1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:02,560 Thanks for joining me. In today's episode, I'm going to 2 00:00:02,560 --> 00:00:07,480 talk you through getting started on your housework, and I'm also 3 00:00:07,480 --> 00:00:11,000 going to talk about the importance of having structure 4 00:00:11,000 --> 00:00:16,040 in your day and how it can help you create an effective morning 5 00:00:16,079 --> 00:00:21,040 routine. I'm Ronnie and you're listening 6 00:00:21,040 --> 00:00:24,560 to Clean With Me, the podcast where I walk you through 7 00:00:24,560 --> 00:00:26,720 cleaning your house step by step. 8 00:00:27,200 --> 00:00:30,800 When you clean along with this show, you'll get more done in 9 00:00:30,800 --> 00:00:34,120 less time so you can spend the rest of your day doing what 10 00:00:34,120 --> 00:00:38,880 matters most to you. It's time to gear up for our 11 00:00:38,880 --> 00:00:42,160 cleaning session. The first thing I want you to do 12 00:00:42,160 --> 00:00:47,840 is get presentable. Maybe you're not dressed for the 13 00:00:47,840 --> 00:00:51,480 day yet, or maybe you just need to slip some shoes on. 14 00:00:52,160 --> 00:00:57,080 Or maybe you need to run a brush through your hair with the help 15 00:00:57,080 --> 00:01:00,360 of a spray bottle to get rid of that bed head. 16 00:01:00,800 --> 00:01:04,000 Maybe you like to put your hair up, or maybe you wear it down. 17 00:01:04,000 --> 00:01:05,800 That's where the spray bottle can come in. 18 00:01:06,040 --> 00:01:07,480 Actually, the spray bottle can help. 19 00:01:07,880 --> 00:01:09,200 Either way. When I put my hair in a 20 00:01:09,200 --> 00:01:13,320 ponytail, I often use a a spray bottle for that. 21 00:01:14,480 --> 00:01:17,960 And when I say spray bottle, I'm usually talking about a leave in 22 00:01:18,120 --> 00:01:21,240 conditioner of some sort. But I've also been known to just 23 00:01:21,240 --> 00:01:26,360 use plain water or refill that conditioning spray bottle with 24 00:01:26,360 --> 00:01:29,480 water. But I want you to do whatever 25 00:01:29,480 --> 00:01:34,520 helps you feel presentable. This could mean washing your 26 00:01:34,520 --> 00:01:39,360 face and putting on some moisturizer, or it could mean 27 00:01:39,360 --> 00:01:42,320 going a few steps further and adding some makeup. 28 00:01:42,520 --> 00:01:47,320 For me, mascara is a must. Some type of lip balm is a must 29 00:01:48,360 --> 00:01:54,320 and lately I like to mix a tinted sunscreen like a tinted 30 00:01:54,320 --> 00:02:00,680 minerals sunscreen in with my daily moisturizing cream. 31 00:02:01,760 --> 00:02:05,320 It's kind of my summer look. I'm not typically putting on 32 00:02:05,320 --> 00:02:10,080 actual foundation more than like once a week or something. 33 00:02:11,240 --> 00:02:14,680 If the sound quality is slightly different, please forgive me. 34 00:02:14,680 --> 00:02:18,560 Most episodes are not like this. I'm not in my desk with my 35 00:02:18,560 --> 00:02:21,520 professional mic right now. I'm recording out in the car 36 00:02:21,520 --> 00:02:23,120 because I have a house full today. 37 00:02:24,520 --> 00:02:30,520 But lately my morning routine has been so crucial that I 38 00:02:30,520 --> 00:02:36,160 wanted to talk about it. Sometimes in the summer, those 39 00:02:36,160 --> 00:02:39,880 who are stay at home moms with kids or maybe people who work 40 00:02:39,880 --> 00:02:45,480 part time or work from home. Just if you have kids and 41 00:02:46,240 --> 00:02:50,000 getting them to school provides some kind of structure for you, 42 00:02:51,400 --> 00:02:56,560 there could be a tendency to kind of drop the ball and be a 43 00:02:56,560 --> 00:03:02,600 little bit disorganized. And obviously the summer is a 44 00:03:02,600 --> 00:03:09,480 time to do things differently and enjoy the freedom that you 45 00:03:09,480 --> 00:03:13,080 know your life not revolving around the school year can 46 00:03:13,080 --> 00:03:16,360 provide. But that having been said, you 47 00:03:16,360 --> 00:03:19,520 still need some kind of structure in your day. 48 00:03:20,360 --> 00:03:27,240 My mom used to always have us do a certain list of chores before 49 00:03:27,440 --> 00:03:29,480 swimming. Like we had some chores we had 50 00:03:29,480 --> 00:03:33,560 to do in the morning, then we'd have lunch, then we'd wait the 51 00:03:33,560 --> 00:03:35,800 30 minutes. Remember when they used to tell 52 00:03:35,800 --> 00:03:37,960 you that wait 30 minutes before swimming? 