Works every time!

Sometime back, I posted on my personal FB page a rhetorical question about why when you are gone all day, the house looks like a bomb has hit it when you return. It turns out I'm not the only one to experience this and others were keen to know the answer if I ever found out. It was one of those questions we never expected to have an answer to.

But I have found the answer!

and it works every time :o)

and yeah, I was probably 'over thinking' to come to this point but hey, now that the problem has been solved, maybe it's not 'over thinking', any more???

I'll give you my 'over thinking' process first - much of this happens when I'm washing dishes. I do a LOT of dishes.

-This chaos when we come home from a holiday, doesn't happen. We walk into a spotless house and even when we unload the car, there's not that much craziness.
-When we're gone all day, lots of prep is done for the going out. Packing lunch boxes, nappy bags, shopping lists, things to be returned to another family, fuel in the car, pump up the tyres, wash the fruit, feed the animals... and so on.
-Because of this, much of the usual stuff doesn't get done.
-Neither does the 'when we come home we need....' stuff get done.
-Result... we come back to a house with important stuff not done and unload a car load of stuff into a house that's not ready for it and it takes a couple of days to catch up and recover.

The solution?

Make the 'Margin' bigger.
Get ready to go out for the day, earlier.

Yup, that's it.

Now, when we're to be gone for the day... we spend the day before preparing.

Here's the list of key things to get done THE DAY BEFORE
-Clean the bathroom and toilet
-Clean the kitchen and benches to spotless
-Empty all bins and replace liners
-Prepare a meal to come home to
-Prepare a breakfast for the day you're out... that won't need many dishes. I like zucchini slice. Can be served in napkin and if needed, in the car as we go.
-Have all clothes-washing, washed and drying (or dry, folded and away if you can pull that off!)
-Dining table cleared and wiped down
-As much surface stuff AWAY... as though someone else will be using your house while you're gone. I like to grab a box or basket and gather up all those little things that are in the wrong place. Sort them into the rooms they need to go to, on my now sparkling dining table. Then get the team together and get it put away!
-Floors swept / vacuumed
-Pack anything you can that needs to go with you

Bonus points if you get the next days clothes out for everyone so that there's no "I can't find...s" on the day you'll be gone!

Then on the day you're out... you only have to do the last minute things... make beds, feed animals, get dressed and GO!

Problem solved.

and yes, you CAN do it.

and the more people in your house, the more important it is that you do, do it.

Unless you want growing chaos on your return, of course :o)




(okay, in finding that link above, I've just realised I have a whole bunch of organising posts that never got 'published' so keep an eye out for those!)

... and if you want to keep up with our every day happenings, 'Like' the House of Bogwitz Facebook page.