The three R's

There are lots of adorable Monroe updates waiting (in my camera and in my brain) to be posted, but in the meantime, I thought I'd remind you about America Recycles Day November 15th (Saturday.) It's a great chance to add one more item to the list of things your household recycles... or better yet, doesn't use in the first place! Americans generate 4 pounds of garbage per person everyday--can you believe that? The shameful part to me is that is nearly twice the amount produced by individuals in other developed countries! We've got to get our act together, hence the holiday.

We are celebrating ARD with a family Zero Waste day. Since recycling alone can only go so far to solve our global environmental problems, we've decided to observe ARD by putting some energy into the other end of the spectrum and avoiding the creation of refuse in the first place. So we'll try to live one day without creating any waste besides what we flush down the toilet. (And no, that does not mean that we start trying to flush the cardboard cups from Starbucks... I am fairly certain our plumbing can't handle that one.)

I will document the results and share them on the blog! This should AT LEAST be good for some comic relief, and hey--you might get an idea or two from our practices.

Happy planet-saving,
Melissa

off topic...

Off the topic of Monroe, that is....

In the olden days, household chores were ordered with a common rhythm. Up until 1900 for sure, and much later in some places, women all over town were following a chore schedule.
I see these chores embroidered on charming vintage tea towels at L.A. flea markets. It always charms me to imagine whole villages doing the same work on the same day.

There are a few different versions out there from different locations and historical periods, but a common one is:
Washing on Monday
Ironing on Tuesday
Mend on Wednesday
Churn (as in butter, y'all) on Thursday
Cleaning on Friday
Baking on Saturday
And of course, resting on Sunday

As it happens, I really like the idea of chores. Without chores, everything on my to-do list is sort of just floating around in my mind vying for attention. Of all the stuff I could theoretically be doing on any given day, only a small fraction can actually be done in the few hours I have. So I end up feeling weighed down by potential tasks because I never get very far on the list. I thought it might be freeing to adopt a chore cycle so that there would be a set time and place for tasks that need to be done routinely. Then I wouldn't have to feel bad for NOT doing them all the other days!

I don't know about you, but I haven't churned butter in a while.... So here's my modern list:

Monday take the night off to congratulate yourself on living through another Monday
Tuesday clean out the fridge
Wednesday clean the living room and kitchen
Thursday do family paperwork like paying bills, filing, sending off mail
Friday clean out the car
Saturday or Sunday clean the bedrooms and bathrooms

We do laundry and dishes nearly everyday, or else I might have them on the list too. We've had this system for about three weeks and it has been nice. I especially appreciate Paperwork Thursdays. Now when I get a bill or see a form I need to fill out and return to the insurance company or something, instead of shuffling it from the top to the bottom of my messy pile of papers and sort of vaguely thinking "I should get to that" everyday, I just put it neatly aside for Paperwork Thursday. My mind gets to move on to something else, and a synergy builds on Thursday nights as I deal with all my paperwork at once.

I can't say exactly why I wanted to share this chore-of-the-day breakthrough with you, my blog buddies... I guess that the concept of keeping our household running is intimately tied to my mommy role, which is intimately tied to the blog. So it seemed somehow germane, if only because before my darling daughter came along, I never had enough chores to justify such an approach!