53 00:03:38,280 --> 00:03:41,040 I mean, it's probably still a good idea if you're doing some 54 00:03:41,040 --> 00:03:44,200 kind of intensive swimming in deep water where you could like 55 00:03:44,200 --> 00:03:45,480 freeze up and drown or something. 56 00:03:45,480 --> 00:03:49,000 But like I think we had to wait there, but I mean we had to wait 57 00:03:49,000 --> 00:03:53,080 30 minutes before going out to our 4 foot above ground pool as 58 00:03:53,080 --> 00:03:58,080 school aged kids. But my point is that was the 59 00:03:58,080 --> 00:04:02,280 structure that she created in the summer, even though she 60 00:04:02,280 --> 00:04:05,560 could kind of sleep in, let us get our own cereal and watch 61 00:04:05,560 --> 00:04:11,080 cartoons, we had to do certain housework before lunch. 62 00:04:11,360 --> 00:04:15,200 And then we got to look forward to swimming, whether it was in 63 00:04:15,200 --> 00:04:18,880 our own yard or we were going to a public pool that day. 64 00:04:19,320 --> 00:04:23,680 And often times we had swimming lessons for a couple weeks 65 00:04:23,680 --> 00:04:30,160 during the summer, and that also kind of gave us a deadline for 66 00:04:30,160 --> 00:04:33,640 getting our chores done. The swimming lessons were 67 00:04:33,640 --> 00:04:36,320 typically late morning. So we'd do our chores, we'd go 68 00:04:36,320 --> 00:04:38,920 to swimming lessons, and then we'd come home and have lunch 69 00:04:39,240 --> 00:04:40,840 and then we could play the rest of the day. 70 00:04:41,600 --> 00:04:45,280 And we did not have a lot of chores, but whatever she wanted 71 00:04:45,280 --> 00:04:49,920 us to get done, she would use the swimming as an incentive. 72 00:04:50,560 --> 00:04:53,400 Hopefully by now you've done whatever you needed to do to 73 00:04:53,440 --> 00:04:55,320 gear up for your cleaning session. 74 00:04:55,640 --> 00:04:59,320 You're looking presentable, or you started some laundry, or 75 00:04:59,320 --> 00:05:03,400 ideally both. The next thing I want you to do 76 00:05:03,400 --> 00:05:07,520 is gather up any dishes from around the house and get those 77 00:05:07,520 --> 00:05:10,200 to the sink. And then once you've done that, 78 00:05:10,200 --> 00:05:13,000 straighten up your immediate front entrance. 79 00:05:13,040 --> 00:05:16,440 If your front entryway and living room are one of the one 80 00:05:16,440 --> 00:05:20,160 in the same, you might want to even pick up the living room. 81 00:05:20,560 --> 00:05:23,840 OK, remove any clutter from the floor. 82 00:05:24,040 --> 00:05:28,800 Straighten those couch cushions or just, you know, clean up your 83 00:05:28,800 --> 00:05:33,920 foyer entryway area as well as getting all of the dishes to the 84 00:05:33,920 --> 00:05:36,120 kitchen because of course we're going to do dishes. 85 00:05:36,120 --> 00:05:40,400 That's an important part of your morning routine. 86 00:05:40,480 --> 00:05:47,640 Unless you are doing your evening routine late, as far as 87 00:05:47,640 --> 00:05:50,320 out, you know, the kitchen's closed, you're closing the 88 00:05:50,320 --> 00:05:52,640 kitchen, you're getting down to dish 0. 89 00:05:53,120 --> 00:05:56,840 But sometimes there can be a tendency for dishes to 90 00:05:56,840 --> 00:06:00,920 accumulate in the evening even after you clean up the dinner 91 00:06:00,920 --> 00:06:04,480 mess. OK, so whether you cleaned up 92 00:06:04,480 --> 00:06:09,720 your dinner mess and then other dishes happened or you didn't 93 00:06:09,720 --> 00:06:14,120 even clean up the dinner mess, sometimes dealing with those 94 00:06:14,120 --> 00:06:18,200 dishes is an important part of your morning routine. 