Planning For a Clean House
>> Wednesday, October 28, 2009 –
Home and Garden,
Quick Tips
As I settled into our cozy couch with my yummy man, I took a glance around and said something like, "You know, I always imagined I'd be a better housekeeper than I turned out to be."
The scattered toys, unwashed dishes in the sink and dust bunnies seemed to nod their head in disappointment and agreement.
My husband, being the wise man that he is, simple chuckled with no comment.
I started thinking, I need a plan. A schedule. Yes, that's it...a spreadsheet! (it's been a long time since the days when I called myself an engineer, but the geek...she's still in there)
So far (it's been just a few days), it's worked like a charm. My house is being cleaned. I have time in my day to do something OTHER than clean. And the dust bunnies aren't communicating with me anymore. That's always a good thing.
My idea/plan is hardly revolutionary. I'm sure many of you do it without even thinking about it. But for personalities like mine...the kind that wants the WHOLE house clean NOW and who will practically kill myself trying to get it clean only to turn around, see more mess the very next day, and GIVE UP for 3 weeks...I needed this plan on paper.
I broke the house up into sections, and assigned them a day of the week. My plan looks something like this:
Deep Clean
Monday- Master bedroom and bath
Tuesday- Half bath, Laundry Room and garage entry. Water plants.
Wednesday- Front entry and stoop, office, kids bath
Thursday- Living room and play room
Friday- Kid's rooms, stairs, upstairs hallway
Saturday- Kitchen and dining
Sunday- rest
Daily
Bible
Exercise
Straighten living room and kitchen
Vacuum living room and kitchen
Load of laundry
"Deep Clean" means dusting, vacuuming, scrubbing floors, washing sheets and towels, scrubbing the sinks and toilets, etc. Once a week for those things seems adequate to me. Especially compared to how often it's typically done around here (ahem).
Ironically, the hardest part of this plan is the "daily" part of my list. I'm working on it.
So that's what Works for Me this Wednesday. If you'd like more great tips from the blogosphere, click over to "We Are That Family". If that's where you came from today, thanks for stopping by!
We have done something similar and it's really helped. Both DH and I work full time so we put together a chore chart with something to do every weekday. That frees up time on Sat to actually do something fun other than housework.
Hi! I have been visiting for a couple weeks and I really enjoy your blog. I look forward to getting to know you better!
I have actually been thinking about making up a cleaning schedule for a couple weeks now. I am going to do the same thing as you, assign different rooms for different days. I am like you, if I don't have it written down, it's too overwhelming and then NOTHING gets done!! Glad to know it has been working well for you.
PS - I love your son's name.....and not just because it's my son's name!!
I've subscribed to flylady.net for years...and have read through it thoroughly...but never have time to do the daily rituals. I clean my kitchen sink before I go to bed and I make my bed before going to work. The rest--oh well. ;-) LOL! I do have a happy home, though.
I came on here to leave a comment about FlyLady.net...but I see I'm not the only one who has found her helpful! :)
You've got sort of the same idea going...dividing things up during the week, and also having a daily schedule. Sometimes I find the "list" overwhelming and sometimes I find it helpful. But I like that you clean up the main rooms daily - that makes all the difference. I have a problem that makes me want to start cleaning from the back of the house forward, when I really need to just keep the front of the house kept up. When I start from teh back, I never quite make it to the kitchen, and that is never good! :)