As a full-time working mom, it’s very hard for me to keep up with the household duties. I’ve posted before about the expectations – false no doubt – that I’ve set for myself.

Elizabeth over at Career & Kids touched on the subject recently, when a friend of hers realized there’s not enough time in the week. As she mentions, when you’re working all week, you want to use the weekend to spend time with the family. That is when I’d like to take a trip to the zoo, the park, or sometimes it’s just a matter of the “must” trips – like grocery shopping that needs to be done.

What can working moms do to manage the housework?

I’m not sure I have the answer just yet, but I AM trying something new.

I’ve set up a weekly chore schedule and broken down the housework to a little each day – there’s even a day off!

Here’s my schedule:

• Sunday: clean bathrooms
• Monday: wash laundry
• Tuesday: fold laundry
• Wednesday: sweep & mop
• Thursday: vacuum
• Friday: OFF day
• Saturday: change bed sheets

Plus, every day is de-clutter day, since this can be done simultaneously with the other chores. That means, putting away toys, clearing the day’s mail, and other small tasks. The chores scheduled on the weekend can be done quickly in the morning before heading out for the day.

To keep track of my schedule, I’ve printed out Hannah Keeley’s Total Mom Chore Chart, but any calendar will do.

I’m hoping this will help keep me on track and make things a bit more manageable. I’ve just made my list this week, so I’m only starting to put it into practice.

How do you manage your housework?

Do you think it’s true you can find out a lot about your neighbor(s), just by looking at their trash?

Our next door neighbors just moved in a few weeks ago. Now, this is a brand-new, just built house.

The first weekend they were there, they pulled out carpet and had tile installed.

This morning, trash collection day, they had a bunch of empty boxes of hardwood floors out.

Now, I know this is horrible of me to think, but my first thought was, “They must have money”.

I mean, this is a brand-new, 2 story, 3 car garage house, and here they still have money to add tile and hardwood floors.

Yea, yea, maybe they had the money saved up in anticipation of the new home, but still, money is money.

What would the neighbors know by looking at my trash this morning?

Well, let’s see…

1. They’d know we have a toddler girl by seeing the empty box of Fisher Price Kitchen
2. They’d know we added shelves to her room
3. They’d know we keep the rest of our trash in the bin

What would people know if they looked in your trash?

You still stop by? Awwww, thanks!

I’ve been so out of it lately that I haven’t been keeping up very well with this blog.

My apologies….

Work is super busy and will continue to be for the next month or so.

Of course, any other spare moment we get is spent on fixing up the house.

Plus, we don’t have Internet set up at the house yet, so my only connection to the “outside world” is from work – where I don’t really have time to browse the web because I actually have to work (see above).

Ok, no more ranting.

The house is officialy ours, but we haven’t even made it over there yet!

After our closing on Wednesday afternoon, we went and did some comparison shopping for washers/dryers.

We didn’t get to stop by the house yesterday either, since we were both at work all day.

So, although we have a new house, we haven’t even been able to enjoy it thus far.

I’m hoping to go by today and we’re starting the move this weekend, but still, it kinda sucks when you think about it.

The next few weeks promise to be busy ones…

Oh! And we still haven’t done our taxes! I tell ya, it just never ends.

This afternoon is the closing for our new house! I’m very much excited and am ready to do some shopping.

If all goes well, we should be able to move out of the parents’ and into our new home this weekend.

Needless to say, this weekend will be a busy one.

Yet, somehow, I need to fit squeeze doing our taxes in there somewhere.

I know, I know. We are VERY late on doing our taxes this year, but it has been a busy last 4 months.

Wish me luck!

Today was a busy day, yet at the same time, it seemed like it took for.eeeee.ver to go by.

I guess it was just one of those days.

Good news, though!

We had the walk-through for the house this morning and it went well. Of course, there are minor things that need to be fixed up, but all looks good overall.

Our closing is still scheduled for next week, so it won’t be long before we are in our new house.

I still owe some pictures, I know. I’ll get right on that.

By the way, if you got any leads on some coupon codes for home decor (such as Bed Bath & Beyond, Linens n Things, Home Depot, Lowe’s or any other similar stores), I’d love for you to let me know! Just leave me a comment with the link. Thanks!

If you’ve been keeping up, you’ll know that we are in the process of building a house. I haven’t really been updating too much on it or posting pictures because I’m a slacker and haven’t taken the pics off my camera.

But that’s not important.

What’s important is that our closing is tentatively set for April 11th, which means we are less than 3 weeks away from getting our new home!

Today we are going by the house (once again – we just can’t stay away!) and will probably check every nook and cranny to be sure the builder is doing their job right.

We just want to prepare ahead of time for our walk-through, which will be on the 5th.

Can you tell I’m excited?!

Ok, so now we just have to choose paint colors, curtains, lighting…yada yada yada…

:sigh: Sooooo much to do!

technorati: new house, homes, moving

The husband and I have jumped on the bandwagon and began the South Beach diet yesterday. I hope I can make it through the first two weeks, where it seems like all you can eat is salad and eggs. Have I mentioned I’m not too fond of eggs?

The house is coming along pretty good. The construction is proceeding a lot faster than we expected. The frame of the house is already up, as well as the windows and roof. Next they’ll work on setting up the electrical layout and plumbing and after it goes through inspection, we’ll be ready for the drywall and much closer to the end. Looks like only a couple more months before we get to move in!

It was pretty much a quiet weekend, which is always a good thing. I got to spend a lot of time with baby girl on Saturday and although frustrating at times (she’s starting to throw major tantrums), it was all around a good day. Lots of singing, dancing, laughing and cuddling was involved. Those are the days that make me sad I’m not able to stay home with her, but at the same time, it gives me more reason to stay motivated and find a way to do just that.

Speaking of tantrums, the girl is only 1 and she has a major temper! Anytime we take something away from her or tell her NO, we get a full out screaming fit. We haven’t quite figured out the right way to handle these situations and it’s definitely a work in progress. I’ve heard to ignore the tantrum and let her cry it out, or to distract her with another toy, but both have their pros and cons. If you’ve got any tips for how you handled 1 year old tantrums (or are currently handling), please do let me know. I hate to see her throwing these fits, but I don’t want her to get spoiled either.

Have a great week everyone!

technorati: South beach diet, diets, south beach, tantrums, Mondays, stay at home

So we went by the lot of our new home – at my request – over the weekend. The husband thought it was a silly idea, since he was sure they haven’t done anything yet, but he drove me anyway. lol He can be such a good guy!

Alas, it looked exactly the same! lol Oh well, it was to be expected.


technorati: silly idea, good guy, new home

We bought a new home! That’s right – a NEW home, expected to be built by May/June 2007. We are so excited! Here’s a picture of our lot! lol

Expect lots more silly pictures of our home as it progresses.

Our baby girl already picked out her room! She loved this room in the model home – we feel we owe it to her to recreate it in our own home. I love it and hope we can pull it off! What do you think, you like it?

Here’s a close up for ya! It’s so pretty!

Oh! And here they painted the flowers on the wall and put a lamp/vase (not sure which one) in front to make it look like the flowers are coming out of it.


Now to find good decorating ideas for the rest of the house… I’m thinking stainless steel kitchen, of course my husband’s probably thinking BIG SCREEN TV!

technorati: big screen TV, new home, stainless steel kitchen, decorating