8 Homemaking Routines That Save Me Hours Every Week
Over the years our schedules and routines have changed SO much. But there are 8 things that I have adopted that really make things run smoother around here and save me so much time. I don’t want to waste any of your precious time so in no particular order, here you go:
Meal planning a month at a time. I LOATHE meal planning and grocery shopping. It is probably my least favorite chore of being an adult. But, our family still has to eat and we eat at home 98% of the time. So years ago I started doing a rough meal plan for a month at a time. Obviously things change and we don’t always stick to it exactly but it makes ordering groceries every week faster when I don’t have to sit down and think of what we are going to have for dinner every single week.
Assigned laundry days for sheets/towels. I started washing our sheets every Sunday after we got married. It just became a normal routine. Now I wash sheets every Friday. Towels I wash on Tuesdays or Wednesdays. It is just kind of thing and habitual now to throw them in on those mornings. [More laundry tips HERE]
Friday grocery pick up (or delivery). This day has also changed depending on the season we are in. But having a regular scheduled day that we get groceries helps my brain. Thursday evenings I order groceries. Friday mornings we pick up groceries (and a Diet Coke from McDonald’s because I hate unloading groceries). There have been seasons that we get all of our groceries delivered and that is lovely too!
Laundry loads. I do not sort laundry by colors. Let me say it again [gasp], I DO NOT SORT LAUNDRY BY COLORS. And everything has survived. When we started fostering, laundry started to be the biggest thorn in my side especially when we had 3 kids. So I switched things and everyone had a laundry basket. I wash each persons laundry as a load. There is no sorting by colors. There is no sorting who’s laundry is who’s after. If it’s your basket, you help fold it and put it away. Easy done. I’ve yet to destroy any white clothes so I say this is a winning life choice in our house.
Freeze left overs/batch cook and freeze. This is something I have started doing in the last year. I was tired of wasting so many left overs so I started freezing anything that made sense. Left over spaghetti sauce, freeze in muffin cups. Left over enchilada sauce, freeze. Big pot of pinto or black beans, freeze in smaller containers for following weeks. This has created far less waste and usually we have something in the freezer now that if I need a quick dinner, I can grab something I threw in the freezer previously.
Quick bathroom clean. If there is a chore I hate almost as much as meal planning, it’s cleaning the bathrooms. And they get gross SO fast. I do a quick bathroom clean weekly (or more then once a week really) so I am not having a deep clean required on them at all times.
Door basket. It doesn’t matter where we live, there is always a counter spot that becomes the drop zone for all the things and just collects clutter. Don’t lie, you have a spot too. I got a basket and we put all paper, mail etc in the basket. Then I deal with the basket once a week. It has drastically cut down on our counter clutter situation.
Evening shut down. This is still something I am trying my best to get in habit of. Because when I do, it makes mornings much more lovely (and I am NOT a morning person but the rest of my family is). I make sure the kitchen is completely clean and picked up before bed. We run the dishwasher every single night so in the morning, it is clean. Probably sounds like well yeah, duh. But let’s be honest, how often do we walk away and leave stuff around the kitchen because by evening time, we are just done for the day.
So there you have it. In no particular order or fancy things, my 8 routines that save me hours every single week.