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Cleaning is a chore, whether you like to clean or not it’s still a chore. As our family has grown and we’re out of the house more I find the only way to keep up with the day to day tidying and cleaning is to stay on a schedule. My schedule is more of a loose guideline, but if I have something written down and a guide to follow I stay on track and the laundry doesn’t bury me alive. Disclaimer: I'm not a pro but have found pro tips to help me keep up with the household chores. You can be a “faux pro” too!
A few tips to get you started:
- You don’t need a fancy Pinterest worthy schedule framed hanging in your kitchen to have a clean house. While that’s nice and may work for some simply having a guideline to follow will keep you on task.
- Do a little each day. Don’t wait until you have ten loads of laundry or the toilets look like a science experiment, it will feel daunting and take more time out of your already busy schedule.
- Your schedule doesn’t have to be day specific, rather broken down into weekly, monthly and seasonal tasks.
- If it helps to write it down keep your list simple. Break it down into weekly, monthly and seasonal chores with the chore under each category.
Weekly
Laundry:
I try to avoid laundry on the weekends or use that as catch up time. Since I work from home part time I’m able to do laundry throughout the week. I separate our clothes from the kids’ clothes. Colors, whites, big girls, little boys are each given a day and then linens all get done on the same day (usually multiple loads).
Floors:
Vacuuming and mopping get done weekly. Sometimes more frequent vacuuming is needed and I’ll do that on demand, but thankfully for hardwood floors I am able to tidy after each meal making it less time consuming. I mop once a week and steam mop as needed (it's a quick clean).
Bathrooms:
Definitely once a week for a deep clean but I’ll wipe down a messy sink or toilet seat with a disinfecting wipe while I’m bathing a child. There’s no secret to my bathroom cleaning outside of just getting it done! Need more bathroom tips, check out this post on an organized bathroom.
Kitchen:
I tidy each day and wipe down after each meal. My kitchen has never been so awful that it needs once a week deep cleaning. My thoughts are if food is being served there then it always needs to be sanitized and clean. If you can’t keep up find ways to help yourself. Use the dishwasher, wipe down after each meal and don’t let clutter take over your kitchen counters. Need more ideas? Check out this post on organizing your kitchen.
Monthly:
Dusting:
I aim for once a week but if I’m being honest it’s usually bi-monthly. Thankfully with hardwood floors I have less carpet dust so I’m able to get away with dusting twice a month without the dust bunnies taking over.
Baseboards:
I'd love to do this chore more, but let's be real it's not happening weekly. So once a month I suck it up and wipe those baseboards down with hot water and vinegar. No special tricks…I wish!
Seasonal:
Windows, window blinds and toy sorting all get done seasonally. Those are big jobs and in my opinion don’t need to be more often.
Tips:
- I choose to batch clean, rather than take a room at a time I take a chore at a time. For example all rooms get dusted on the same day. I’d love to say my entire house is always spotless but truthfully I’m always working on something.
- Closed doors are your friends. If you haven’t gotten to that pile of clean laundry, no biggie close the door and work on it later.
- If you’re having guests and short on time clean the bathroom they’ll use and save the rest for later.
Photo credit: adapted from katerha | Flickr
What's your go-to method of cleaning? Share your suggestions and tips, I'm always looking to add to my arsenal of cleaning tips.
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