So, I'm trying to figure out an effective way to have a once-a-week, every week, major cleaning at my house! I straighten up & tidy every evening. But, I want to have maybe Sunday be a full-blown clean & organize day! What's your most effective way to do this with your house?? I even created a checklist, very detailed, and brought it around with me & cross things off as they get done. Believe it or not, that seems to work pretty well & yes, I know it sounds crazy!! Plus, with that, it gets my 2 older kids involved as well. So, with that being said....what are your tricks to getting a nice, thorough cleaning & organizing done??
Well, you sound ambitious! :) My cleaning method is that daily I straighten and do certain things such as always having dishes done, counters wiped, etc. I also have a few weekly things such as vaccumm, floors and bathroom. Once per week on Saturday afternoons - I do a full clean on ONE room. In my house, most rooms don't need a full clean all that often so being rotated for deep cleans works well for us.
I follow the Flylady routine...check her out flylady.net....she is awesome.
Big cleaning days overwhelm me. I am rather obsessive with some things. I clean quite a bit daily so that I never get stuck with the feeling I've fell behind. I want to have time daily to read or study or worship or even just to sleep earlier. So keeping on top of things works best for me.
I 'field day' once a week. Holdover from military days, and the only way to beat the mess down with a stick / combatting ADHD.
I crank up the music, order Pizza, and go room by room *except* I get laundry going continuously.
My personal order is:
- Bathcurtain in the machine (it's just how I start; bleaching the liner once a week is addictive. Never knew, until I was made to, how much *cleaner* everything smells when the shower curtain isn't slimed with that week's body cells, shampoo & conditioner, soap splatters, and creeping mildew. And it's FAST. Since you don't need to dry it... so I can move onto my sheets next, which get dried on hot, and towels, ditto.).
- Kitchen & Bathroom
- Living room & Dining room (everything up off the floor and onto the couch, sweep & mop... move over to the dining room and repeat w/ everything on the table... sweep and mop the dining room... head over to the couch and put all that stuff away, head over to the table and put all THAT stuff away.)
- Upstairs bedrooms
- Outside
I have 2 levels of cleaning: Spotless & Squared away. Spotless is as it sounds. Squared away is just basic: organized, mopped, windexed. Spotless I'm washing walls, and pulling everything off shelves and putting it back, and blinds are sponged, living room and bedroom curtains washed, tub scrubbed, tile grout scrubbed, vents degreased, window tracks cleaned. It's the difference between 4 hours worth of work and 12.
I go for 1 spotless room every other day... field days I usually just square away the whole house.
((HAhahaHAha... my husband has decided he does "everything" lately. Because he started washing dinner dishes and sweeping 1 room. He thinks I ACTIVELY GO AROUND making a mess when I'm sick. Um. No. This is just what happens, when I'm ACTUALLY not doing anything.))
wow J.! i never thought of making a list for myself!!! i have made plenty of honey-due lists which never get done... so for you I have no suggestions, i usually pick up daily, cat box daily, laundry every other day, and one day a week of cleaning everything (toilets, floors, bedding)... and now I am definitely making a list!!!!!! :)
I would love to get through my house once a month, weekly would be heaven. :)
I also make lists, but they are way too ambitious. I need to just focus on the daily "must do"s before I go after the "should do"s. ("Must do" including dishes, vacuuming, picking up, washing surfaces, laundry, etc.) Usually my intentions get thrown out the window because something gets broken and has to be cleaned up, somebody dumps fish food in the tank and I have to empty it and clean it out before my goldfish kills himself, or something nasty gets spilled on the carpet (or some disgusting body fluid).
I try to pick up and wipe down the upstairs bath while the kids are playing in the tub (I wash them while the water runs and then let them play in the clean water). That seems to keep my bathroom manageable. I work on dishes before I get ready for work most mornings. We do laundry every day. I try to toss a fresh load through before I leave for work. Weekends is my best chance to get laundry put away. I pick up the downstairs and vacuum every Saturday and a few times a week.
My kids are little still so a list usually just makes me feel like a terrible mom, but I can't help myself and continue to write them and love crossing things off. :)
