Daily Cleaning - so much to do, so little time.

We all know there is more housework than we can physically do in one day. Sometimes I think that it is al a matter of what makes you feel comfortable, hanging out at home and when you have company over. But, one thing I know is true we have to have structure so, with that being said I have come up with a daily task list.

I had totally intended on posting a pdf of a daily task list. However, I can't post documents using blogger. I will email it to you though in a word doc or pdf upon your request. So, email me at charliesmom04@yahoo.com and request a copy if you want. I also copied and pasted it into the body of the blog. Please comment back with anything you may add or change so that we can better the list and learn from each other.

Next week we will do a monthly task list and then we will do a yearly task list.

Daily Household Task List
Cleaning

Kitchen
Clear sink (load dishwasher/wash dishes)
Clear counters
Wipe down counters and breakfast tables
Sweep floors

Bathrooms
Clean Mirrors
Wipe down counters
Clean toilet area (if needed)
Put away toys (if needed)
Pick up floor and miscellaneous items that do not belong
Sweep (if needed)

Bedrooms
Make beds
Pick up items off floor
Tidy as desired

Living areas
Pick up items off floor
Wipe down coffee tables and end tables
Throw away trash (ie. Junk mail, paper items etc.)
Tidy as you see fit

Tips & Hints
1. Don’t forget to enlist the help of your family
2. Using disposable cleaning wipes (ie. Windex and Lysol) or having a draw of rags in each bathroom helps everyone tidy up as they go
3. You can have a morning routine and an evening routine or any time that fits your schedule

Housekeeping Schedules

Whether you work away from home or you are a stay at home parent, keeping a tidy household on a daily basis is very overwhelming. One of things that makes housekeeping overwhelming is not having a system. Everyone that has a tidy home, that I know, has a system and the majority of the time there are schedules. I used to have a schedule and lists that I used to help maintain a clean household but I have gotten away from using them.



I am a true believer that if you write something down 99% of the time it gets done. So I'm encouraging you to start keeping lists. Everyone has their own style of remembering things. Making checklists work best for me. So, over the next few weeks I will provide .PDFs of housekeeping schedules to help inspire or for you to use.



Here are some tips on putting your list together:

1. Consider the amount of time you have to spend on a daily, weekly, monthly and yearly task.

2. Try and remember that keeping house is a daily effort not one that should be crammed into one day of cleaning. (If you get sick, if you go out of town and if life gets too busy you could get behind)

3. Don't try and do it all yourself, include your spouse and children in your plans.

4. Give yourself time to relax and rest in your house. No matter what condition your house is in, you need downtime.



A couple of resources I recommend are listed below:



1. Home Comforts: The Art and Science of Keeping House http://www.amazon.com/Home-Comforts-Science-Keeping-House/dp/0743272862/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1259532682&sr=8-1 This book is great with simple instructions on how to keep house, I suggest everyone should have one in their home! ( I am not paid to say that!)



2. Handipoints.com http://www.handipoints.com/ is a wonderful website to track your kids chores and rewards.

Check back next week for our first list. We are starting with the daily list.

Have a great week!

Making a list...

When we moved into our home three years ago, we knew we had tons of updating to do. We bought it from the original owners, and they really hadn't done much since the eighties. Everything was wallpapered and carpet was everywhere.

The first thing we did was to take out the carpet in the bathrooms, it was yuck. We had them tiled and had the living room and dining room carpet taken up and in it's place we put in hardwood flooring. (Empire did our floors). I then took down the wallpaper in our foyer and dining room and I painted and decorated a little. The next project was to take down the wallpaper in our master bath. I painted the walls and cabinets and put in new hardware. Dave installed a new towel rack and a toilet paper holder. I bought all new decorations and we are really happy with the work we did in there. Then we stopped. I haven't done one thing in eight months.

I have come up with a plan. I went to Walmart and bought a cute notebook. It has dividers and little pockets. I plan on using it for a detailed list of all home updates and repairs. I am a firm believer that if you write something down then 99% of the time it gets done. So I am committed to this process. I plan to use the pockets for clippings, coupons or anything that inspires me.

Have you done updates on your home? What is your process? Do you have any fun projects you are working on right now? Remember you can post pictures to our fan page!

I will update you guys on our progress.

Laundry - The stuff I keep in baskets

I hate laundry...wait I take that back, I hate putting away laundry, ahh that's better. I am GREAT at washing and drying laundry, I can do that all day long. In fact I do that every day, I try to do a load a day.

However, putting laundry away is another story. Rather than put laundry up as soon as it comes out of the dryer, I make a mountain out of it. I take a huge project (doing laundry for 5 people) and double it. After I make the mountain, I fold, and i put everything in neat stacks. I then take the stacks and separate them into laundry baskets. I put everyone's socks and underwear in one basket. The laundry sits in baskets until I FEEL like putting it away.

To make matters worse, and I am bearing my soul here friends. I get anxious about people digging through the laundry. Because then my stacks get messed up. So, here I am feeling like a huge project is left unfinished and anxious that the people who need clothes are going to mess up my little piles and stacks.

Somehow I feel great about the clean laundry but, horrible about not putting it away. This horrible feeling does not entice me into actually putting it away in a timely manner either. It usually just takes me not being able to find anything to just do it.

I have many excuses as to why I can't do laundry more efficiently. Some of those being, time (I work full time, I do a lot of volunteer work ect), I'm tired (I have 3 kids, see reason one), I'm waiting on the kids to put away their laundry (yeah right) and much much more. But I think the truthful reason I don't do it is because I don't like it. So, I'm going to try and get over my dislike and put laundry away, it only takes a few minutes.

Do you have a good laundry tip? What is your laundry schedule? Do you share my dislike or are you one of the lucky ones who like putting away laundry?