95 00:06:19,240 --> 00:06:21,960 And of course, the first step is getting them to the kitchen. 96 00:06:22,000 --> 00:06:25,800 And then having this, the front entrance presentable can make 97 00:06:25,800 --> 00:06:29,600 you feel ready for somebody coming to the door or someone in 98 00:06:29,600 --> 00:06:32,520 your family coming home. But while you're doing that, 99 00:06:32,520 --> 00:06:36,360 I'll just talk about some things that have helped create 100 00:06:36,360 --> 00:06:40,240 structure for me over the years. When we first moved to this 101 00:06:40,240 --> 00:06:47,400 town, I did not know anyone here and I was a stay at home mom. 102 00:06:48,000 --> 00:06:50,240 I hadn't even started this podcast yet. 103 00:06:50,240 --> 00:06:54,960 So I did a little bit of writing, but I wasn't really in 104 00:06:54,960 --> 00:06:59,320 writing mode per SE. So I was kind of just a full 105 00:06:59,320 --> 00:07:04,160 blown stay at home mom when we first got here, and not to this 106 00:07:04,160 --> 00:07:09,280 house, but to this town. And one way that I kind of 107 00:07:09,280 --> 00:07:14,200 motivated myself each day is I would get dressed for the day, 108 00:07:14,600 --> 00:07:17,760 get in my car. My kids were old enough to stay 109 00:07:17,760 --> 00:07:21,240 home alone. I would get in the car and drive 110 00:07:21,240 --> 00:07:27,000 through Sonic and get myself an iced coffee with chocolate. 111 00:07:27,000 --> 00:07:28,680 They don't call it an iced mocha there. 112 00:07:28,680 --> 00:07:31,840 It's an iced coffee and then you have chocolate added to it or 113 00:07:31,840 --> 00:07:33,680 whatever. But it was basically an ice 114 00:07:33,680 --> 00:07:38,240 mocha. I would get that and it was 32 115 00:07:38,240 --> 00:07:40,280 oz. I don't know how many calories 116 00:07:40,280 --> 00:07:42,360 it had. Unfortunately it caused me to 117 00:07:42,360 --> 00:07:46,400 gain weight so I could have picked a lower calorie option to 118 00:07:46,400 --> 00:07:49,520 start my day. And I still drink sweet coffee 119 00:07:49,520 --> 00:07:51,240 every morning. But this was too big of a 120 00:07:51,240 --> 00:07:53,800 container. It was like 32 oz, or maybe it 121 00:07:53,800 --> 00:07:55,160 was 40. I don't know. 122 00:07:55,160 --> 00:08:00,040 It was big, so I'm not really condoning the size of my 123 00:08:00,040 --> 00:08:05,560 breakfast drink, but it was helpful for me to get ready for 124 00:08:05,560 --> 00:08:10,080 the day and then go out for coffee instead of making it at 125 00:08:10,080 --> 00:08:13,680 home. And now I normally make my 126 00:08:13,680 --> 00:08:16,200 coffee at home. I've got cold brew in the 127 00:08:16,200 --> 00:08:18,280 fridge. I've got a Keurig. 128 00:08:18,600 --> 00:08:21,760 So I have all these options for making coffee at home and it's 129 00:08:21,760 --> 00:08:25,280 typically what I do. But during that era, I just 130 00:08:25,280 --> 00:08:29,200 needed to get up and ready and get out of the house. 131 00:08:29,640 --> 00:08:33,760 Also, I was homeschooling at that time, so I didn't have the 132 00:08:33,760 --> 00:08:36,360 school commute. It was, you know, always kind of 133 00:08:36,360 --> 00:08:40,080 like summer in that I could start my day whenever I wanted 134 00:08:40,080 --> 00:08:45,120 to and it just didn't have as much structure because typically 135 00:08:45,120 --> 00:08:47,400 when you're, you're homeschooling, you do have a 136 00:08:47,400 --> 00:08:51,160 start time, but it's not as early. 