Cleaning Schedule

I've been wanting to start a cleaning schedule for a while now & I feel like I'm finally coming up for air after having Manning. I felt like I recovered quickly from Manning's birth, but there is just no "bouncing back" from a baby. Now that I'm inching my way out of survival mode I decided to gather the chores that I need to get done throughout the week and put them on paper (and in a cute little binder.) My mother-in-law gave me this idea a while back and I've loved it ever since.

If you're anything like me, then you want a cute, organized binder for your cleaning schedule. I dowloaded a clean, simple font (similar here) that made me happy & typed it all up on Word. I purchased a 1/2" binder, sheet protectors and some expo markers in fun colors for this little project. I put my lists in sheet protectors so I could make them off as I went.

Without further ado - the cleaning schedule.

DAILY CHORES (morning)

• make bed
• unload/load dishwasher
• clean up breakfast
• start a load of laundry
• tidy up bathroom counter

- These are the chores that I need to do to stay sane. If I do these few things every day then the bigger chores seem less daunting. If these are done my day starts off smoothly. I've noticed that if my bed is made - I feel like I've already accomplished so much for the day. I try to unload the dishwasher while Kess eats breakfast & I sip my protein shake. And I clean up my bathroom counter after I'm done doing my hair and makeup for the day, mostly because no matter how clean m bathroom is if my stuff is scattered all over the counter it just looks terrible and cluttered. Some days I don't get everything done first thing in the morning though, but I try to have it done before nap time. 

DAILY CHORES (evening)

• clean up dinner/shine sink
• sweep kitchen/dining room
• start dishwasher
• tidy living room
• plan breakfast

- These are the chores that I want done before I climb into bed for the night. It makes my morning so much easier. I load the dishwasher with dirty dishes all day long and start it right before I got to bed. Then in the morning I unload it all & start all over again. If I have my kitchen and living room clean before bed then I get to wake up to a clean house & feel one step ahead for the day instead of ten steps behind. Matt does the majority of this section of chores for me. While I'm bathing the kids he tackles the dinner dishes and gets them loaded in the dishwasher. Then we finish up the rest of the chores quick before we climb into bed or watch a show.

WEEKLY SCHEDULE (PER DAY)

- I do these set of chores every week on a particular day of the week. 

SUNDAY

• clean out fridge
• menu plan for the week

- I try to keep my Sundays simple because it's meant to be a day of rest - even though church with two small kids is just plain exhausting. I clean out my fridge and menu plan for the week.

MONDAY

• grocery shop 
• fold laundry 
• wipe down fridge 
• clean toilets

- Monday's are for grocery shopping! I have always liked to grocery shop on Monday's so I can have my whole weeks worth of meals planned out. Hence why I menu plan on Sunday after I clean out my fridge. I typically try to fold a load (or 7) of laundry, but this chore usually gets dispersed throughout the week. I wipe down my fridge with a Norwex-like cloth because it's stainless steel and always has tiny little fingerprints and smudges all over it. I clean my toilets quick whenever I have a spare minute during the day. I'll explain why I don't clean my entire bathroom all in one day later on...

TUESDAY

• clean office desk
• dust all wood surfaces
• clean bathroom sinks
• clean mirrors

- I tidy up our office desk quick and then start dusting. Every other week I dust & polish (if you've recently watched my Insta-stories then you know that I loathe dusting.) I hate taking stuff off my shelves, dusting and then putting it all back - I don't know why it bugs me so much, but it does.  I recently grabbed a swiffer duster (Wal-Mart brand) for the in between week - it's super quick and gets the job done. I clean the bathroom sinks and faucets, then clean the bathroom mirrors. I find that if I break up the bathroom chores then it seems less overwhelming. 

