Household Duties

How do you guys go about getting household duties done in your house?

Jason & I waited until we were married to live together, and I'd like to think that after 3.5 years we have a pretty good rhythm going. It's not perfect & sometimes we have to change it up but it’s working for us & we've been able to learn about each other's habits & needs when it comes to cleanliness in the home.

I thought I would give a snapshot on who does what & when; I thought the "when" would be helpful because it's coming from a household of 2 full time working parents.

HIS "CHORES"	TIME OF DAY	HER "CHORES"	TIME OF DAY
Take out the trash	Daily around 7pm	Cook Meals	Daily
Wash Clothes	Once a week	Kitchen	Daily - leave dishwasher machine running in the a.m.
Dishes (sometimes)	Whenever I'm too tired	Wash clothes	When hubby's out of town
Quick Pick up	Daily. Picking up toys, magazines etc…	Baseboard	Monthly
Make the Bed	Daily	Quick Pick up	Daily
Vacuum	A couple times a week	Going through mail & random Papers	Monthly
other	Anything I ask :)	Vacuum	A couple times a week

I put the word chores because I couldn't come up with a better term. I will say in the beginning of our marriage it did think of it as a chore because it wasn't fun (yes, I have the mentality of a 2 yr. old), but now I have changed my outlook and I like doing these things to make our home a HOME.

Yes, there are days when we're tired and we don't feel like doing anything but it helps that there are two of us, and I am lucky that my guy is so willing to help, maybe it's because he's the clean freak in the relationship but I am not complaining!

Would love to see to hear how other households work when it comes to maintaining a clean home, especially with full time working parents & children.

Dedicated to the one I love...

I love this! Except my guy does think about me every moment. ;)

image via pinterest.

Third Anniversary

Yesterday was our third year anniversary and we spend it taking care of aaron, who has a tummy ache and 6 teeth coming in all at once. That is when it hit us (again) that life has really changed, but I love it!!!

so what have I learned in there 3 years? nothing! ha! still feels new (when he's not getting on my nerves). I think that's a good thing!

<3

No Marriage...

"No marriage is immune from struggle - in fact, no life is either. But handled well, struggle builds character and deeper intimacy."

Source.

Perfect quote on marriage!

My REAL Tips for a Better Marriage - Post baby

My girlfriend Diana emailed me a link to these great marriage tips and asked me if they were true, and yeah they are but come on, add a baby and real life to the mix, sometimes you just need some REAL tips! Here are mine:

1. If you feel like yelling & cussing him out, do it! It’s better to get it all out and move on then hold in it and have a grudge later. I know yelling isn't always best but hey that's how I deal!

2. Don’t compete. It’s easy to get caught up in, "I did the dishes 3 times this week" or "I stay up with the baby more than you", try not to do that, it will just cause an unnecessary fight.

3. Be real & be you 100% of the time. It isn’t about pleasing people all the time anymore, you need to be happy first!

4. The husband needs to learn how to cook & make a couple meals occasionally. I love when my hubby treats me to a homemade breakfast! Same goes for cleaning.

5. Chocolate. I like chocolate. Get us Chocolate!

We have only been married 2.5 years and have a 6 month old so I am sure I will be adding to this list, but this is what has helped us so far.


Got any tips that have helped you? Share!!!! I’ll compile & re-post.

DEALS! DEALS! DEALS!

Now that we have a baby one of my goals is to really learn to budget and find ways to save money. I have been researching the art of using coupons (yes, it is an art to me becase it is NOT easy), and well It's time to stock up on a few things. Due to skin allergies on my little one we want to try cloth diapers, and I also need to stock up on pampers sensitive for when he is at grandma's.

Neeless to say, I was excited when I my issue of Parents magazine arrived because they had coupon codes for Diapers.com and Amazon.com!

So I got my 2 little gdiapers gpants and 6 cloth inserts for ONLY $48.09 with parents 10% off code and diapers.com has FREE shipping! If I paid origial price I would have paid $56.58.

I then researched and came accross this post from Upper Valley moms for my pampers sensitive shipment. I enrolled in Amazon's subscribe & save (which I will actually keep), and added my parents magazine code and I only paid $20.00, saving me 50% AND I also got FREE shipping. So I saved $28.49 and got FREE shipping for both my purchases.

Not bad for a newbie! I must say I'm quite proud.

The Secret to my relationship is....

Inspired by this post on glamour.com in which they asked readers to post in 5 words or less the secrets to their relationship. My response:

I lose my Keys and He finds them! (More than 5 words, I know!)

I thought I would add to this list on my blog

Play wrestling
kissing
cuddling
Making him a big juicy steak every once in while
Helping him the get the new Jordan pack coming out
Rush in Toys R Us and bogart to get him the latest "collectible"
Him going to see Chick Flicks with me
Him making me bubbles baths
Him killing ugly bugs
Backrubs
Secrets
Pranks
Hugs
I love you's like 20 freaking million times a day!