137 00:08:51,280 --> 00:08:54,320 You're not getting your kids up as early as you would if they 138 00:08:54,320 --> 00:08:59,560 needed to get ready, pack a lunch and all the things like 139 00:08:59,680 --> 00:09:02,480 you're starting a little later when you don't have all that 140 00:09:02,480 --> 00:09:06,520 other stuff to do. So that was how I injected 141 00:09:06,520 --> 00:09:10,600 structure into my day, by getting fixed up, getting that 142 00:09:10,600 --> 00:09:15,440 caffeine, and then I'd come back and do my housework and get my 143 00:09:15,440 --> 00:09:20,360 kids up and start their day. At other times in my life, 144 00:09:20,760 --> 00:09:24,720 getting up and getting the kids ready for school and dropping 145 00:09:24,720 --> 00:09:28,680 them off provided the necessary structure because then when I 146 00:09:28,680 --> 00:09:34,360 got back, I was already dressed for the day, fixed up and ready 147 00:09:34,360 --> 00:09:39,160 to tackle my housework. And then of course, working 148 00:09:39,160 --> 00:09:44,680 outside the home is another way that my day was structured. 149 00:09:45,440 --> 00:09:49,280 I've worked full time off and on and I've also talked about the 150 00:09:49,280 --> 00:09:54,480 fact that working part time is best for me. 151 00:09:54,480 --> 00:09:57,440 I do like to get out of the house and do some work, but I 152 00:09:57,440 --> 00:10:01,680 also like being a homemaker and working part time is the best 153 00:10:01,680 --> 00:10:07,160 balance for me. And I used to have a job where I 154 00:10:07,160 --> 00:10:11,440 would work in the morning, I think it was like 9 to one or 155 00:10:11,440 --> 00:10:13,440 something. And it was just the ideal 156 00:10:13,440 --> 00:10:16,640 schedule for me because I got fixed up, dressed to the shoes, 157 00:10:16,960 --> 00:10:20,000 and then I got home and still had a lot of energy because I'd 158 00:10:20,000 --> 00:10:22,400 only worked a half shift basically. 159 00:10:24,080 --> 00:10:27,480 And I'm not saying if you're a full time stay at home mom that 160 00:10:27,480 --> 00:10:29,400 you need to get a part job, part time job. 161 00:10:29,400 --> 00:10:32,800 I'm not saying that at all. I'm just saying that's kind of 162 00:10:32,800 --> 00:10:37,120 what works for me. But during times when I was a 163 00:10:37,120 --> 00:10:42,840 full time homemaker, I had to find other ways to inject 164 00:10:42,840 --> 00:10:49,600 structure into my day. Right now all I'm doing is the 165 00:10:49,600 --> 00:10:53,000 podcast and college classes because as you know, I work at a 166 00:10:53,000 --> 00:10:56,200 school and we're out for the summer. 167 00:10:56,840 --> 00:11:02,000 So something that has provided me with structure so far this 168 00:11:02,000 --> 00:11:07,640 summer is getting up and making my son's lunch. 169 00:11:07,760 --> 00:11:10,680 My oldest son is staying with us right now and he works somewhere 170 00:11:10,680 --> 00:11:14,840 where he can't like buy a lunch. So I've been making in burritos 171 00:11:14,840 --> 00:11:20,480 in the morning and that causes me to kind of detail my kitchen. 172 00:11:20,480 --> 00:11:24,800 It's a time when I can put away my clean dishes and wash any 173 00:11:24,800 --> 00:11:30,000 dishes that were left from the night before and it it just gets 174 00:11:30,000 --> 00:11:35,160 me up and going. Another possible way to inject 175 00:11:35,160 --> 00:11:39,960 some structure into your day is putting your kids in some kind 176 00:11:39,960 --> 00:11:45,960 of swimming lessons or day camp. This week my youngest son is in 177 00:11:45,960 --> 00:11:50,240 firefighter training. He also has soccer practice on 178 00:11:50,240 --> 00:11:55,280 Monday and Friday evenings, but that's later on, so it doesn't 179 00:11:55,280 --> 00:11:57,360 really help with the morning routine. 180 00:11:58,400 --> 00:12:01,320 So I got started even earlier today because he has the 181 00:12:01,320 --> 00:12:06,240 firefighter training, but even before that started and long 182 00:12:06,240 --> 00:12:11,840 after it ends, I'm going to be up making my other son's lunch 183 00:12:11,840 --> 00:12:15,240 in the morning. It's time to get started on your 184 00:12:15,240 --> 00:12:19,000 dishes, whatever that means for you, if you haven't already done 185 00:12:19,000 --> 00:12:23,160 so again, you might have had some dishes from the night 186 00:12:23,160 --> 00:12:26,520 before, Now's the time to do those. 