Housekeeping schedule

[Zinnia]

What have you used that works for you?  I'm not going to make one on my own.  I *wish* that I was that type of person, but no.  Just no.

 

This year, I've ended up doing the basics every day (which for us is dishes, laundry, a quick wipe of the bathroom, vacuuming the middles twice a week, and tidying), then twice a month or so, devoting 4-6 hours straight on really cleaning.  So the things like dusting, scrubbing the bathroom, changing the sheets and flipping the mattresses, mopping the kitchen floor.  The difference between tidy and clean.  :)

 

I have used Motivated Moms in the past, with great success.  But that was before homeschooling.  I tried it this last year, and I can't seem to keep up with the tasks.  Then I end up with this big day twice a month, and I'm still not getting to everything I'd like.  In an ideal world, I'd do all the tasks on Mo. Moms.  But we are out of the house twice a week for long days, and I lose steam on those days.  Then I forever feel like I'm trying to catch up.

 

I used flylady 15+ years ago, and I still use the bones of daily routines, but I haven't dug in and done the full thing in a long time.  

I'd love a well thought out plan, with a day or two that had very little beyond basics on it for the days we're out of the house, that helped me keep my house feeling clean and not so overwhelming.  

 

Anyone found the perfect unicorn?  

[EmmaNZ]

:lurk5:

[whitestavern]

I don't remember where I downloaded it from, but I've used a system for years that works pretty well. It takes 5 days of the week and each day has areas that you focus on. There are daily, weekly, quarterly, and annually completed chores for each area, though I focus on the daily and weekly only.

 

For example, on Monday the focus is on bedrooms and emptying all the trash in the house (our trash pickup is Tuesday). So the daily would be making the beds, putting away clothes, etc. Weekly you would change sheets, dust, and vacuum. Quarterly you organize closets, turn mattresses, wash windows, etc.

 

Here's the rest of the schedule; you can easily customize to make your own:

 

Monday-bedrooms and trash

Tuesday-bathrooms and office

Wednesday-family room and living room

Thursday-kitchen and dining room

Friday-laundry, car, playroom

 

I have a printed copy that I keep in my day planner.

[Carrie12345]

The index card method from S.H.E. (Sidetracked Home Executives) would probably fit the bill.

[fairfarmhand]

I have a checklist I'm willing to share with monthly and weekly tasks. You have to plan it your self.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1BgifiPjESJS-ca-4e2J7Z30akrI7mCmymqQc_4LUfYo/edit?usp=sharing

Edited December 20, 2016 by fairfarmhand

[KungFuPanda]

Read this:

 

https://www.amazon.com/Sidetracked-Home-Executives-TM-Paradise/dp/0446677671/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1482273564&sr=8-1&keywords=Sidetracked+home+executives

 

Your library might even have it. It's so easy to customize to your own schedule or energy level, but you're not trying to reinvent the wheel.

[Chris in VA]

Geez, in Chris World, you'd already be a rock star.

 

My mother in law kept a simple routine. Monday, upstairs; Tuesday, downstairs; and other things like laundry and baking on other days (I stopped listening after Tues. as I knew it wouldn't work for me).

Edited December 21, 2016 by Chris in VA

[Noreen Claire]

I have an A/B week split cleaning schedule, as well as a schedule for doing laundry. (During A week, the vacuum stays upstairs; during B week the vacuum stays downstairs.) I've got a crappy memory, so I have this hanging inside my kitchen cabinet and look at it multiple times a day.

 

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1o98skAU0hRZNO9gW68XC34PW64yLkvCszi9RGPM1ghw

[Cinder]

Thanks for this thread and all the ideas. I need a system too. But my main problem is laziness. :p

[regentrude]

Question for those who clean on schedule: does your home get dirty on schedule? I find that it depends greatly on what we do, who is home doing what, etc. I don't want to clean something that is clean, and I don't want to leave dirty something that is dirty.

[HS Mom in NC]

It's been different at different stages of our lives.

