Cleaning Schedule??? - Woodland,CA

S.,
I used to have a chore for each day of the week. Tuesdays was bathrooms, Weds was dusting. Vacuuming was at least twice a week...etc.
W.

try www.flylady.net
it has been saving my life! I've just done it for the last two weeks, but I LOVE it...start on the baby steps, the website can be a bit overwhelming. Hope it works for you!

Hi S.,
I can also vouch for flylady.com, using a timer, and doing a nightly pick-up throughout the main rooms in the house - but choosing and thoroughly cleaning one room a day is way too much for a working mom, especially if you're full time, coming home at 6pm, and needing to cook a meal, love on your kids, bath them, read to them, and have them in bed anytime before 9pm. This is my schedule, and I consider 6-9pm m-f to be the most critical hours of my week. What is so critical about them? The need to use them to BE with my children despite all the other things that need to be done in that time. I liked the advice from the mom who cleans the room the children are in (ie: clean the bathroom while they're taking their bath). I do this too.
I also strongly agree with the advice to get rid of as much "stuff" as you can. It really does make cleaning so much easier. I had an "aha!" moment some years back in regards to this and it absolutely changed my life. I was frustrated with housework and feeling overwhelmed just as you are - and for some reason it came across my mind to consider hotel maids. They are in and out of the rooms they clean in minutes flat - yet hotel rooms are always so clean and appealing. Why? I actually started observing how hotel rooms, lobbies, and other such places are designed. What I observed? All the little shampoo bottles on the bathroom sink? They're on a tray. So much easier to pick up the tray to wipe the counter down than to move all the little bottles. I use trays, baskets, and decorative bowls like crazy now. I have a decorative key bowl on the table in my entry way for example. It's loaded with keys and sunglasses and dog leashes and all kinds of other junk, but the entry way looks fabulous because it's a big fabulous looking bowl that looks gorgeous on the table, etc. Have you ever noticed how many hotel rooms have nightstands that are attached to the wall rather than freestanding with legs? So the vacuum cleaner can get under it!!! Brilliant!!! Another thing I noticed about hotel rooms is that they are beautifully decorated, but not with room-clutter. The decor and aesthetics are in the things that "must" be there... such as the wall color, the bedding, the window treatments, and in the furniture itself. If there is additional decor its in a beautiful painting, or one, large accent piece such as a beautiful vase on a dresser... but again emphasizing, one big thing that makes an great aesthetical statement... not lots of little things that require dusting and end up serving as room dandruff.
You get the picture. :-) Go look at some hotel rooms! They're designed by professionals for ease of maintenance and we mommas can learn a lot from them!!!

Two things that will help in the future:
1) Start teaching your daughter to be responsible for her own stuff. She can put her books, dvds, and toys back, put her clothes in the hamper, put her dishes in the kitchen, etc. As she gets older, this will help you, AND help HER (in being organized with her school homework, for example). It's not about housework, it's about paying attention---kids sometimes drop their things at random moments because they are easily distracted, and then can't find them when they need them. Think about adults losing their car keys, or leaving their coffee on the roof of the car as they drive away.
2) Don't over-accumulate! The more stuff you have, the more time it takes to clean! When your daughter gets new toys, remove some old ones. Same with your clothes, household furniture, etc.
For now, I agree with the One Room at a time theory, and the Timer theory.

Here is advice that another Mamasource mom had for someone and I have started doing it and it works out GREAT!!
I take one room per day and super-clean it. I have a list on my refrigerator and when I'm done with a room I mark it off. I wait until my son is at preschool and my daughter goes down for her nap then I go into cleaning mode....just one room, though. It's overwhelming to think you can "clean" your entire house in a day! I keep the house picked up everyday and keep up with dishes, too.
It has worked great for me! Good luck and let us know what you choose to do.

I was a busy mom with 3 kids under the age of five at one point in my life. I created a cleaning schedule on index cards for 1) weekly cleaning and 2) monthly and seasonal cleaning. Here's an example:
Mon - water plants, dust living room and bookcases
Tues - laundry, vacuum living room & family rooms
Wed - clean bathrooms, mop kitchen and entry way
Thurs - iron, dust & vacuum master bedroom
Friday - clean kids rooms, sweep front porch
Monthly - clean (dust) blinds
March (quarterly)- wash windows, clean oven, change filters, etc.

When I first made the cards, I used them for about 2 weeks and then switched up a few things that did not work well or that I had forgot to list. I kept the cards in an index file box in the kitchen and I would pull out "today's card" after getting thru the morning routines and breakfast.

Let me know if that works for you!

N.
www.organizedhabits.com
www.makeroomforlife.wordpress.com

Hi S.,

The best cleaning schedule I have ever read and heard of myself is on flylady.net. It was recommended for me because of my fibromyalgia by someone on my fms support group. I can say the site is loaded with tips and routines to help you get all kinds of things done in your life. From a 15 minute quick pick up around the house, to moving tips to a new home. I would recommend the site to anyone who needed help.

I must also say that the best piece of advice I ever received regarding housework was from my best friend who told me to relax about the mess, pick up as I could and learn to tolerate living in a 'well lived in home. Because your kids are not going to remember the clean bathroom, the clean kitchen, living room, etc... They are going to remember the time they spent with YOU. And what good are you going to be as a mother when you are always stressed out about how messy your home is, or how much work you have to do to clean it, or keep it clean. They only grow up one time.

