- 21
Jan
I was going to post another “Keeping the House Clean” tip, but I think I’m going to wait until next week. Yesterdays tip may have been enough of a challenge for one week 
Instead, I’ll share something somewhat related – my new weekly housekeeping schedule! For some, this may be a “duh? doesn’t everyone have that?” kind of thing, but for me, it wasn’t intuitive. I didn’t grow up having daily or weekly chores, at least I can’t remember having that (correct me if I’m wrong, mom!). But before I got married, I shared a house with 3 other girls. We split up chores on a weekly basis and divided them up by rooms – kitchen, living room, bathroom, and trash/yardwork. That worked pretty well for us, but honestly, it was difficult to negotiate chores between 4 girls with three different standards of cleanliness :-/
When I got married, I knew that most of the daily and weekly chores would be my responsibility. My husband does help with some things (he’s pretty adamant about lawn mowing and snow plowing, which I am MORE than grateful for), and we’re generally not very messy people, but that doesn’t mean our house doesn’t get dirty.
For the last year and half, I’ve done various housekeeping on an as-needed basis. Bathroom look dirty? Okay, clean it today. Floors looking grimy? Pull out the broom and mop. I’ve been blessed to have enough flexibility to do that.
But lately, it hasn’t been happening that way, and instead, I’ve delayed things. And then things get really dirty. Not a pretty sight to see. Last week, I stumbled upon a blog with the suggestion of having a weekly housekeeping schedule. BINGO! That’s what I need. If I have assigned “chores” each day, that means I won’t forget or delay. Plus, I can customize it to our schedule! Sweeeet.
Taking inspiration from this blog, I took this example of a weekly schedule …
And adapted it! I’m not a stay at home mom, but I do work from home, so this felt the most similar. Here’s my adaptation based on our schedule (sorry it’s not as pretty!)
Monday – Grocery Shop, Errands, Clean one room thoroughly
Tuesday – Laundry (sheets/towels) Evening: Work meetings
Wednesday – Dust mop floors, vacuum rugs, clean bathrooms
Thursday – Laundry (clothes)
Friday – Menu Plan, Plan Week Once a month work meetings during the day
Saturday - Yard work, House Projects, Activities
Sunday - Church, Family Time Evening: Work meetings
You’ll noticed I moved some things around. I tend to have the most energy and desire to clean at the beginning of the week. Something about starting off on the right foot, or something like that. Since I work from home and I’m easily distracted by clutter and mess, spending a little time early in the week tidying up and cleaning is a good use of my time. Also, since I have fairly packed evenings on Tuesdays, I chose to do laundry that day because I actually like doing laundry. I know, crazy, right? So at least I’m doing something pleasant during the day that I enjoy, instead of something that drains me. I also freed up our Sundays from chores since that day is a nice time to relax after a crazy week.
We’ll see how this works – I’m slowly readjusting into this schedule. There may still be some tweaking that needs to be done. But I hope it works!
If you want to do something similar, start with a list of the weekly chores you need to accomplish and a separate piece of paper or spreadsheet with the days of the week. Include any weekly activities or obligations that might influence your ability to accomplish these chores (meetings, activities, etc). Then just plug in the chores according to your preference! There you have it, your own personal weekly housekeeping schedule. I realize some of us have pretty complicated schedules, but do what works best for you.
Do you have a weekly plan? Or some other way of managing all the endless chores around the house? I know my sister is a nurse and her schedule changes every single week, so I think implementing a weekly schedule wouldn’t really work for her – I have no clue how she does it. I’m in awe, to be honest. But maybe she’ll reply with a suggestion or tip…hint hint!
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3 Responses to “Weekly Housekeeping Schedule”
Haha! And as I was reading your post, all I was thinking was “Yep, can’t do this… wish I could…” Pretty much my tip is that whenever there is any sort of mess, clean it right away or as soon as you can. Don’t put things off. If I notice I have a basket full of laundry, I get going on it, perhaps letting it sit in the washer overnight or while I sleep (not something I like to do because it gets that dewy smell after awhile). If there’s dishes, DO THEM. If I notice the table is messy or the toilet isn’t looking so great, take 2 minutes and clean it!
I haven’t figured out how to time bigger cleaning projects like mopping or dusting, but generally if it looks okay, I let it go for the time being.
Works for me so far!
When you were kids, each of you was responsible for your own room. You also learned how to do laundry and had to do your own. Jen and Carrie were responsible for one bathroom, your brother the other. Kitchen and house work was as needed. Most of the time you were willing to help when asked, which was nice.
Like Carrie said, if it was dirty, it needed to be dealt with. Not much trouble at all with three of you helping.
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