I am wondering if anyone has a house cleaning schedule they would like to share with me. I have tried making my own before, and it just didn't work. I would like a day by day schedule. I have found that on a schedule I get more done rather than just saying "I will clean all day today". If you know of a website with ideas, or if you would rather share your own ideas, I would greatly appreciate it. THANK YOU!
Jennifer from Illinois
Jenn you will love flylady.net. The site has a lot of information on it. Scroll down to table of contents and read it, it will give you an overall understanding of the site. They email an assignment each day to keep your home tidy. Give it a chance. I love it.
(08/25/2006)
By edie
Oh, Jennifer! Have I got a site for you! You're going to love it, or if you don't, I'll be very surprised. Be sure to look on the left side of the page and go through the different sections of this site, top to bottom. Let me know if you like it after you've "experienced" it for awhile. God bless you!
http://www.flylady.net/ (08/26/2006)
By SL Edens
www.thefamilyhomestead.com is a great site for what your looking for. I have this site on my favorites. Also try www.hillbillyhousewife.com. Good luck and happy cleaning (08/26/2006)
By Judy S
I hate to admit that I'm 60 year old and found Flylady a blessing to my days. Please give her a try. You wont be sorry! Its FREE. (08/26/2006)
By Carol in PA
I am 69 and caring for my husband who has had a bad stroke. I have ovarian cancer and under go chemo treatments. Needless to say, housecleaning got tough for a while. That is until I found FlyLady.net. Give her a try. It has changed my life a lot and made things much easier to cope with.
Good luck. From a FlyBaby (08/26/2006)
By Harriet
Jennifer,
I work outside the home, assistant coach Cross country and teach AWANA and Sundayschool-so I am very busy. I need to be very organized so I clean a little as I go:
I do these before I leave the house for the morning--
I sometimes manage to squeeze in ironing a shirt or two before I leave at 7:30.
My kids clean their own rooms and their bathroom (with no do-overs allowed) and they also walk and brush the dog. DH Is a big help too. Let kids and husband do their share of the work and insist they keep their stuff picked up! I have "donated" more items NOT picked up and have even resorted to "Selling" it back to a child now and again!
I NEVER spend the weekend cleaning UNLESS it is a BIG job like washing windows, cleaning the garage, etc. I even clean my inside windows and blinds on a schedule (on room a month and I coordinate the dining room with the holidays when I entertain family)
Basement (which is really just a big JUNK, craft, storage room) gets gleaned in quadrants!
I find that organization is the key and creating as plan and then executing it have worked for me! Good luck! You'll be much more relaxed and your house will be a cleaner, happier place with a little organization and discipline.
(08/26/2006)
By Diana
Jennifer, THANK YOU for asking. I stay at home taking care of husband and get distracted and over whelmed at times. I will go check out Fly Lady. Thank you to all for the ideas.
Hi Jennifer, You have actually got to give this a try to see how good it works.
Each day I set my timer on my microwave for 1 hour and start cleaning. I do not answer the door are phone during this time.
I am a firm believer that the most important to a house should be clean floors, no dishes and nice clean counter top.
Please let me know if you give this a try,it always works for me. Good luck. (08/26/2006)
By Sharon
Wow, thank you SO much everyone for your ideas! I can't wait to try them. I will go to flylady right now :) (08/27/2006)
I have had good luck with the website - FlyLady.net. They have a detailed list for every room and also they help you get decluttered - if that is a problem you face!
I think you will truly enjoy this website. (08/28/2006)
By Diane
I see someone has already mentioned FLYLady. Terrific (08/29/2006)
By Ella P
I use the site:
http://happyslob.blogspot.com/
The Name says it all! (09/01/2006)
By Laurie
YOU SHOULD CHECK OUT, ORGANIZEDHOME.COM its a wonderful place with free printables to put in a house hold note book too i love it (09/06/2006)
By MARSHA
The first thing you need to do is get a notepad. Go into each room and write down everything you need to do. Start a new page for each room. Write down a reward (such as a piece of chocolate cake) at the end of each page. When you are ready, pick a room and check your list. Place all the cleaning items you need into a bucket, then go to the room and do everything on the list, crossing them off as you go. Seeing the items crossed off will motivate you further. As you complete a room, reward yourself with a few minutes time out and the designated 'reward', then start the next room. (09/22/2006)
By Cathy
Try www.motivatedmoms.com (02/18/2007)
By Sue
Someone already mentioned the Happy Slob's Guide to Housecleaning - it's at http://www.happyslob.com - that's the site that goes along with the blog.