I have to say it took me a while to get it. I spent a long time stressing over my home and being a frenzied mess trying to keep it clean. And I missed out on a lot. And you can't go back. I am not saying live in a mess. Just let it go if you can and enjoy the kids more. Leave the dishes in the sink and have playtime. The dishes can wait. The kids can't. It is the most important thing I ever learned. Too bad I did not learn it sooner. That is why I am sharing now. Take care all.

Good luck hon and God Bless you.
Sincerely,
B. T
Yuba City, CA~

Rae is right on with her advice! When you get rid of the "stuff" and make the kids help, your workload goes way down.

I am a full-time working mom too, and I make my husband and kids help me! I tell my husband to load up the dishwasher while I'm cleaning the bathroom. Once he's done with that, I'll have him ride herd over our 4 year old while she cleans up her toys. Meanwhile I get my 7 year old to clean the windows (a task she adores, oddly enough). My 4 year old has been responsible for sorting the laundry for a year now - I have her trained to go get everyone's laundry baskets. She brings them to the laundry room and then sorts them into lights, darks and sheets/towels. Then she chooses one pile and puts them into the washer. She even adds the laundry soap to the dispenser! (We check it before we start the washer, but she does a great job.)

Ok, so then I tackle the big stuff, like cleaning bathrooms and the kitchen counters/floors, etc. I find it much easier to have just a handful of cleaning products - for instance, my cleaning cabinet contains bleach, pine-sol, windex, and furniture polish. That's it! I go around with a bucket of hot water with pine-sol and bleach and scrub everything with it. For me, I pick a room at a time and clean that way. When the kids are in the bath, I clean the bathrooms sometimes - that way I can make sure they don't drown at the same time as I get the room clean. When we're watching tv, I clean the coffee table and end tables, vacuum during the commercials. That way I still feel like I'm relaxing, but the room gets clean.

I hope that helps. It's so hard to keep everything clean when you only have a few hours after work to do everything!

I'm in the same place only my son is 2 in a few days. I have tried very hard to make sure all the dishes are done daily, whether in the dishwasher or by hand. I'm now trying to work on 1 room at a time but it's hard!!! I like the idea of a calendar with a room a day. I've started with my son to take his stuff to his room or help me pick up his toys but haven't really enforced it but I think any age is good even if it 1 toy they pick up. If they see you doing it they may be more willing to help a little. Something is better than nothing.

have you checked out flylady.com? SHE's GREAT!

Hi S.,

A friend of mine (who hates housework)sets a timer for 20 minutes and takes on one task, such as the bathroom. I've tried it and it's amazing what you can get done in 20 minutes.

I'll be interested to hear other ideas because I'm in a similar boat....easier for me because my son is grown and has his own home----which by the way, he keeps very clean.

Blessings.....

I got a great strategy from a book called The Big Book of Family Fun by Gwen Ellis. It's got a whole chapter on how to keep up with the housework so that you have more time with your family. It's also got some great money saving ideas and family fun activities.

I follow www.flylady.net I didn't think it was possible to have a clean house and it is, no matter how busy you are.

Well...I have been a working mom, I have been a professional housekeeper. I have to tell you that working and keeping house with children is a real juggling act! Here are a few ideas that might help.
First of all make a caddy to take all your cleaning supplies with you, you won't have to juggle bottles. Make a cleaning rag bag.
What people get bogged down in is picking things up, they get distracted and stop working. Zip around and pick things up, move all the stuff on counters to one side, make a pile of papers to go through later (get a basket no bigger than 15in x 10in x 10in and when it gets full SORT IT), do things like gather up all laundry and get it out of your way. Don't get bogged down looking at stuff! Make the room you are working in all ready to clean FIRST, don't do as you go. When you have surfaces cleaned off, THEN get your cleaning supplies and clean everything, put items back when you finish a surface.
What probably would be easiest is to JUST do your room and the kids room one evening. That does mean dusting, mirrors, etc. Change your beds, throw the sheets in the wash. So what if you forget the sheets in the dryer? Unlike your clothes does it matter if they are a bit wrinkled?
Same routine the next night with the bathrooms. Push all things to one side on the counters, gather up all toys and dump dirty towels in the laundry. Give the bathroom a good cleaning, put the towels in the wash.
Next day do JUST the livingroom and whatever other room you have, diningroom, den, family room.
Save the kitchen for Saturday. IF you are willing to tidy it up as you go during the week it won't be as hard to do.

What makes housework so daunting is all the whole thing. Each room really shouldn't take you more than 20 to 30 minutes to clean! Especially if you have help. Unfortunately what I described above means you have to clean several days a week but it gets the job done. I hope that helped.

FLYLADY FLYLADY FLYLADY. Will change your life. www.flylady.net

Oh my gosh, Flylady.com is made for people like you and me.

Go to "FlyLady.com" It is great for helping moms organize and clean house with a busy schedule. It even has charts...you can supply the stickers of your choice. :)

You are probably not going to have a totally clean house all the time until your daughter is old enough to help out. At least without becoming a tired, stressed out zombie. I usually try to clean one room a day and do quick pick ups in the most used rooms like living room and kitchen. Hang in there for a couple more years, then your daughter will be at school most of the day and you will have more time and less mess to clean up.

The problem with cleaning house when you have kids is that you can't expect to have a nice clean house after you have finished cleaning it up. Kids always make a mess, and you can spend your time yelling at them to pick up after themselves, or picking up after them yourself, or you can learn to tolerate more mess than you would normally allow. My suggestion is to learn to tolerate the minor stuff. The time you would spend dusting and washing windows is time better spent with your kids.

Are you a single mom? If not, I suggest you get some help from your husband or boyfriend! Especially if you both work full time.