i am sad to say that i still haven't figured out the best way/schedule to clean the house, and i have been a stay at home mom for just over a year now. that is especially sad for an organized, list oriented person. i think my main issue has to do with the above quote...obviously there are things that have to be done around the house but i don't want my girls to remember me cleaning all the time. i want to be there for them to make memories. because i have the joy and the privilege to stay at home, i want to soak up as much time as i can with my girls!!!! when i was working, it was heartbreaking not getting to be with them throughout the day. so thanks to pinterest and my friends i have gotten some good ideas but of course it comes down to what works for each individual family..still don't think i have it figured out but here are the ideas i found. this site has 4 rules for keeping things in order without going crazy. one of my friends does a schedule like this (sorry i had to make these pics so big but otherwise you wouldn't be able to read them):
she has certain tasks she does on certain days; i wasn't sure about this because i like to get everything done at once but there was no way with a newborn--who was nursing--that i would have a few hours to do it all. i tried doing a few things a day but still could never keep up. even if i was only supposed to do one thing that day, it always got postponed for one reason or another. there were always dishes in the sink and the dishwasher, the laundry room was overflowing with dirty clothes, the couch and chairs in the living room were full of clean clothes waiting to be folded and put away, dusting only occurred out of necessity--like company was coming over, vacuuming was maybe every 1-2 weeks so there were dog hair bunnies in every corner, i don't even want to talk about the state of the bathrooms. it was horrible. sorry to be so blunt...i'm sure many of you are now terrified to walk in my house! but i promise it has improved.... it started with the laundry. i decided i had to take control of the piles everywhere situation. so i found a laundry basket that wasn't being used for anything worthwhile and designated it the clean clothes hamper. the minute clothes came out of the dryer they went in the basket and were fairly immediately folded and put away--great job for my oldest to help with! then to tackle the dirty clothes piles, i had to start fresh and just wash it all on one day....that was a long day but now i can walk in my laundry room without tripping over anything! now i make a concerted effort to monitor the dirty clothes hampers in all 4 closets so that i can wash wayyy before they start overflowing.
as far as the other cleaning items, for some reason i have always liked thursdays as a cleaning day; just seems nice...right before the weekend so the weekend is relaxing and not at the beginning of the week, because let's face it mondays are hard enough without scrubbing toilets. so i am trying to add things to my schedule one at time. after the laundry got under control, i took on the kitchen sink and dishwasher. basic rules there....do at least 1-2 loads in the dishwasher a day. at minimum, i try to start the dishwasher after dinner and then unload it the next morning while the girls are eating breakfast; and of course after i unload it that morning, i put any dirty dishes from the sink in there.
i think something also clicked in my brain when my hubby went to school; he was not going to be around to "pick up my slack" not that i did that intentionally but in the back of my mind, i always thought, oh i can wait until he gets home to do that while he plays with the girls or i'll ask him to do that tonight. since those options are no longer the norm, i guess my subconscious realized it was up to me and me alone to get it done!
anyway, i am trying to vacuum at least every 3-4 days....does that seem excessive to anyone??...well when you have 2 dogs that shed and bring in all kinds of leaves, grass from the backyard, and a baby that is half crawling, half walking, it is a necessity to vacuum very often. my BIGGEST hurdle is dusting. i hate dusting!!! i hate having to move everything off and dust each little thing, then dust the surface, then put everything back only to realize it's not exactly how i had it before (which is not good for ocd-ness!). my plan is to make myself dust at least every 2 weeks on thursdays. that plan has not been implemented yet...maybe this thursday...
i am doing better with the bathrooms; haven't really set a time i clean them but usually once a week. thankfully we only have 2 bathrooms. i do not like cleaning our stand up shower! it is so hard to get clean and then try to wash off all the cleaning products without causing a flood in the bathroom. tips on that are greatly appreciated!!! the miscellaneous cleaning like the floorboards, blinds, light fixtures, fridge, etc. i have been doing randomly. i need to put that on a rotation. i have tried a few of the pinterest cleaning ideas---the baking soda sitting in the toilet to clean it...didn't work that great for me; using a dryer sheet to clean the baseboards...work fabulously! going to try it on the blinds next; using a dryer sheet to clean soap scum off shower door...not so much, or maybe the soap scum on our shower door is too much for it to work right; once i get the shower door clean, i will be apply rainx to it which should help alot!
so my schedule is not much of one i guess but it's better than not having one and not doing anything! i really like the set up of this cleaning schedule below. it's in a frame so you can check off things as you do it with a dry erase marker. i plan to make one of these so i can keep track of what i have done. makes it a little more flexible about when certain things are done throughout the week and month. however, i certainly will not be doing all that shown on the daily list! please tell me if you do all that everyday and if you do, please tell me how on earth!? i'd love to know!
sorry this was so so long and may or may not be of interest to you but it was helpful for me to get it all out on "paper". please pass on any ideas you have for cleaning, etc.
one of my helpers (O:
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