So what exactly is a cleaning schedule? It’s a list of things that YOU create to do daily, weekly, bi-monthly, monthly, or quarterly. You then put them in a chart that directs you when to do what. This is something that is tailored to your schedule. For example, I’ll be combining a few of my chores into the days my son is in pre-school. You could choose to complete your list all in one day, what I use to do when I only had one child, or spread it out during the week so you’re really only doing one or two things a day. Currently, I do a combination of both.
If you’re still reading this… hang on. I did say this blog was about making your life healthier and less stressed. This one is a double whammy. Once you have this schedule in place, you no longer have to keep replaying the thought in your head, “Boy, I really need to clean that.” Instead, you know that it will get done on its scheduled day. This allows you to LET IT GO! No need to think twice about it because you know it will get done. This schedule will also end up saving you time. Since your house will be kept up frequently, the amount of time it actually takes to clean it will be reduced. Let the liberation begin!
To get started, take a piece of paper and make a list of all the “chores” that you can think of. Everything from dusting to cleaning your coffee pot. Create your monthly chart by making seven columns across and five columns down. On the top of the chart insert days of the week and on the left side of chart insert "week one", "week two", etc. until you have four weeks. Then start to insert the tasks into the days you want to do them and how frequently you’d like them done. I like to keep mine on a clipboard in the kitchen. I also put another column entitled "Projects" for my random "To-Do" list. If I don't get those done by the end of the month I just put them on my list for next month.
Like any good thing, you can always use it for evil. Do not, I repeat, DO NOT treat this list as something you HAVE to do in order to keep a good house. Make it your assistant rather than becoming a slave to it. If you have gotten to the end of the week and nothing was done because your family was in town, cross off that week and start fresh on Monday. If you don’t get something done on a Monday, it’s ok to do it on Wednesday and cross it off then.
Depending on what shape your house is currently in, you may have to do a clean sweep. This is something I do twice a year regardless of what shape my house is in. Begin by going room to room and take out the clutter. Make your garage or a side room a staging area. One area needs to be for donations/garage sale and another for recycling/garbage. Start with an easy room and work your way up. If it’s a big project, only do one room a week. You will be amazed by how much stuff you have acquired. The less stuff you own means less stuff to clean. This will not only make your house look cleaner, even if it’s not, it will also put money back in your pocket via garage sale or tax write-off.
A distinction needs to be made on “clean” versus “picked up.” Sometimes my house is clean but not picked-up. Other times it’s picked-up but not clean. Both can come with a sense of satisfaction depending on how you view it. A clean carpet with toys spread across it is a good thing. A picked-up floor that is covered in dog fur and random bits of food the kids smuggled in is not. For those of you who have kids, go ahead and give up on having your house picked-up all the time. Now a clean house however, that is something you CAN have control over. We don’t want to stifle the creativity of our little ones in the name of a picked-up house. What I try to do is make sure at the end of the night everything goes back to where it belongs. This allows me to wake up feeling that my house/life is in order. Well, at least for the next 30 minutes until the kids wake up.
Now for a bit of strategy… I have found this three step method to save me the most amount of time.
Step One: Pick up and put away one room at a time. This allows you to be in a “pick-up mode” and can make the whole process go faster. Also, do each room in the same order each time. This might sound silly, but it really does save you time. I always start in my dinning room (usually because it’s the least used room in the house) and then work clockwise from room to room. Since I do it the same way every week, it becomes like second nature. I’m not sitting around thinking, ok, now what do I clean?
Step Two: Clean one room at a time and in the same order you did the picking up. Once you are finished cleaning one room move on to the next. This will save you from running from room to room. One exception should be made. I clean my bathrooms at the same time. We live in a small house so the bathrooms are pretty close to each other. I clean both windows, then both sinks, then counters, etc. This allows me to use the same rag and cleaning product which makes it go faster. However, if your bathrooms are not close together this wouldn’t work for you so go back to the original plan.
Step Three: Don’t look back! DO NOT clean something if it’s not scheduled to be clean. Sure, there might be a little dust on the table that you could get to on Wednesday…but if it’s not scheduled to be done until Friday, let it go. Sit down and read a magazine, or my blog, instead.
GOT MOTIVATION? If not, no worries, let me share some motivational ideas that worked for me.
Weight Loss: Do you know how many calories you can burn by cleaning your house? Apparently mine is 143 an hour according to this website. http://www.fitday.com/webfit/exerciseinfopage.html
Enter your own information and see how much you could be burning. You can also make it into a cardio routine. This was something I did pre-kids. I would turn the music up and follow steps One and Two as fast as I could go. Think of it as speed cleaning instead of speed walking. Trust me, you’ll be sweating by the end.
Entertaining: You could schedule all of your cleaning on one day, say Saturday, and have someone over for dinner that night. Having guests can really motivate you to get your house in order. I remember one friend of mine who hadn’t entertained in a really long time because of the shape her house was in. She applied my advice and began entertaining more frequently. It’s a win-win for you and your friends.
Starbucks: Good ol’ coffee. I use to do all of my cleaning on a Friday morning which would usually take me 1½ hrs to do. I would reward myself, before the cleaning started, with my favorite Starbucks drink. Coffee is always a motivator to me.
I’m not sure what motivates you, but find something. Keeping a clean house comes with health benefits and a peace of mind. You truly can be liberated by a cleaning schedule from the guilt we can place on ourselves for not keeping better house. For those of you who, after reading this blog, will never invite me over to your house in fear of judgment… fear not. The fact that you just read my long article on cleaning makes you a true friend, and true friends don’t care what shape your house is in.
Luv it! :)
ReplyDelete