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I get a lot of emails asking about my cleaning schedule after I wrote about my typical day on Joanna’s blog. I truly do not love cleaning, but I know that I’m so much happier with life when my house is clean. Don’t you feel the same way?
A couple years ago, right after I had Claire and when Gracie was old enough to really start doing some damage, I was feeling like I would never have a clean house again. (I also thought there was a good chance I would never get to sleep through the night again. :) good times) I was picking up the house all week long it felt like, and then I would do all my laundry and deep cleaning on the weekends. That meant my Saturday was completely gone and that the house was totally dirty again by Monday morning. Stresses me out just thinking about it.
Then one time I was visiting a friend’s house who had three rambunctious toddler boys. I walked into her house for the first time and my jaw dropped. Her house was CLEAN. Like, I’m not talking about tidy – tidy is not always possible during the day with kids, but it was clean. She is one of those amazing mothers who is really active with her kids, so I knew she didn’t spend all day neglecting her boys to clean the house. I was surprised and a little jealous of her sparkly floors so I begged her to share her secret. She laughed and said she kept a chore chart, which I thought was hilarious! What grown woman has a chore chart?! Suddenly I had to have one!
I copied her chart and have been using a slightly tweaked version ever since. I can’t say that I’m always following through here, but when I do, my house is practically spotless and best of all, I don’t feel like I am cleaning all the time – which honestly was the hardest part for me of being a stay at home mom in the early years.
It looks like a lot, but I think even on the most intense days I’m only spending 30 or 40 minutes in aggregate cleaning (though we live in a 1500 sq ft apartment, so your home might require a little more time). I’ve listed the chart here below, and here’s a simple printable version.
So the basic idea is this: there are daily chores – easy things you should take care of almost habitually in the morning and in the night, and then there is a single special chore of the day. Most of these chores end up getting done once a week (for example, every Monday I do a deep vacuuming of all our rugs. I took only one interior design class in college and I only remember a handful of things from that class. One of them was a tangential comment my professor made about vacuuming. She said that you should go over the same area on a rug SEVEN times super slowly to get it clean. Isn’t that just nuts? I don’t do that, but I do try to do a slow vacuuming on Mondays.). Friday though is the swing day, where you rotate in chores that need to be done less frequently, like scrubbing the microwave.
I’ll walk you through today’s cleaning schedule. It’s Tuesday. I wake up and make our bed. It won’t get done unless I make it as soon as I get up. The girls are getting good about making their beds too. After I finish getting ready I wipe down the bathroom counters and the sink. While I’m making the kids breakfast I empty out the dishwasher.
Then life happens and the house sort of falls apart during the day.
Then at night the girls help me clear the table and load the dishwasher. Michael does the trashes. Once the kids are in bed I quickly sweep or vacuum the kitchen and dining room and I might pop into the living room too. I keep a wet rag with me and as I go I’ll spot clean the floor. My goal is fast and furious cleaning!
And here’s where my baskets come into play. I keep them everywhere. I really love this basket that I posted about yesterday because it is super sturdy and holds its shape. I zip through my house every night with this basket, throwing in every misplaced item, then going back to each room once and put the things back where they belong. It takes me just a few minutes to pick up a day’s worth of clutter this way. No more running back and forth and back and forth from room to room putting things away. Try the basket method – you’ll never go back!
Plus – another bonus of having your pretty baskets out in every room? If you have a friend coming over right away, you can just corral everything in the basket super fast and no one’s the wiser.
Once the house has been de-cluttered, I do my chore of the day (today was cleaning the mirrors and windows), and then I’m done! It might sound like a lot, but I promise it isn’t. When I’m consistent with this schedule, I never have to do one of those marathon cleaning days to get back to ground zero. The house never has a chance to get really dirty, so the cleaning never feels like a true chore. It feels easy and, dare I say it? Pleasant?
