Cleaning schedule?

[mamabelle]

We recently moved and used to have a cleaning person who came once a week. I am trying to economize and skip the housekeeper who used to do a really thorough cleaning in the kitchen, bathrooms, mop and vac floors, iron any clothing that needed it and change the beds. Maintaining the cleanliness was easy for the rest of the work. It was a luxury we can easily do without.

The thing is I feel like I should be able to break these tasks down so I need only spend an hour a day on hardcore cleaning and just spots of maintenance as the day moves along. What ends up happening is I feel like all day Saturday or Sunday is dedicated to cleaning while dh can entertain the kids or it is totally eating my time with them and of course is harder to do with kids underfoot.

Does anyone have a "system" or schedule for housecleaning that seems to work well for them? I know this sounds silly but we had this housekeeper since #1 was born and frankly keeping house was pretty easy with no kids and dh and I never home. Thanks for this.

[CiderLogan]

Have you checked out flylady.com? I have heard she has a schedule that sounds like it would fit your needs -- something like clean kitchen on Monday, do laundry on Tuesday, etc., so you know where to focus each day. And you rotate through areas of the house for a deeper clean on a weekly basis too, so that in each week/month you cover everything.

I love this idea, but I found that it doesn't work for me. I just clean things as needed and (usually) stay pretty much on top of it. It does require keeping more things in my head (e.g., not-daily tasks like how long it has been since the tub was scrubbed), but I am more motivated to actually do the cleaning when it's because I've noticed how much something needs it. However, it's sad and amazing how much more lax my standards are now compared to pre-kids!

Hope you find a system that works for you!!

[sarahsthreads]

Totally agree with the flylady suggestion. I haven't been doing it lately (and it shows!) but when I did do it I'd spend maybe 1 hour twice a week with the big things like vacuuming, bathrooms, dusting and changing sheets, plus I'd do a load of laundry daily (washer in the morning, dryer in the afternoon, fold and put away before bed) and general pick-up (unloading the dishwasher, wiping down counters, etc.) which took 15 minutes in the morning and 15 at night.

Her system works pretty well with kids underfoot, and she also has "crisis" cleaning advice - for when your house is a complete disaster and you have someone coming over in an hour or two - and if you really follow her daily tips (I never really did) you wind up decluttering your house just a little at a time so that it's just easier to keep clean in the first place.

Sarah :)

[elephantmeg]

I used flylady for years and now I've adapted it. Definitely check it out and then figure out how to break it down. I used to do a complete WHB (weekly home blessing) every week all on one day, now I do a little along and PICK UP everyday. It works really well for me.

[pb&j]

Real Simple has a cleaning chart at:
realsimple.com/cleanchart

It breaks things down into weekly, monthly, every 3-6 mos, 6-12 mos, and every year or so. Very basic, but a good place to start.

[KrisM]

Flylady didn't work for me as I didn't keep up on the emails.

A very similiar system, but on paper, worked better. The book "Sidetracked Home Executives" by Pam Jones and Peggy Young worked really well for me. Basically, you use different colors of index cards to distinguish between jobs that are daily, weekly, monthly, etc. Then, you file them by day/week/month and as the day goes on, you can look at the cards and figure out what you want to do and then move the card to the next appropriate spot.

Now, I have a housecleaner who comes every other week and only does the bathrooms, hard floors, and kitchen sink/stove. I do the rest and use the cards still.

[jayali]

When I was home full time I just made my own schedule. First thing was I made a list of what I wanted done weekly by each room of the house. I then decided that Monday was upstairs, Wednesday and Friday would be upstairs and Tuesday and Thursday would be downstairs. I also had to decide how much time each day I wanted to devote to cleaning - usually an hour (while DS was napping). Our house is small (3 bedroom, 2 1/2 bathrooms, full finished basement with the only room that is carpeted). Then I just made a schedule. I think Monday and Friday I did our bedroom (dusted, changed sheets, and swept) and DS room (of course i was changing his sheets every time he needed them). The guest room only got done once a week since it get very little use. Wednesday I did a big cleaning of all of the bathrooms. Tuesday and Thursday I did downstairs - living room and dining room on Thursday and Tuesday I did family room. Of course the kitchen I did almost daily. Laundry was almost daily. Deeper cleaning I would also have a schedule for monthly (windows and sills, move furniture, polish furniture etc. like the first Monday of every month). It worked pretty well for me. I posted the schedule in the pantry so that I would see it almost every morning and then add to the bottom things that I wanted to get done on a weekly basis (go through drawers and good will - sweep and dust in closets, etc.).

I have to admit once DS dropped naps it became more difficult to find a block of time. All that said, we now have a cleaning lady!!!