Journeyer’s Chronicles

Today I am in the unusual position of being at home with just Little Mermaid. The Thinker has taken The Engineer and Cinderella off to the football for the afternoon. What to do? A lazy Sunday? Hmm, sounds inviting.

However, as I folded washing yesterday I began to wonder how it came to be that I was spending my Saturday doing housework. This isn’t how it’s supposed to be. I’m supposed to get all the boring stuff done during the week so we can spend time together as a family on the weekends. I began to realise that I have been squandering my time during the week; procrastinating on the work that needs to be done around the house in favour of more “interesting” things.

So I decided that today would be a bit of a catch up day. It is ideal really, because I have much less chance of being distracted from my chores by the kids. Little Mermaid largely amuses herself, so I am left to get on with things.

Last night I began to prepare by reviewing my project/next action list. I now have a clear map of what needs to be done today in order to catch up. All that remains is to stay focussed.

During the week Simple Mom had an inspirational post on how to stay motivated with keeping house. I began to use this thought process a little while after The Engineer was born. I was finding it really tough to get motivation enough to keep on top of the housework, when it struck me one day that keeping house was my new job. If I was doing this job for someone else I wouldn’t be slacking off, finding more interesting stuff to do. So why was I treating my family like they were second rate simply because I could? It was the change in attitude that I needed to get me moving.

I’m going to work on my attitude again over the next few weeks. Keeping house and looking after my family is my job and we all deserve for it to be done well.

How do you approach your housework? Do you need some extra motivation or a change in attitude?