...unless you really want to. We fall in and out of housekeeping routines, but we have to say, our home looks best when we stick to a daily plan for cleaning rather than just doing a whirlwind (or not so whirlwind depending on the state of things) deep clean on the weekend. Unclutterer put up a post earlier this week that is a good reminder of a sensible, easy to follow plan that leaves your weekend free for the things you really want to do:
This Weekend: Don't Clean Your Home...
The One Day/One Room Plan: Dedicate half an hour to cleaning one room every day instead of cleaning the whole house on the weekend.
Erin says, "My husband and I still subscribe to this policy. In addition to picking up after ourselves throughout the day, we set aside 15 to 30 minutes for more intensive cleaning tasks like vacuuming, scrubbing toilets, and sweeping and mopping floors. Mondays we deep clean the dining room and kitchen, Tuesdays are foyer and living room, Wednesdays are bathrooms, Thursdays are bedroom, and Fridays are our shared office. We have created playlists that are 15 to 30 minutes long on our iPods with collections of fun songs to listen to while we clean. So, when the music stops, our cleaning tasks are usually coming to a close."
We're jumping back in on our version of this today (trade in kids room instead of the office) as an early new years resolution...anyone else follow this plan or something similar?
Thanks for the reminder, Unclutterer!
Photo: Clean Space Laundry Room from California Closets
Comments (6)
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I like the iPod playlist idea. Its hard for us to maintain the clean vibe when the kids seem to "undo" all our efforts in a matter of minutes.
view Morgante's profile
I'm not sure whether I'd spend less time this way or more. I kind of think if I do everything in one swoop, I can do it more quickly (doing the same thing in multiple rooms creates efficiencies--like mopping the living room and then the kitchen and then the bath). Besides, my apartment is small and I can finish it in under an hour.
view Christine (the one in DC)'s profile
I prefer to save the major cleaning for the weekend. During the week I'm tired.
view LaDonnaNichole's profile
i did have a day-by-day method that was AWESOME during the summer when i am off work. once the school year started, though, it went right out the window. add another kid to the equation, and it seems right near impossible to maintain. but i'm inspired and i'm going to try again.
one other thing: laundry. trying to do one load a day (we have a 4-person household) helps a lot with the avalanche. again, hard to do, but worth a try.
view pinko's profile
Probably the most important thing to remember is that 15 minutes of cleaning is better than no cleaning at all. It's easy to decide that, if we can't do something perfectly, we don't have to do it at all. That's an easy out, but you're still not getting anything done.
view LauraE's profile
Reading all those cleaning tips just makes me think my husband is right ...I am crazy. I swiffer the kitchen and living room every single day. Bathrooms get cleaned twice a week when no company is around- all 3 of them(I hate the hair that accumulates on my tile). The dinning table is black glass (dumb but beautiful purchase) This thing is never clean- I wipe it everyday even if we don't use it. There is never any clutter in my house.. ok ok hubby has a favorite chair that he might leave a teeshirt on, it gets moved within 2 hours always.
I always read the cleaning tips but always realize I do everything they mention and don't feel like the house is clean enough. I hate dust!!
I would love to hear your feed back..am I crazy or just like you?
and yes I work full time.
view yelena's profile