Household Management- How do you do it?

Let me say first- that I don't perfectly balance it all.  Something always suffers.  I am the daughter of a hoarder, so what I consider clean is different than what others consider clean, I'm sure.  That said with 6 children it is important to have systems and routines.

Housecleaning- there is a schedule.  I made it and each of the children has one chore everyday- might be as small as sweeping the basement steps, might be as big as cleaning a bathroom or their bedroom.  Besides the things they do to help, I am constantly keeping things going with running the dishwasher, washing machine and dryer and using my favorite- Lilly.This is Lilly: http://store.irobot.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3881234&cp=2804605.2501652&view=compare&s=D-StorePrice-IRBT&parentPage=family. I got her at Sam's club for $219.  I got the extended warranty for like $25 more- so she has a 3 year warranty.  Yes, they are not indestructible and they need a lot of cleaning out.  But I can go shopping or get on the treadmill and Lilly will sweep & vacuum my floors for me while I am doing something else.

  I have a routine.  I get the kids up and get breakfast going- one of them empty's the dishwasher.  If they are not in school another older child loads the dishwasher- if they are in school, I do this.  Then I start a load of laundry and get Lilly running.  At that point I do errands or other picking up around the house that always needs to be done.  I am still working to improve these areas, but having a routine is good.  Also, if I have a crockpot meal on the menu tonight, I get that assembled so it has all day to cook.

Laundry- We do a minimum of one load per day- probably actually more than that.  I am fanatical about dish towels and washcloths- whoever is washing their laundry will get dish towels and washcloths thrown in with their load.  All of my older kids do their own laundry on their laundry day- again a schedule.  Anne does hers on Mondays.  I do mine on Tuesdays.  Gus does his on Wednesdays.  Beth on Thursdays.  Meg on Fridays.  I do Greg and Stella's and squeeze it in when I can when the machines are empty.  We wash by person, not by color so much and everything gets washed on cold so to ward off colors bleeding.  One of Anne's daily jobs is to iron.  I just don't have time for that.  We don't watch TV during the week, so it gives her a chance to watch TV and get a job done.

Meals- I make a menu- even for breakfasts, not just dinners.  I do not do this for lunch except in the summer when everyone is home.  The children make their own lunches for school- yes, even Greg(age 7).  Long ago I made  a list of our meals.  I keep these lists in a binder with my shopping list checklist and my housecleaning checklist.
     Breakfasts:

• eggs- scrambled, fried, strata, hard boiled
• toast- homemade bread, raisin bread( typically with apple butter or jams)
• Oatmeal- instant, old fashioned (I want to try steel cut in the crockpot, but haven't gotten that far yet)
• Farina(also known as Cream of Wheat)
• Pancakes
• Waffles
• Cold Cereal(rare- it makes me gag)
• Grits
• Donuts (rare treat)
• yogurt, yogurt with cold cereal or granola (we eat a crazy amount of yogurt in this house)
• Blueberry muffins
• Bran Muffins (typically with applebutter or jam)
• Honey Wheat Muffins
• Coffee Cake
• Bagels
• Hearty pancakes
• Lemon Poppyseed Muffins
• Apple Muffins
• Bread Pudding
• Triple Chocolate Muffins
• Bacon
• Sausage
• Fruit

OK, that was an example of my list for Breakfasts.  I'm not going to go through and type out all the lunches, dinners, side dishes, different ways to have vegetables, etc.  But yes- i took time to think about it, type it all out.  Dinners are sorted by Beef, Pork, Chicken, Meatless, Side Dishes, and Vegetables, just for simplicity sake.

When I make a menu I try to do a couple of things.  I try to think about what we have already on the schedule and choose simple meal for that evening in advance, lest we end up having Pizza at the last minute.  I have yet another list called Fast & Easy Meals.  There are 20 meals on there that I can make in about 30 minutes or less.

1. Grilled Chicken w/ Rice and steamed veggie
2. Spaghetti w/Meat Sauce & Salad
3. Hawaiian Toast & Salad
4. Chili & Cornbread (crockpot)
5. Baked Chicken, Baked Potatoes & roasted vegetables (this one takes an hour to bake, but 10 minutes or less to assemble)
6. Sloppy Joes (we like this on home made rolls) and a steamed veggie
7. Ham, mac & cheese, steamed veggie
8. Fajitas (do your chopping early in the day- so all you have to do is assembly and cook)
9. Taco Salad (a favorite around here)
10. Tuna Casserole and a fresh Veggie
11. Dinosaur Casserole & salad (Velveeta Shells & cheese w/ hamburger, onion and cream of mushroom soup & Milk)- like Hamburger Helper, but slightly better.
12. Polish Sausage & Saurkraut, salad, mac & cheese, and often I make cooked apples with this or we have applesauce.
13. Reuben Sandwiches or Grilled Ham & Cheese sandwiches with a salad or steamed veggie
14. Grilled Cheese & Tomato Soup w/ salad
15. Baked Tilapia or Baked Flounder(frozen fish), corn and a veggie
16. Tortellini Soup- a complete meal in itself
17. Chicken Caesar Salad w/ bread( I normally make honey wheat muffins to go with this)
18. Grilled Chicken Salad (If you make #1, make extra and keep extra grilled chicken on hand in the freezer to pull out in emergency- already have it sliced so it just needs a quick thaw)
19. Potato Soup & Salad
20. Fettucine Alfredo or Pasta con Broccoli  & a salad

These are not the meals I make on a nightly basis, but the fast & easy ones.  Ok, so when I make the menu- each dinner needs a protein, a starch and a vegetable.  I try to not have the same protein two days in a row.  Sunday- Beef, Monday- Chicken, Tuesday- Pork, Wednesday- meatless, Thursday -Beef, Friday- meatless, Saturday- Chicken.   We only do desserts on the weekends, feast days or birthdays. Edited to add a couple of major time savers I have found over the years.  When I buy a big package of hamburger- I fry it all up at once, drain off the fat, rinse it and then store it in meal portion bags- so when its time for Tacos, the meat is already cooked- saved you 20 minutes.  When you go to make spaghetti- meat is already cooked, saved you 20 minutes, etc.  Also, like I mentioned before when I grill chicken, I always grill extra so we can have some in the freezer available for grilled chicken salad in a pinch.

The family loves to help me make a menu- what do they want that we haven't had in awhile.  I get ultimate vetoing power, but I appreciate their input.

Exercise- I fit in exercise in a couple of ways.  One is early in the morning when I get up the big girls- they really take care of themselves- they make their own breakfasts and lunches, I just get up to make sure they are moving.  I can squeeze in 20-30 minutes  at that point.  The other time I typically exercise is when Stella is asleep, down for nap.  This means I have to be careful to not eat or drink too much at lunchtime or I will feel sick when I exercise.  I normally save some of my lunch for afterwards.  I know so many people who count on naptime to rest themselves or to get the bills paid or watch soap operas or get housecleaning done.  I set it all aside and take care of me.  If I exercise I am improving me, and therefore improving the home.  I will be happier, and have more energy if I exercise- the laundry can wait.
For exercise 3X per week I do running- I am following the Couch to 5K program found at www.coolrunning.com . On the days I am not running, I do something else, some days its just my 20 min. Pilates tape, some days it the Energizing DVD, or riding my recumbant bike, walking on the treadmill, The Firm DVD, Circuit Training, etc- something.  Sometimes it is an hour, sometimes I can really only fit in the 20 minutes, as long as i make an effort to be more active, that is what matters.