Yes, I blog about organization and order. Yes, I teach people how to manage their lives. Yes, my therapist called me "high functioning" just this week!
Doesn't matter. If I don't do certain things every single day, I drown in housework.
Since nothing ruins a Saturday more than hours of household chores looming over my head, I have a MAGIC list of things that I do daily to keep things in check.
In addition to erasing the evidence of everything that I do throughout the day, I do my magical dailies every single day to keep my house and life in order.
PLANNER TIP: In your planner, use graph paper to make a simple chart of your Magic Dailies. Check them off as you get done! I keep them in my Projects section with other active projects.
MY MAGIC DAILIES
15 Minute Quick Clean - Sweep through the house and put things away. Clean areas that need wiping down. If the house is orderly, vacuum the carpet or clean a toilet. If everything is clear (HA HA HA!!!), organize the junk drawer.
Laundry - Throw in a load of laundry in the morning or as soon as you get home from work. Try to follow through to wash, dry, fold, and put away (or delegate to the family to put away). For times when it doesn't all get done, put those items away on tomorrow's laundry day.
(This laundry technique changed my life!)
Dishes - Unload/load the dishwasher. Hand wash dishes as needed.
Hot Spot - Pick the one hot spot that needs to stay clear and clear it off completely (by putting things away). For my household, the island in the kitchen is that hot spot.
Food Prep - Prep your food for dinner. Maybe that means jotting down what you are cooking. Maybe that means pulling something out of the freeze. Maybe that means chopping veggies. Perhaps you are ordering pizza. Just make sure the decision is made and any advanced steps are done.
Special Dailies - All of us have daily stuff that we need to add to our checklists. Maybe you take medication each day or you have to check email. I blog most days. Make a place for that stuff on your checklist.
Prep - Include prepping for the next day, including planning food, clothes, and any items for errands, work, or school, on your checklist.
PLANNER TIP: On your weekly pages, put a repeating task tab with the word "Dailies" on it on today's entry. As you complete your dailies, move the tab to tomorrow!
At first, it is hard to learn the routines. But if you put an X if something doesn't need doing (for example, if your hot spot is already clean) and a check mark if it is done, the empty spaces will remind you where you are slacking!
And you can give up cleaning all day on Saturday...your house and life will already be magically in order!
Etcetera.
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I swear you're reading my mind. About a month ago I created this elaborate color-coded graph chart of all areas of the house and what days they would be cleaned. Agreed, if a little is done throughout the week that I'm not spending my weekend cleaning. But this happened, that happened and, well, so on, and the cleaning for those days (well, after I got home from work) went kaput! I think the schedule was too rigid and placed too much expectation on what I could and could not get done as I also do client work when I get home from my job. I have another idea for a more workable system, but your blog post has given me something to chew on. Thank you!!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad to hear it. I've tried (and failed) at elaborate systems, too. But this morning, with my checklist, I've already started the laundry. :)
ReplyDeleteThe one thing I would add is that my kids have chores and my husband does some of the cleaning and a lot of the laundry, so 15 minutes a day is enough to keep the house clean (since our house is small). You might need 25 minutes or something like that!
I forgot to mention that I have been putting laundry in to wash before leaving for work and either hub puts it in the dryer during the day (as he works from home) or I do when I come home. We don't have kids (so our house shouldn't be that much of a disaster!), but hub is charged with cleaning the 2nd bathroom (which is his man-bathroom!) and vacuuming. He'll also empty the dishwasher if I can't in the morning (but I prefer to do it because I can't find where he puts things away!) I can't give him too many chores where he has to do too much bending down due to his arthritis, but he does pitch in.
ReplyDeleteExcellent idea! It sounds like over time this really cuts down your cleaning load
ReplyDeleteI find that if I can unload the dishwasher, make my bed, do 3 loads of laundry (for 7 people), and plan supper each morning, we can run pretty smoothly. But if I were to add a 15 minute sweep through the house every single day, I bet we could thrive! The simplest ideas are always the best ones!
ReplyDeleteI'm following you on Bloglovin' now. :)
This is great! I have seriously been thinking about adopting a system like this. I tend to put off all cleaning until Saturday morning and then feel like I've wasted half of my Saturday when this could be eliminated if I just did a little each day. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteI love being organised and this is a great post for that. It doesn't really take long to keep on top of the housework if you have a plan. Thanks for sharing your idea with us at #AnythingGoes.
ReplyDeleteI also do something like this. My general categories are kitchen and laundry. If those don't get worked on each day, I end up spending my entire weekend catching up. It has really helped me. I'm less stressed, and even though I have other projects and household things to work on, knowing that there isn't a pile of laundry or dishes to be washed, makes things easier.
ReplyDeleteI have trouble keeping up with cleaning, mostly because I find it so tedious. I love cooking and thinking about food, so menu planning, etc, seems like fun. Laundry works if I can keep in the daily habit. I need to get on a better cleaning schedule, though. I like to relax on the weekend, so I'm happier if I can get the cleaning done in bits and pieces throughout the week. My schedule lately is to clean something once it looks dirty & I notice that it needs to be done. ;)
ReplyDeleteI love all things organizing and planning. These ideas are great... I'm going to implement the hot spot run ASAP. I'm so glad I found your blog {through Link it to me} :) This post would do great on my Friday Blog Party, feel free to come over and check it out !
ReplyDeleteI am a bit of a planner freak myself. But, I do not add cleaning to my planner the way I should. Thanks for the great tips. Totally off subject, but I also appreciate how you have a list of blog linkups on your page. Bless your heart!
ReplyDeleteThanks for these great tips!
ReplyDeleteI love this! I am a huge fan of checklists! I made a bigger chart for myself awhile back, but it would be so much more useful to have it in my planner where I remember to look at it everyday!
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing with us at #MommyMeetupMondays!
Those are some great tips. Planning is so important. We just use the Google Calendar for planning and that way they whole family can see what's going on, what is expected and be able to also plan other things...not including chores! :)
ReplyDeleteI'm needing a new system. I like the check boxes on graph paper.
ReplyDeleteI've been meaning to try a system of doing a few cleaning chores each day so that they're not all saved up for the weekend. Thanks for the tips!
ReplyDeleteI needed this post this week and I'm putting your tips to use today. I get SO overwhelmed if I miss a chore, it's obnoxious, but they're not going anywhere! Thank you for sharing this at #mommymeetupmondays.
ReplyDeleteGreat advice! There are just some things that need to be done every day to give the house a jump start! Thank you for sharing on the Art of Home-Making Mondays! :)
ReplyDeleteI agree with all your daily tasks! I also do the same things every day except for the prepping for the next day which I definitely need to start doing. Thanks so much for sharing this at Happy Home Life.
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