Posted in Not Just a Mom

Share Our Lives – January 2025

Posted on by jgalvinwhite

Hello and happy Monday!

Well, our three week break (two planned, one thanks to Mother Nature!) apparently continues. Due to many neighborhood roads not being plowed and other conditions, school has been called off again. This time, we are having an NTI day which means students will have assignments online.

It’s already the second Monday of the month, so I’m co-hosting the first Share Our Lives link up of 2025 with some of my favorite bloggers.

We’re starting the year off fresh talking about..saving time on chores.

Well, let me tell you ….it’s not asking your teens to help! haha

Cleaning and picking up are ongoing chores in our house. I have to admit that Trav is the cleaner, and I’m the tidier. Cleaning has never been my skill set, but the one chore, if I had to do it, would be dusting. I don’t mind doing that.

We are blessed to have a wonderful house cleaner who comes twice a month, so honestly, we don’t do a lot of cleaning in between. We do have Homer hair to keep up with, and Trav loves to use the Swiffer for that.

I always go to bed with a tidy house. I’ve always done that, but that especially became a priority when the kids were little. They had lots of toys in our living room and of course would get them out as soon as they got up. I still always put the toys in the corner, in baskets, etc. just to have a fresh start to the morning.

I typically do laundry only on the weekend, and we don’t do many loads. Travis takes care of himself. Hayden usually has the most clothes to wash due to his running. I tend to not have as much, and I usually toss my things in with Hadley’s dirty clothes. When the clothes are finished, I take them out of the basket and lay them flat/in piles on the kids’ beds and they put them away. I’ve been doing the kids’ laundry separately for years…even when they didn’t have as much. I still have to to lay the clothes out for them to put away, but I don’t have to sort them between family members.

I make sure the bathrooms have cleaning supplies to “clean as we go” for daily needs. I’d like the think the kids would wipe our their bathroom sink if there’s too much toothpaste if I leave a tub of Clorox wipes under their sink!

On Sundays, we “reset.” I let the kids have clothes on their floor, for example, but on Sunday, their rooms get picked up. Papers get thrown away, desks get tidied up, Chromebooks get charged for school and so on.

In the summer, a big chore is mowing the lawn. For years, we had a service mow, but for the past couple of summers, Trav and Hayden have split the duties. I’m in charge of watering the flowers in the spring and summer. Hadley helps with that as well.

I usually unload the dishwasher just out of convenience. I’m often in the kitchen getting ready to cook dinner and will unload our dishwasher. Of course, Trav does that too and the kids help occasionally.

Not chores, but we shared cleaning hacks in a Not Just a Mom post in 2023.

I’d love to have any ideas you have for saving time on chores.

Next month, our topic is tips for falling asleep. I have quite the formula for sleep…but I will save those thoughts for next month.

Have a great Monday.

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25 thoughts on “Share Our Lives – January 2025”

  1. I was just telling my husband that I used to get far more help out of the boys chore/household wise when they were little! They’re all just so busy that they’re rarely home to pitch in anymore.

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  2. Looks like you have it down to a science- nice! We have a cleaning person too and I don’t know what we would do without her- makes keeping up with cleaning and organizing doable!

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  3. That sounds like a great system! We are the same – I am better at cooking and Tom is better at cleaning. There are some things I do love to do – like mopping my mudroom and splashing a little Diva laundry in with it – I love that smell. I don’t mind using bathroom cleaners because I love that bleachy smell. Wow – maybe my thing is smells and I would be better if I loved all the smells of all the stuff?

    Tom takes Eddie Otis on a 2 hour field trip on Saturday mornings and that is when I get the bulk done. I also have everything straightened at the end of the day.

    I learned to not deal with kids’ rooms, bathroom, or their basement hang out space. They could be neater but it’s not horrible. They also vacuum most of the time so I don’t have to do that.

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    1. Yeah – Trav and I just naturally better/willing to do certain things haha
      My kids’ rooms stay manageable thankfully….definitely easier now then when they had more little things when they were little

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  4. See, for us, it is getting our teens to help! Families are so different but our kids are pretty good about pitching in when we tell them too. I love the idea of a “Sunday reset” and we really need to start implementing that.

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  5. Sounds like you have a really good system! I do wish I’d made a daily tidy-up an ingrained part of our lives when my kids were young because that would definitely have saved time (and effort) for all of us. My teens were pretty good helpers overall, but they didn’t leave the house for school so that made it possible for them to pitch in more. Great tips – and I’m really looking forward to what you have to share next month about getting to sleep!

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  8. It helps to have a lot of company. We get loads and it’s highly motivating in terms of keeping the house clean. My hubs likes to vacuum and clean the showers so those jobs are his. He’s a great help in the kitchen and in general likes to clean more than I do so we make a good team. I cook and he cleans up. Snow days are fun for a while, but I’m sure everyone is ready for some return to normalcy and routine. Have a nice week!

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