WEDNESDAY 

• empty all trash cans
• sweep floors
• mop - every other week
• clean out car

- Our trash day is on Thursday and it's dumped before 7am. Seriously. We have our trash can out Wednesday night, so we empty all the trash cans before we take the trash to the street. We have laminate wood floors throughout our entire house (except the carpeted bedrooms & tiled bathrooms) so I feel like I should sweep 184 times a day. If I keep up on my nightly chores it's easier to do this chore. I mop all of our floors every other week. I recently bought a swiffer wet mop (Wal-Mart brand) for quick after dinner jobs if I made a mess making dinner or we made a mess eating dinner. I am terrible at keeping my car clean. I can blame it on Kess now, but I really had no excuse before kids. One of my new goals is to keep it cleaner. I've always have a toy bin for Kess, but it's also covered in goldfish crackers & whatever else she decides to snack on - it kind of drives Matt crazy when my car is trashed & I always feel better when my car is clean and shiny. Now with that being said - this chore is the last on my list for a reason... sometimes it just doesn't get done & I don't stress about it. I just make sure I get to it the next week.

THURSDAY

• vacuum 
• deep clean oven - every other week
• deep clean stove top

- I like to vacuum after I sweep because sometimes I sweep my bathroom onto my carpet in the bedroom ( please tell me I'm not the only lazy bum to do this haha.) Also, Thursdays are the days that we try to get out of the house so I keep this day pretty simple. We only have carpet in our 3 bedrooms so it's pretty quick to do, plus it gives me a chance to tidy the kids' bedrooms quick before I get to vacuuming. Cleaning my oven is not my favorite chore, so I try to keep these oven liners in the bottom of my oven. It makes it much easier to stay on top off, but it's not fool proof so I like to give my oven a once over every other week. We have a glass top stove that could probably use a good, solid scrubbing daily, but a quick wipe with a wet wash cloth with just have to do until I can get around to deep cleaning it. I like to use soft scrub and a dishwashing brush. (I just have cheapies from the grocery store, but these IKEA brushes look amazing. Totally just added them to my amazon cart.) Also, I use one brush for scrubbing off food and gunk and another brush for cleaning. Because I'm a germaphobe. I also scrub my stove top and shine/disinfect my sink with the dirty one. 

FRIDAY

• iron clothes
• change sheets - every other week
• wipe down appliances
• clean windows

- I try to get Matt's clothes ironed for the new week. Lately I've been pretty far behind and have about an hour of ironing to do. I'm hoping to get on track and eventually have a few pieces to iron per week.  I'm trying to get into a better habit of washing our sheets every other week. I've been doing it about once a month lately. I wipe down all of our appliances with a Norwex-like cloth. That way they are rid of finger prints and meal-splatter for the weekend. I typically clean the windows that get touched the most (the windows by the front door & the sliding back door.) but I would like to wipe all of our windows down at least once a month.

SATURDAY

• clean office desk

- Yay for keeping Saturdays simple. We are usually on the go or relaxing as a family on Saturdays so I wanted to keep chores to a minimum. Our desk collects bills, extra papers and my relief society binders & papers so I try to tidy it up quick again. One of these days I will have a super cute command center and won't have to keep my stuff at the office desk, but for now - while we are renting... Matt's office desk will be the catch-all. I'm pretty sure he loves that. ;)

Phew, that's it. That's the whole schedule. I really wanted to implement this schedule so I didn't feel so overwhelmed. I hated that once I got Kess down for quiet time & Manning down for nap time that I felt like I needed to scarf lunch and get to work. While I still scarf my lunch and get to work - it's so much easier. I have a small handful of chores to get done and if i have my stuff together then I can do those chores while Kess is playing and Manning is chillin' in his swing or on his play mat. Sometimes my kids conspire against me and I don't get everything done that I intended to & that's totally ok. If I don't get a chore done I tack it onto my to-do list for the next day - if it doesn't get done again then I just put it off until the next week. I try to not skip things two weeks in a row, but ya know what - I've got two young kids and about 10% of the energy that they do sooo it is what it is. 

This system has helped me take more time for myself, too. Because I try to do things while the kids are chill - that means that I have time to read a quick chapter of my book or take a shower. Bonus.

What do you do to help keep your house a house of order? Along with trying to keep my house Christ-centered, I've also been trying to keep my house a house of order. It makes for a happier me, which makes for a happier Matt and happier kids. Isn't it amazing what a clean house can do for the soul?