Laura Corin Posted January 12, 2013 Share Posted January 12, 2013 I've deep cleaned most of the house and am two weeks into my Saturday cleaning routine. For the weekly clean, I switch off the internet and just keep going. I diverted to put a couple of loads of washing to wash/dry, change the towels in the bathrooms, and to talk to Husband when he came in from cutting down trees in the garden. So, in just over two hours I: Weekly tasks Wiped over three bathroom sinks and toilets, wiped the floor around the toilets, cleaned the mirrors and swept the floors. Dusted and hoovered the entry hall Dusted the sitting room (hoovering to take place when we get the Christmas tree out) Dusted and hoovered the corridor (lined with books) Wiped the kitchen counters, made sure all dishes were washed, swept kitchen floor Swept porch floor Periodic tasks (these are done in rotation, as many each week as I get to) Dusted and hoovered the family room Dusted and hoovered the library Cleaned one shower stall It's not the first Saturday of the month, so the monthly tasks (window cleaning in rotation) don't apply. I stopped there rather than moving on to more periodic tasks, as I want to finish decluttering/deep cleaning the spare room so that I can add that to the rota. This is doable. I can manage it. Even when the weather warms up and I have a lot to do in the garden, I can do two or three hours on a Saturday and keep the house under control. Things that helped: the boys and I have kept on top of the tidying, so I had very little to pick up as I cleaned; I wiped over the bathrooms a couple of times during the week, so the Saturday clean was very quick. Feeling very satisfied. Now to work on the disaster that is the spare room. ETA: Huzzah! Finished the spare room. Now I just need to deep clean/organise the utility/boot room (home of lost causes), all the cupboards/closets and the loft. I'll feel as if the house is done when the utility room is usable - the rest needs doing too, but it's not so vital. Laura Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cosmos Posted January 12, 2013 Share Posted January 12, 2013 That's great, Laura. I found your thread interesting and was planning to ask you for an update. How nice to see it's going well! I plan 3 hours of housework in my schedule, but in my plan it's 30 minutes a day. The problem of course is when that 30 minutes gets skipped several days in a row! But when I stick to my plan, it really does work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
extendedforecast Posted January 12, 2013 Share Posted January 12, 2013 That is awesome, Laura! I just realized the other day that the idea of doing 15 minutes at a time of cleaning is not useful for me. I used to just go in and get my work done and relax the rest of the day. With the smaller cleaning times, i would never accomplish anything because I would run out of time, and I found my attention span for cleaning has shortened considerably. Yesterday I gave myself an hour to get the kitchen clean. Iwas able to get the whole kitchen done, including the little things I'd been meaning to do, like clean the appliances and organize cupboards. I'd love to hear more about your system. I think you're on to something :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura Corin Posted January 12, 2013 Author Share Posted January 12, 2013 I'd love to hear more about your system. I think you're on to something :) Here you are. First I am deep cleaning/decluttering the whole house - this is probably only going to happen once or twice a year - the summer is busy with outdoor activities. Saturday morning is set aside for regular cleaning. There are three categories of task: weeklies, that get done without fail; periodic that get done in rotation as I have time; monthlies (window cleaning) one of which gets done on the first Saturday of each month. I can't upload the spreadsheet here, but all I have done is list the tasks down the left hand side, then make a column for each Saturday for the next three months that I can tick off. So the left hand side reads: Weeklies Lightly clean main bathroom Lightly clean master bathroom Lightly clean spare bathroom Dust sitting room Hoover sitting room Dust front hall Hoover front hall Dust hallway Hoover hallway Tidy and sweep kitchen Sweep porch Water house plants Periodics Clean bathtub in main bathroom Dust family room Hoover family room Clean shower stall in master bathroom Dust master bedroom Hoover master bedroom Clean shower stall in spare bathroom Dust spare bedroom Hoover spare bedroom Tidy utility room Sweep utility room Monthly tasks (one to be done on the first Saturday of each month - so each done a couple of times a year) Clean internal glass doors Clean sitting room windows Clean kitchen windows Clean upstairs windows Clean hallway and bathroom windows Clean master and spare bedroom windows Clean porch and front door windows. I hope that makes sense. Laura Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jessicamcc Posted January 12, 2013 Share Posted January 12, 2013 Wow, I'm impressed! Thanks for the detailed list! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
