As promised, here is my advice for managing house cleaning, in case it helps out at your place, too.

A place for every thing, everything in its place
I’m allowing myself to use this cliché expression because it is crucial to overcoming clutter. Take some time to think about storage and the activities and chores happening in your house.

• Store things where you use them, including cleaning products, etc. (Ex. I have two bottles of bathroom cleaning product, one for each bathroom, so I don’t have to carry the same one over two floors; it’s more practical this way, and saves me time in the stairway.)
• Identify zones where clutter usually arises and plan storage accordingly. (Ex. I installed hanging shelves in my foyer wardrobe, to put away mittens, hats and scarves that inevitably found themselves in a heap on the top shelf, out of reach. I also added plastic storage for shoes… especially Xavier’s, which easily got lost through our own footwear!)
• Get rid of knicknacks you don’t feel attached to. It will save you time on dusting (no need to move them around), and will give your room a look that’s more zen. It’s just in our head but, if there’s less stuff in a room, it looks more neat. It’s also less daunting at cleaning time.

A passion for lists
I love lists. (Frank hates them, but oh well… to each his method, like I said earlier.) Noting an item on a list allows me to stop thinking about it as it assures me that I won’t forget it. It’s my preferred method of managing weekly cleaning. Here’s how my list works:

• My sheet lists every chore with, on the right, 5 columns of check boxes. I use one column per week, for a month.
• I don’t do all the chores each week, but I use the list to follow up when I alternate certain chores.
• My list is laminated and magnetized on the fridge. I use an erasable marker to check items. (Hello environment!)
• My list is quite long. I prefer separating certain chores in many items, to get chores that are quicker to finish; that way, even if I don’t have much time available, I am encouraged to get rid of a small chore. Let me explain that: instead of noting “clean up bathroom”, for example, I listed “clean up vanity and toilet”, “clean shower” and “clean bath”. It’s less daunting this way. Here’s my list:
  1. Put away clutter
  2. Clean the counters
  3. Big clean up of high chair and Xavier’s booster seat
  4. Dusting first floor
  5. Dusting basement
  6. Glass and mirrors
  7. Clean shower
  8. Clean bath
  9. Vanity/toilet first floor
  10. Vanity/toilet basement
  11. Vacuum first floor
  12. Vacuum basement
  13. Wash floor first floor
  14. Wash floor basement
  15. Mow the lawn
  16. Get out garbage
  17. Litter box Tuesday (and Thursday, and weekend)
  18. Water the plants
  19. Feed the fish (many times… mostly to remind myself, I tend to forget!)
  20. Laundry

Here was my advice. It focuses mostly on creating a good list (and planning storage). Good luck!

When I was a young professional, after I finished school and before I became a mom, I had huge amounts of free time. Long evenings and entire weekends at my complete disposal.

I have no idea what I did with all this free time.

I had some personal projects to realize, but not legions of them. I would put off many of them until later. I was doing so-so at house keeping; my house was clean enough for company, but just barely so. Frank and I avoided the kitchen often enough by eating out, or getting take out we would eat in front of the t.v. in the basement. Long story short, we were sort of lazy.

Now that Xavier, then Orléane, are born, my available time is greatly reduced. Strangely, though, I have become more efficient in cleaning and cooking. I use my free time to work on small projects. I avoid putting things off. I still watch a little t.v. during fall-winter, but not that many movies. We eat at the dinner table, and the kitchen is the brains of our home.

I recently developed some tricks to keep the house in order. (It helps that I’m on maternity leave and Xavier is spending a couple days a week at daycare, but oh well… cleanliness is even more necessary these days, with a baby crawling on the floor and two kids in diapers.) It’s nothing amazing, but it helps me a lot for keeping on top of things. I even end up doing more than I used too!

What’s crucial is finding a method that works for you, but I’ll share my little tips in tomorrow’s article, in case they might be right for you, too.

To be continued…

A few days after turning half-a-year old, I told myself I should take the time to give out some news about my development to everyone. After all, it would be nice to read this little slice of life again when I was older!

I had already told everyone I could now crawl, however, so I had to find something else to mention. My new agility to manipulate objects, then? Or my recent attempts at raising myself on four legs? I was still missing a little muscle in the arms for it, but I had a lot of ambition already, for a little 6 months old grasshopper.

Of course, it’s easy to fix some goals, when you have an older brother to inspire you. I watched Xavier play and talk with my parents, and told myself it would be nice when I’d be able to accomplish all that too. So I put in a lot of effort on my development.

A harder trick to pull, for me, was sitting upright without help. First, because I didn’t control my back well enough yet, and also because I did not stay in place more than a few seconds… it was imperative that I see everything, move around and discover my environment.

I had seen a lot of new stuff, as a matter of fact, during recent vacation time. My family had brought me along on various activities: a day at the waterfalls, a stroll in Quebec city, the little farm, the indoor play center, the Passe-Partout exhibit [a popular Quebec children's TV program from the seventies]… we had had a lot of fun, even if it was sometimes a lot of action for a curious little baby like me.

It was true that I was already many months old, however, despite my small weight. On the day I turned 6 months old, while visiting mama’s extended family at the St-François lake, my first tooth had sliced through my gum (ouch!). That tooth would become useful, since I already enjoyed a large menu of cereal, vegetables and fruit – I loved fruit, especially banana. (It was maybe the reason why I went from one poop a week to over five poop a day. Fiber is your friend!)

I also had one feeding without mama each day: dady would give me a bottle in the evening, after bathtime – it was our little moment… but I always went to sleep at that time, and daddy placed me softly in my crib, in the room I shared with my brother Xavier. Next I slept until four in the morning, usually, then mommy fed me and I slept some more until morning.

Another aspect I was developping was sociability. Every month, I was getting more familiar with the people around me, and I was growing to trust them. I had had more time to bond with my dad during summer vacation, too, and it didn’t bother me as much when mommy left the house if dad was there, after that.

I thought of writting all of this, but I had a world to discover and a lot of experimenting to do, so I gave it up. Mama would probably jot down some stuff about it, anyway.

‘Léa xx