Cleaning Schedule

I thought I was busy before I had a kid.  I really did.  I wasn't.  I didn't even know what busy was until I had Khloe.

I've always strived to be an organized person, sometimes I succeed and sometimes I fail.  When I had Khloe and then went back to work, I realized just how hard it was to keep up with simple things that I had taken for granted before.  I would go to work all week, come home, cook dinner, bath Khloe, play with her and then it was time for her to go to bed.  By the time she would go to bed, I was exhausted and ready for bed myself.  Then came the weekend and I would have 10+ loads of laundry to do (how in the world do 2 1/2 people go through that many clothes???? It's one of life's great mysteries), every room of the house to clean and then my weekend would be gone before I even got to relax.

I've seen a million and one cleaning schedules on Pinterest and have tried a few.  Every time I would fail miserably. They were all way too intense for me.  In my mind they were for someone who was home all day with no kids to watch and nothing else to do except clean.  I’m sorry, but I don’t have time to clean my windows/ baseboards/ lights every week!!!   Are you kidding me!  I’m lucky to get the dishes out of the sink!  I can count on 1 hand the number of times my baseboards have been cleaned ever!  After being extremely frustrated with these cleaning schedules, I decided to make my own, more reasonable schedule that fits my life.  I’ve been trying it out for a few weeks now and it’s actually working.  No, my house is not immaculately deep cleaned every week…. (I don’t know too many people  anyone who actually shampoos their carpets once a month…. ) but my house is clean and presentable.  If someone decided to drop by unannounced, I’m not going crazy trying to hide things.  Yes, I would like for people to think that I mop my floors once a week, but I don’t.  I’ve found that the best part of this cleaning schedule is the 10 minute tidy every evening.  I actually set a timer for 10 minutes and challenge myself to see how much I can get done.  Usually this 10 minutes is spent putting things away like toys, books, food back in the pantry, bottles and hair tools back in the cabinets.  This has been the key step to keeping my house presentable.  As Khloe gets older, I’m going to implement this as a part of her chores and she’ll have her own 10 minute tidy.  I’ve also found that if I can do 1 load of laundry a day (put it in the wash at night and move it to the dryer in the morning) it never adds up on me.  Some days I don’t have enough for a full load, so I’ll go 2 days in between.  

Hope it helps you out!

-Brooke

Cheap Seat

Last week when I showed you our new porch roof here, I mentioned that I had saved money by buying an unfinished swing.

This year for Mother's Day, I asked Chris if I could pick out my own gift.  After he did his happy dance, he agreed.  All I wanted for Mother's Day was a porch swing and flowers for my porch.  

So I started scouring the internet trying to find a swing and quickly realized that I could afford nothing.

I did find this one on Lowes.com for $119... but also found that the weight limit was 300lbs.  Well... we could sit on this thing by ourselves, but both Chris and I together and.... let's just say I'm not 100 lbs.

Most of the other swings were $300 and over (too rich for my blood).  So I went over to HomeDepot.com and found this one.

It's unfinished, so I knew I would have to either paint it or stain it, but I don't have a problem with a little elbow grease.  At $99 and with a weight limit of 500 lbs, this baby was calling my name.  And it was 5ft!  That's huge!

Before ordering, being the eternal cheapskate that I am.... I wanted to look around and see if I would find this same swing somewhere cheaper.  Lo and behold, Amazon came through again.  

I bought this little baby and after shipping and everything, my order came out to $74.  And it was delivered in 2 days!!!

It arrived in a box and Chris assembled it in about 10 minutes.  I slapped on a couple coats of outdoor paint and here she is.

I was a little nervous because it had some bad reviews.  Some where saying that it felt flimsy.  When both of us first sat on it together, it did make a creaking sound.  But, I think that was just from it being new and the first time weight was applied to it.  Since then it actually feels very sturdy and doesn't creak or crack :)  I'm happy with my purchase and my deal finding skills!  

-Brooke

The Front Porch is Done!

Chris has been working his booty off this Spring finishing our front porch.  

Last Spring he built the porch, but not the roof.  At the beginning of this year, it looked like this.

I do NOT miss that!  

So, about a month ago, Khloe and I went on a trip with my mom and when I came back Chris had put up the roof!  Since then he's been putting on the finishing touches and as of yesterday, it is complete!!  

We decided to go with rough-cut lumber on the inside roof.  We just got the lumber from our local saw mill. I love how it turned out.  

Chris installed LED can lights on the ceiling which provide a TON of light.  But we also have a light box in the center.  We're still trying to decide if we're going to do a chandelier or a fan there.

On one side of the porch, we have a table, chairs and the grill (probably should have taken the grill cover off for the pics...)  

On the other side is my new porch swing and Khloe's corner.

I'll do another post on this, but I bought an unfinished porch swing for WAY cheap and painted it.  I also made the pillows.  My favorite is the middle one with my baby's hand prints :)

We're loving spending time out here.  

The rest of the yard is looking great this year.  The grass has really come in well.  Here is the view from the road.  We purposely set our house back this far because we love the privacy it provides.

Here's the view as you come down our driveway.

So that's our yearly yard update :)

-Brooke