"C" is for Cleaning
I have always loved to clean and organize…I appreciate my home more when it is spick and span. Before my little ones, I could clean my entire house in just a few hours. Now days…it takes a bit longer because, I clean and then my little tornadoes come right through and destroy everything! LOL! #MOMLIFE
These days while living in our temporary apartment while we wait for the new house to be built, I am cleaning almost daily. We are in a small space with two kid and two cats and to keep everything decent and organized, I have to do it daily.
My cleaning routine has obviously changed many times over the years depending on our life, but I always come back to the most important factor...have a schedule!
Once I created my cleaning routine and checklist, cleaning become a breeze!
In order to keep our late evenings and our weekends free of cleaning, I had to come up with a schedule of tasks we should be doing daily to maintain:
Morning:
Make Beds: I love the feeling of climbing into a clean, made bed at the end of the day, so after waking up each morning, I make our bed.
Wipe Down Bathroom Counters: Every morning after my shower, I do a quick wipe down of the bathroom counters and sink. This helps in keeping the grossness (from toothpaste and makeup) from building each day.
Empty Dishwasher: Every morning while my little ones are eating or playing, I unload the dishes from the night before.
Wipe Down Kitchen Counters, Stove Top, Cabinets, Coffee Pot and Kitchen Table: After breakfast, I wipe down the counters, stove top, cabinets, coffee pot and kitchen table.
During the Day/Evening:
Sweep and Vacuum: We have a preschooler and toddler and two cats, so we are always sweeping and vacuuming, especially after meals.
Laundry: I try to do one to two loads of laundry per day. I fold and put the clean clothes away (well try anyway. Most days the laundry is folded and in the laundry basket to be put away). I’m not a huge fan of laundry piled everywhere, but let’s be honest..sometimes it happens because I’m a mom of two and tired. I don’t have a specific day to wash towels, but I wash sheets on Sundays .
Wipe Down Kitchen Counters, Stove Top, Table: Just like after breakfast, I wipe down the counters, stove top, and table after lunch and dinner. Then, a quick sweep and/or vacuum to pick up crumbs.
Load and Run Dishwasher: After dinner we load the dishwasher and start it, so it can be unloaded the next morning.
Pick Up Toys: Our preschooler knows how to put his toys away (well for the most part) and we teaching our little girl how to put her toys away too. Before they go to bed we put all toys in the toy box and tell them goodnight and that we’ll play with them tomorrow.
It looks like a lot, but doing these tasks each day will keep the house feeling and looking clean. My morning/during the day routine (with no interruptions) is about 30 mins. My evening routing is about the same if not less, because my hubby is home and helps out.
I then add in additional tasks to do once per week.
Bathrooms (Mondays): Since bathrooms are my least favorite chore and since we are home most Mondays, I decided Monday would be bathroom and cleaning day. It worked out great this way because it is the start of the week and if we have surprise guests come over, then bathrooms are clean and I don’t have to worry about doing a quick clean.
Dust (Tuesday): I dust all surfaces and clean all glass and mirrors (except for bathroom mirrors because they have already been cleaned).
Mop (Wednesday): Before I mop, I sweep all hardwood floors and vacuum. I then Swiffer just to make sure I get everything that the broom and vacuum didn’t pick up.
Thursday/Friday: Catch up days
There you have it…my cleaning schedule for the week (I also included my monthly and quarterly cleaning schedule). Seems easy enough right?
I know this cleaning schedule may not work for you, so if you would like me to create one that does, please let me know! The cleaning checklist plus many more checklists will be available in my shop soon!
Stay tuned for a blog posts on going green and cleaning with essential oils (coming in the next few weeks).
Happy Cleaning!
XO, Liz