So that’s my approach to cleaning in a nutshell. I know we all have our special tricks, and I’d LOVE to hear yours!
Today’s super-sized give away is $350 to Target AND $150 to the Container Store and all you have to do to enter is leave a comment sharing your favorite cleaning or organization tip. I can’t wait to see what you guys do to keep your spaces sparkling! Any other crazies out there with a chore chart? :)
Contest ends March 22. Winner will be announced on the 23rd. Contest rules can be read in full here. Good luck!!
Loved the post! My cleaning trick is to go to bed every night with a shiny sink. It makes me feel motivated and happy when I get up in the morning!
Thanks for the tips and even more thanks for the giveaway, no really, THANK YOU! I definitely stick to the one load a day rule for laundry, religiously! If I don't, all hell breaks loose. I am pretty consistent with the the bathrooms once a week, but definitely like your idea better in splitting it in three parts, sinks/counter, tub/toilet, and then floors. Sheesh! I feel i got the job done already just from typing it lol. have a great day!
I have a little desk right by the front door where I can quickly go through mail or any other paper that comes in and either file it or throw it away as soon as it comes in the house.
i should start off by saying that i am the worst housekeeper ever BUT i find that I am the least "crazy" when i stay on top of it. put things away as soon as i'm done, clean as soon as i make a mess OR it all piles up and feels too overwhelming to start!
i just had a baby and doing one thing a day has helped me so much! i know don't dread cleaning all day on saturday!
Usually my cleaning MO is one full day of cleaning but I'm definitely going to switch that up for your chore chart and see how that goes. Maybe I'll hate cleaning a little less!
Thanks for the tips and even more thanks for the giveaway, no really, THANK YOU! I definitely stick to the one load a day rule for laundry, religiously! If I don't, all hell breaks loose. I am pretty consistent with the the bathrooms once a week, but definitely like your idea better in splitting it in three parts, sinks/counter, tub/toilet, and then floors. Sheesh! I feel i got the job done already just from typing it lol. have a great day!
i just had a baby and doing one thing a day has helped me so much! i know don't dread cleaning all day on saturday!
I love your chart! I need to try that. My favorite cleaning tip is to never leave a room without something in hand. That way, you can put things away as you go!
my best cleaning tip is: always bet that some article at the bottom of the dirty clothes bin has poop on it. (it's almost never true, but it COULD be true, and it helps me stay on top of the laundry, just in case).
i have a chore chart that i use sometimes, but mostly when I know my mother-in-law will be visiting:
http://cecimadden.com/2011/05/20/super-intense-chore-chart/
I turn a timer on for 20 minutes every evening and clean as fast as I can before time runs out! It works! :)
Any time a timer is running (8 minutes until the pasta is done, etc.) I clean. Still amazed at how much work I can get done in 8 minutes…
I like your basket method. It'll be great with a two-story house. One of the best things my husband and I do is share the dish-duty. He loads the dishwasher, I put up the clean dishes. It works wonderfully!
I love this idea! I have no tips because my house is in shambles.
No toys in the children's bedrooms, keeping extra garbage bags at the base of the can so you can immediately replace them. A place for everything and everything in its place :)
I make sure to have company over at least once a month so that I *have to* get the bathrooms clean. Otherwise, it just never seems to get done!
I try to immediately hang up/put away my work clothes when I get home (if I'm changing into jeans/t-shirt). This keeps my floor from becoming a mountain of clothes that are wrinkled and maybe should be washed! I also keep my makeup in clear plastic containers–no more messy makeup bags!
I find that if I have some good quality cleaning products, it gets me excited to clean. I too love pretty baskets to stash toys and random items in. I am printing your chore chart and am going to get started!
I've found I have to clean for 30 minutes as soon as I get home from work, or else it piles up quickly and I have no energy to tackle the mountain. Usually it's just a whole-house once-over (tidying) and a load of laundry. My husband does the dishes and trash. Saturday is my day for deep cleaning and his day for yard work. But the daily 30 minutes keeps everything from going nuts!
