Cleaning House.

Little bits of spring have started to arrive here and I can feel my motivation rising. Pockets of afternoon sun work like energizers for me and I find myself making lists and accomplishing things like crazy!

Every new living environment and stage with children seems to require a different approach to cleaning house. Since moving into our home a few months ago, we have settled into a nice routine. When it comes to maintaining a home, I have tried everything from rigid schedules to a fly-by the seat of our pants and hope no one shows up unannounced-approach.

The truth is, I hate cleaning. BUT I love a tidy home and can hardly function and work in a disheveled environment. I'm not good at daily maintenance and this tends to lead to one big cleaning day a week in which I must spend my whole day doing chores (not fun). If I had more dollars, I would absolutely hire a cleaning lady, like today.

In order to keep the order, I came up with a daily checklist of bare minimum tasks, as well as a weekly one. For those of you who are good at daily maintenance, it may seem absurd to write down these tasks, but for me it has worked wonders. As long as I accomplish the majority of these lists daily and weekly, we never spin into chaos or have to dedicate a day to cleaning. Hopefully this list can help someone out there like me who hates cleaning but loves a clean home!

With two adults working from home and three children with various schedules, everyday looks a little different, but for the most part, this is what we strive to do (I made them into pretty prints so I would want to maybe do all of this more):

Daily:

-Vacuum the floors. We have a big black dog-enough said. Bare minimum-vacuum the hardwoods upstairs so we wake up to a fresh, crumb-free kitchen and living area.
-Wash dishes. This one seems obvious, but I love me a good checklist! With everyone home most of the day we sure know how to fill the sink! Missing a day on this (literally) stinks.
-Empty garbage. Bare minimum-take kitchen garbage outside.
-One load of laundry washed, dried, and put away. Sometimes it's two, but at least one keeps us on top of things.
-Toys put away. Great one to have the kids help with! Our playroom is also our relaxation place after bedtime, so this one is a must.
-Wipe down common surfaces. This includes kitchen table, counters, sink and cook top, and drips on the floor. Sometimes I go in the powder room and quickly wipe sinks too.
-Put shoes away. Shoes love to pile up in the entryway. I like to throw them in the right rooms before bed.

Weekly:

-Wash windows/mirrors. Mainly the ones we see and use all the time.
-Wash bedding. I like to do this on the weekend, as well as any extra loads that need to be done like towels.
-\Scrub bathrooms. I give 'em a good cleaning once a week, sometimes twice for the powder room.
-Dust. Quick run through the house with my feather duster does the trick.
-Water plants. I check them everyday, but usually water them all at the end of the week.
-Polish wood furniture. I love wood wipes for this task. After dusting quickly wipe down.
-Wipe floors. I use a microfiber cloth and Method's squirt and mop on the hardwoods. For tile I use Method's all purpose spray and a different microfiber cloth. Sometimes this happens a few times a week in common areas like the kitchen. I find that if I'm doing well with vacuuming, the mopping is a quick job.
-Wipe down kitchen. Similar to the daily task, but including appliances, possibly the inside of the fridge, cabinet fronts. I just discovered that wiping a bit of olive oil on my stainless steel appliances does wonders and gets the fingerprints from the week off!

I couldn't resist taking a picture of this little bed head, just because. In case you're cleaning schedule looks a lot like mine, I've made a download of my daily list and weekly list to be printed at home.

I would love to hear how you do things at your house!

xo
Randi