Alright, so everybody is at home. And your possibilities to go out are restricted. But you still have housekeeping to care for, meals to prepare, laundry to do. And the scale of these duties is even bigger since you have to prepare all the meals at home, it gets “untidy” faster and it seems that the washing machine will never stop.
Besides, you may have some work tasks waiting for you. So unless you tie your kids to get some peace and quietness at home there are little chances that you will last this interesting period of quarantine without emotional and physical breakdown.
But there is a way to survive this time with less stress and almost no shouting. You just need a plan and the will to stick to it.
The Plan
1.Plan to do the housework for one hour every day.
For example:
Monday — vacuum and mop the floor
Tuesday — do the dusting
Wednesday — clean the bathrooms
Thursday — clean the kitchen
Friday — tidy the wardrobe
Saturday — clean the windows or one of them and leave others for the next weeks
Sunday — change the bed linens
Next week you may have to repeat only part of the tasks so you may plan them to be done every other day. Similarly, you may plan to do the outdoor tasks.
2. Plan the meals for the week ahead.
In this way, you can have a clear overview of what should be in your shopping list for the week so that you can go to the groceries not more than once a week or order the delivery for a planned menu. You can also plan the meals of the week to be different and nutritious and try new recipes on the way.
A few examples of the main courses:
Monday — pasta with beef sauce
Tuesday — cheesecake
Wednesday — chicken meatballs
Thursday — turkey sausages
Friday — lasagna
Saturday — curd pancakes
Sunday — vegetable stew or smashed pumpkin soup
3. Check the washing basket every morning.
So that your family does not run out of clean clothes unexpectedly. See if it is enough laundry for one cycle. Try not to launch a half-empty washing machine and be mindful of the planet and your wallet.
4. Think of ideas for the time with kids.
You should use this period to connect or reconnect with them. Do something together every day — prepare dinner, do the housekeeping, read together, discuss what they have read that day, watch painting lessons on social media and paint together or do photography sessions of various things at home or of each other.
5. Spend some time on your own.
Even if it is only half an hour that you have. Do something pleasant — take a bath, do stretching exercises, read a book, gaze at the sky and daydream.
6. Plan to spend time with your other half.
Nab a few minutes during the day for you two — drink coffee looking at each other, not at the screens, have a chat during dinner, or share the housework.
7. If you have to work remotely, schedule the work throughout the day.
So that you can complete the priority tasks of the day and keep up with the house routine. It can be even nice to do breaks between work tasks and do some routine jobs to give some rest to your eyes and head.
Try not to stress out if you can not complete some of the tasks right away, even the simple ones.
Look at things philosophically — you can finish cleaning the kitchen in an hour when your kids will be having a nap or your partner will be able to spend some time with them after his online meeting is over.
Or you can finish cleaning it tomorrow but you will have some memorable moments with your family today.