Chores and personal progress

   Doing personal progress as a leader is such a different experience than doing personal progress as a youth.  As a leader, you generally have a lot of life experience at this point, and you have already done things that personal progress helps you to do like improve talents and such.  If you have been a member for most of your life, you likely have already read The Book of Mormon or received a patriarchal blessing.  I didn't realize that personal progress has many goals of giving young women some life skills like learning how to budget, prepare meals, etc.  But even as an adult, I know that I have opportunities to improve my skill set with personal progress as a motivator.  So my value project for choice and accountability is to learn how to manage my household better.  At the end of each value project, the program asks you to record your thoughts on the experience as a whole, so I thought I'd share my experience here, since blogging or writing is another talent I would like to improve (killing two birds with one stone).    

   I know that managing a household is an umbrella of responsibilities, but I've been specifically working on regularly cleaning my house and for a way to make my life easier.  After dealing with morning sickness and fatigue for a few months, I realized that I had a difficult time regularly cleaning my house because of the way I cleaned it wasn't very efficient since I would try to fit all of the cleaning within a couple of days every couple weeks or so, but since I no longer have the energy to do that being pregnant and having a larger home to clean, I knew that I needed to change my routine.
    So I looked for ways to simplify the chores around the house, and I found that--believe it or not--that a chore chart was the best solution.  I guess each person has their own approach to doing the chores around their house because I found a number of ideas on cleaning house regularly.  But I decided after looking through some of the chore charts that my approach was to fit certain chores within a week, and not a particular day.  Since daily schedules can sometimes be hectic within themselves, I thought it would be best to manage my time weekly based off of my weekly schedule.   So I would look at my schedule for the week, and then fill in which chores I'd do on certain days.  Since I have been in my third trimester of pregnancy, splitting up all the chores over the week has rather than doing them all on one day in the week (which can be done if necessary) has been so helpful to completing them.  

   Chore Chart:

Daily:

Dishes

Clean up kitchen counters

Clear Clutter

2-3 times a week:

One load of laundry

Sweep floors

Recycling

Odd weeks of the month:

Clean bathrooms, wash bedding/towels, wipe down windows

Even weeks of the month:

Clean the floors (vacuum, sweep/mop), dust

Once a month:

Wipe down furniture and cabinets—Week 1

Microwave and fridge—Week 2

Wipe down walls, doors, and baseboards—Week 3

Clean rugs and upholstery—Week 4

    I implemented this chart mid-February, and I have to say that I haven't been as faithful to this chart as I thought I would be, but I have been SO much better about regularly cleaning certain areas of my house like the bathrooms or floors and I'll find myself saying, "Well, I have some time, so I'll clean microwave today or I'll dust this part of the house that noticed that needs it."  I definitely feel more accomplished in this part of managing my household especially since I know the last time I cleaned a certain area of my house!  (At some point, I hope to be so good about cleaning up, that I'll have a clean kitchen at the end of the night including counters being wiped down and dishes washed, but we'll get there some day...)

  

  I know that cleaning house regularly sounds like a silly accomplishment, but I love feeling more organized and just able to relax a bit more since sometimes clutter can make me antsy or unable to focus.  I also love that I am following the Lord's counsel.  I know the Lord is speaking specifically about a temple in the following scripture, but in some respects, we can model our homes after the temple:  

  "Organize yourselves; prepare every needful thing; and establish a house, 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 (Doctrine and Covenants 88:119)."

  I like to think that I am trying to make myself a house of order (which includes a clean house) so that I can devote myself--and not feel stressed-- to having a house of learning, for instance.  I also have tried to change my attitude towards cleaning so that instead of saying, "I need to get this done," I'll try to say, "I'd like to do this, so that I can focus on doing this project."    

   We'll see how this chore chart works after I have a baby!  This chore chart gives me some hope that I can learn how to split up my duties around the house so much better now for the future.  I recognize that cleaning isn't at the top of our priorities all the time, but I recognize that I can always adjust my approach to managing my house.