I hate to clean. I LOVE to organize but hate to clean. (make sense?) In my mind, cleaning just didn't work for me:
I am home with 3 little children and do NOT have time to clean. They need me.
I am just not good at it.
I am too tired at night to clean. I need time to relax.
We should have a housekeeper. (oh yes, my favorite one)
Oh yes, the list goes on. I had plenty of excuses, but they weren't keeping the house tidy.
That being said, I am pretty good at daily chores. I load the dishwasher and run it nightly. I keep the counters fairly clear. Our house is regularly picked up and straightened.
It's those darn weekly/monthly cleaning jobs that were being neglected. Instead of keeping up with the bathrooms, vacuuming, and dusting, I would go crazy trying to clean before guests were coming over OR I would get fed up with the mess and spend a evening cleaning while my husband had to watch the kids. Something had to be done.
I finally put my foot down and stomped on all of my excuses! I had to get things organized. The time had come to put on the cleaning lady hat, so I did what I know best...I made a list. (yes I love lists) I wrote out all of the things that had to be cleaned on a weekly basis in my house. Then I took each of them an assigned them a day that made the most sense. I was able to cover all of it by Thursday, so that left me Friday with nothing to do.
Take a break, right?
Nope, not this cleaning lady! Friday is used to rotate in cleaning tasks that don't need to be done weekly.
The result:
Monday: (basement focus)
Laundry gets completed and folded and maybe put away!
Vaccum and dust basement
Empty all small trashcans in bathrooms (our trash day is Tuesday)
Tuesday: (upstairs bathrooms
Clean toilet, sink, and mirror in both upstairs bathrooms
Refill toilet paper rolls in both bathrooms
Put away any remaining laundry
Wednesday: (main level)
Vaccum and dust main level
Clean toilet, sink, and mirror in main level bathroom
Thursday: (upstairs level)
Vaccum and dust upstairs
Friday: Shopping Trip to BJ's
1st Friday- clean all kitchen appliances (microwave, toaster oven, etc)
2nd Friday - organize fridge/freeze and pantry as needed
3rd Friday - wipe down all cabinets
4th Friday - chores as needed - windows? OR break!
Sunday PM - Sort and begin laundry
*Husband vacuums main level and washes laminate floors. Then week 1 cleans tub and shower and on week 2 cleans the bathroom floors. Yes, he does a GREAT job! The man cleans better than I do.
I have been using the schedule for about 3 months now and I love it. It has worked wonders for our house and my life. I don't have to spend time on Saturdays cleaning at all, which I love. My house is ready for guests pretty much anytime without me having to quickly scrub out toilets!
The goal is to get these things done during the day with the kids, but that doesn't always happen. The nice thing about the schedule is that I know exactly how to focus my time once the kids go to bed. I can immediately get my cleaning task done and then relax. (or blog...he he)
My favorite cleaning resource is Real Simple Magazine's Cleaning Section. Visit and poke around. It is a great place. If you don't know what should be cleaned in your house daily, weekly, and monthly, then you'll find it there!
So get cleaning ladies and if you have a tip, please leave a comment. I would love some more cleaning ideas!
I am home with 3 little children and do NOT have time to clean. They need me.
I am just not good at it.
I am too tired at night to clean. I need time to relax.
We should have a housekeeper. (oh yes, my favorite one)
Oh yes, the list goes on. I had plenty of excuses, but they weren't keeping the house tidy.
That being said, I am pretty good at daily chores. I load the dishwasher and run it nightly. I keep the counters fairly clear. Our house is regularly picked up and straightened.
It's those darn weekly/monthly cleaning jobs that were being neglected. Instead of keeping up with the bathrooms, vacuuming, and dusting, I would go crazy trying to clean before guests were coming over OR I would get fed up with the mess and spend a evening cleaning while my husband had to watch the kids. Something had to be done.
I finally put my foot down and stomped on all of my excuses! I had to get things organized. The time had come to put on the cleaning lady hat, so I did what I know best...I made a list. (yes I love lists) I wrote out all of the things that had to be cleaned on a weekly basis in my house. Then I took each of them an assigned them a day that made the most sense. I was able to cover all of it by Thursday, so that left me Friday with nothing to do.