187 00:12:26,520 --> 00:12:30,040 If you don't have dirty dishes from the night before, now's a 188 00:12:30,040 --> 00:12:34,120 great time to empty your drying rack or empty your dishwasher. 189 00:12:34,720 --> 00:12:38,320 And of course, it's always a good time to wipe down the 190 00:12:38,320 --> 00:12:43,000 surfaces in your kitchen. But I want you to spend a few 191 00:12:43,000 --> 00:12:49,240 minutes getting down to dish 0, wiping down your surfaces, and 192 00:12:49,240 --> 00:12:54,120 then sweeping or vacuuming the kitchen if needed. 193 00:12:54,680 --> 00:12:58,040 If that's not needed, of course, you can just do kind of a whole 194 00:12:58,040 --> 00:13:02,680 house pickup starting with throwing away trash and then 195 00:13:02,760 --> 00:13:05,800 dealing with whatever other clutter is around. 196 00:13:06,800 --> 00:13:12,320 But while you're working on dishes or surfaces or picking 197 00:13:12,320 --> 00:13:15,040 up. I just wanted to say that I, I 198 00:13:15,040 --> 00:13:20,640 just got a new toy, so to speak, and it's the shark lift away 199 00:13:20,640 --> 00:13:22,920 navigator. Basically, I just went into 200 00:13:22,920 --> 00:13:26,120 Walmart and I got the most expensive Shark that they had, 201 00:13:26,120 --> 00:13:29,280 but I googled like what's the best one on dry floor, you know, 202 00:13:29,280 --> 00:13:31,880 hard floors or whatever and got that. 203 00:13:32,040 --> 00:13:34,680 And then my husband and I were talking and I was like, I don't 204 00:13:34,680 --> 00:13:36,680 think I'm going to use this all over the house, even though you 205 00:13:36,680 --> 00:13:38,280 can put it on different settings. 206 00:13:38,680 --> 00:13:42,520 I'm going to keep using my existing vacuum on the carpet 207 00:13:42,800 --> 00:13:45,480 and I'm just going to use this one in the kitchen because I 208 00:13:45,480 --> 00:13:47,440 don't want it to wear out or whatever. 209 00:13:47,960 --> 00:13:49,920 I want it to last as long as possible. 210 00:13:50,600 --> 00:13:52,800 And I told him I just hate sweeping. 211 00:13:53,000 --> 00:13:56,840 And this is probably the third house that I've had that had a 212 00:13:56,840 --> 00:14:00,200 huge kitchen. No, I don't have a huge house, 213 00:14:00,360 --> 00:14:03,640 but I'm talking about a lot of the house. 3 of the houses that 214 00:14:03,640 --> 00:14:08,240 I've lived in, including this one, had huge eat in kitchens 215 00:14:08,240 --> 00:14:12,480 where just a lot of the square footage is in the kitchen. 216 00:14:13,840 --> 00:14:16,720 Sweeping might not be a big deal if you just have some small 217 00:14:16,720 --> 00:14:20,200 U-shaped kitchen. In fact, in one house we lived 218 00:14:20,200 --> 00:14:23,400 in, the house was 1900 square feet, but the kitchen was 219 00:14:23,400 --> 00:14:28,400 similar to an apartment kitchen in size, and that was nice. 220 00:14:28,400 --> 00:14:31,480 When it was time to sweep, sweeping wasn't a big deal, but 221 00:14:31,680 --> 00:14:34,480 there was a challenge as far as storage because we didn't have 222 00:14:34,480 --> 00:14:37,720 much cabinet space and I had to get like a different container 223 00:14:37,720 --> 00:14:41,560 to put things in. But if you've got a huge kitchen 224 00:14:41,560 --> 00:14:46,440 like me and you despise sweeping, I definitely recommend 225 00:14:46,440 --> 00:14:52,440 investing in a quality vacuum that's good on hard floors. 