In recent years, or actually in the past thirty years, which is not all that recent, “housework” has taken on an unpleasant connotation—-kind of a “dirty” one!!  There are a number of reasons for this rather negative outlook three of which are time, tools and technique.  This post takes a closer look at the first of these three “T’s”:  Time. 

There never seems to be enough time, particularly with over 70% of women working part or full time outside of the home. I single out women because, let’s face it, we have been the engineers of managing the home since time began. We always have been pretty good at it too. I personally am proud of that fact. But the reality is that most of us aren’t home that much. This is one reality I doubt will go away and maybe depending on your view you may not want it to either, so what to do?   

If you are part of that 70%, start to transfer the time management skills you use so well in accomplishing all the outside work commitments to your home. There is an old saying that “time is a treasure” so be sure to treasure every minute by making it count and begin by jotting down all you need or want to do at home. Then time yourself as to how long it takes to do ordinary tasks like making a bed, emptying the dishwasher and cleaning the bathroom sink. On a daily basis each should not take more than 5 minutes. Everything really begins in the mind and once you have it fixed in your mind that these daily tasks don’t need to take that long it’s a motivator to push away that feeling of drudgery. Granted you might need to multiply the bedmaking by two or three, depending on the size of your family, but then if there are other family members at home, start sharing the care!

But what about the more time-consuming chores done on a weekly basis like caring for floors, laundry, and dusting? These are the jobs that can get you down and discouraged particularly when you only use weekends to accomplish them. Here we need to learn to pace ourselves by doing a little bit throughout the week otherwise our days off aren’t days off at all!  They simply add to that negative connotation that housework is “dirty”, encroaching on everything else we’d rather be doing on the weekend. 

Consider spreading out your housework so that it is less timeconsoming on any given day.  For example I don’t vacuum or dust on the same day. I break it up. The clothes can be rotating in the machine while you are busy making dinner. It is the folding and putting away that takes the time so break up doing whites and colors on different days. Set a schedule for all this stuff and see how efficient you suddenly become.

“Time” is the first of the three “T’s” that can impact our perceptions of houswork.  In future posts we’ll look at some tips for the other “T’s”:  Tools and Techniques for streamlining home management.  What are your favorite time-saving household tips?  Please share them by posting a comment here.

As winter takes hold it may seem as though the piles of laundry inside rival the piles of snow outside! If your laundry is piling up, you’re not just imagining things – cooler weather means more layers and different types of
clothing. So as the piles grow, how can you take control?

One of the best ways to lighten the load is to “share the care” and involve the whole family.

It may sound old-fashioned, but one way to cut down on laundry is for children to change their clothes when they come home from school. Hanging up an outfit and wearing it twice before it is washed can lengthen the life of the clothing and save unnecessary work. Besides, children will be more comfortable in casual clothes.

Sometimes tossing clothes into the hamper is no more than a habit. Children (and even we adults!) automatically throw their clothes on the floor or in the hamper whether they are dirty or not. Encourage them to hang and fold their clothes. Help them “share the care” starting with their own clothing. (But remember – they have to learn how to hang and fold. This is a learned skill!) Take time out to teach older children how to sort and fold. Even five, six, and seven-year-olds can learn to fold clothes and put them away in drawers. This is a great age to begin instilling these habits in children – they are old enough to understand ‘how to’ and still young enough to enjoy helping and imitating mom and dad. (They may not put them away exactly they way you would, but this is how they will learn.) It takes 21 days to build a new habit so be patient, but be persistent and you will be grateful for the time and energy it will save in the long run.

Here are some other practical laundry solutions:

• Have separate clothing baskets for each family member and have your child carry it to the laundry room on washday.
• Color code the baskets – each child can choose their favorite color – to make it easier for each child to return folded laundry to their rooms.
• Buy mesh zipper bags to separate each family member’s socks. The bags will make it easier to separate and sort and will save you time.