The Cleaning Schedule You Can Manage
A cleaning schedule you can manage is all about breaking down tasks into manageable sectors. When we look at our overall to-do list to keep our homes sparkling clean, it is incredibly overwhelming. I know I personally love to make the list, but once I see how much is actually needing to be done, I would almost rather not even start. By arranging everything into it’s priority sectors, it becomes far more manageable and less likely to pile up.
These sectors are: daily, weekly, monthly and annual. Prioritizing the importance and manageability of each task gives a better perspective to what needs to be done and when. Each season of your life will give a different priority to different tasks, so scheduling can be rearranged as often as needed. It is also a good idea to review regularly so you don’t become burnt out by your own eagerness. If you find you are not accomplishing certain tasks in the timely manner you had allotted for it, it may just need to be moved to a different day of the week or a different time sector. Nothing is permanently placed in a cleaning schedule. Reorganizing your plans is what helps make it work best for you.
Daily Tasks – These would be your daily non-negotiables. Making the bed, picking up the toys at the end of the day, running the dishwasher, daily load of laundry. The dailies should be things that you can easily tackle and do without thinking about it. It is just part of your day.
Weekly Tasks – Dedicate a task per day within the week. Assigning a chore to each day makes it seem less overwhelming to do all of the housework into one single day. I encourage you to read my post about A Manageable Cleaning Schedule where I dive deeper into this concept. Essentially, you assign a task, such as cleaning the bathrooms, to which ever day would work in your week, and every week on that day, you tackle the bathrooms. It breaks things up and also helps you remember what day of the week it is!
Monthly Tasks – These would be the tasks that aren’t always needed to be done every day or every week, but do need attention at least once a month. You could break this even further into being bi-monthly or doing this twice a month, it ultimately is whatever works best for you. Things like cleaning the oven, or cleaning the bathtub. Larger, undesirable tasks that can’t be ignored, but don’t need to be tended to too often.
Annual Tasks – These are the tasks we overlook, but feel amazing once they are done. Scrubbing the grout, sorting through the medicine cabinets, reorganizing the linen closet or polishing the floors can all be lumped into an annual task.
Trying to do everything all at once will simply cause burn out and feel impossible. I prefer to break things down and try to maintain a cleaning schedule that works best for me and my families schedules. This is constantly being rearranged, adding new tasks, removing others, placing them into different sectors. And all of this being said, if your stage of life does not allow a consistent daily task or even weekly tasks, that is okay. It will all get done eventually and you will be tidy again. While cleaning isn’t always fun, it can be rewarding. It is something to be proud of once you can check it off the list.
Melanie xoxox