Thanks to this:
My sweet nine-year-old daughter came up with this:
(Monday-clean kids bathroom; Tuesday-clean my room; Wednesday-clean guest bathroom; Thursday-dust living room; Friday-clean schoolroom and laundry; Saturday-clean backyard and do flowerpot; Sunday-rest)
Needless to say, I was pretty pumped! If she’s going to be doing all this work, how that will ever lighten my load! So last night, about twenty minutes before bedtime, I am smiling as she tells me she’s going to go clean the kids’ bathroom because it’s “on her list”. Then, I walked into her room to find…quite a mess! When I ask her why there is laundry on the floor, toys scattered, etc., she tells me, “Oh, that work is for Tuesday!” WHAT??
It was then that we had a quick lesson on…priorities!
I’ve been at this homemaking thing for what’s getting close to eleven years now, and rest assured, I’ve had my share of plans and lists! I’ll be trucking right along feeling very organized for a few days, maybe even a week, until…one of my children gets sick… it’s revival week at church…it’s time to trade out fall clothes for spring clothes…we’re out of groceries BEFORE my designated “errand day”….you get the idea. Then everything gets out of sync and I’m scrambling to “catch up” with my plan and feeling very defeated.
Now, I know for some people, a very precise plan works beautifully (probably those whose children have left the nest, if I had to guess 
). But for me, I am learning that priorities and planning ahead work much better.
For example, my husband likes for the main living area of our home to stay pretty much picked up. Then, if something unexpected happens, we’re not embarrassed for someone to see our home or dreading going somewhere and coming back to a mess. However, there are other places in the home he I don’t think he would notice if I never cleaned! So, I have learned, that those days when I’m in a pinch for time, instead of dusting my bedroom so I can check it off my plan, it would bless my husband more to straighten the living room and light a candle. So, I try to do that! In the same way, I can’t wait until next week to do laundry if my son’s baseball game is tomorrow and he needs a clean uniform. So, I try to prioritize laundry based on what’s coming up. Finally, if a certain room is discouraging me every time I walk in it because it has become the clutter catch-all, and I have some free time, I’ll try to reorganize it rather than mopping a not-very-dirty floor.
For Carly, she learned that keeping her room picked up is her first “homemaking” responsibility each day, even before doing something else that would really help her Mom! And for this Mom, it thrills me to see her learning these skills at nine… rather than feeling the truckload of responsibility I felt fall into my lap when I married at twenty-two!
