Chore Days

Chore Days

In Laura Ingalls' childhood, every day had it's own chore. It went like this:

Monday: Wash Day
Tuesday: Ironing Day
Wednesday: Sewing Day
Thursday: Churning (market day)
Friday: Cleaning Day
Saturday: Baking Day
Sunday: Lord's Day

Even into the 1960's and 70's it was very much the norm. However, it may have looked like this:

Monday: Wash Day
Tuesday: Ironing Day
Wednesday: Sewing Day
Thursday: Market Day
Friday: Cleaning Day
Saturday: Baking Day
Sunday: Day of Rest

As I keep on looking for ways to “simplify” and slow my life down, the more I find myself drawn to the “old ways”. My week tends to look more like this:

Monday: Baking Day
Tuesday: Paperwork/Desk Day
Wednesday: Sewing Day
Thursday: Market Day
Friday: Wash & Cleaning Day
Saturday: Fun Day
Sunday: Lord's Day

I've stuck to it this week more than any other. Of course “stuff happens” and things can get a bit jumbled up.

For example, Monday was still baking day, but I also worked on unpacking and getting the house settled after a trip. Tuesday I finished unpacking and did some paperwork. Wednesday I didn't even LOOK at the sewing machine, but I finished “mending” my computer (had to reload Windows just before I left on the trip so I finished downloading and upgrading boogobs of stuff). Now today is Thursday. The house is already “done up” and I'll run to the “market” to restock the cupboards and run by Lowe's for fencing (and take a gander at some seeds if they're in yet). Tomorrow is my wash and cleaning day. I'm looking forward to it... which is a little on the weird side.

As I've traveled through this week, a scripture keeps coming to mind:

Doctrine and Covenants 88:119-120, 124

119 ^aOrganize yourselves; prepare every needful thing; and establish a ^bhouse, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God;

120 That your ^aincomings may be in the name of the Lord; that your outgoings may be in the name of the Lord; that all your salutations may be in the name of the Lord, with ^buplifted hands unto the Most High.

. . .

124 Cease to be ^aidle; cease to be ^bunclean; cease to ^cfind fault one with another; cease to ^dsleep longer than is needful; retire to thy bed early, that ye may not be weary; arise early, that your bodies and your minds may be ^einvigorated.

I've thought about these much in the past but haven't acted on them very well. I was staying up too late at night and either oversleeping, or dragging myself out of bed and being weary all day. We were OK with our family prayers, but it wasn't as consistent as it ought to have been. I was always trying to do things in the wrong order as well.

According to the scripture, here's the proper order (that I wasn't doing):

1. Organize yourself
2. Prepare every needful thing
3. Establish a house
        of prayer
        of fasting
        of faith
        of learning
                to achieve a house
                        of glory
                        of order
                        of God
4. Cease to be
        idle
         unclean
         find fault
         sleep longer than needful
5. Achieve the above by
         retiring early
                 so you won't be weary
         arising early
                 so you can be invigorated

I don't know about you, but when I'm NOT weary and I'm invigorated in both body and mind, I am more productive (not idle), happier, more patient (not finding fault), and my mind is more easily focused on the good of life and my blessings (rather than being unclean by focusing on the negative).

And know what? The formula works!

I organized myself (thoughtfully and prayerfully made a schedule) and prepared every needful thing for doing so. (Got the house in a general sense of order and let go of perfectionism.)

My daily schedule looks a lot like this:

05:00 wake up, read scriptures (usually I do this before I get out of bed – I have them on my BlackBerry), get dressed, and then have some quiet time to myself. I may or may not play on the computer.

My body has always liked getting up this early... even as a child. I remember many mornings waking up to a dark and quiet house and turning on the TV and watching “Romper Room” before everyone else got up. I always wondered why she never called my name and how she could actually see all those other kids... “I see Bobby and Janey and Jill and Mike....” CHERYL! I'm CHERYL! Why can't you see me!?!? **sigh** and people wonder why I'm so whacked...

06:30 Make Breakfast

07:00 Eat Breakfast as a family.