My house needs vacuuming every week because we walk on our carpet from outside very day.  My bathrooms, kitchen and schoolroom/library are used daily so they get dirty at a regular rate. We sleep in our beds every night, so the sheets needs washing on a regular basis. Our 3 cats roam the house and their hair sheds every day.  So a schedule makes sense. We wear clothes every day and those that need laundering are thrown in the hamper-every week there's something to wash.How would a house with people living in it not get dirty?  I'm not talking about just mud and crumbs but germs too.

[regentrude]

It's been different at different stages of our lives.

 

My house needs vacuuming every week because we walk on our carpet from outside very day.  My bathrooms, kitchen and schoolroom/library are used daily so they get dirty at a regular rate. We sleep in our beds every night, so the sheets needs washing on a regular basis. Our 3 cats roam the house and their hair sheds every day.  So a schedule makes sense. We wear clothes every day and those that need laundering are thrown in the hamper-every week there's something to wash.How would a house with people living in it not get dirty?  I'm not talking about just mud and crumbs but germs too.

 

We wear no shoes in the house and eat only at the dining table which cuts down on dirt, crumbs etc in other areas of the house. Whether the cat is inside our outside depends on the weather and her mood. Yes, we wear clothes, but the amount of laundry fluctuates widely depending on DS' workout schedule and on what we do in our spare time. The timing for laundry depends on the weather because I line dry. The amount of dirt in the kitchen depends on whether I cook or bake or am not home for meals. It makes no sense to schedule that; I'm not leaving dirt because the schedule says it's not the time to clean the counters. Whether the downstairs bathroom needs cleaning depends on whether it gets used - by DD home form college, overnight visitors, DS having friends over. OTOH, the little half bath off the hallway got the floor deep cleaned three times during the past week because the cat chose to pee next to her litter box.

 

 

Edited December 21, 2016 by regentrude

[maize]

Question for those who clean on schedule: does your home get dirty on schedule? I find that it depends greatly on what we do, who is home doing what, etc. I don't want to clean something that is clean, and I don't want to leave dirty something that is dirty.

 

Yes my home gets dirty on schedule: 8 people using the whole house every day means constant accumulation of dirt and mess in every single corner. 

 

The best cleaning schedule around here would be to clean every single part of the house every day.

 

Which of course isn't possible. Sigh.

[madteaparty]

Yes my home gets dirty on schedule: 8 people using the whole house every day means constant accumulation of dirt and mess in every single corner.

 

The best cleaning schedule around here would be to clean every single part of the house every day.

 

Which of course isn't possible. Sigh.

Yes exactly. It gets dirty consistently but it won't get cleaned at all if I don't schedule it.

[Hobbes]

I've made my own because no other system takes into account our routine and the use of our home.

 

So:

 

Monday - wash and dry all clothing laundry. Kids wipe sinks/mirrors and dust upper level.

 

Tuesday - everyone folds and puts away their own laundry (I do babies and toddlers too). Sweep main level.

 

Wednesday - clean bathrooms, wash kitchen and bath laundry. DH puts out garbage. Kids sweep upper level and dust main level and basement.

 

Thursday - errands

 

Friday - sweep main level, fold and out away kitchen and bath laundry. Kids sweep basement and clean out van.

 

Daily: clean up kitchen, sweep kitchen, make beds, put laundry in hamper. Tidy clutter as we go.

 

As needed: wipe cupboards, walls, baseboards, floors. Vaccum bedroom area rugs. Etc.

 

This takes into account the usage level of each room (basement needs less sweeping than main level) and what days are better for more work at home (Thursdays we are out, so errands. Tuesdays at home, so laundry).

 

I tweaked until the work fit the days and got enough done to stay relatively clean. The schedule has been this way for a couple of years.

[melbotoast]

A while back someone on here recommended a YouTube channel called How Jen Does It. She has a lot of videos on cleaning routines, etc. I've liked her system a lot although I have adjusted some things to fit my life better. With 3 small kids at home, my standards of cleanliness are a little lower than hers :)

 

Daily: keep kitchen clean, dishwasher, load of laundry, etc.

