Routines

When I started my living simple journey, I wanted to do it all. I became overwhelmed very quickly and didn't know what to do first and suddenly, simple living became just too hard. I've since learnt, the most important thing to do is to establish a routine and to stick to it. I have a daily, weekly and monthly routine and I have to say, since I actually written down all of my tasks in an order, everything just goes so much quicker and I don't forget anything.

My daily routine goes like this: I get up between 6 and 6.30 am. I used to get up earlier but I'm a FIFO worker in WA, so if I get up at 6/6.30 am QLD time, that's the same as 4/4.30 am WA time, which is when I have to get up at work, so I don't need to change when I have to go back to work/home. After getting up, I wash my face, comb my hair and brush my teeth. While I'm in the bathroom, I clean it. I just use some Vinegar mixed with clove oil (natural bleaching) and tea tree oil (natural disinfectant) and wipe around the shower / bathtub, the open shelves, the window sill and the sink. Afterwards I spray some toilet bowl cleaner into the toilet and wipe the toilet down with the same rag. So I use the rag in the bathroom first and then for the toilet and then it goes on the washing basket to dry (but I will not use it again, just don't want the other laundry to go mouldy, so I dry the rag before it goes into the basket.

Then I walk my dogs for an hour. When I come home, I water the dogs (no food yet to avoid bloat) and then make breakfast for Steve and myself. While setting up the breakfast bar, I unpack the dishwasher. We usually have toast but sometimes I treat us to Buttermilk Pancakes (our favourite) or Steve cooks us a nice Aussie Breakfast. Afterwards I clean up the kitchen by putting everything away, wiping down the benches and sink with All-Purpose-Cleaner and packing the dishwasher. Then I go outside to tend the animals: I let the chooks out and feed them with kitchen scraps, I feed the dogs with home cooked dog food, I feed and water the birds and chooks and sweep the concrete around the house. Then I water the pot plants and move the greywater sprinkler (we use treated greywater for the garden). Once I've finished with the outside, I go inside, make our bed, tidy the house by dusting every room, putting things away if necessary and then I sweep the floor. I use this broom as I can use it for tiles and carpet.

After I'm done with the house, I like to do my paperwork. I update our budget with any expenses, file invoices, reply to any correspondence, pay bills and keep all my paperwork in good order. To me that's really important as I work 4 weeks away, I have to get everything back in order when I come back. This process makes tax time a breeze because everything is ready to go and in order. Once I finish with my paperwork I prepare lunch for Steve and I. We normally have sandwiches or a quiche or salad. Sometimes, when it's really hot, we just have some fruit - watermelon is our favourite.
After lunch, I bake bread if needed. I bake my own bread, however I still haven't found the right recipe for Steve's 'white fluffy' bread but I keep trying. If you have some suggestions, please leave a comment! I also preserve any harvest or cheap seasonal fruit or vegetables I got from the farmers market. Last year we ate all our produce and we were getting sick of beetroot, onions, cherry tomatoes and silverbeet. I invested in some books, a simple preserving kit and I made some space to keep my preserved treasures as well, so now I enjoy it. I also prepare dessert or dinner if required. We don't snack during the day, so we enjoy a nice dinner and a dessert. Since we're only two people, most desserts like cakes and slices are too big and I can freeze portions of it. Therefore Steve can still enjoy homemade desserts when I'm back at work.

Once I'm finished in the kitchen, I tidy up and go outside to do some gardening. Same as my house, my garden is divided into zones. We have 3 acres, so there's always something to do. Steve takes care of the general yard maintenance such as mowing, wiper snipping ect. I prefer to do the weeding, pruning (also if I'm not fast enough Steve does it and he's not as gentle as I am which can be a good thing because the bushes look magnificent). I do gardening in one zone per day, so my garden is divided into the following:
* Veggie Garden & Fruit Orchard
* Front Yard
* House Yard
* Chook Pen & Dog Kennel
* Backyard
* Side Yard
We also have a Pool we look after with Steve doing the maintenance and me checking the water quality - in summer by just jumping in. :-)

In the late afternoon, once it has started to cool down, I take Quentin, My Weimaraner for a jog. I avoid this in summer as it's just too hot. When we return, I check for eggs. Our chickens are a bit strange and normally lay their eggs in the afternoon. I lock them up for the night and then go and have a shower. Often Steve and I just sit outside (if the mozzies aren't too bad) and talk over a glass of wine and once the mozzies come, I feed the dogs and then go in the kitchen to prepare dinner. We eat together and enjoy the dessert before I tidy up the kitchen. We then watch some TV or read or if it's a hot summer's day, I jump into the Pool. Before I take the dogs to bed, I sit outside with them and watch the stars. After I've locked up the dogs, I go to bed myself, looking forward to the next day.

Additionally to my daily routine, I also have a weekly routine:

Monday Washing
Tuesday Officework, Blog
Wednesday Dog’s Day
Thursday Steve’s Day
Friday My day, Meal Planning
Saturday Clean House
Sunday Market/Grocery Shopping

Obviously I work away from home at the moment, so this works for the weekly routine. My daily routine was very similar when I worked in a more ‘normal’ job (I've never worked less than 50/60 hour weeks). I will talk about some of those routines in more detail but I guess for me it's important to have a day out. I made Thursday Steve's day, so he can decide what we do and where we go on that day. Sometimes, that results in a drive somewhere with a picnic, sometimes he just prefers to stay home and watch a movie. The Dog's Day is a day where I take the dogs somewhere. It could be a walk in the Botanic Garden or a swim in the close-by dam or even a visit to the beach. It's an enjoyable day for all of us. My day is normally a lazy day. I love sitting at different places in the garden and read in old magazines or a book. I also use my day to make cleaners or try something new for dinner. It's important to take time out, relax and rejuvenate.

Implementing a routine have made things a lot easier. I did the same things before but in no particular order and setting a routine made me think about what I need to do and it also made me realise that if I do a little every day, it will not pile up and become so annoying that I don't want to do anything about it at all. But what changed for me the most was my monthly routine. I used to do 2 spring cleans a year (normally during some public holidays) and I was really thorough when I started and at the end I just wanted to get it done, so I didn’t pay that much attention anymore. I now moved away from that and now spring clean one room/area per month. So for me this is how it looks:

January Bathroom & Toilet
February Guestroom & Garage
March n/a as I'm at work the entire month
April Kitchen & Patio
May n/a as I'm at work the entire month
June Bedroom & Entry
July Study
August n/a as we're on holiday
September n/a as we're on holiday
October n/a as we're on holiday
November Living/Dining Room
December n/a as I'm at work the entire month

If I would work in a normal job, I'd put one weekend a month aside to do a spring clean of one room. For me this works really well and since I do bits everyday, it's so much easier!

What are your routines?