My Done it List

I like lists. no. I love lists.

Lately I've been dealing with feeling down/feeling depressed/complete lack of self motivation to do anything except make sure the kids survive the day fed, clean and happy.

Something had to change. It got to the point that I didn't want to do any housework because no matter what I did, the house still looked like two very active toddlers lived in it.

And I do a lot. or I felt like I did. My body sure acted like it's done a lot in the course of the day. But I really felt like I didn't have much to show for it at the end of the day when Husband gets home.

We've had multiple conversations about how my job as a stay at home mom isn't to make sure the house stays spotless. It's the care for, play with, teach and feed our kids. I am not the maid. Husband definitely does more than his fair share especially considering he's gone about 65 hours a week financially supporting his family.

But I feel like because I am home almost 24/7 I should take on the majority of the household duties. But I like I wrote before, it gets so frusterating at the end of the day. It really looks like nothing has been done most days.

I really needed something to help team morale.

I thought about making a to do list every night before I went to bed that outlined the things I wanted to get accomplished the next day. But I quickly realized that a to do list only leaves me feeling overwhelmed at this point.

So ... what's another option?

How about a "Done it" list?

yes. A list of everything I accomplish during the day.

Things I don't put on the done it list:

any housework I do while Husband is home

anything dealing with taking care of the kids (except their clothes laundry and son's diaper laundry)

putting things in the washing machine -- it only gets recorded when the load gets put away

Things I put on the do it list:

every thing else.

emptying the dishwasher counts as one

filling it counts as one

watering the garden counts as one (as long as I do it before Husband gets home)

I've been at this for 2 weeks now and it's really helping my state of mind. I AM doing things. It's right there in my spiral index card "notebook." It's quickily become a little competition I have with myself.

Some days I feel lazy and only do two things (my record low) and other days I feel really productive and sometimes do 14 things (my record high -- completed today). But I try to have a weekly average of 7 things.

This is last Wednesday's list.

As you can see I only did two things: emptied the dishwasher and saved baby birds (blog coming soon). The water spots on the side of the page are not my distraught tears from finding two baby birds in Son's room ... I think I just left my list too close to the sink!

It seems to really be helping. I feel less downtrodden and like to see the list after a "busy" day.