 

Weekly tasks: She has one weekly task each day like sweeping, vacuuming, dusting, etc. I can't keep up with that right now but I have all of my weekly & biweekly tasks in an app on my phone (Regularly) that tells me what is most urgent.

 

Zone cleaning: This takes 15 min a day and is more deep cleaning type stuff. She got the idea of zones from flylady, but she has enough zones to cover your entire house which I like. I did her 2016 challenge which helps you declutter and then I've done one cycle since then. I can get through my entire house in 8 weeks! Jen just keeps cycling through her zones but I'm planning to take breaks and go as slowly as needed. If I get through it a few times a year, that's great at this point in my life.

[swellmomma]

I still use aspects of flylady. What has worked for me is actually to write it in my bullet journal. So i have my schedules/zones etc all in the frony of my journal. When i make my daily to do lists i include specific tasks from my zones, routines etc. Some how having it in my face with a box to check helps me get it done.

[displace]

Maybe in addition to daily tasks some weekly ones: day 1- bathrooms (may be able to cut down on daily clean), day 2- kitchen, day 3- floors (may be able to decrease to weekly vacuuming), day 5- other (dust, declutter), days 6 and 7 - nothing.

 

If your kids are older then maybe they could help with daily tasks.

[displace]

Or maybe switch the biweekly tasks for both you and a partner if possible. If two adults are cleaning it should take half as long to mop, deep clean, etc.

Edited December 21, 2016 by displace

[Alicia64]

This is such a good thread -- thank you for starting it!

 

Alley

[Seeking Squirrels]

So I rarely actually follow my schedule. Most of the time I find myself in crises cleaning mode instead. :/ But I do *have* a system that works when I actually use it. 

 

Daily: Keep dishes moving, counters, basic daily mess stuff; Laundry, usually 2 loads; daily zone.

 

Laundry:

Mon: Girls' clothes 

Tue: My clothes

Wed: Towels

Thur: Girls' clothes 

Fri: Sheets

(Dh does his own on sunday)

 

Daily zone - This is weekly stuff, deeper than daily mess, but not exactly a deep clean:

Mon: Kitchen/dining 

Tue: Bedrooms

Wed: Bathrooms

Thur: Playroom and schoolroom

Fri: Living room and car

 

Sweep, vacuum, mop....as needed and able.

In theory, I would expand on these zones maybe a week at a time to focus on deeper cleaning. In reality, those deeper cleans don't happen very often.

 

[6packofun]

Thanks for this thread and all the ideas. I need a system too. But my main problem is laziness. :p

 

You're not alone.  LOL  I looked at fairfarmhand's schedule above and broke out into hives. Baseboards weekly??!!   :lol:

 

I think zones or basically cleaning different areas on different days of the week sound like the best option, if only I'd be motivated enough to DO housework every day of the week.  I'm trying!  Unfortunately, my attitude of housework-as-drudgery has rubbed off on my kids and they do as little as possible, so I get to be the bad guy--hypocritical bad guy?--on this stuff.  *sigh*

[Ausmumof3]

Question for those who clean on schedule: does your home get dirty on schedule? I find that it depends greatly on what we do, who is home doing what, etc. I don't want to clean something that is clean, and I don't want to leave dirty something that is dirty.

It's more that mine gets dirty all the time. And any cleaning is better than no cleaning. I do run into the - oh the schedule says vacuum the cobwebs but the kitchen is a disaster moments and learning how to deal with them effectively is a big part of figuring out something that works. I guess the schedule is more for stuff like that though. Cobwebs in the corners aren't that bad after a couple of days but if they don't get done for a month we could run haunted house tours. Schedule is to help get to those jobs that are never urgent but need to be tackled occasionally.

