let it overwhelm you! Chances are, when you first get this set up, you’ll have to look at your list every time, like a checklist. But after a little while, these routines will become habit, and you’ll be getting done all that needs to get done without even having to think about it!
Getting Started
I prefer to start with morning and evening routines because, for me, these build the foundation for everything else. If they go out the window, everything goes out the window. The morning routine should include anything you do to get yourself, your children, and your home ready for the day. The evening routine should include anything you do to tie up the day’s loose ends and prepare for tomorrow.
I’ve also found that it’s essential for me to build “course corrections” into my day, because I will inevitably miss things at their proper times when I’m first learning a new routine. For instance, I tried once to build the habit of running the dishwasher in the evenings before bed. About six times a week, I’d forget — and then the dishes would be behind for the whole next day. I quickly learned to also put “run the dishwasher” on my morning routine. This way if I forgot in the evening, I caught it early and didn’t get so behind.
STEP 6: Make a list of everything you have to do — or should be doing — in the mornings to prepare for your day. This will include things like showering (if you do that in the morning), quiet times, emptying the dishwasher that ran overnight, etc.
STEP 7: Make a list of everything you do — or should be doing — in the evenings to wrap up the day, prepare for bed, and/or prepare for tomorrow.
STEP 8: Rearrange each of these lists so they’re in the most logical order. If you’re going to develop a habit, you want to be developing an efficient one! Also, check over your morning list to make sure you aren’t going to be running into any timing issues (ending up needing the bathroom at the same time as someone else, for instance).
STEP 9: Decide when in your day to plug in one or two tidying up/maintenance periods. Many people find that lunchtime and/or dinnertime are good times, as you’re already having to wrap up what you were doing to move on to the meal.
STEP 10: Designate a block of time to complete the day-of-the-week tasks (laundry on Laundry Day, for example).
How long do you need? Is this better scheduled for naptime or not during naptime?
STEP 11: Working with your list from yesterday, be sure that all of your daily tasks are on one of these lists.
When you’re done, you should have a list for each day of the week, and you should have a list that includes your morning routine, one or two midday maintenance routines, a focus block, and the evening routine. All daily, weekly, and monthly tasks from your household maintenance task list should be accounted for.
This post has gotten really long, so we’ll continue with the less-often-than-monthly tasks in the next post.
If you’re just stumbling across this, please click here for the other posts in the series.
[…] condensed so we can do (in general) one post a week. There is so much that could be said about routines that I wanted to put up another post or two with some additional notes on the specific weekly […]