cleaning schedules...a question

[ktgrok]

Do you prefer task based schedules, where you do all the mopping in the house one day, all the dusting in the house another day, all the linens in the house one day, all the counters another day, etc...or do you use room based routines, with one day for kitchen, one day for bedrooms, etc.

 

I'm thinking the task based idea makes sense in that I'm not dragging out the dusting stuff several times a week...but on the other hand it is nice to do a whole room and have it look nice. Then again, in the real world by the time I'm done cleaning a room a child has messed something up in it again, so that really never happens anyway.

[OhioMom66]

I'm with you on preferring to do task based cleaning.

 

We have a lot of what I call "hard" floors...wood in the entry, foyer, and 1/2 bath, then vinyl throughout the kitchen, family room, office, and upstairs bathrooms. On hard floor days my daughter shop vacs them all then I steam mop them all. While she has the shop vac out she also does the carpeted stairs.

 

On another day I dust downstairs and vacuum downstairs, then another day she and I dust and vacuum bedrooms which are all upstairs.

 

All bathrooms are cleaned on the same day.

 

My days may change as far as when the work is done, but the work itself stays the same. :)

[ChristusG]

Pre-kids, I'd take one whole day every 2 weeks and do a top to bottom cleaning of the house....dusting, vacuuming, sweeping, deep cleaning, the works.

 

Since having kids that's just not possible LOL.

 

I prefer task based cleaning. If I'm going to do the floors, I'm going to do the floors in the whole house. I don't want to walk into the kitchen and see shiny, mopped floors and then go into the living room and see dog hair. That would drive me nuts. Same for everything else too.

[extendedforecast]

Ideally, I do a combination of the two, on a loop schedule. I split the house in half. In this house, I split it by floor. In a previous house I split it into left wing and right wing. Then I focus on one part of the house at a time working by task. So one day I'll do bathrooms and kitchen downstairs, then I'll do floors another day, etc. When I've completely cleaned the whole section of the house I move on to the other section and start over. It works out to where I get everything done in about ten days, but I have a 4000 sqft house. The kids have chores, but they mostly handle the day to day stuff, like dishes and tidying up at the end of the day.

[Hedgehog]

We take one day - Monday - and do all the big cleaning jobs, working together. Anything that doesn't get done is put at the top of the list for the next week. Our home is just 800 sq.ft, so provided it's not to untidy, it's possible to do it all in a day.

 

Everyone also has daily chores to keep things reasonable, like sweeping under the dining room table after each meal, loading/unloading the dishwasher, evening toy pick-up, and folding laundry.

[Mom22ns]

I'm not much of a housekeeper, so you might want to ignore my advice:lol:. I clean by rooms, but I dust, vacuum and mop each on their own day. I dust and vacuum when I do the living room, that is where the most of those jobs lie. Then I mop when I clean the kitchen. I have hard floor entry, in front of the fireplace and in all the bathrooms. I get them all at the same time. I clean my house a room a day though. Kitchen, living/dining room, bathrooms, bedrooms, basement.

 

That said, today was bedroom day. The kids are clean and they even vacuumed. Mine is still a mess:confused:.

[Pretty in Pink]

Neither. I spot clean throughout the week. The boys are becoming very big helpers with this -- they straighten the kitchen most nights after supper, pick up the living room in the afternoon, and are responsible for their own bedrooms and baths. I usually deep clean for a few hours on Sunday afternoon.

[Dirtroad]

I used to clean the entire house in 1-2 days... top to bottom. Serious spring cleaning took a few days extra.

 

Now..... :lol:..... I just put out the fires.

[SamuelsMommy]

I clean by rooms also because that is the easiest way to split the work in my house. We are out of the house for various things 2 days a week so that only leaves me 3 days to clean.

 

I do our kitchen, living/dining room, and hallways on Tuesdays. This includes cleaning the kitchen counters, dusting, and since they all have hardwood floors sweeping & mopping if needed.

 

I do the bedrooms on Wednesdays. This includes dusting and vacuuming (they are all carpeted).

 

Then on Thursdays I do the bathrooms and sweep and mop them if needed.

 

So I do rooms, but because of the types of rooms I'm not really dragging out the same cleaning stuff everyday.