[Mbelle]

i tried all those schedules and it just made me feel like a failure.  Now I just try to keep one room very clean and tidy all the time.  Another room can be a mess all week and then we tidy and clean it up.  The kitchen is a constant job and flows several times a day from nice to messy.  I try to do some actual chores and cleaning on Mondays.  I try to run laundry a couple of days per week.  The kids do their rooms on Saturday mornings.   Then there are times like the end of sports or academic season where we just have to give the house and ourselves grace for a few weeks.  Then we hop back to our sort of schedule.

[Hobbes]

It's more that mine gets dirty all the time. And any cleaning is better than no cleaning.

Truth.

[Gentlemommy]

No real schedule...I just do things as I see they need doing. What happens daily is-

Dishwasher gets emptied first thing in the morning and dishes get put in throughout the day.

Counters and table get wiped after meals.

Load of laundry brought down from dryer and folded.

Spills get spot cleaned.

Main level floors get vacuumed. We have hardwood throughout the main floor and it takes me about 15 minutes to quickly vacuum.

Laundry is gathered at the end of the day while kids shower and is started, I switch to dryer when they go to bed.

Bathrooms get wiped as needed.

 

Once a week-

Appliances and cabinets in kitchen wiped down.

Vacuum bedrooms and basement.

Dust living room and bedrooms.

Bigger clean of bathrooms, showers, tubs, toilets scrubbed, glass wiped, floors mopped.

Sheets. I set aside one day for this task alone. Between all of us, it's approximately 8 loads of laundry.

Fridge cleaned out, shelves wiped if needed.

Sidewalk, deck, porch swept.

Random area organized-could be the junk drawer, a kid closet, or homeschooling bookshelf.

Door knobs wiped.

Couches wiped down.

Wood floors mopped.

 

Once a month-

Windows and blinds cleaned.

Pantry cleaned and organized.

Walls wiped down.

Baseboards wiped down.

Fans and light fixtures wiped.

Light switches wiped.

 

 

It's not perfect, and I'm not Martha Stewart or anything, but it works fine for me. There is rarely a moment where I would be mortified if someone stopped by unexpectedly. We have social workers, therapists, and case managers here weekly, so I have to keep it relatively picked up. We don't have toys on the main level, (it's not an intentional thing, it just worked out that way), which helps. We actually don't have many toys at all-my kids don't play with them much. They have a few things, but they mostly stay put away in bins unless a friend comes over. We have tons of games, books, and craft supplies though. However, those all have designated spots to live, which makes it easier to put away. The table gets cluttered while we eat breakfast, do school, and eat lunch, but all that is put away as soon as we finish. Sometimes a craft or project takes over the table, but again, it's put away by the end of the day or as soon as it's done.

 

I'm not a stickler for perfection, and with four kids, my standards are probably low lol, so take this with a grain of salt. In fact, my sweet aunt, who knows me well, got me a wall hanging with this quote "Our house is clean enough to be healthy, but dirty enough to be happy" and it's so true. I used to get so burned out trying to keep everything perfect, and it made us all miserable. I used to nag and remind the kids to pick up after themselves as soon as they finished. Now I don't mind letting it go for a bit...it'll get picked up eventually. Or I'll pick it up if it bothers me. Again, this used to bother me so much, like I was 'letting them get away' with something, or failing to teach them to pick up after themselves, but I realize now that if I do it for them every once in a while, they are happy to help me out when I ask. Our house is CLEAN, meaning no bugs, dirty dishes sitting for long, or nasty bathrooms. But there are kid paintings taped to my windows, blankets strewn all over the couch from cuddle/reading together, dog hair on my black shirts, and paint on my table. Shrug. It works for us!

[Carrie12345]

Question for those who clean on schedule: does your home get dirty on schedule? I find that it depends greatly on what we do, who is home doing what, etc. I don't want to clean something that is clean, and I don't want to leave dirty something that is dirty.

 

Honestly? In my <1100sf, with 7 people, a cat, a dog, and an outdoorsy lifestyle (with no mud room or even foyer,) pretty much everything in my house gets dirty every day!

 

I mean, I'm not going to pull clothes out of closets to wash just because I'm "supposed to" do laundry, but I haven't run out of available laundry in probably a decade.