I keep things clean as I see them typically. But to me, some things must be cleaned as a group. For example, if a bathroom needs cleaned, all of them get cleaned. If I dust, the whole house must be dusted. The family room could stand to be vacuumed every day :) If I scrub floors, all the floors get scrubbed, kitchen, bathrooms, foyer, mud room, etc. Trying to keep a cleaning schedule with 4 kids is waaayyy tooo stressful (especially when you home school). Somedays I find it more beneficial to just all go out and play instead of clean :) Somedays things come up that don't allow me to clean (ie. dr's visits or emergency trip to the store) and just b/c the schedule says to "clean" doesn't mean it will get done. Plus, my house ALWAYS can be cleaned :)
I don't really have a system which is why I'm asking and I'm trying to find out what works for people since I'm going to have such a set schedule between homeschooling, work and homelife.
i do have a schedule for things i deem need to be done(At least) once a week. it's very little per day. cleaning showers on monday, laundry and cat litter on tuesday(we don't use normal litter so once a week is fine), wednesday is bathrooms(countertops, sinks, mirrors and toilets), thursday is vacuuming and i've added checkbook balancing(odd i know) and friday is laundry as well, usually sheets and towels. i find that gives me an idea of what in the world i'm supposed to be doing. and except for vacuuming, they can all be done easily in small spurts. everyday is a typical pick-up, de-clutter, etc..(some days better than others). i purposefully left the weekends "free" so i wouldn't dread the housework as i did growing up(Saturday awas always cleaning day). i also plan on adding things for the kids as they get older. rachel will happily dust away for me(otherwise known as dancing with the feather duster in hand), so i'm trying to give her a "day" to do that. once we start "school," i'll let you know how the schedule goes.
hmmm...i usually make up a very elaborate schedule, feel very motivated and satisfied with myself, stick to it for about a day, then completely ignore the schedule from then on :) i am now trying to 'clean as i go' - if i'm walking through a room that needs tidying up, or if there is a dish or two in the sink, i try to do it right then so stuff doesn't pile up. what has REALLY helped lately is taking an hour or so after breakfast and doing a fast clean up of the place. and then doing it again at night after the kiddos are in bed. i'm really good at organizing/having no clutter, but not so good at the daily maintenance cleaning - i'm still working on it! :)
I also do what's called the 5 min. sweep, where you spend 5 minutes cleaning off the counter tops table, etc. before you leave the house. That helps a lot. I also, like velvet take 10 min. or so and have the kids clean their rooms up while I clean downstairs right before bed. Sometimes we set the timer or I'll count back from 50 to get them moving and they think it's fun. flylady.com is a site that some moms just love. She has a lot of org. tips. You might want to check her out, just take it with a grain of salt, I think she's a bit much, but there might be something on there to get you started :)
5 comments:
Well, what do you do?? :)
I keep things clean as I see them typically. But to me, some things must be cleaned as a group. For example, if a bathroom needs cleaned, all of them get cleaned. If I dust, the whole house must be dusted. The family room could stand to be vacuumed every day :) If I scrub floors, all the floors get scrubbed, kitchen, bathrooms, foyer, mud room, etc. Trying to keep a cleaning schedule with 4 kids is waaayyy tooo stressful (especially when you home school). Somedays I find it more beneficial to just all go out and play instead of clean :) Somedays things come up that don't allow me to clean (ie. dr's visits or emergency trip to the store) and just b/c the schedule says to "clean" doesn't mean it will get done. Plus, my house ALWAYS can be cleaned :)
I don't really have a system which is why I'm asking and I'm trying to find out what works for people since I'm going to have such a set schedule between homeschooling, work and homelife.
i do have a schedule for things i deem need to be done(At least) once a week. it's very little per day. cleaning showers on monday, laundry and cat litter on tuesday(we don't use normal litter so once a week is fine), wednesday is bathrooms(countertops, sinks, mirrors and toilets), thursday is vacuuming and i've added checkbook balancing(odd i know) and friday is laundry as well, usually sheets and towels. i find that gives me an idea of what in the world i'm supposed to be doing. and except for vacuuming, they can all be done easily in small spurts. everyday is a typical pick-up, de-clutter, etc..(some days better than others). i purposefully left the weekends "free" so i wouldn't dread the housework as i did growing up(Saturday awas always cleaning day). i also plan on adding things for the kids as they get older. rachel will happily dust away for me(otherwise known as dancing with the feather duster in hand), so i'm trying to give her a "day" to do that. once we start "school," i'll let you know how the schedule goes.
hmmm...i usually make up a very elaborate schedule, feel very motivated and satisfied with myself, stick to it for about a day, then completely ignore the schedule from then on :)
i am now trying to 'clean as i go' - if i'm walking through a room that needs tidying up, or if there is a dish or two in the sink, i try to do it right then so stuff doesn't pile up.
what has REALLY helped lately is taking an hour or so after breakfast and doing a fast clean up of the place. and then doing it again at night after the kiddos are in bed.
i'm really good at organizing/having no clutter, but not so good at the daily maintenance cleaning - i'm still working on it! :)
I also do what's called the 5 min. sweep, where you spend 5 minutes cleaning off the counter tops table, etc. before you leave the house. That helps a lot. I also, like velvet take 10 min. or so and have the kids clean their rooms up while I clean downstairs right before bed. Sometimes we set the timer or I'll count back from 50 to get them moving and they think it's fun. flylady.com is a site that some moms just love. She has a lot of org. tips. You might want to check her out, just take it with a grain of salt, I think she's a bit much, but there might be something on there to get you started :)
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