The Cleaning Schedule in Your Planner That Will Actually Work

When I was younger, I was a history teacher. I was obsessed with the colonization of America. I thought maybe, someday, we'll colonize the moon.

Well, I have now achieved greatness by doing something I've only ever dreamed of doing.

I've colonized my home...

...um, with ants. Boo! A great big colony of ants has moved in and taken up residence.

I kill them. They come back. They find crumbs where I would never see them. They are tenacious, vile, and bitey. (Is "bitey" a thing? My ankles and that one that crawled up my pants say "yes, indeed, bitey is a thing.")

I have to get a handle on this. I've been doing clean as I go, with my kids having the daily chore of sweeping the floor. I also clean (shamelessly and quickly) before company visits.

I need a cleaning routine. 

But I've tried cleaning routines. I've printed them, written them in my planner, and thought about them. 

None of them worked.

When I examine the why I don't clean more routinely, a few things occur to me.

First, I am very lazy. 

Let's just get that out there! The truth will set us free! You might be lazy, too. There's a simple test, really. When the day is done, is your house neat and sparkly? No. You are probably lazy. Watched more than three episodes of something on Netflix? No probably about it. You are lazy!

It's okay. You are not alone.

This is important to know. If you aren't lazy, you don't need this. Go read one of my other posts about your planner layout or something!

PLAN 15 MINUTES ON WEEKDAYS

If you are lazy, keep the duration of cleaning up short each day. I plan to do just 15 minutes.

You can always do more. But aim for 15 minutes so your goal is manageable.

Second, I hate Mondays.

There is so much to do and so much mess lingering from the weekend.

PUT AWAY AND STRAIGHTEN FIRST

I've decided to do no actual cleaning on Mondays. Instead, I spend 15 minutes putting things away that got left out over the weekend.

This accomplishes two things. First, it makes cleaning on subsequent days so much easier. Second, if I put things away as I go, it might take LESS TIME than 15 minutes. How cool is that for a Monday?!?

MAKE YOUR SCHEDULE INSTEAD OF USING SOMEONE ELSE'S

Third, when I use a cleaning schedule, it requires me to clean things too often. They just don't get THAT dirty, so I feel like I am cleaning for nothing.

So I divided my Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday schedules up, so I vacuum or wipe down counters (beyond the normal wipe during or after cooking) about twice per month.

You can check out the image above for the schedule. (When I do mirrors, I also do tubs/showers. When I do closets, I do toilets.)

Other schedules made by strangers just don't fit my home (smallish), my filthiness (not that bad for a lazy person as I mostly clean as I go), or my lifestyle (too busy to be constantly cleaning).

Make your own cleaning schedule. List your needs and frequency and depend on that. Mine is an example, based on my needs. Yours are different, so no one else's schedule will work perfectly for you.

ORGANIZE ABOUT WEEKLY

Fourth, I need relaxed Fridays.

Organizing relaxes me. 

So I keep a running list of things to organize and pick one (or a 15 minute part of one) on most Fridays.

If you are already organized, purge a little.

DO OCCASIONAL BUT IMPORTANT TASKS SOMETIMES

Fifth, I have things that I need to keep up with on a semi-regular basis, but not even as often as once a month. Filing, cleaning appliances, that sort of thing.

The 5th week of the month (except Mondays so you keep things put away) is perfect for those sometimes tasks since not every month has a 5th Thursday or Friday or whatever. 

I consider it bonus time. (Yes, if you are wondering, I got the idea because my husband gets paychecks every two weeks, which means an occasional third paycheck in certain months.) Use it to clean your car or your windows or your garage. But only 15 minutes. Big tasks need to be scheduled outside of the routine.

Join my Giftie Etcetera Facebook group and come be accountable for meeting those daily goals by posting your achievements!

Etcetera.

If you enjoy what you read at Giftie Etcetera, please share on social media. Click here to join the Giftie Etcetera Facebook group.