Easy to Set Up Family Routine and Schedule

A couple of months ago, I put together a new routine for our family. The way I went about developing this routine was different and much more time consuming than ever before, however it was well worth it. The finished routine was not actually completed for about six weeks from when I began putting it together.

First I got out my handy clip board and kept notes of who completed what chores best in a timely manner. I am going to stop and say this now…

Let’s face it, some people are better at some things than others, and well for our daily things, at this time in life to get a better grip on our time management and such, I am assigning chores by who does what the best the fastest…talk about a much smoother sailing routine!!

Now you are wondering if I ever rotate chores among children…sometimes is the answer. Every one will know how to complete each chore as they get older.

So, now that, that is out of the way I also would note on this page, when each chore fit best into our day…or how often each needed done. Animals need taken care of a minimum of two times a day, laundry is ongoing all day, dishes…several times a day…Doing each of these more than once a day helps to keep them from being so overwhelming at the end of the day or beginning of the next.

We split our day into times around meals…Before Breakfast, After Breakfast, Before Lunch, After Lunch, After Nap, Before Supper, After Supper… Why?

Because nearly every single day has each of those in it. It just makes sense to to have a few chores before and after them.

Now, once I had my clipboard full of notes, I put it in a spreadsheet on the computer, using Microsoft Office. For a couple of weeks, I left the spreadsheet open on my computer, so I could easily edit it to fit our days better. When I set it up, I of course color coded it by child.

If child b struggled with drying the dishes, but could better wipe the table and high chairs down, I would just go to the computer and switch it up. If taking laundry to the basement only once a day, caused laundry to get backed up, I would go to the computer and change it up.

In the end this routine has been the best yet for our family. Even The Hot Guy (aka my husband Brad), looks at it to see who should be doing what. He loves that it literally spells out every minute of their day, so if I am away, he can keep them on track.

I still go in and edit a spot here and there as needed, and print it off again. It is lovely not to have to redesign a whole routine every time there is a little glitch. It did take quite awhile to get this routine fine tuned, it was well worth the time.

What are your secrets to setting up a routine that works?

This post is part of the Project Cleanse series. Be sure to check out all the posts from all of the bloggers over the next few weeks.