I have found that I really do enjoy this. (It's a lot more fun now that I'm going to bed earlier.) Charlotte and I get to chat and she'll set the table and take care of the animals. When we finally roll Greg out of bed we have a family morning prayer and Greg will read scriptures to us while we eat (right now we're reading “Book of Mormon Stories”).

07:30 Charlotte leaves for school.

We watch her go off into the world for her daily dose of adventure and give the dog the breakfast leftovers from our plate. (It helps keep Socks from trying to follow Charlotte to school.) I get the house “done up” (dishes, litter box, sweeping, bed made). This is usually all done by around 08:00 (give or take 15 minutes).

09:00 Glenn Beck comes on the radio and he keeps me company while I do my “daily chore” - whatever that may be for the day. Most days this is done by 11:00 or so.

11:30 Lunch

12:00 Extra errands, nap, reading, visiting friends, going to the pool, or whatever the day calls for.

15:00 Charlotte comes home from school.

I like this time of day. I get to hear about her adventures and get to soak up “all the good stuff”. She'll do her homework and I may do some writing or a craft or work on dinner. Once her homework is done she gets time to play with a friend or just generally mess around.

17:30 Dinner.

We are fortunate that Greg gets off work between 16:30 and 17:00 and is only a few minutes away from home.

18:00 – 20:00 is family time.

Some nights there are church activities. Sometimes Charlotte may have a class. If we're home we may watch a DVD (LOVE Netflix!). Most of the time, though, we put on some quiet music and hang out together. Even if we're doing different things, we're still together. It's nice. Very 1950's. Dad reading the paper (online), mom doing a craft, child reading or playing quietly. Some nights we'll put on a audio book or we'll read out loud to each other. Tonight we're starting the Redwall series by Brian Jacques.

20:00 Charlotte finishes getting ready for bed.

20:30 Family prayer and then lights out for Charlotte. Mommy starts getting ready for bed.

21:00 Mommy goes to bed.

Then it starts all over again.

At first I thought doing this would be stifling. However, just the opposite has proven itself true.

I don't have to worry every day about “what's for dinner” because most of my meal planning and cooking has been done on Monday. (Sunday is always “leftovers” day.)

It's nice to get the mail and not have to “deal” with anything until Tuesday. But at the same time, I don't have to worry about anything either, because I'll handle it on Tuesday.

My mending won't pile up anymore because it will be done every Wednesday. It also gives me one day a week to enjoy sewing as a hobby.

I'm not running out of things, or running out to the store several times a week. I do that on Thursday. Very rarely will I find that I have to run an errand that can't wait until Thursday. We're also set for the weekend (especially Sunday) because I've done it on Thursday.

Laundry? That can wait. I like not having to worry about doing a load of laundry every day or having clothes to fold all the time. It all gets done of Friday. Changing the sheets, scrubbing the floors, cleaning the baseboards, dusting the junk... it's all done on Fridays. That means that Friday is busy, but it also means I don't have to worry about it through the week (hmmm... that window looks dirty... oh, well... it can wait until Friday). It also means that on Saturday the house is clean and we can go have fun as a family and not spend the day cleaning. The house is now ready for Sunday.

Sunday is the Lord's day. That's a whole post in itself. I've been studying a lot about the Sabbath and we're changing the way we've been going things and it's a good thing.

When the house is neat and orderly life seems simpler. It's easier to feel the Holy Spirit. The whole family is less distracted by the junk and it's easier to be spontaneous and say “Let's play a game”. It's easier to have family prayer and scripture study – we know where the scriptures are, and we're not running around like chickens with our heads cut off trying to get stuff together for school, or bed, or whatever. The time is naturally there to do the most important things.

It's easy to go to bed on time because by the time the dinner dishes are done everything is “done” for the day. All that's left to do is spend time with the family and set out my clothes for the next day (which is easy to do because all the laundry was done on Friday). It's easier to sleep because I know that I've done all I needed to do that day, I've had a little time with myself, some time with my family, and most importantly some time with my Heavenly Father.

It's nice to fall asleep thinking about all the good that has happened and all of my blessings. Even when they day before included arguing with the computer, listening to my child whine about homework, and finding out a tree has fallen on the car.

I slept well last night.