I need to be a better housewife for not only my Sweetie and kids, but for me. It pains and embarrasses me to admit to being far too lazy with taking care of my home. I was proud to have clean dishes to eat from and when we didn’t then we’d go out to eat. Sometimes I was so proud to actually have a clean kitchen that I wouldn’t want to mess it up and I’d take the family to a restaurant.  It would have been cheaper and better on my waistline checkbook if I would have just cooked at home and cleaned the kitchen.

Before the baby, I spent most of my time playing on Facebook or my Xbox 360. Since the baby has been born, I’ve spent most of my time whining about being sleepy and tired and not being able to do anything without holding a baby.

Thanks to a few fellow blogger moms, I’ve discovered a secret. At first it didn’t make sense, but I would swear by it now. As a full time stay at home mother to a new baby and two homeschooled children, plus having my Sweetie at home 24-7, I needed some time to get stuff done without the whole family underfoot.

The secret: Get up at 5 a.m. or at least 2-3 hours before everyone else.

That’s right. Does it seem absurd? Don’t judge it before you try it. I’ve been practicing this for a few days now and I never want to sleep late again. It has solved many issues I was having. The first couple of days I used the extra time to organize a plan for housekeeping and managing my home. After I got my system setup, I started working on implementing it.  Now I have a clean kitchen, living room, and bathroom all day. I haven’t been doing it long enough to completely clean all the rooms in my home, but the most important rooms are being managed with little effort. I have more time to read blogs and the new books I bought on managing your home.

Bonnie’s Household Organizer by Bonnie Runyan McCullough

Totally Organized by Bonnie McCullough

I’m hoping that getting up early will give me some quiet time and some work time. Another thing that I’ve picked up from reading on other blogs, you should treat housework like a job. I’m a real good worker when I have worked for other people (which seems so long ago). I try to remind myself as I work on cleaning – if I were paying someone to manage my housework, what would I expect from them? Keeping with the idea of a job, it helps to stay focused on what I need to do.

Getting up early has been good for my mood too. I am not as resentful about the other people in the home who seem to have all the freedom in the world to do what they want to without having the huge responsibility of caring for a baby at the same time. I was beginning to be a real meanie. I felt angry when I had to carry the baby on my hip while working in the garden or cooking a meal. You can become pretty jealous watching other people going about their day being able to use both hands to complete their projects.

The baby sleeps fairly well in the early morning. The first couple of days I had to stop more times than I wanted to and nurse her back to sleep, but I think she finally decided that it wasn’t worth being awake that early. I still have to go in there a couple of times, but she has gotten better about me not being in the bed with her (yes, the baby sleeps with me and has from day one).