I usually knock out my cleaning in a day or two but it's very time consuming. It ends up taking the whole day and I don't get to spend time doing much else, which takes time away from my daughter. So doing a little each day intrigued me. Why hadn't I ever thought of that? It makes perfect sense! Yes I'm cleaning each day but I usually do anyway in a disorganized way. Plus each day only takes 30 minutes to an hour tops. So I devised a plan that I wanted to share with you. Let me point out that this idea is for major cleaning, not just tidying things up. It's to help you deep clean your house once a week, every week, without it taking forever and to help make sure you cleaned everything. If the kitchen floor is gross and it's not the day to mop, do it anyway :). Normal upkeep isn't included in this.
Step 1:
Sit down and make a list of everything that needs cleaning. Avoid writing things like "clean sink, tub, and shower, and sweep and mop the floors in the bathroom". That makes the list look overwhelming. I broke it down into rooms. I already knew what needed to be done in each room, I didn't have to list each individual task. I didn't include vacuuming or dusting as part of each room though because I didn't want to vacuum each day. I included those as their own task. Personalize your list to your liking and what you want to do.
Step 2:
Arrange the list in order from the tasks that take the longest to the ones that take the least amount of time. My kitchen and master bath take the longest so they were at the top of the list. Dusting takes 5 minutes, so that was at the bottom.
Step 3:
Group a hard task and an easy task together and assign those a day. Repeat. It may take some tweaking to get everything to fit evenly throughout the week. Adjust it according to obligations you know you have on certain days to avoid being overwhelmed. Remember, this is supposed to be easy :)
Here's an example of my list:
Monday: vacuum and dust the whole house. I vacuum everything from the stairs to my cosmetic drawer because sometimes hair gets in there. I hate hair. It takes about 30 minutes.
Tuesday: kitchen, living room, and front room. We hardly ever use our front room and I just vacuumed and dusted it on Monday so I just tidy up if needed and sweep and mop the entry way. In the kitchen I clean off the counters, wipe everything down, clean the stove, oven, and microwave, wipe off dirty handprints off the fridge and pantry door, sweep and mop, etc. you get it. I also tidy up the living room and pick up toys.
Wednesday: laundry and small bath. Clean laundry room, sweep and mop the floor, and clean the small guest bath. Easy.
Thursday: master bathroom and bedroom.
Friday: blinds and windows. I dust the blinds and clean the windows that need it. On this day I also organize anything that needs it.
You'll notice I didn't include laundry. Some people like having a laundry day but I just do it as needed. So that's up to you. Also our bedrooms don't get that messy ever so dusting and vacuuming and putting some random clothes away or arranging things on a shelf are all that's needed. I put that as part of the Monday dusting. If you have kids who need their rooms cleaned, assign them a day and make them help! Or even make them do the whole thing alone. That way you can make sure it gets done. Each house is different so arrange your list to fit you. This may seem like an obvious plan and I don't think I'm sharing some earth shattering secret with you, but I've been trying this for a couple weeks now and it's really helped de-stress the cleaning process in my home. I feel much more on top of things. Happy cleaning!
No comments:
Post a Comment