I do the basket thing for my kids things. We don't keep any of their toys and games in our living areas. They are kept in the playroom or their rooms. But for the inevitable stuffed animal or nerf dart gun that makes its way in the living room, I just put it in the basket. When the basket gets full, we redistribute all the toys back were they belong. But for real cleaning- I just pray for a little OCD since I don't have any naturally!!
I am a basket girl. Everything goes in a basket. I love the chore chart. I also pick up twice a day, naps and bedtime then I don't feel like I'm always picking up toys and such.
I keep things clean and organized by having someone else do it!! LoL :)
Love your blog and can't wait to try this schedule! I'm a working single Mama to a two year old boy, so I don't have too many cleaning tips that seem to make a dent in the mess, ;). But, my number one time saving tip is to immediately fold the laundry once the load is done. If I fold, hang, and sort immediately I spend far less time ironing later!
Tips that have saved me…
Cleaning the kitchen the night before
1 Load of laundry everyday
Baskets for toys
Also, I keep cleaning supplies under our kitchen and bathroom sinks so that I don't have to go and gather them up or haul them around each time I want to clean. Simple but this helps me!!
Thanks for all your tips!!
My only little trick is I use my Steam mop to do my floors and any other tight space cleaning issues such as the rims around the facets. I really love this chart and with two boys at home this will help us a huge amount. Also love the basket idea. I could see my self running back and forth while reading about it and that will cut that out for me. Thanks so much for posting this. What a great help!!!
my tip is do a little something every day- i love how you have your schedule laid out. sometimes it's easy to feel overwhelmed but i just try to keep myself moving & do SOMETHING to make the house a little cleaner! :)
I just quit my job and feel overwhelmed by taking on the new one- cleaning! Thanks for the great tips.
We just started a new policy of taking our shoes off at the door. It seems to help us track less dirt/debris into the living room and kitchen. I also keep cleaning solutions in each bathroom and the kitchen so I don't have to run back and forth when I am trying to clean.
We do a family pick up time together. We put on some loud music and everyone helps.
I definitely go by the "don't leave a room until it's clean" method, particularly when the house is trashed (usually after a party). That doesn't mean I have to do everything in that room at once– clean up random things and mop the floors, for example, it just means that I do whatever I can in that room while I'm there– make the bed, put away discarded clothing, dust the bureau, etc.
-Anna K.
I definitely go by the "don't leave a room until it's clean" method, particularly when the house is trashed (usually after a party). That doesn't mean I have to do everything in that room at once– clean up random things and mop the floors, for example, it just means that I do whatever I can in that room while I'm there– make the bed, put away discarded clothing, dust the bureau, etc.
-Anna K.
I make sure I do a load of laundry everyday. I also male sure everything in the house had a place. The more organized my house is the easier it is to keep clean. My mom aldo taught me to vaccum every night, youcant vaccum if your house is cluttered!
I put this on Pinterest for myself as I am moving into an apartment next month and thought it would be good for my husband and I to follow. It has been repinned 27 times in under 10 minutes. I would say it really resonates:)
Always, always always make sure to put dirty clothes in the hamper or hang them back up if you're going to rewear them. If I even slip on this for a day it spirals and suddenly my bedroom takes hours to clean up. It took a while to get into the habit of putting my clothes away but now it helps so much!
I was just telling a friend about this product as now I cannot imagine a life without it. It is a life saver.
I love how it keeps my apt clean from all the dust & germs…
For organization, I am a big fan of saving shoe boxes — especially since I have a large shoe collection. I cover the boxes with a cute wrapping paper and take a Polaroid image of the shoes and post it on the side of the box. So much easier to organization my shoes while still keeping them cute and displayed!
I've discovered Clorox wipes help me to actually clean the bathrooms and not hate the process. I also use glade's clean linen air fresheners because I've found that when the house smells clean, I'm more likely to keep it that way.
