I think it’s really important to try to set up some sort of cleaning schedule; if you can. Obviously I know that we all have busy lives and we all have stuff going on and sometimes finding the time to clean can be difficult. So what I recommend is coming up with a cleaning schedule to help you tackle everything you need to do in a week.
The way I did mine was I sat down with a pen and paper and wrote down all the cleaning tasks that need to be done.
This is what I got:
Then I labeled everything for the frequency I felt it should be done:
Now I sat down and wrote out my basic schedule. So the things that I know I have going on every day no matter what; like work. Then I filled in what I already know I do on certain days.
The easiest way for me to do this was to fill in a calendar template. I only filled in the things that I hadn’t written in as “daily”. I also was realistic…my parents and I have a strong tradition of watching certain tv shows together.
Sometimes it’s the only time we get as a family so I made sure to put that in here because I knew if I didn’t I wouldn’t be realistic and I’d overlap or not get stuff done. I also kept it realistic by not sticking all the more time consuming things on one day.
Don’t STRESS about how you’re going to stick to your schedule, or what you’re going to do if something comes up and you don’t have the time. Really, the idea behind having a cleaning schedule is just to 1. make sure that your tasks aren’t all piling up to the point where you feel overwhelmed and 2. for you to be able to see what needs to be done and be able to kind of do it at your own pace.
So my final tip for having a cleaning schedule and probably my post important tip would be to write it in a place you’ll see it.
I keep a planner (by keep a planner I mean: I carry it with me everywhere and may be a little obsessive about it) so I write this schedule in there. The type of planners I use have a monthly overview as well as a weekly overview where I can write things day by day and put notes. At the top of the monthly overview above each day I wrote the chores that I aspire to get done. So on Sunday’s I try to do all of my laundry, vacuum, dust, and mop so I wrote this above the heading “Sunday” for the month of September. Obviously this isn’t something you’d have to do for every month but for someone like me whose schedule is constantly changing this way works best. Then the second thing that I do is add the cleaning chores to my daily to do list. These two things really help me to stay on top of my cleaning and not allow it to pile up into a big stressful heap of messiness.
Let me know how you guys keep a cleaning schedule or if you need help writing your own!
Cherished Cottage 