Cleaning Schedule

I like my house to be clean... right!  Unfortunately, like most people, I don't like doing what I need to do to get my house clean.  I used to avoid cleaning until the weekend and then spend a whole day sweating and madly cleaning the house, but that plan hasn't been working for me.  2 of my friends had good cleaning systems so I thought them over...

1 friend cleans on Thursday evenings so that her house is clean for the weekend.  Oh, and she enjoys drinking a bottle of wine while doing so.  Sounds fantastic!!  She admits, though, that she sometimes can't find things the next day that she has put away due to the excess wine consumption while cleaning. :)

The other friend has a daily system.  Take out the garbages on this day, clean the bathrooms on a different day, etc.  This system sounded like something I could wrap my head around so for the past 9 months or so I've been cleaning this way.  Now I don't always get to my cleaning chores for the day and if that is the case then I push them to the next day and everything gets bumped, but I've found that by doing this it only takes me about 20 - 30 minutes to clean daily and I am actually getting to everything every week.

Here is my cleaning schedule along with my fantasy of what I would like to get done and the reality of what actually gets done...

Sunday - Kitchen and Dining Room

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Fantasy - vacuum dining room, dust dining room blinds, clean dining room table, vacuum and mop kitchen floor, clean all kitchen countertops and stove, wipe down fridge

Reality - vacuum dining room, clean dining room table, vacuum kitchen, wipe down kitchen countertops with antibacterial all-purpose cleaner, and do a quick vacuum of the living room and entry way

Monday - Kids Rooms, Hallway, Guest Bathroom

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Fantasy - put away toys and books, dust kids rooms, vacuum and mop floors (because M still spits up and out of her crib so the floor in her room is covered in white spots), clean bathroom well (toilets, tub, sink, and floor get a scrub down)

Reality: put away toys and books and vacuum kids rooms and hallway, vacuum bathroom and clean well every other week - unless we have company and then I will clean the bathroom (your welcome guests!)

Tuesday - No Cleaning Day!

Wednesday - Living Room and Entry Way

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Fantasy - put away toys, dust, vacuum couch and area rug and floors, vacuum hairs and dirt that cling to the bench

Reality - pick up toys, vacuum floors and bench, dust when I have some extra time (so not very often!), and do a quick vacuum of the kitchen and dining room

Thursday - No Cleaning Day!

Friday - Master Bedroom and Master Bathroom

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Fantasy - dust, vacuum, clean bathroom well (sink, tub, toilet, and floor get a scrub down)

Reality - vacuum floors and clean master bathroom well every other week

Saturday - Stairs and Downstairs

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Fantasy - vacuum and mop stairs, organize and vacuum playroom, vacuum laundry room, clean bathroom

Reality - sweep stairs every other week and vacuum once a month (we don't eat down there and the dog doesn't go downstairs so it really doesn't get that dirty anyway), and when it drives me crazy I will clean the downstairs bathroom but Nick is the only one to use it so I figure if he doesn't care if its dirty then I'm not going to worry about it

I do what I can to keep the house as clean as possible without devoting ALL of my time to cleaning.  There are areas that need improvement in the cleaning routine, but right now it is working for me and I've come to accept the fact that things are going to be a bit dusty and the bathroom isn't perfectly clean all of the time, but as a friend said to me once, I'd rather be spending time with my child than cleaning so things aren't going to get done like they used to (thanks Erica).

*I would like to add that none of these pictures are from my actual house... just dreaming!