I’ve written this post dozens of times in my mind. Too bad I didn’t dictate it to my phone so I could just copy and paste it now ;). But really, my cleaning schedule is something, sadly, I’ve spent a good portion of my adult life thinking about. I feel like I am made for grander things, but this is just my season to ponder on weekly cleaning schedules I suppose! And why not share my ponderings with all of you? I know it may come more easily to some than others. We’ve all got our thang. Too bad mine is as lame as cleaning! HAH!
So if cleaning, schedules, and organization aren’t really your thing, but you are wanting to get a bit more regimented this year- I hope this will help! For me, 99% of the stress of having something be dirty or in disarray is the aspect of “when will that get cleaned/organized?! I am so busy when can I fit that in? Maybe it will NEVER be cleaned/organized!!” And then I start to spiral. Eek, not pretty. This schedule helps me SO much with that. I can look at the disgusting bathrooms and think, “yup, that’s about right, it’s been 12 days since I cleaned them so that means in 2 days I’m cleaning them again.” And all is well with the world.
Cleanish house + time with your kiddos= 🙂
Confession? One of my New Years Resolutions is to care LESS about how clean or dirty my house is. I know it robs me of a lot of joy because I am so worried about it all the time. I wish I DIDN’T care, truly. But alas, pieces of me just start to spontaneously combust when I walk into the playroom which is, inevitably, always, one step away from being declared a nuclear waste zone.
Ironicially this helps me with that. I can do my little section for the day and call it good and move on to more important priorities (read: playing Jenga with my 4 year old, blogging, reading with my 7 year old, multiplication flash cards with the 9 year old… you know… the endless list of other things we could be doing with our time instead of CLEANING!). <— Ok, that was a bit excessive for a parenthetical statement.
You will notice, and may cringe, that my bathrooms only get cleaned every other week. That everyone’s sheets only get washed every other week. That my floor only gets mopped once a month (I mop different sections each week). Yes I used to do ALL of these weekly. But that was 2 kids and a smaller house ago. Obviously we all have to adjust to our own needs/season. I hope you can make this work for you!
My tip for crossing stuff off your list!
My last little tidbit: I have noticed I am SO much more productive with a plan. That’s a tad obvious I suppose. But if you wake up each morning thinking “hm, what should I do today?” You waste valuable time deciding what to do, and you will likely tackle the biggest problem in front of you. Which can work. But at least at our house the biggest problem is always the kitchen. And I can clean that kitchen 3X a day and it will still be dirty. And then nothing would ever get dusted. EVER. (or you know my point is that nothing else would get done). So even if it means I have to step over the pile of legos, duck under the fort made of blankets, and walk past the BOMB of a playroom- I STAY ON TASK! I get that one task done, I check that sucker off, and then I can move onto something else. If your home is like mine, if you stop to fix all the problems along the way you will start 100 things and finish 0.
Below is another version of the cleaning schedule where I took out the days. If you want to print a new one out each week you can label which day you are going to do what. An all day field trip, a sick child, or who knows what else always gets in the way so I often have to shuffle around which day is what. Laundry Day and Grocery Shopping day are pretty solid for me though, otherwise we run out of clean underwear and milk :).
That’s my motivational speech for you! Not quite Marie Kondo over here, but I think we’ve got a good thing going. And hey, I did have a friend give her child permission to eat off my floors once. (<— that’s my official qualification).
Thanks for being there, friends. So glad you’re with me on this journey to turn my dream into a reality. And sorry this post was so wordy! I’m sure I have an SEO of like zero for all you internet people- whoops! Sorry, sometimes I feel like talking. You can download the cleaning schedule with the button below!
