How To Create a Cleaning Schedule that Works for YOU!

Keeping your house clean is one of the most tedious and daunting tasks if you ask me. My husband is a neat freak – he can’t stand if anything is out of place. I on the other hand can handle a little bit of clutter and disorganization as long as my closets, drawers and shelves are organized. For me this is because if the interior of the home is clean than I can put the stuff away organized that maybe cluttering up the house. My husband on the other hand is totally opposite he would rather cram everything away where no one can see it so that the house “looks” clean. Man does this drive me crazy, because when he does this things get lost (mainly because he cannot remember which closet or drawer he crammed my stuff into). So after nearly 14 years of marriage we finally figured out a system that works – I think.

How and why I keep my house clean

First we have discovered the most important aspect to keeping the house both clean AND organized is to eliminate frantic cleaning. If we keep the house reasonably clean all of the time and all get our “chores” done, we can avoid that last second sporadic throw everything in the closet scenario (which totally drives me crazy)!

Secondly, we all have to share the cleaning responsibilities. Often times the cleaning ends up falling on mom. Well that is not fair nor is it reasonable in all situations. If there is a schedule posted somewhere in the house with tasks assigned to each family member, everyone can see exactly where they can help out and thus reduce the work load on mom. Let’s face it mom is much less stressed when the house is clean. Clean home – happy mom – happy family!

Finally, creating an efficient cleaning schedule is essential. With a cleaning schedule you can reduce the daily work load on yourself as mom (or the primary cleaner) as well as help the other members of the family become more responsible. Teaching the kids and other family members to participate in the daily cleaning task will not only reduce your own work load but it will also teach them a sense of respect for the home and encourage clean living.

5 Ways to create the perfect cleaning schedule 

1. Determine the length of your scheduling needs. Everyone’s needs will be a little different. However I recommend creating a 4 week Master Schedule list. This will allow you to list and track your daily chores as well as the monthly chores tasks that must be done as well.
2. Write down what chores must be done. Try and list everything you can possibly think of, from bathrooms, bedrooms, and kitchen to washing curtains and changing batteries in electronics.
3. Break down the list by frequency. Now that you have a master list of chores that must get done in your home on a monthly bases, separate that list into weekly, bi-weekly and monthly obligations. For instance, washing dishes, making beds and putting away miscellaneous (toys, papers, ect) are all probably daily tasks. However, dusting, polishing kitchen appliances and wiping down cabinets could be a bi-weekly or monthly task. Keep in mind as well that every household will have different needs. We have four cats so vacuuming is a daily task in our house, however someone with no animals may not need to vacuum more than once a week.
4. Assign specific tasks to specific days and put it to writing. Start putting all those task to paper. Separate chores and directly assign them to a daily, weekly or monthly list. You can assign 1-2 chores per room to be accomplished daily and then make the monthly chores. Or you can assign one full rooms cleaning per day and eliminate monthly tasks. For instance, if you assign Mondays as cleaning the bathroom, you do all of the tasks in the bathroom (toilets, shower, floors, baseboards, ect).
5. Designate chores to household members. Now that you have the chores listed and you know when they need to be done, assign family members to assist with those chores. In our house, my oldest daughter loads and unloads the dishwasher daily, my son does the liter boxes for our cats, my youngest daughter, sets and clears the dining room table and  and the baby helps mommy feed the cats daily. Encourage everyone that if they do their chores than everyone has less work to do and that means more time as a family you can all play and have fun together! Maybe even offer a reward of a family game night at the end of the week if everyone keeps up on their chores!

Now my last words of advice. Creating the list and assigning the obligations was the easy part – now you have to STICK TO IT! Stay encouraged, come back and share your successes and failures with us all, because I can promise you nobody is perfect. We need to help each other stay on track and motivated!

Print the Master Cleaning Schedule

PIN IT and SAVE for later!

***Oh and don’t forget try and make cleaning FUN! Blast the music and dance through the house while you clean, sing at the top of your lungs, play a clean up game with your toddler…I promise you this will make the time fly by!

Copyright: oksun70 / 123RF Stock Photo