"In response to your request for ideas on getting to
Shabbos on time, I have found the following formula helpful
and although I am not in the habit of writing to newspapers,
I feel it may be a public service."
* And so, having been chided for too much copy on coping, I
still submit the following excellent tips on household
management, though I wonder, where do all of us fall through
the cracks? What keeps all of us so busy in addition to the
things we all accomplish, as below? I would venture to say: a
lot of chessed related activities... [Ed.] *
Shabbos "happens" in our home all week:
1) Shabbos clothing gets washed on motzaei Shabbos and
the house gets cleared from Shabbos.
2) Sunday -- general laundry gets done, dishes which have
dried are neatly stacked in cabinets, house 'maintained'
(beds, sweeping etc.)
3) Monday -- Project day: fill the freezer with either kugels
(apple and pineapple) or large chicken soup, kneidlach
etc.
4) Tuesday -- laundry, house maintenance, bathrooms.
5) Wednesday -- fruit & veg. order, wash and drain items,
clean playroom, dessert or cake baking (into the freezer).
6) Thursday -- Shabbos cooking by now is down to chicken,
cholent, fish and potato kugel. I make the fish and kugel but
we prefer the chicken and cholent fresh on Friday and so I
prepare all the ingredients and put them in a pot in the
fridge. Boil eggs. Cleaning gets done in the evening.
Remaining laundries put up. Baths for the children.
7) Friday -- cholent and chicken put up, laundries folded,
papers organized. Pitot bought for lunch (very neat, no
crumbs -- [Ed. keep in mind for before Pesach and for Shabbos
Erev Pesach!] Children fed as soon as they come home. They
must do their own special chore lekovod Shabbos before
they go out to play. This includes setting the table,
cleaning the front window and so on. Children make trip to
bakery to choose their erev Shabbos cookie.
By two, they must all be home. Older ones take a quick shower
and then it's Quiet Time -- books to bed. I have a special
erev Shabbos collection. Younger ones rest, motivated
by the bakery cookie they chose earlier which they get when
they are dressed for Shabbos.
At this point I finish the salads (eggs, liver, fresh green
salad), kitchen gets its final cleaning. I get a quiet shower
and time to lie down.
*
I find this quiet time brings in Shabbos in a totally
different manner and not with a thud! This was inspired by a
seminary incident in which I dropped off a dish one Friday
afternoon at the home of a madricha. I was greeted by
silence and a spotless, calm home. I was told that by noon,
all was done and the only thing left to do would be to rinse
the coffee cups used after waking up from their naps! What a
stark contrast to the erev Shabbos frenzy.
In my home we don't get there by chatzos but by 2:00,
we are usually winding down and the quiet ushers in a pre-
Shabbos atmosphere which we savor. About 45 minutes before
candle lighting, everyone is up and dressed and given the
erev Shabbos cookie and some hot cholent.
Of course, this is not a foolproof plan and even the most
organized weeks and days have their glitches, but for the
most part, the organization of the week and built-in quiet
time on erev Shabbos help to truly bring Shabbos in
with a smile and not, G-d forbid, a gasp to the finish line.
Shabbos is truly a taste of Olom Habo, so why not usher it in
with an eagerness earlier in the day.
[Why not? We all have excuses, but really, Why Not?]
