Cleaning can be one of the most overwhelming tasks as a mom. For me, I struggle keeping up with a routine and have tried 6 years to find a "system" that works for me. I finally found something that works for me and couldn't wait to share in hopes that some or all of it can help you with your cleaning struggles.
I recently heard a quote from a close friend who couldn't have shared this with me at a better time than when she did. It went like this "You'll never change your life until you change something you do daily. The secret of your success is found in your daily routine." - John C. Maxwell . The beginning of this year, I was sitting and talking to my husband how overwhelmed with life I was. I felt like I could be working on something all day and then by the end of the day I had nothing to show for it. He told me I really need to find a routine and stick to it. I may or may not have rolled my eyes because I had tried many and nothing was working. I decided to change how my mornings started. Get up before any of the kids got up and did what I need to do before my helpers woke up. Once they woke up we eat breakfast and talk about our day and the things that we need to get done as well as the fun things after that list is completed.
As a busy mom with a 5, 3 and 1 year old I am constantly trying to find what works for us. What may work for me may not work for you. In fact, I created this cleaning schedule with my friend and it worked more for me than it did for her. So don't be afraid to try different things and make something that works for you. Remember how I said I've been trying this for 6 years? That's right, 6 long years of trial and error and years.
When creating a cleaning schedule I found to plan each day for a certain room and the rest of the rooms are a quick clean up/wipe down. If you stay on top of it by the next week each day will only take you 30-60 minutes. For instance, I set each day of the week for certain days that work for me. On Wednesdays we work on the kitchen so I can empty out my fridge of uneaten leftovers and we fill up all the trashes so that we can pull them out to the street by the end of day for early morning garbage truck. On Thursdays I focus on our room so my husband can have a relaxing room to enjoy while he is home all day and maybe sneak off to when he needs some quiet time after a long work week.
A few rules I set for myself.
1. Always do 1-2 loads of laundry a day, that way you can constantly keep up on laundry.
I try to wake up and put a load in the washer immediately and then get the rest sorted and ready to be washed. That way it's not a huge mountain of laundry to do and the loads are considerably smaller which in turn means so much easier to put away.
2. Never go to bed with a sink full of dirty dishes.
By doing so you will wake up
3. Do a quick walk through the house and pick up the little things laying around.
This way it can be one less thing for you to do in the morning leaving more time to get everything time and most important more time with family.
After doing this for a week my kids get so excited when I let them help me with my list and they get to cross off each thing they help me with. When doing bathrooms they follow me around with their pack of baby wipes so they can help me out. It's a win-win, they learn how to clean, keeps them busy for a hour and they get to spend time with me.
I hope you found something that could work for you. I started out with these being taped to my wall but decided to laminate them by day and keep on a ring so that I can carry the card around for that day and check off the things I have done.
You can download my cleaning schedule here (PDF).
