How To Create A Cleaning Schedule That Works For You
Part 1 of 2
Start By Clearing The Clutter
In my 6 years as a housewife, one of the hardest things for me to manage was keeping up on the housework, especially once my kids grew out of the baby stage and into full time mess makers.I’ve tried a lot of methods of keeping my home tidy, read a lot of magazines and books and it was still a cluttered mess! Today I have finally found my groove as a home maker.
I spend about 30 minutes per day cleaning my house (not counting washing dishes!) and I have more time to do the things I love and I don’t feel like a slave to my housework.
Assess the Mess
First, I went around the house with a notebook and made notes.
- Where are the most cluttered areas?
- Does your home need a designated space for hobbies/an office/ kids play area?
- What do you need to do to organize a space better?
- Would shelving, organizer baskets or a file cabinet would help the space?
We all have excess stuff laying around that we don’t need.
Simplify life and your housework by donating the stuff that you don’t use anymore. Be really honest with yourself and take a weekend to do the whole house.
I have a terrible habit of hanging on to my favorite baby clothes that my kids wore years ago, shoes that really hurt my feet but look cute….when I’m not limping. What about all of those old magazines that you kept for inspiration to use later? Ditch it. Pick one item from each collection of clutter to keep and donate the rest.
If you have enough stuff, have a garage sale on a beautiful Saturday this month and use the funds to go on an Ikea shopping spree for things to organize your linen closet or kitchen cabinets!
- Donate formal dresses to the Cinderella Project
- Donate blankets and winter wear to your local homeless shelters
- Donate children’s games, toys, craft supplies and clothes to your local Crisis Nursery
- Some food pantries also provide large baby gear to needy families. Contact them to see if you can help!
How To Create A Cleaning Schedule That Works For You (Part 2)
Read part 1 HERE.
Everything in Its Place
Once the clutter was out of my life, I had to find a place
to keep everything and make the rest of my family aware that we all had
to do our part so the kids pick up, the husband picks up and we all
have more time to be together, having fun! I love this part because I
often find little things that I have been missing for months. Suddenly, I
have 800 bobby pins, a complete set of hot rollers and all of my sewing
notions tucked neatly in my basket.
- Go through all of your drawers, cabinets, closets, baskets of random stuff
- Help everyone in the house by labeling shelves in the linen closet
- Pair up socks, shoes, Tupperware lids, anything that tends to get out of control
Plan Your Schedule
Now that you have a clean house to start with, planning the schedule can begin!
Each lady’s cleaning schedule will be very personal to her
expectations of what a clean house should look like and how she wants
to spend her time. I’ve read a lot of articles about dusting fan blades
weekly and wiping down light switch plates and that’s just not my style
so I leave those things off. If those things are important to you,
though, definitely make sure to include them in your schedule!
Go from room to room and write a list of the things that
you want to do every week. Make a separate list for monthly and seasonal
things. If you have pets, make sure to include things like litter box
or fish tank cleaning. If you have a porch, patio or yard, you can
include those tasks on the list too. Even a small apartment entry way
needs sweeping!
Stay On Task
Knowing what I need to do is easy. Doing it daily isn’t
always that simple. Like your list is personalized to you, how you keep
on top of it will be a personal decision too. I like lists and paper in
my hand so I printed each list on a slip of paper that I keep in an
envelope on my office wall. Each day, I pull out my list and that’s all
of the tasks that I do that day. When I was a teenager, my mom taped a
list to the inside cabinet of each room in the house so we always had
her expectations for completing chores in plain black and white.
- Pretty stationery to-do list
- To-do List App
- Google calendar,
- A day planner
I clean one room in the house each day. I do deep cleaning
too like dusting, vacuuming under the couch, cleaning out the fridge.
This way, the sheets are always clean, the TV is always dusted and I
don’t have to break my back to get a really clean house. I set my timer
to 20 minutes and try to get it all done in that amount of time. If I’m
not messing with my phone or watching TV, I can get everything done with
minutes to spare.
Maintaining the Mess
In the evening before bed, the whole family does a speed
clean for 5 minutes through the entire house because we all make messes
throughout the day. We try to clean up after ourselves as we cook, craft
and play. The kids love the speed clean and they will often race to
see who can clean faster.
- Hang towels up after a shower
- put dirty laundry directly in the laundry basket
- have everyone tidy up before bed (or whenever works for your family)
- If you don’t have a dishwasher, keep a few inches of hot soapy water in the sink during the day
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