It's the first Monday in April and I couldn't think of a better time to get back on track with my cleaning schedule after a dreary couple of Minnesota months. I don't know about you but after Christmas it is easy for me to fall into survival mode. I do the bare minimum in housework and ignore the dust in favor of another Netflix show and a new crochet project. It leads to a downward spiral of feeling yucky about how my house looks and going through the motions is not how I want to live!
Last week the kids and I took made a 1,000 mile journey to a number of MN State Parks we hadn't hiked at yet. It was great to get some fresh air after a long winter and spend quality time together.
We hiked almost 9 miles - including over the headwaters of the Mississippi!
We returned from that trip with fresh eyes and fresh resolve to get our home back into shape so when the weather gets nice we can dash out the door to ride bikes, take the pup for a walk, or get dirty in the garden without feeling like we are escaping the mess, but released from it!
It really is my own doing that I've got this mess to clean up in the first place because I know what I have to do to stay on top of everything. Back when we moved into this house in 2014 I developed a cleaning schedule that met all the criteria I was looking for.
If the following applies to you as well then you've come to the right place:
- Doesn't take more than 10-20 minutes per day
- Eliminates 'spring cleaning' type chores because they are built into the schedule
- Keeps clutter at bay - even your kids rooms get a deep clean once a month!
- House is cleaned top to bottom every month - no grime build up on appliances or baseboards
- Includes storage spaces like the garage and basement
- House is company ready by the weekend
One thing you'll notice is that I don't list laundry more than once a week. How is that possible in a house with five people? It is because we have an awesome washing machine (LG without an agitator) and it is located right by the bathroom with the shower in it. Our new washer holds three times what our old one did so I only wash 1-2 loads of clothes per week and only when it gets full. I incorporate towels and bedding in an every other week cycle as you'll see in the headings for each week. I also have a 12 and a 10 year old that put their own clean clothes away which helps a lot! The 5 year old can do everything but reach the hangers so she's responsible for the items that go in her dresser.
Below is what works for our household*.
* We have 900 square feet of living space upstairs and about 300 square feet in our basement.
Four bedrooms and 2 bathrooms (one with a toilet and tub and one with a toilet and shower)
We have an attached two car garage, a unheated portion of the basement, a very narrow laundry room that also has our furnace and water heater in it. The laundry room leads to the summer kitchen for storing all the things we preserve from our garden. It has a refrigerator and a stove in there as well.
TOWEL WEEK
Monday
o GARAGE
o ORGANIZE ONE DRAWER
o LINEN CLOSET
o APPLIANCES (wipe oven)
o PAPERWORK
Tuesday:
o LAUNDRY ROOM
o SWEEP
o MOP
Wednesday
o BATHROOMS
o PUT OUT TRASH
Thursday
o TRASH DAY
o _______ ROOM
o HANDLES
o LIGHT SWITCHES
Friday
o DUST
o VACUUM
Saturday
o LAUNDRY
BEDDING WEEK
Monday
o FRIDGE/FREEZER
o ORGANIZE PROJECT
o LIGHT FIXTURES
o PAPERWORK
Tuesday
o SUMMER KITCHEN
o SWEEP
o MOP
Wednesday
o BATHROOMS
o PUT OUT TRASH
Thursday
o TRASH DAY
o ________'s BEDROOM
o HANDLES
o LIGHT SWITCHES
Friday
o DUST
o VACUUM (COUCHES)
Saturday
o LAUNDRY
oTOWEL WEEK
Monday
o PANTRY
o ORGANIZE
o WINDOWS
o PAPERWORK
Tuesday
o LAUNDRY ROOM
o SWEEP
o MOP
Wednesday
o BATHROOMS
o PUT OUT TRASH
Thursday
o TRASH DAY
o _________'s BEDROOM
o HANDLES
o LIGHT SWITCHES
Friday
o DUST (BASEBOARDS)
o VACUUM
Saturday
o LAUNDRY
o DEEP CLEAN VAN
BEDDING WEEK
Monday
o CLOSETS
o CABINETS
o CLEAN BLINDS
o PAPERWORK
Tuesday
o BASEMENT
o SWEEP
o MOP
Wednesday
o BATHROOMS
o PUT OUT TRASH
Thursday
o TRASH DAY
o HANDLES
o ORGANIZE PROJECT
o LIGHT SWITCHES
Friday
o DUST
o VACUUM/VACUUM FILTER
Saturday
o LAUNDRY
Sunday
o PUT OVEN CLEANER IN OVEN
After I dropped the kids off at school I didn't allow myself to get distracted with anything else but went right to the Clorox wipe container so I could get our appliances sparkling clean. From there I spent a couple minutes tidying up the garage (Full disclosure: It's 40 and raining outside which means our garage is FREEZING so you wouldn't know I did a single thing in the garage if you stopped by today BUT I know I did something. The shoes are back on the shelf, garbage is picked up, and some winter boots have been tossed out of the way of foot traffic.) That's the thing folks....every little bit helps and it makes the tasks shorter and shorter each time.
Case in point: Paperwork. It's a Monday task and every time I put it off the pile on my desk gets bigger and bigger, but when I am diligent about going through the big white envelope where I tuck everything that arrives during the week it only takes a few minutes to file things away, write out a check or two, and add a few events to my calendar. A few minutes a week is WAY less of a hassle than the hour it will take me to find the surface of my grandpa's big 'ol desk! As a bonus when that desk is clear nobody else is tempted to drop their stuff on it either. Everyone wins! Speaking of which...if you struggle with constantly picking up after your kids and wondering if they will EVER learn to pick up after themselves check out this post on how I eliminated the nagging and hassle of an organized chore chart system.
I would be happy to email you a copy of the cleaning schedule if you don't want to copy and paste the list from this post. Just send me a message at campgroundcubs@gmail.com with 'cleaning schedule' in the heading!
Happy cleaning!!!
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