When Life Gives You Chaos You Make a Clean Home
Over the years my cleaning routines have fluctuated. College days looked very different from married life. Married life looks very different when you add a baby into the mix. Add pets, more square footage to your home, an extra bathroom than you used to have, the list goes on but every life change brings a need for a different cleaning schedule. The question then becomes, how does a homemaker keep a clean home in all the life-changing scenarios?
That one extra bathroom we just mentioned that you gained moving to your upgraded home is great… minus having to clean it. One additional bathroom can make all the difference when it comes to your cleaning routine. Every bit of extra square footage brings along extra time needed to keep a clean home.
As your family grows this can also add to the mess. Perhaps some of your family members don’t value a clean home quite as much as you. Maybe others simply don’t end up contributing much to keeping things clean and tidy. For instance, children are tiny but they make big messes that they struggle to or cannot clean. If you also work full-time it can become increasingly difficult to find time to keep a clean home.
Finding the Cleaning Strategy That Works For You
So what is the solution? I’ve tried different methods over the years and those methods have adjusted with life circumstances, but for me, it has always worked best to have a cleaning routine in place. This may not work for everyone but I like lists and to be able to check things off that list. It just feels good! If you are like this, then my method may work for you too. I also like that it gives me an expectation for that week of what I need to accomplish without having to put too much thought into it from week to week.
If you find that you do enjoy a cleaning schedule for your home then remember that it can be adjusted for you and your personal needs. For instance, maybe you value cleaning areas of your home weekly whereas I may only worry about that same area a few times a year. Maybe I dust more than you find you need to. Perhaps your home is smaller and you can do more in one day than I can and that gives you more space in your schedule to add other things you’d like to do around the house.
That’s the beauty of a schedule. You can create your schedule around your needs but it helps hold you accountable. Plus when you can check an item off your list as you complete that task it will make you feel very accomplished as a bonus (woohoo go you!).
The Schedule
Monday
The example cleaning schedule (shown above) is my personal schedule that I use each week. I have a moderate-sized home so I can dust the whole house on Monday. I like doing this particular task at the start of the week so that whatever dust my dust cloth doesn’t catch will be cleaned up later as I clean the rest of the home. A good rule of thumb is to clean your home from top to bottom. Dust will likely fall to the floor so vacuuming before dusting doesn’t make as much sense as the reverse.
Tuesday
Tuesday is a good day to deep clean the kitchen. I’m talking wiping down surfaces, cleaning your stovetop, scrubbing the kitchen sink, and finding those nooks and crannies that you often don’t think to clean (refrigerator handles, the buttons on the microwave, etc.). I like doing this on Tuesdays not only because it works well for my cleaning from top to bottom theory, but it usually falls on a good day between my heavy cooking and baking days.
Wednesday
On Wednesdays I clean the bathrooms. Again, like the kitchen, this is when you deep clean every square inch. I prefer doing this midweek because it’s usually been long enough that the bathroom needs a good cleaning but not so long that I have to spend hours scrubbing because I let things get out of hand for too long.
Thursday
Thursdays are my deep cleaning the floors day. Often through the week, I will clean the floors as needed. If my toddler brings in dirt from outside, eats a cracker that mostly crumbles onto the floor, or if my dog tracks in muddy paw prints on a rainy day I usually will vacuum or mop a few spots in my home throughout the week. Deep cleaning the floors is different than just a quick sweep of the floors though. This day is spent vacuuming along the baseboards, under the couch and other furniture or appliances, and even under the couch cushions. The last step is then to follow up with mopping any hardwood or tile floors.
Friday
Friday is a day that I keep as random and for good reason. If I’m having a phenomenal week of keeping up with my cleaning then I can use this day to either do a random chore (cleaning windows, cleaning out the refrigerator, cleaning ceiling fans, etc.), an organizational task, DIY project, you name it. I can also treat it as a free day (go me for getting my chores done!). But most importantly, it can be used as a catch-up day. You have a couple of ways you can go about this. Let’s say you had an appointment on Tuesday and the kitchen never got cleaned. First, you can clean the kitchen on Wednesday and do each chore one day later so Friday would become floor day. The second option would be to do your chores as scheduled on their set days but Friday becomes kitchen cleaning day.
Saturday
Saturdays have always been a reset day for me. When I was a child growing up my mom always used Saturdays as a reset day in our household. I have carried on the tradition of reset Saturday into my own adult life. I do the bulk of the laundry, change the bed sheets, switch out towels, and this is even a day where I spend extra time caring for myself and my toddler (nail trimming, face mask, etc.). It feels good to wake up feeling refreshed with a clean home and nothing to worry about come Sunday morning which is a day of rest in our household following church.
Sunday
As I stated above, Sundays for our family are dedicated to church and then we have a day of rest. We have worked hard all week to make sure we have nothing to worry about on Sundays. Of course, not everyone goes to church and has the same type of Sunday as we do. This may be a day where you fit chores in for your household, but in ours other than maybe a finishing touch of putting away laundry or some small task we take it pretty easy on this day.
When Plans Change
Sometimes, especially if I know I have a particularly busy week with lots of appointments I will double up my chores throughout the week. For instance, I will do dusting and the kitchen all in one day. This is not always feasible as I may not have enough time to do that but that’s the nice thing about this routine. I treat my cleaning schedule as a checklist and guideline but it’s not a hard and fast rule that I’m required to do certain chores on certain days. Having my “free” day on Friday or even a rest day on Sunday can also be edited as needed which can help a lot, even if just from a mental standpoint of not getting too overwhelmed with having to perfectly stick to your schedule.
Don’t sweat the small stuff. Many times cleaning takes a backseat to other more pertinent things, but having a routine like this does help my personality type to stay on track and drives me to want to complete my checklist.
The Big Game Changer
One of the last pieces of advice I will leave you with when it comes to keeping a clean home is to not let things go too long. I have found that one of the biggest time savers is to maintain cleanliness. Having to scrub at a tough and grimy spot takes a lot more elbow grease and time than a quick wipe down because there aren’t any messy areas built up yet. This is honestly such a huge game changer!
Ready to Start Cleaning?
Maybe you don’t operate well with a cleaning routine like I do, but if you’re like me I hope this helps you whether you use my routine or create your own. If cleaning routines don’t work for you there are a ton of other ideas for how best to keep a clean house out there. No matter if you use my method or another, I hope you can take away a few cleaning tips that help you maintain a clean home.
Also, if you are now interested and looking into starting a cleaning schedule, check out my freebie Hummingbird Hilltop Homestead Cleaning Checklist. You can download it by signing up for my email list here on my homepage, or you will find it offered throughout my website. Happy cleaning!
