10 things we all avoid cleaning, how to clean them, and some cleaning tips to help you get through the overwhelming spring cleaning time of year. Included is a free complete Spring Cleaning Checklist you can use to help you get through the cleaning.
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Cleaning the house is a never-ending chore. It's also overwhelming, time-consuming, and not a lot of fun. In this post, I'm going to share with you exactly how to create your own cleaning schedule. By the end, you'll know what needs to be cleaned when without feeling like cleaning is the only thing you are doing.
Figuring out what to clean when can be an uphill battle. It took me years and tons of trial and error to get where I was able to create a cleaning schedule that fit my time constraints and what my home needed.
Every home is different but the maintenance and the chore list is pretty much the same. The trick is to create a schedule that is easy to follow that doesn't take a lot of time out of your day.
Everyone can agree that chores aren't going away. Unfortunately, the dishes will need to be done again, the laundry will need to be washed, and the kids will probably add stickers or crayon marks on the wall.
It's the schedule that we put in place is what makes all of the difference in the world.
I'm sure you've walked into someone's house before and thought, "Wow, this house is spotless, do they clean all day?"
Most of the time the answer is no (there are those few occasions that aliens take over someone's body and all they do is clean), it's the system that they put in place that makes all of the difference.
What I've found that makes a solid cleaning schedule is set up a schedule that I can get through in a matter of 30 minutes (daily). So I'm finishing my cleaning (with a few exceptions) in a short amount of time and I don't have to think about it until tomorrow.
Those exceptions are dishes and laundry. I know that I will have to do the dishes again during the day and laundry never takes 30 minutes.
The schedule I set up contains 3 rules:
breaking chores up
theming chores
and separating tasks into rooms
What I mean when I say, break the chores up is, instead of writing down, "clean the kitchen" I will break the chores up into smaller pieces like, unload the dishwasher, load the dishwasher, wipe down the counters.
Your list will be longer but the chores you're writing down only take a few minutes to complete.
This helps with overwhelm, concentration, and time management.
Another thing I like to do is theme out my chores. What that means is, I like to group like chores together. This keeps my cleaning routine flowing and I'm only having to get certain cleaning supplies out at a time because I'm doing chores that are common to each other.
Examples might be having a flooring day so you're focusing on cleaning the floors, or is a dusting day so you're focusing on the dust.
There are tons of ways to theme your chores. Later on, I'll be talking about more about how to do this.
The last rule I give myself is to separate tasks into rooms. This helps break up the chore list and allows me to focus on one room at a time.
I don't zigzag from room to room. I forget what I'm doing and it wastes time.
When making your cleaning list, write out what needs to be done in each room. Simple as that.
Now that you know the rules I follow to creating my cleaning schedule it's time to pick out the chores.
This is an important step in the cleaning schedule process. It took me years to perfect my list.
Here's why it's so hard and confusing, not everything needs to be cleaned every day. There are things that need to be cleaned daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and yearly.
It's remembering to clean those things that can be tricky.
So I went throughout my house and looked at everything that needs to be cleaned and maintained.
It was a long overwhelming list, but a very important list.
Now that I had this list, I was able to break everything up into daily, weekly, monthly, and so on.
By this time, I knew exactly what needed to be cleaned and about how often it needed it. Now I needed a schedule that wasn't going to overwhelm me.
I knew I needed to clean every day because the dishes and laundry need to be done every day. So I set it up my cleaning schedule to have "heavy cleaning days" and "light cleaning days".
Days that I already had a million things to do I made those my "light cleaning days" and the days that I was less busy I made those my "heavy cleaning days".
The light cleaning days I did the daily cleaning and then I added 1 or 2 other chores to that day depending on how much time it took to do.
For example one of my light cleaning days would look like:
I would go through my normal daily cleaning routine and then I added scrub toilets and clean mirror. It takes about 5 extra minutes to add those 2 extra chores.
On heaving cleaning days I did the daily cleaning and then I added 3 or 4 other chores to that day. I try to add the chores that take longer like cleaning out the fridge or dust light fixtures.
This way I'm not overwhelming myself with cleaning on days that I just don't have time.
Since everyone's home and schedule is different it's important to make this your own.
I created a cleaning schedule printable that you can print out and create your own. It includes a schedule page and a copy of my monthly cleaning checklist so you can use that as a guide to create your own easy to follow cleaning schedule.
Setting up a cleaning schedule can be something you want to avoid like the plague but it doesn't have to be. With a little bit of planning ahead and help with the cleaning schedule, I've created you to can create a cleaning schedule that's easy to follow and that you can use with your busy life.
I want to thank you so much for stopping by. Have an amazing day.
Jenn
Helping women create a beautiful and organized home one simple DIY project at a time.
Hey there! Welcome.
I'm Jenn, welcome to Home by Jenn where I share DIY rustic decor and easy organizing ideas for the modern farmhouse. Read more about me here.
