Sunday, July 15, 2012

Ordinary Thoughts on Keeping an Orderly House


So just recently a friend of a dear friend start pinning things regarding a weekly cleaning schedule. I have a feeling I must be a slob, because most of this stuff I wouldn’t even think of tackling weekly. I grew up in a house that was often messy, but never dirty, and I like to think I live by the same philosophy. I would rather spend the time I have after my 50ish hour work week with my family actually engaging with them. Sometimes this is getting down on the floor with my little boy and sometimes it’s vegging out in front of an episode of Hell’s Kitchen with my husband. Not that I don’t admire the folks that clean more, it’s just not who I am.

I want to live life! But with all that said, I also realized, especially when I became a mommy, that while everything washes (and if it doesn’t, do you really need it?), I also wanted to create a safe, clean environment for a my child. I didn’t want to constantly worry about what his mouth was making contact with as he learned to crawl or what he might be putting in his mouth that he found around the house.

So, with that in mind, I give you what I consider a more practical, working person’s guide to keeping house in a decent manner (this is assuming that you can’t afford other people to come do it for you or you just don’t prioritize your income that way)

My methodology is simple – do stuff right and you don’t have to do it that often. So, I’m giving you 28 things to do each month. If it’s a month with more than 28 days, you get 3 days to choose your own adventure – you can take them as a bye or you can choose something from the “occasional necessities” list. Or you can be a total stud, knock out a bunch of stuff at once, and then coast a bit (like during VBS week, or camp week, or weddings and funerals week in my experience). And, of course, since your house and my house differ, you might have things to add, delete, or change. This is just something I’m developing to help my household and if it helps you, too, bonus!

Daily Stuff You Can’t Escape
Dishes
Quick Tidy (no tripping hazards, no bug magnets, no underwear where guests might see)
Mail (open it, put it where it goes, recycle as possible)

As Necessary
Laundry
Garbage, Recycling (walk the house, grab it all!)

Monthly Stuff
  1. Bathrooms – toilets
  2. Bathrooms – tubs, showers
  3. Bathrooms – floors, baseboards
  4. Bathrooms – countertops, sinks, mirrors
  5. Bathrooms – clean out/reorganize cabinet space
  6. Bedrooms – dust (presupposes clearing clutter, don’t forget fans), change sheets
  7. Bedrooms – vacuum, baseboards
  8. Closets – vacuum, tidy up
  9. Closets – go through clothes and shoes, retire/donate/rotate
  10. Kitchen – floor (sweep/swiffer, mop)
  11. Kitchen – sink, countertops (especially random crumb traps), wipe down appliances
  12. Kitchen – organize pantry, clean out fridge/freezer
  13. Living Room – floor, baseboards
  14. Living Room – dust
  15. Living Room – put accumulated cluttery things away
  16. Laundry Room – sweep, mop
  17. Dining Room – clear table, dust/clean
  18. Dining Room – vacuum or sweep/mop, baseboards
  19. General House – dust light fixtures
  20. General House – spot clean carpets, walls, and baseboards
  21. General House – clear all horizontal surfaces of clutter
  22. Garage – clean out cars
  23. Garage – wash cars
  24. Garage – sweep, organize
  25. Outdoors – mow grass, trim shrubs
  26. Outdoors – mow grass, trim shrubs (might wait a couple of weeks from the other)
  27. Outdoors – gutters, play equipment
  28. Outdoors – intense weeding
Occasional Necessities
Appliance Care – microwave, stove, oven
Appliance Care – washer, dryer
Kitchen – check garbage disposal and related plumbing
Computers – check security software, back up stuff you want to keep, etc.
Storage – go through old boxes, etc. and label/donate

1 comment:

  1. This is greatness! I find myself exhausted and neglect things then spend a weekend catching up! I do a lot of the day to day but as for occasional? Um yeah lol. Thanks for blogging!!

    Nora

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