Okay, so I like to have a clean house. It gives me a good feeling but a clean house doesn't just happen. It takes work and organization and decluttering. I am going to attach a copy of my schedule I just recently made up. It still needs a little tweaking but you will get the idea.
There are a couple of things I would like to touch on. One is everyone has their own way of cleaning. Their own preferences. I have recently been reviewing several books on scheduling and housekeeping. It seems that the more modern the book, the more the advice refers to working women. The advice is for what to do when you get home from work. That's fine but it just doesn't apply to me. I work only a few days a month and so I am home most of the time. I need advice that helps me get my work done during the day. I ordered a well-recommended book today to help with my homemaking endeavors. The book is
The GoodHousekeeping Book of Housekeeping 1947. I'll let you know how it is when I get it.
I like to do my cleaning one to two days a week as you will see on my schedule. I usually clean on Mondays and Tuesdays, dividing my chores into two categories: high and low. High things need dusted, wiped and scrubbed. These are things such as countertops and tables. Low things are floors that need scrubbed, mopped or vacuumed. If I get everything finished in two days I feel like I have the rest of the week to do other things without a feeling of disorganization. Some others may tell you they prefer to clean a little everyday. If that works for you, that's fine. I don't because I like a feeling of accomplishment.
Now this is going to get switched around on my second thought and that is laundry. I do my laundry a little every day and then finish up with one big laundry day toward the end of the week. I am not sure why but I don't need that great feeling of accomplishment with laundry or maybe I just don't think it is doable, for me anyway. Everyday there are clothes my family needs. They can not wait one week for me to wash all of or certain items they need. So everyday I do at least one load of laundry and that way I can keep it a minimum.
Another thing to consider is to keep your schedule doable. If you try to schedule too much in one day you will get exhausted. Also, ages and number of children and whether or not you homeschool. When I homeschooled my schedule would look a lot different. I am home by myself now and my son is in school so I can get alot more accomplished. One more thing to consider is your age. My mother in law is almost 80 years old but is a great housekeeper. Her house is always in order but she does things alot different than I and doesn't do as much as I in a day and I am sure I can't do as much as a young person in their 20's could do in a day.
So, I hope to be adding more to this topic but here are a just a couple of ideas to get started on your schedule. First write down everything you would like to get done in a day, a week, or a month. Figure out what you are capable doing in a day. You might want to categorize the list into wants and needs.
I have found scheduling my day works so much better than winging it. I can get so much more accomplished and thus find I have a great feeling.
Time/Day | Mon | Tues | Wed | Thurs | Fri |
0600 | Rise and shower | --------------- | ----------------- | ------------- | ---------- |
0630 | Make coffee/oatmeal/wake Josh/start laundry | --------------- | ----------------- | -------------- | ---------- |
0650 | Fix Josh breakfast | -------------- | --------------- | --------------- | ---------- |
0730 | Josh to school | -------------- | --------------- | ---------------- | ---------- |
0800 | Errands, prayer | -------------- | --------------- | ----------------- | --------- |
0930 | Begin laundry/ cleaning day/ | ----------- mop floors every other week alternate with sheet changing | Grocery shop | Laundry catchup/clean out frig | Start ironing/laundry or mow if needed/end of week shopping for weekend needs |
1130 | Lunch | -------------- | --------------- | --------------- | ------- |
1230 | Finish cleaning | Finish cleaning | Pick up around house | Put laundry away | Put laundry away |
|
|
| Correspondences/ bills/insurance work | sewing | Continue ironing/sew if time allows. Monthly chores. |
--------- | ------------------- | ------------ | ---------------------- | ---------------- | ------------------ |
300 | Leave to pick up Josh (unless crew) | ------------ | --------------- | ----------------- | ----------------- |
400 | supper prep | ------------- | ------------------ | -------------- | ---------------- |
430 | Leave to pick up Josh if crew | ------------- | ------------------ | -------------- | ---------------- |
530-600 | Supper | -------------- | ------------------- | -------------- | ----------------- |
Evening | Enjoy family | -------------- | ------------------ | --------------- | ---------------- |
The times are not set in stone, are more of a routine and I do adjust as needed. I don't get caught up on the time. I make my schedule my help not my master. I, also, soon will be adding a monthly schedule to go with this, so I can get chores done that don't need accomplished as often. That slot is included on Fridays.
Happy homemaking