This list can go on and on ....

I FUCKING LOVE HIM!

Weekend Recap & What the hell is a Budget?

This has been a stressful week! My father was hospitalized last week with some rare bug and had to get surgery but I am happy because he is recovering quickly and was released today! 

Hubby went out of town for a week and comes back on Wednesday for a nice long memorial day weekend which is also our 1 year anniversary! YAY :)

We most likely are not going anywhere since 1. the H1N1 is still out there! 2. I'm planning Hubby's 30th birthday celebration and 3. I'm trying to go see Hillsong in concert on 6/1 which means I need to budget! 

The word Budget is foreign to me, I will admit I am not good at money management but it's something I'm trying to change because we have plans and because hubby and I have been thinking about merging bank accounts. EEK!

Since I'm clueless when it comes to Money, my dear friend, themommychase, recommended I check out mint.com and let me just say AMAZING! You enter in your info and it does all the work for you! Mint tells you when you are over budget, categorizes your spending and recommends areas where you can save. Some of the areas I seem to be overspending is:

• Grocery
• Metro - Which I can't do anything about
• Rent - again, i can't do anything about
• Electricity

What sucks is that now that we want to really get serious about budgeting we also want a puppy, a new car and husband wants the palm pre. Sigh!

Marriage Tips

I just came across a lovely post on Wisebread.com on How to be Happy & Married and they posted 24 tips that I thought I'd share: (I summarized, click on link for detailed tips)

1. Talk. Take time to talk everyday.
2. Don’t expect your spouse to be a mind reader.
3. Forget the type of compromise that means thinking of yourself in favor of finding solutions that work for you as a couple.
4. Let her have her way (or his way) sometimes. (I am sending this one to Mr. as we speak!)5. Go to weddings where you’ll likely be reminded of promises you made.
6. Be your spouse’s advocate. There are times when you may need to protect or defend your husband or wife.
7. Never go to bed mad.
8. Make reasonable requests but don’t pressure or make unreasonable demands.
9. Don’t compete with each other.
10. Play outside. I like to go hiking or swing (at playgrounds). Just because you’re married now doesn’t mean you always have to act like a grown-up.
11. Give something up, if necessary, to reach a mutual goal…s
12. Celebrate.
13. Laugh.
14. Indulge.
15. Take care of your kids but don’t put them first in everything you do.
16. Learn to love your extended family.
17. Be flexible.
18. Talk about problems with your spouse or a counselor, rather than your best friend or someone who may tend to see just your perspective and may not encourage you to talk things over with your beloved.
19. Don’t depend on your spouse for everything.
20. Encourage your spouse to develop her or his talents, and do the things he or she enjoys.
21. Go on dates.
22. Keep learning about each other and the world.
23. Be loyal and faithful.
24. Believe. To me, promising that you’ll stay married to someone forever, whether you were childhood sweethearts or dated for a few months (and neither is a guarantee of marriage longevity or brevity) is an act of faith.

I will say that #9 is an issue for me and the Mr. - we joke a lot that there's a power struggle in our marriage because neither of us like to be told anything and like to always be right.
One thing i'll add that my big sister told me and I keep in my mental rolodex is to pick my battles with the hubby! I'll also add Prayer and Putting God first not only in your marriage but your life.

Any tips of your own? Share with this newlywed :)

First Year the hardest??

I am really tired of people telling me the First year of marriage is the hardest. I’m having a ball. Yeah it was a little hard in the beginning, I come from a big family and I’m a daddy’s girl – I was sad to leave my parents and my brothers but I got over it in like a month. I talk to them everyday and since we live 20 minutes away, I can go see them whenever I want.
Yes, there are some adjustments like my husband trying to get used to the fact that I don’t make the bed! It makes no sense to me if I’m about to get back in it in a couple hours, this irritated him because he leaves before I wake up most the time so I’ll try to fix the bed at least once a week because I know it makes him happy.
Other ‘adjustments’ we had to get used to:
-I don’t always turn off lights in other rooms when I leave them
-He leaves his socks on the couch and bed
-I leave my clothes EVERYWHERE – I pick them up eventually
-I also leave my shoes everywhere
-He owns 200+ pairs of shoes that are all in their respective shoe boxes
-I lose my keys and Phone every day but I find them again
I’m sure this list can go on and on but my point is – adjusting to newlywed life hasn’t been hard, I’m with the man I love and it’s been amazing going thru this experience together.
I read an article on Life After Marriage and the following paragraph is exactly how I feel:
Married life is not like a romantic movie with one exciting moment after another. Married people have to still live everyday lives, do mundane chores and go about their daily routines. The sparks of romance and laughter will come and go; it's up to us to keep the fire going.