Schedules - Fireman's Wife Style

My Hubby is a fire fighter. Which, to some people equals a "one day on, two days off - what a cushy job" mentality. However, as a fireman's wife I'd have to disagree wholeheartedly. It's not the "one on/two off" part I disagree with (obviously that part is true). It's the idea that you have two WHOLE days to do whatever you want as a family. Yeah - if that's how it's supposed to work, teach me. Because the last three and a half years that has NOT worked for us. Since, contrary to popular belief, regular fire fighters don't make tons of money, hubby works a second job. Every day that he comes off shift, he goes straight to job #2. So, to lay it all out there, here's how our schedule works (most of the time):

Shift Day: Hubby leaves at 7am and works from this 8am to the next (24 hours)

Day after Shift: Hubby gets off shift at 8am, goes to job #2. Since it's not a customer service or desk job, his hours vary and he gets home between 1pm (very rare) and 6pm, with an average of 4 or 5pm. This means I have not seen him in approx. 33 hours. We have dinner, put baby down to sleep, hang out for a bit and go to bed. Maybe 5 hours of "face" time with him this day. But at least he's sleeping at home.

Day before Shift: Hubby is doing the things he can't get done around the yard/house on the previous two days (cutting grass, washing cars, etc.) Granted, this is our "easy" day and we get to be a little lazy for most of it. I call this our "kickback lazy family day". :)

Add in there church activities, extended family events, play dates, extra job-related meetings, mentoring the youth at church, and Dr's appointments (expecting baby #2....we LIVE at the Dr's again it feels like)....our life can feel a little chaotic and not very "scheduled" as some other families might.

All of this to say - the way I used to schedule food, shopping, cleaning, etc. has changed drastically. I used to be able to say things like "OK, Mondays and Thursdays I'll vacuum & mop; Wednesdays and the weekends we'll have big breakfast; Friday night is pizza and a movie night, and every Sunday night we'll go on a date." You get the idea. But since his schedule rotates, he's never off "every" Friday or for a whole weekend, which makes having a specific, set-aside, weekly day for ANYTHING is difficult.

Now, I'm not complaining. Really, I'm not. I LOVE his job, he loves his job, and we're blessed to be where we're at. BUT.....the rotating schedule just makes things hard.
SO I've come up with a schedule. And I'm working on more. Because I realize once baby #2 comes...it's all just going to feel crazier and even more out of control. And I'm all about control (OCD...I'll just blame the OCD). This idea actually came with the help of my MIL, who was also a fireman's wife and dealt with the same issues as far as schedules and feeling chaotic.

Hopefully this will help any other wives out there whose husbands have rotating schedules....or maybe you just don't want to feel like you're in a rut? Sure. Give it a try ;) This particular schedule is for April 20l3...obviously change it to suit your needs. It's color-coded, well, because of my OCD and need for everything to be easily legible & understandable. This is my personal one; use it as a "spring board" for your own cleaning needs/desires. It's also not as detailed (I don't list every single little thing) as the original one I had was. For example, I used to write "clean master bath, clean master bedroom, vacuum both, tidy master bedroom" etc. But obviously I know if I'm putting "Clean Master" on the schedule all of that needs to be done...and all of the details don't fit in a tiny little square ;)

I've found that keeping a schedule like this helps me SO MUCH. It helps me stay on track (even if I don't finish everything on the day of - I can always do it the next day), I feel accomplished (hence the little space to check off the task - it's so rewarding!!), and hubby knows what to help with (the best part!). Little every day things like dishes, going through mail, etc. - those are "as needed" and therefore aren't given a specific day. I also rotate mopping (once a week) with "swiffering" with the wet-cloths in between. I find it cleans just fine and is less work that way. Any major deep cleaning is also not on this particular list because most of the "major" cleaning needs are done monthly or as needed, and aren't given a specific day in my household.

Let me know if you have any ideas or questions! :)

XO