Take a break, right?
Nope, not this cleaning lady! Friday is used to rotate in cleaning tasks that don't need to be done weekly.
The result:
Monday: (basement focus)
Laundry gets completed and folded and maybe put away!
Vaccum and dust basement
Empty all small trashcans in bathrooms (our trash day is Tuesday)
Tuesday: (upstairs bathrooms
Clean toilet, sink, and mirror in both upstairs bathrooms
Refill toilet paper rolls in both bathrooms
Put away any remaining laundry
Wednesday: (main level)
Vaccum and dust main level
Clean toilet, sink, and mirror in main level bathroom
Thursday: (upstairs level)
Vaccum and dust upstairs
Friday: Shopping Trip to BJ's
1st Friday- clean all kitchen appliances (microwave, toaster oven, etc)
2nd Friday - organize fridge/freeze and pantry as needed
3rd Friday - wipe down all cabinets
4th Friday - chores as needed - windows? OR break!
Sunday PM - Sort and begin laundry
*Husband vacuums main level and washes laminate floors. Then week 1 cleans tub and shower and on week 2 cleans the bathroom floors. Yes, he does a GREAT job! The man cleans better than I do.
I have been using the schedule for about 3 months now and I love it. It has worked wonders for our house and my life. I don't have to spend time on Saturdays cleaning at all, which I love. My house is ready for guests pretty much anytime without me having to quickly scrub out toilets!
The goal is to get these things done during the day with the kids, but that doesn't always happen. The nice thing about the schedule is that I know exactly how to focus my time once the kids go to bed. I can immediately get my cleaning task done and then relax. (or blog...he he)
My favorite cleaning resource is Real Simple Magazine's Cleaning Section. Visit and poke around. It is a great place. If you don't know what should be cleaned in your house daily, weekly, and monthly, then you'll find it there!
So get cleaning ladies and if you have a tip, please leave a comment. I would love some more cleaning ideas!
11 comments:
I'm the same way, I love to have things organized, but hate to clean...you are right, we all have to put our foot down.
I like your cleaning schedule, great idea, thanks!!!
God Bless,
Amber
Great schedule!
I recently decided to make a schedule too - it makes life easier knowing I have a list. I love checking off the list rather than cleaning because I have to! :) I feel a little better about it when I check off my list!
I will have to take a look around the site you recommended! It sounds like a great go-to place for cleaning!! (Thanks for your advice on my blog too!!)
great rota thanx ;o]
Ohh yes, you and I are kindred spirits b/c I love to organize and most people say I'm the MOST organized person they know but I"m a terrible housekeeper. I just started a Daily Routine list... morning, afternoon and evening.I'll tackle the chores list soon! You're doing good if you've done it for 3 months! give me some advice!
As i was getting ready to type my comment, I was reading amber's and she said exactly what I was going to say....so i ditto amber's comment. :)
Great ideas!
I love your ideas about the cleaning schedule and rotating in the different bigger tasks. I'm a last minute cleaner usually too, so I understand how you were before. But that last minute stuff just doesn't work now with a 15 month old daughter at my feet. I'm trying to imagine how I'm going to keep our house clean on a daily basis as we're going to be putting it on the market this coming week! Any ideas? I have used some of the ideas from flylady.net before. She is great. Blessings!
YOu are so organized with your cleaning schedule.
I just feel like I am cleaning one thing or the other all the time.
I probably should have a cleaning list. I have a list for everything else.
I LOVE the list and feel the same way about fitting in the household chores. You have inspired me to make a list! :)
Great post, Mary! You're my idol! I have been so distraught over how to keep up with the house lately. I used to be real good at it, but since having Levi and getting ready to start our lessons, I was feeling lost. I printed your schedule out and am going to try to use it, as well! :o)
This is a great list! I need to focus on just a few things a day and not get overwhelmed with everything at once. Great post!
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