226 00:14:53,000 --> 00:14:58,560 I'm talking something that can suck up cat litter, Cheerios, 227 00:14:58,560 --> 00:15:00,000 whatever. OK. 228 00:15:00,480 --> 00:15:06,400 And no, our litter box isn't in the kitchen per SE, but it's in 229 00:15:06,400 --> 00:15:10,800 like the opposite corner. It's in that tiled area, but 230 00:15:10,800 --> 00:15:15,400 it's in the opposite corner, like past where my dining room 231 00:15:15,400 --> 00:15:20,400 table is. And so I wanted to make sure 232 00:15:20,400 --> 00:15:25,840 that whatever I got would vacuum up any cat litter that happens 233 00:15:25,840 --> 00:15:32,000 to get kicked up onto the tile. And of course, Cheerios are just 234 00:15:32,000 --> 00:15:34,760 an example of something that's not super tiny. 235 00:15:35,640 --> 00:15:41,240 But in reality, my dogs will eat any Cheerios typically that end 236 00:15:41,240 --> 00:15:43,920 up on the floor. If you're wondering why I have 237 00:15:43,920 --> 00:15:47,880 Cheerios on the floor sometimes, I have grandkids and they're 238 00:15:47,880 --> 00:15:50,760 toddlers. Most of you are probably 239 00:15:50,760 --> 00:15:54,480 plugging away at dishes. But if you don't have any dishes 240 00:15:54,480 --> 00:15:59,120 to wash or put away, obviously be wiping down your countertops 241 00:15:59,160 --> 00:16:02,000 and sweeping or vacuuming the kitchen. 242 00:16:02,400 --> 00:16:05,760 And if that doesn't need to be done or you get it done super 243 00:16:05,760 --> 00:16:09,560 fast, the next step is to go through your whole house picking 244 00:16:09,560 --> 00:16:14,240 up. By the way, special thanks to my 245 00:16:14,240 --> 00:16:20,120 financial supporters who support this show either on Patreon or 246 00:16:20,120 --> 00:16:22,560 Apple Podcasts or some other way. 247 00:16:23,000 --> 00:16:27,280 When you subscribe to bonus content, you unlock longer 248 00:16:27,280 --> 00:16:30,640 episodes. Not every episode is longer, but 249 00:16:30,640 --> 00:16:34,840 in general, the bonus episodes tend to be longer and you're not 250 00:16:34,840 --> 00:16:40,480 really on the full program until you subscribe to bonus content. 251 00:16:40,600 --> 00:16:43,440 But I understand not everybody's able to subscribe and just 252 00:16:43,440 --> 00:16:46,520 listening helps me, but I wanted to give myself a little plug 253 00:16:46,520 --> 00:16:49,240 there. This is going to be a short 254 00:16:49,240 --> 00:16:53,000 episode. Most of the free ones are, but 255 00:16:53,000 --> 00:16:56,520 one of the reasons it's so short is I do have company right now 256 00:16:56,520 --> 00:16:59,960 and I want to spend quality time with my granddaughters before 257 00:16:59,960 --> 00:17:03,080 they go home. Jessica's in town with the 258 00:17:03,080 --> 00:17:09,359 girls, but I've really been keeping on top of my housework, 259 00:17:09,359 --> 00:17:13,280 especially the kitchen. So I just wanted to share with 260 00:17:13,280 --> 00:17:18,960 you that having something that you do in the morning that gets 261 00:17:18,960 --> 00:17:22,359 you to start your day at a certain time is kind of 262 00:17:22,359 --> 00:17:26,079 important. And your summers could be a 263 00:17:26,079 --> 00:17:32,200 little bit laid back, but you still need to get started early 264 00:17:32,320 --> 00:17:36,880 in the day and set yourself up for a successful day. 265 00:17:37,640 --> 00:17:42,200 So hopefully I've helped you think about your summer routine 266 00:17:42,800 --> 00:17:46,600 and if you work from home or you work outside the home and 267 00:17:46,800 --> 00:17:52,120 basically you go to work every morning, even in the summer, you 268 00:17:52,120 --> 00:17:56,240 definitely want to have a few things that you do before work. 269 00:17:56,240 --> 00:18:02,280 Obviously you need to get fixed up, maybe pack a lunch, but try 270 00:18:02,280 --> 00:18:05,160 to have a couple things that you do for your house. 271 00:18:05,160 --> 00:18:07,320 Because when you do things for your house, you're doing things 272 00:18:07,320 --> 00:18:09,400 for yourself. You're improving your quality of 273 00:18:09,400 --> 00:18:12,280 life by improving your surroundings. 