Are you a schedule kind of person? I am. I love having a schedule because I am very easily distracted and extremely good at procrastinating. Instead of trying to deny those things, I find what works to help keep me on track, and that my friends, is a schedule. A full on schedule.

Here is what my schedule looks like {before I fill it up with all our stuff}

I am a big believer in that you will never FIND time, you have to MAKE time. I make time for all the things that need doing, and all the things that are important for each member of this family by popping it onto our schedule. We’re always tweaking it and changing it to suit, sometimes something doesn’t work or it needs to be shifted. It’s never set in concrete, it’s not always followed to the letter, but for us it is a great guide on what should be being done each day, and helps our household run more smoothly. So what do I put on the schedule? Lots of things!

Household chores:

Cleaning:
I designate certain days for certain chores. This helps me not feel overwhelmed by cleaning EVERYTHING in just one day or never feeling on top of things.
For example:
Mondays: Dust, Vacuum + Mop
Tuesdays: 2 chore items from the list
Wednesday: Bathrooms + laundry
Thursday: 2 chore items from the list
Friday: 1 chore item from the list

* ‘the list’ is a list of chores I have that include jobs that don’t necessarily need to be done on a weekly basis, but can get overlooked and then become a bigger job than it needs to be such as cleaning the exhaust vents in the house, the glass + windows, spot cleaning the walls, de-clutter magazines + junk mail, sweep front porch, wipe stainless steel appliances, clean the fridge, clean oven, etc

I try to keep on top of the kitchen and family areas everyday by doing the following
Stack / unstack dishwasher
Clean kitchen bench tops and wipe down cabinet doors if needed {i don’t have a lot of cabinet doors to clean in the kitchen so literally only takes me 4 minutes to wipe them all}
Wipe down dining table {haha who am I kidding this is like 5 times a day, not once!}
Sweep floor {also like 5 times a day}
Pack away playroom
5 minute sweep of the house for any items that need to be put back in their home {shoes, hats, toys, books, etc}
All this cleaning stuff gets popped into the ‘morning’ part of my planner – when I usually only have one sweet babe at home with me.

Laundry:
I also have specific days for laundry. I have a laundry basket in each of the kids rooms, one in the actual laundry and one in the master bedroom.
I wash Noah’s clothes on Wednesday and Saturday for example. When I wash his stuff on Wednesday it means we will have enough clean uniforms to last the rest of the school week, and I throw his sheets in with this load too as I’m really not fussed about keeping them separate. I wash his towels in with the rest of his laundry on Saturday.
The laundry basket in the laundry houses all our tea towels and other cleaning cloths we’ve used. These all get washed in one load during the week in which I often add a bath mat or two as well.
I try to fold and put away the laundry on the day it is washed.

Family stuff:

Kiddo stuff:
Noah indicated he wanted more computer / ipad time and we were happy for this to happen but we kept forgetting and of course he’d remember at the most inopportune times and we’d feel bad having to say “no” while also realising we weren’t making a time for him to do this. So on the schedule it goes – twice a week. He likes the predictability of this, he knows that he gets to have that time for him to enjoy the computer or ipad as long as we don’t have an appointment or what have you {in which case we ‘reschedule’}.

I also pop time for our crafts or activities on the schedule so I don’t forget to plan something.
Swimming and other activities also get listed on the schedule.

Hubby’s stuff:
Hubby likes to go for bike rides but we never seemed to ‘have the time’ for him to do this. On the schedule it goes. We make time and ensure that he gets this time for him.

My stuff:
I am back at uni, and designate nights for study and also designate nights for some ‘time off’ – I think that’s important, otherwise my other interests or hobbies always get put aside.
I also schedule time for working on albums and project life, and for exercise. Most of these things are in the ‘evening’ part of the schedule.

Hubby and I also have date night once a week. This is just at home but it’s a lovely way to make sure we are spending quality time together. No computers / phones / ipads or other distractions. Just us time.

Family walks also get stuck up on the schedule, this helps as these walks usually occur just before dinner, and I need to keep that in mind when menu planning so I plan something that is either super quick to cook or that I cook before hand and just reheat.

Now I don’t want to be writing this out every single week as it’s a lot of info, so I use the above schedule printable and I fill it in and laminate it. I keep it near my desk as I refer to it multiple times a day to remind me of what I should be doing and to help keep me on track. I write any other things I need to remember to do in my diary, such as phone calls, bills to pay or appointments etc.

However, I was asked by a lovely reader {hi Stace!} if I had a printable that included a spot for meal planning and such, and so I modified my planner for those of you who might want to plan your schedule week to week instead of what I do above. It has space for you to write what’s on for each day, as well as chores you would like to get done and a spot to write your menu planning for the week.

Here are the download links:
Family Schedule
Weekly Planner with spot for menu planning

I have been asked a few times how I ‘do it all’ and how I ‘fit it all in’ I need you to know that I don’t do it all and I don’t always fit it all in! I am a normal mum, who gets behind in laundry even though I have a schedule for it haha! I can’t see my desk some days and I occasionally forget to pay a bill until the last minute. I also have some days where I’m completely overwhelmed and feel like there is just too much to do.
But I have found since doing up our schedule that I procrastinate less and spend less time wondering what I should be doing, and more time actually doing it :o} Making time for things has also shown me that I do have enough time {only just!}, if I don’t procrastinate and just get into it! I’ve had to let some things go {will post about this soon} but the rest I can keep.
I’m not uptight about my schedule though – our world doesn’t end if we don’t do a craft on a designated afternoon {sometimes we’re not here, sometimes the kids are too cranky, sometimes we play outside instead} or if I don’t do the bathrooms on the day I’m supposed to – there’s always tomorrow. We still do things spur of the moment sometimes, life is supposed to be fun. But I’m happy to have a schedule that works for us to look at and remind me of what I need to do today when I am finding myself getting too easily distracted by Pinterest!

I hope you enjoy these and that they help you!
If you use either of these printables for your weekly scheduling, I would really really love to hear how you go with them!

So what about you? Are you a planner + scheduler or more go with the flow? I would love to hear about how you make things work!

ETA: I just needed to add that I just do what works for my family, and what works for yours might be completely different! I don’t at all think that you have to do things this way and I’m certainly not saying that this would suit every family. Please feel free to share what you do – so everyone can benefit from all the fantastic ideas there are out there to help our lives run a little more smoothly. :o}