Mission Organization: Week 36 – A Cleaning Schedule

A clean house makes me happy. I love the feel of an immaculate tile floor underneath my feet and the smell of a sanitized bathroom. I want my laundry to be washed, dried, folded neatly, and the ironing done and hung in the closets.

There are several ways to approach the cleaning and housekeeping chores to achieve the results you want for your household. One way is to attack the chores all in one day and work in a non-stop marathon fashion until everything is completed. That can get the job done, but it makes for a very tired housekeeper.

Another way to deal with housekeeping chores is to tackle whatever is most needful at any given time. For example, when all the clothes are dirty, it’s time to do laundry. With this method things can get quite messy before the clean up is started, and this can cause more than a little family chaos.

There’s also the “company’s coming” method, where the housekeeping chores are frantically done when the announcement is made that guests will be arriving soon. This can lead to problems later, such as forgetting that you stashed that stack of dirty dishes in the oven or threw the kids’ homework in the trash by mistake.

The method that I think works best is to plan a daily cleaning schedule for the household chores. I function quite well with lists and get a lot of satisfaction in checking off chores that I have completed for the day. My cleaning schedule is a fairly individualized plan that works for me in my particular house, and it suits my purposes. My daily plan might not work in your house, just as your plan probably wouldn’t work for me.

To make a cleaning plan that works for you, start very simply. Decide on the basic chores that MUST be done to keep the household running, and list those first. Some chores must be repeated daily, others can be performed only once or twice a week, still others are tasks that come around even less frequently.

The important thing about a cleaning schedule is to make it your own. Make it work for you and your household. A helpful tool for me is the app for iPad or iPhone called Housekeeping List. This app comes with a list of household chores for different areas of the home, but the most helpful part for me is that it can be customized with my own personal checklists. I can save these lists for everyday chores or create new ones for special events like holiday entertaining. Making a list for each day of the week keeps me on track for that day and keeps me from putting off chores that I’d rather not do.

I’m far from a perfect housekeeper. I find cobwebs in the corners, and dust still accumulates, but having a daily schedule certainly does help to keep me working to stay on top of what needs to be done, and the house looks much more presentable on a daily basis. I think the daily schedule actually saves me time in the long run. By completing what’s on the list each day, I know that I’m staying on track for a more organized home.

The opinions stated in this post are entirely my own. I have no relationship with Jimbl Software or Apple and have received no compensation from them.