274 00:18:13,360 --> 00:18:17,920 OK, but some of us need a little more structure to make sure that 275 00:18:17,920 --> 00:18:21,520 we're consistently doing certain things early in the morning. 276 00:18:22,800 --> 00:18:26,880 And I also wanted to give you permission to get some type of 277 00:18:26,880 --> 00:18:32,920 vacuum for your kitchen floor. If you're one of the huge 278 00:18:32,920 --> 00:18:37,440 kitchen girlies like me and you have a large expanse of flooring 279 00:18:37,800 --> 00:18:41,440 and you despise sweeping with a broom, obviously you'll still 280 00:18:41,440 --> 00:18:43,600 use the broom in certain situations. 281 00:18:44,000 --> 00:18:46,960 You know, you break a jar, you're sweeping up glass or 282 00:18:46,960 --> 00:18:48,840 something. Yes, of course. 283 00:18:49,120 --> 00:18:55,200 But I'm saying I don't like to have to just sweep every 284 00:18:55,200 --> 00:18:57,840 particle of dust from my kitchen floor. 285 00:18:58,480 --> 00:19:02,080 And for you, it might be something else in your housework 286 00:19:02,080 --> 00:19:05,880 that you don't like doing, and it might make sense for you to 287 00:19:05,880 --> 00:19:10,960 buy some kind of gadget or tool to make that easier. 288 00:19:10,960 --> 00:19:14,640 Or maybe delegate it to someone in the family who doesn't 289 00:19:14,640 --> 00:19:19,160 despise it as much as you do. I mean, it's summer. 290 00:19:19,160 --> 00:19:22,760 You could hire a teenager to come over and do certain aspects 291 00:19:22,760 --> 00:19:24,560 of your housework if you can afford it. 292 00:19:25,280 --> 00:19:29,200 I haven't done that per SE, but I used to pay Jessica to clean 293 00:19:29,200 --> 00:19:31,000 my house when she was a teenager. 294 00:19:31,440 --> 00:19:34,880 And off and on over the years, different teenagers have 295 00:19:34,880 --> 00:19:36,960 approached me. Mom, is there a way I could earn 296 00:19:36,960 --> 00:19:40,160 extra money? Boys, girls, doesn't matter. 297 00:19:40,400 --> 00:19:43,240 Everybody should be doing housework and every kid should 298 00:19:43,240 --> 00:19:48,040 learn how to do all, all aspects of housework at some point. 299 00:19:48,480 --> 00:19:52,400 Even if you know you're doing a thing where your boys take out 300 00:19:52,400 --> 00:19:54,960 the trash and they mow the lawn and things like that, that 301 00:19:54,960 --> 00:19:57,640 should not be all you teach them, OK? 302 00:19:57,640 --> 00:20:04,080 My husband grew up doing dishes. He knew how to cook and he knows 303 00:20:04,080 --> 00:20:06,160 how to clean the bathroom and all the things. 304 00:20:06,600 --> 00:20:12,320 And we teach our boys to do all of that because it it's not. 305 00:20:13,040 --> 00:20:16,400 That's not gender specific. Housework is not gender specific 306 00:20:17,360 --> 00:20:23,480 and being a stay at home mom does not mean that the housework 307 00:20:23,560 --> 00:20:28,400 all falls to you. OK, obviously every situation is 308 00:20:28,400 --> 00:20:30,400 different, every marriage is different. 309 00:20:31,000 --> 00:20:34,920 But if you have school aged kids, they need to be learning 310 00:20:34,920 --> 00:20:39,640 how to do household chores. A lot of times I give them the 311 00:20:39,640 --> 00:20:44,840 chores that they like more. But they've all done dishes, 312 00:20:44,840 --> 00:20:49,080 they've all cleaned a bathroom. I don't think my 13 year old son 313 00:20:49,080 --> 00:20:51,640 has been trained on deep cleaning a bathroom yet, but he 314 00:20:51,640 --> 00:20:55,320 will be. Anyway, whether you're a parent 315 00:20:55,320 --> 00:21:01,120 or not, hopefully I've given you some ideas for adding some 316 00:21:01,120 --> 00:21:05,880 structure into your day over the summer or just in life. 317 00:21:07,320 --> 00:21:09,920 I hope you got a lot done during this episode. 318 00:21:10,120 --> 00:21:12,600 Happy cleaning. I hope you're having a wonderful 319 00:21:12,600 --> 00:21:15,040 summer and I'll talk to you again soon.