:) I wrote the book, and hope you guys will check it out. It's all about keeping your home clean in less time BUT with less stress. I don't think it's effective to get so worked up about cleaning the house that you end up exhausted from it (both the cleaning AND the worry!)
Thanks to SweetCali for the recommendation to begin with.
Take care all,
(03/11/2007)
By Christina
I've found that if I follow this regime, I'm done in an hour.
Figure out what's for dinner and set out things to defrost
Make my bed (I change the sheets once a week and this is my 1 load of laundry a day)
Start a load of laundry (one a day)
Clean toilet and counter
Dishes if there are any
Sweep the kitchen
Take care of the laundry
Straighten the front room
Fold and put away laundry
when needed: I do my floors and dust
I've spent an hour on my house most days and now I can enjoy the rest of the day doing whatever I choose. (05/15/2007)
By Paula
Diana is closest to the 'Clean Freak" strategy, but sounds like you have a big house girl! And you still iron? Wow. I got tired just reading your post.
Doing things on a schedule is the way to go. It becomes habit, and build up doesn't happen. You can find some helpful articles at http://www.CommonSenseLiving.com too.
Do all of you fly lady people put your shoes on to clean? Just curious. Happy slobs and clean freaks. How funny is that? We are a weird group, aren't we? (11/17/2007)
By Carole
What I do is create tasks in Outlook (my email program) . I just went through each room, making a list of what needed to be done and created tasks. I have them repeat as needed. So each person has a laundry day. I clean house on Mondays (my off day).
For today (Thursday) for example:
I wash my sheets and comforter as needed
Wipe down front of stove and dishwasher
Clean Frig
Clean microwave
Straighten pantry
This sounds like a lot, but it takes me less time to do than it takes me to cook dinner. If you do it each week, it takes very little time to do.
Mondays
Clean entire downstairs (kids have to clean their rooms on Sat)
Mom's Laundry
Clean out car (I keep trash bags in the car so that I can do this during carpool)
Tuesdays
DD10 Laundry
Wednesday
DD15 Laundry
Straighten downstairs-We clean up after ourselves, so this is basically dusting, sweeping...
Friday
Hubby's Laundry
Saturday
Clean downstairs
Kids clean their rooms.
Any household laundry, like curtains, rugs, etc.
Because I clean two days a week and straighten on Wednesdays, the house stays company clean most of the time.
Daily tasks are straighten up after supper, feed animals, load and unload dishwasher.
I also have yearly chores like decorate and undecorate for Holidays. If hubby asks me to do something, I just create a task.
As I do something, I check it off the task list. It shows up later when it repeats.
I am not much of a clutterer. I use things and them throw or give them away when I am done. My decorating style is very minimal. Things that family give me are displayed in a way that I can enjoy.
Our animals are outside so they don't make messes that have to be cleaned. The cats do use a litter box, so it has to be changed.
I find doing a little each day keeps the class very clean, and me not tired. I work outside the house 4-5 hours a day and have three kids. I find the less stuff you have, the easier keeping it clean is. Also animals are more messy than children. If they are inside, you are going to have more messes to clean up.
And no one is immune to cleaning up after themselves. My ten year old can make a mess faster than I can blink. She can clean it up and that at least slows the process of the next mess down. :) Keeping her room clean builds self esteem. I don't expect it to be spotless, just no laundry, no food, toys picked up at least once a week.
Now I am off to fold some clothes, get another load going, and make sure the puppy got supper.
(03/20/2008)
By Mom of three
Not sure if you're still checking this, but the magazine Real Simple has a great basic cleaning schedule in PDF format that you can hang up, etc:
http://www.realsimple.com/realsimple/gallery/0,21863,1216146-2,00.html (01/21/2009)
By Elizabeth
www.flylady.net all the way! It's been mentioned and it's awesome! (01/22/2009)
By kasandra.
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