Cleaning Routine
Wouldn’t it be wonderful not to have to spend an entire day cleaning your house? This article will teach you how to incorporate a cleaning routine into your schedule so that you can maintain a clean home without having to devote a whole day to cleaning. I am sure you have heard the saying. ” Divide and Conquer. ” Well, this is the concept that I use to maintain a clean household. I have a series of routines that, when put all together, keep my home clean, decluttered, and organized. There are three routines; Daily routine, a Weekly routine, and a monthly routine. I incorporate them into my schedule by blocking off time each day for some housework. Twenty-plus years ago, when I began cleaning my own home, I had a 9 to 5 job, so I quickly realized that I did not want to spend my entire Saturday doing housework and laundry. I decided that I would break up the cleaning into small tasks that I could add to my daily schedule. This way, the house would always be clean, and I would have my weekends free to spend them as I wished. Even though my lifestyle has changed throughout the years, from small homes to large homes, from 9 to 5 jobs outside the home, to stay at home mom working from home, with a full-time housekeeper, part-time housekeeper, to no housekeeper, the system has worked! As such, this cleaning routine can be effective for you no matter what your household dynamic is. If you have a housekeeper, you may want to share this information with them.
Cleaning Supplies and Tools
In addition to my cleaning method, I also like to save time by ordering my cleaning supplies online and in bulk. This ensures that I always have what I need available and I don’t waste time going to the store nor I add time to my bi-weekly groceries shopping since I avoided 2 to 3 of the aisles at the supermarket. I order the bulk supplies from Amazon, here is a link to my shopping page so you can see my favorite products and my favorite cleaning tools. The cleaning products that I do not buy in bulk I order from Grove Collaborative, which is a monthly subscription service. Once a month before they ship out my products they send me an email of what is in my shopping cart, giving me a chance to remove or add products that I need. By shopping online I not only save time but I have found that I also save money.
The products and services that I link on this site are ones that I use myself and am proud to recommend. If you follow one of my links, please be aware that I will receive a small commission {at no extra cost to you}. I’d also like to say THANK YOU if you do. I appreciate it.
Monthly Cleaning Routine
My monthly cleaning routine divides my house into four sections. Why four because there are four weeks in a month, each week is assigned one section. By dividing the house into four sections, it allows me to do a detailed cleaning of the room or space once a month. Because I am using this method to clean, I Eliminating the need for extensive marathon cleanings like spring cleanings. This monthly routine consists of deep cleaning everything in that area from crown molding to baseboards plus everything in between (More detailed cleaning in a future post). The house gets a complete cleaning on a rotation, not just once in a while. You can adapt this system to your needs and the size of your home. For instance, my house has a total of 16 rooms, which is the complete house, five bedrooms, four baths, and all the standard rooms. That’s why I divided it into four areas, not four rooms. If you have a small house or an apartment, you can break yours up by rooms instead of zones.
Cleaning Schedule
- week one: Porch, entrance hall, living room, dining room, guest bathroom
- week two: master bedroom, master bathroom, master closet, hallway, and study/office
- week three: kitchen, breakfast nook, family room, one-bedroom (my daughter’s room), and one bathroom (my daughter’s bathroom)
- week four: laundry room, back hallways, music room, exercise room, cabana bath
Weekly Cleaning Routine
The weekly routine maintains “The Traffic Zone,” aka the main parts of the house consistently clean. The traffic zones are those rooms that the entire family uses daily, such as the family room, breakfast area, kitchen, Etc.
- dust-Monday
- vacuum-Monday
- mop-Tuesday
- empty trash bins-Wednesday
- clean glass doors-Thursday
- change the bed linens-Saturday
Daily Cleaning Routine
The daily routine involves the chores that need to be done to keep everything picked up and in its place. If you keep everything picked up, and not messy, or laying around, then when its time to clean you do not waste time,
Morning routine
- make the beds
- wipe down the bathroom counter & sink
- empty the dishwasher
- do one load of laundry
- check the calendar to make sure the what needs to get done has been scheduled
- what is for dinner / make a plan
evening routine
- load
dishwasher and set it to wash - wipe down the kitchen counters and stove top
- take out kitchen trash (usually delegated to hubby)
- clean and shine the kitchen sink
- put laundry in the laundry room
- clear off the drop zone/hot spot (this would be that surface in the house where everyone drops everything when they come in)
- straighten up the family room (after everyone has gone to bed)
Conclusion
These three cleaning routines make it easy to maintain a clean and organized home. Each chore or task from the smallest (about two minutes to complete) to the largest (one hour to complete) are simple to work into your daily schedule. I have given you the routines and what each one covers. In future blog posts, I will be breaking them down and giving you more information on each one. I have also added free printables for each routine.
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