It all started the week after Christmas. All the carols had been sung, pine needles littered across the living room, and cardboard boxes were piled high on our back deck. I looked at Josh and said, "I can't handle this. I'm about to lose my mind!" (if you know me, I can tolerate junk to a certain breaking point and then I absolutely wage war on it like a crazy woman) I was at that point and completely overwhelmed at the task of organizing every single room in our house. It was that disastrous. It was then that Josh and I developed a plan that has made my life SO MUCH EASIER. That's why I want to share with you.
Normally when I clean I am jumping from room to room multitasking around 3 or 4 things at once and completely scattered in my approach. Everyday is laundry day and most of my "cleaning" isn't cleaning at all. It's completely picking up toys, spills, messes from the day just to keep things "looking" clean. Dusting, mopping, mirror cleaning, organizing, etc all get put off because I have so many things that need to be dealt with before they can happen. For example, when toys are scattered across the living room floor and I have company coming over, I'm not going to clean the windows. So….cleaning the windows never happens! And I look up one day and realize that the windows have only been cleaned like twice in the past 3 years! (just being real here)
So, Josh and I developed a system.
DISCLAIMER:
- Ok, first I know that moms are suppose to put time with their kids and families before cleaning. I have had so many people tell me this. I get it. I've been convicted during certain seasons for it and I totally agree. Totally. BUT, there is a point when your husband says, "Hey, I've worn these jeans three times in a row because nothing else is clean" and you have to say, Ok, I really am responsible for these things. It's part of my job! It is also a responsibility so that when your husband comes home from work you have created a warm organized space for him to be a part of.
- Secondly this system isn't designed for everyone. It works for people like me I guess who need some order in their life.
Ok, so lets get to the system!
To start it, unless your house is already in tip top shape, you need one to two solid weeks to get your house where it SHOULD be. I chose to focus completely on one to two rooms at a time for a week and cleaned them from top to bottom. (I spent 8-10 hours per day on them) It was so intense that I wasn't sure I was going to make it through. This included reorganizing the office and files completely and closet clean outs. It was a struggle to make it to the end. But…I did. Then you begin the system where maintaining is the rule...
1 - pick two days to do laundry on
2 - split up your house so you can clean it entirely in 5 days. This is what mine looks like:
M- office (clean up and bills) and laundry
T- Kitchen
W - Dining and Living room
Th - Bedrooms and laundry
F - Bonus playroom
How you divide it up will depend on how large your house is and how many rooms you have.
The goal is to only spend around an hour per day on the focused room. So, if you mop one week you probably won't need to mop the next. If you clean all windows in that room one week, the next week you can do something else like organize the coat closet. I typically do routine cleaning in the area, but then choose one thing that will take up most of my time and get that done. I might clean out the fridge one week and then the next wipe down all my cabinets. All of my focused cleaning time is in only that designated room.
Oh, and we only have one bathroom and it isn't on the list. Here's why…my wonderful husband cleans it for me! =) Love that. Once a week it is his contribution. Awesome!
If you have a day or a week where you completely miss cleaning just skip it and get to it the next week. I just had a super busy 2 weeks in a row and was totally off my system and but got right back on it the next week and after one week of being back on it, the house is completely clean again.
What I love about this is that your house literally stays clean all the time. You might have toys here and there that the kids can pick up at night, but other than that it stays clean. No freaking out when company drops by. It stays clean. I love it love it love it. I also have the kids do daily chores like make their beds and help clean off the table etc. But the only room that I really focus on for that day is the one I specify in my plan.
After that is the beautiful part. It frees you up to spend all the rest of your day with your kids. One hour per day is a very small period of time if you get the rest of your day to hang out with your family! Give it a try for a couple of months and see what you think!
What are some ways you keep your house clean? Do you work best with a system or no? What role do your kids play in keeping your house clean?
