Welcome! My name is Kara. You can learn more about me and why I write this blog here.

I’m often curious about other people’s routines, so I thought I would share mine and contribute to the collective online bounty of weekly and daily routine examples.

Background: Currently I’m a stay at home parent. Our oldest is in college, and I have three kids at home. We are a homeschooling family and I view being a homeschooler as my main occupation, as it is where most of my time and energy goes.

My husband works a split schedule and is in the office part of the week and works from home the other days.

Homemaking is important to me, simply because we’re home most of the time and so I want it to be pleasant to be here. However, I don’t have high standards and it’s fine with me if things aren’t picture perfect.

As of spring 2023, this is my weekly routine:

SUNDAY – organizing for the week ahead

• Household administration – check the calendar, note everyone’s schedule for the week, set up for paying any bills due, general household paperwork administration and management
• Homeschool administration – lesson planning, transcripts, gather materials needed, make note of any books we need to put on hold at the library, general homeschool paperwork administration and management
• 2024 weekly Big List notes – transfer last week’s 2023 list to the 2024 document
• Errands: library, grocery pick up, etc. This isn’t every week, usually just when we have library books due or holds to pick up. I combine trips since the town where our county library is is located a bit out of the way of our regular travels.

MONDAY – laundry, handwashing

• Patio, porch, garden tidying this is becoming more of a daily task as the warm weather returns
• Wipe down washer, dryer
• Mop laundry room, bathrooms
• Laundry that requires hand washing, sometimes I have finished knitting projects that need blocking
• There is always always laundry folding to catch up with
• Wash makeup brushes, tidy up this area of my bathroom vanity

TUESDAY – tidying

• Catch up with housework, past lists
• Dust shelves, ceiling fans, lightbulbs
• Vacuum up, down, and the stairs
• Wipe banisters, baseboards
• Clean faucets, taps, drains
• Disinfect door knobs and light switches
• Clean out and wipe down the fridge
• Clean all the mirrors and TV screens

WEDNESDAY – baking

• Clean stovetop and oven
• Clean microwave
• Manage healthcare: prescription refills, appointments, any thing that needs me to follow up on
• I’ve gotten into the habit of designating Wednesday as my main baking day of the week: rolls, bread, cookies, cakes, and any other goodies to replenish the snack bins and pantry. A houseful of teenagers who also love to bake means this is sometimes a family affair, which I adore! Please note: it’s rare this is “from scratch” baking. I have no qualms with boxed mixes or frozen bread dough.

THURSDAY – quiet & cleaning

• Wipe surfaces
• Deep clean toilets, tubs, showers
• Quick vacuum upstairs – the “middles”
• Be deliberate about silence, not just turning on music or the television to cancel out the quiet but instead embracing it when I can.

FRIDAY – plan & prep for weekend

• Menu planning, make grocery list
• Quick grocery trip for anything needed for the weekend (sometimes this happens Saturday morning instead)
• Indulge in the reading I’ve been stashing away – Pinterest pins, books, magazines, blog posts I’ve bookmarked or opened but not gotten around to during the week …
• Friday Fire Pit Hang Out – This doesn’t always work with our schedules or the weather, but when it does it’s a relaxing way to end the week and a nice standing date (and excuse to make s’mores)

SATURDAY – rest / focus on sleep

• No alarm, linger in bed as long as possible. I pour my coffee and crawl back under the covers with a good book, if the schedule allows.
• Wash / clean out the car
• Wipe down outdoor furniture, fill the bird feeders, sweep porch and patio, putter around in the garden, and other seasonal tasks

That’s it! It seems like too much when written out like that, but please keep in mind that I have a household full of family who help out and I also don’t have high standards of perfection about completing household tasks.

Curious about what I mean when I talk about The Big List? Basically, I have a file I call The Big List. It has been compiled from years of calendars and To Do lists and is arranged weekly. The list is what I want to remember, celebrate, and accomplish.

You can check out my lists here: The Big List.

Thanks for reading!