The Waiting Room

One of the advantages of my teaching part time and working on the PhD part time, is that I am able to handle some of the responsibilities or tasks that most people have to take time out of the workday to do or wait until the end of the workday to complete, that is, if they have the energy at the end of the day to do it! I remember those days when Husband and I were working full time and had to juggle tasks. Phone calls had to be done during lunch or on a break. Only the basics of doing dishes and minor cleaning up after ourselves would happen during the week. Major household chores would not be completed until the weekend. And, we would spend part of an entire Saturday doing those chores that we did not get to really enjoy the weekend.

Now that it's going 1.5 years that I've been back in the part time work/student role, I am able to handle most of the dirty jobs that used to be handled on the weekends. Don't read that as Husband does not do his share. Believe me, he does...his mama raised him right. There is a division of labor in our house. Since I cannot drive, he does take care of things like grocery shopping, which he does better than me. But there are some things that he hates, like dealing with contacting the bank because they fucked up our escrow account. I love stuff like that because I can put my lawyer hat on and ask the right questions to get to the bottom of things. We have divided the dirty jobs that play to our strengths or abilities, which make for a happier life.

Last year, I implemented a cleaning protocol that gets rid of the Saturday cleaning-fest. I saw a meme on FB about dividing the household chores into 20 minutes activities that can be done during the week, in addition to the daily stuff. After doing this for a year, it has reduced the stress at the weekend. It allows Husband and I a chance to enjoy our weekends doing fun stuff. Also, if and when I go back to work or school in a full time capacity, the routine is in place.

Here's my schedule. In some ways, it sounds like Sheldon Cooper's dinner schedule. However, unlike Sheldon, we do make adjustments when necessary.

Mondays: Clean bathrooms
Wednesdays: Vacuum and dust second floor rooms
Fridays: Vacuum and dust first floor rooms
Sunday: Laundry and Groceries (Obviously, these take more than 20 minutes, but is one of those jobs that you can do other stuff while you are doing it. )
Daily: Make bed, do dishes, clean kitchen and pick up after yourself.
(Note: Husband does the yard-work on the weekends, which not a dirty job for him. He loves it!)

Getting a handle on the dirty jobs is Just another way to get rid of the noise and nuisance of life.