Yay! I am so glad to see you ended up getting the Miele vacuum! I hope you love it as much as I do. It really is ridiculous how much I love it, considering how much I hate vacuuming. I am a big believer in the basket as well. If nothing else gets done during the day, my kitchen counters, sink and stove need to be clean, and the coffee table in the living room free of clutter and misplaced things. Also, having a landing pad on the first floor for sorting mail, with little bins below for sorting recycling first thing when I come through the door. Piles of unorganized paper clutter is my ultimate pet peeve. Thanks for the giveaway opportunity!
I can't live without Swiffers! We have hardwoods everywhere and 2 small long haired dogs so we have dust bombs everywhere everyday! PS I love Target and the Container Store… who doesn't?!?
Figuring out systems that I will stick to has been the best way to get a handle on cleaning and organizing. Every Sunday morning the sheets come off the beds and go in the washing machine. My five year old helps me strip the beds. It took work to get my family involved in the systems (and by no means is everything entirely clean and organized yet), but we're getting there bird by bird.
Great tips! Thanks for sharing. With my kids, I feel like the thing that helps speed their clean up and keep things organized is to have appropriately sized and categorized containers (boxes, baskets, bins, canisters, etc.) for everything. We are still not 100% there, but when each thing has a specific place to go, it's easier to find and easier to pick up. Many kids toys, art supplies, and games seem to come in packing that looks as if you could store the item inside, but often it's too small and impossible for kids to actually get the items back in quickly, so it doesn't happen. It drives me crazy that there are even puzzles that come in boxes where you can't put the pieces back unless they are all put together correctly. Even my daughter has started to pick up on and request help with organizing using this strategy. For example, she recently sub-divided her collection of 150+ Schleich animals into pets, farm animals, wild animals, etc. and put them in smaller containers within her basket box for the animals. Now she doesn't have to dump them all out and put them all back when she is trying to find a specific one.
Oh, and IKEA Expedit. Best way to store and organize kids' stuff ever, for cheap ;).
I feel a little weird sharing cleaning advice since my house is pretty much a disaster right now, but here goes. Keep the kitchen sink empty each night. That habit led me to always keeping the sink clean which generally means the kitchen is fairly clean. Also keeping the kitchen floor swept every day is huge otherwise cooking mess gets carried around the house further complicating clean up.
Baskets and boxes are key to organization! Having a place to put everything makes it easier to put those things in their place :)
Thank you for the chart – love the simple, do-able idea! I work outside the house fulltime, and mornings are chaotic for me, so I do all of my cleaning/tidying in 30 minutes during the evenings. I hoover when my boys are going to bed, with the idea that the white noise will soothe them to sleep, then I creep into their room and pick up after them while they're sleeping. Then I do a disorganized whiz round pick-up/wipe-down/dishwasher load before I give up for the night.
Hoping to get organized a bit better before baby #3 arrives!
I try to do two major chores a day – one in the morning, one in the afternoon, as well as my daily chores (laundry and dishes). I also try to keep up with flylady – using zones to rotate through the house, 15 minutes at a time.
I try to keep the house as clutter free as possible and keep counters and floors as clean as possible. I also try to use my toddler's nap time to do as much "noise free" cleaning as I can.
My tip is to do a little every day.
My dad always taught me : a place for everything and everything in it's place. I think half the battle is won when everything has a home to be put back in. I recommend having good organization bins/baskets in place. Now, if I could just get my kids to go along with that!
I do a chore chart. I have a very detailed one that goes room by room, listing out each task for each room on a given day. I like your chore chart much better! It looks easier on the eyes, anyway!
I'm a huge fan of using a chore chart! It helps me keep track of what needs to be done (especially when I'm too tired to remember it). Charts/lists are lifesavers for keeping things straight. My BFF when it comes to organizing is my label maker.