extendedforecast Posted January 12, 2013 Share Posted January 12, 2013 It makes perfect sense. I can easily tweak my current 'system' to work as yours does. I love the idea of picking a specific day each week and then keeping everything tidy in between. Having my older children in school, this makes more sense. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura Corin Posted January 12, 2013 Author Share Posted January 12, 2013 Wow, I'm impressed! Thanks for the detailed list! You are welcome. My mother was no kind of housekeeper and its taken me almost 50 years to work out a system that seems to be working for me. I hope it continues to do so. The spur for me is having less time: now that I work outside the home, I have to be efficient because there is just no time to cope with chaos. The task is made easier by the boys being A) in school and B ) older. Laura Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom in High Heels Posted January 12, 2013 Share Posted January 12, 2013 You are my hero. I so need to do this. My house isn't gross or anything, it's just cluttered. My parents are both uber clean and our house was always so neat and tidy it looked like no one lived there. When I moved out I swore my house would never look like that. Now though, the clutter is making me nuts. I do like a lived in look, but clutter and dirt aren't for me. Sigh. I guess I should get up off my bum and do something about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura Corin Posted January 12, 2013 Author Share Posted January 12, 2013 You are my hero. I so need to do this. My house isn't gross or anything, it's just cluttered. My parents are both uber clean and our house was always so neat and tidy it looked like no one lived there. When I moved out I swore my house would never look like that. Now though, the clutter is making me nuts. I do like a lived in look, but clutter and dirt aren't for me. Sigh. I guess I should get up off my bum and do something about it. I don't like the pristine look and my house will never look like that. All I hope is to avoid deterioration: if the house gets too bad I get discouraged and overwhelmed. I need to learn to maintain it in a reasonably clean and tidy state. I have cut down on the number of ornaments to make dusting easier. Next time it rains, I'll get Husband to help me put some more things on the walls so it doesn't look too bare. Laura Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Audrey Posted January 12, 2013 Share Posted January 12, 2013 Laura, that's amazing! I'm so glad it is working for you. Thanks to you, it's also working well for me. I still need to get ds on board with the regular tidying, though. As to your mudroom/boot room situation, if you are thinking of reorganizing or remodeling it, I found a lot of great visual inspiration. Here is a neat Pinterest board devoted to mudrooms . Type "Mudroom" in the Pinterest search and there are a bunch more. Also, I just googled images of "organized mudroom" and came up with a ton of inspiring pictures. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura Corin Posted January 12, 2013 Author Share Posted January 12, 2013 Laura, that's amazing! I'm so glad it is working for you. Thanks to you, it's also working well for me. I still need to get ds on board with the regular tidying, though. Thanks - I'll look at the pictures. ETA: Wow! Some of those rooms look as big as my entire kitchen. Our mudroom/utility room is about 2 metres by 2.5 metres and contains: East side (2.5m): door from kitchen with coat hook for 'Hobbes' on back, sink with draining board (cupboard below containing bulk cleaning supplies and dog food; could maybe move the former to the garage), tall shoe cupboard. There might be space above the sink for some shelving. North side (2m): glass wall and door to garden West side (2.5m): boiler (washing-machine sized, on floor), washing machine, American-style double door fridge-freezer. On top of the boiler and washing machine are boxes that contain: dog essentials (brushes, shampoo, lead, coat) and washing essentials (washing powder, stain spray). Above this is a row of cupboards that's not being well used, so I need to clear those out - perhaps to take handbags, etc. South side (2m): coat rack with a pile of boots underneath. I've seen a welly boot rack that might be useful there, so I'll look into that. The room's just really small for all the purposes it has to contain. Laura Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LifeLovePassion Posted January 12, 2013 Share Posted January 12, 2013 Thanks for your list, I am working on making a routine for myself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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