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Cleaning|Pad Patter 3.13

I found a printable on Pinterest that mostly works for me.... to look at and ignore. :giggle
It's cleaning zones. One zone per week, and there's a section of things that occur on the occasional 5th week in a month (things like, wash the car, bathe the dog).

The daily things I try to keep up with are dishes (unloading and loading the dishwasher), preparing coffee for the next morning, and meal prep. The kids are responsible for keeping their toys and books picked up so the dog doesn't chew them up - they have to do it before school and before bed. Hubby does the majority of our laundry, and he usually does it all on the weekend.

Besides that I have weekly chores that I'm working on getting done more regularly. Mondays are floors - vacuum, sweep, mop; Tuesdays counters and tables (though I've been doing better about doing this more daily than once a week); Wednesdays are bathrooms (toilets and sinks); Thursdays are clean out the fridge and take out the trash, and outside front yard - because it's trash day. Fridays are clean out the van (the kids' day care papers and projects that inevitably get stuck there). I'm not super good at keeping up with the weekly things. Sometimes I do everything on the weekend, and then when the day comes up in the week, "I just did that, I'll skip it" and then two more weeks go by.

The monthly zone/weeks... those are things like deep cleaning the fridge shelves, or wiping out the pantry, or cleaning the dishwasher... baseboards, washing windows, the tops of the fans.... I am really bad with these. I don't do half of the items on the list during that week, and then forget the next time it rolls around which ones I actually need to do. My dry erase version of this list has dates on it from September when I did some of these things last. i just ignore it, or i've forgotten to write a date by it... meh. When it really really bothers me, that's when I do it. I do tend to pay closer attention, or get more motivated if someone is going to come over, but because I'm doing better with the weekly things, I haven't really stressed about anyone coming over. Our home is lived in. I am fine with that.
 
I like things in order but I leave the serious cleaning to our housecleaners who come every other week. Our downstairs level is the only public one so that stays pretty good meaning I'm fine if someone comes in almost any time. There are only the two of us, and while he agreed to keep the kitchen clean and tidy after I cook almost all the meals, there is a disconnect in the male-female meaning of 'clean and tidy'. However, he does get all the dishes done daily and the dishwasher emptied every am before I'm up and I've learned to do the counters after he goes to bed and I'm still up.

For a few years early in our marriage (15 years ago) I stuck to the Fly Lady routines. The only one that really stuck was doing a load of laundry every morning. When I was still working, I put the clothes in at night set to wash before I got up and then into the dryer, finished and put away before I left for work. The washer and dryer have always been just outside the main bathroom so it's convenient and easy. Laundry I like for those reasons.

Dealing with clutter is my downfall...
 
@JillW I used to constantly say "It's CDO, you know the same thing but with the letters in the correct order." Then my teenager popped off with "Face it mom, you're Compulsively Disordered, Often." I don't know if she's said anything after that, I taped up her mouth then promptly lost her in a vast disorderly pile of laundry and stuffed animals. >.>

@cookingmylife I just checked out the Flylady thing, I'm going to try! I need something like that, just did a chore list (for me and the kids!) that I was printing out, this in conjunction with the Flylady might be something good for me!
 
I have to add that I LOVE my roomba which vacuums my house every week or so. I can set it and then go scrap!
 
Karen said:
We always joke that it's a good thing we have people come over frequently or we'd never clean anything. So I guess I'm a mad dash cleaner who cleans when I know someone is coming over. Otherwise, I'd rather spend my free time scrapping or crafting.
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ME. ME. ME!! :rofl We live way out of town so we don't have people 'just dropping in' thank goodness!!! :lol and our family and friends know that they need to ring us BEFORE they come out!! :rofl So its a mad rush to get things neat and tidy!! We are always saying that we NEED to have someone come visit us to motivate us to get the place cleaned up!:lol There is only hubs and I but I just HATE housework, always have! The place is clean but it is just super messy at times......... and I would much rather be scrapping than cleaning!! :rollin
 
BevG said:
I am avoiding this post because I might have to clean if I read it. Oops - too late. I promise to vacuum today....
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We SERIOUSLY need an Early Warning Alert System for things like this... "DON'T READ THIS! You'll have to clean!!" "DON'T READ THIS! You'll want to buy!!!" "DON'T READ THIS!!! You'll want to cry!!" "DON'T READ THIS!!! You'll want a cherry coke!!!" oh.. wait.. that last one was probably just me... crap. Now I want a cherry coke. :groan
 
Serena said:
We SERIOUSLY need an Early Warning Alert System for things like this... "DON'T READ THIS! You'll have to clean!!" "DON'T READ THIS! You'll want to buy!!!" "DON'T READ THIS!!! You'll want to cry!!" "DON'T READ THIS!!! You'll want a cherry coke!!!" oh.. wait.. that last one was probably just me... crap. Now I want a cherry coke. :groan
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For sure!! Although I will pass on the cherry coke - gave up sodas about 6 years ago. Now a nice unsweet iced tea or a cup of coffee. Speaking of which, I just realized I keep buying all these coffee kits and have yet to scrap a coffee page. Hmmmm
 
I keep my house tidy & clean.
Every person in my family chips in & I keep a pretty tight schedule.

Monday: Bathrooms - I clean mine, the girls clean theirs, the boys clean theirs (and wouldn't you know it, my 7 year old is the best at cleaning his bathroom!).
Tuesday: Dusting/Pick up Day - Everyone dusts & picks up their own room. I dust the major areas with help from my 6 year old. She shares a room and her older sister dusts their room for them.
Wednesday: Vacuum/Mop (I usually pick one area to mop each week since it's just too overwhelming to do it all at once) My kids each vacuum their own room as well as the family room upstairs. I do the main living area downstairs.
Thursday: Everyone puts away their laundry from the past week. We have storage bins in the laundry room for everyone's clothes - they get put away once a week.
Friday: Wash sheets & towels (we usually rotate the sheets on different weeks - just too many to do all in one day!)

On a daily basis the dishwasher is emptied, the kitchen is cleaned, laundry is done (usually 2-3 loads a day). I have a kid that empties the dishwasher everyday, a kid that empties the trash cans everyday, a kid that gathers all the dirty laundry in the morning, a kid that washes the dishes at each meal, a kid that folds all the laundry at the end of the day, a kid that wipes the counters and sweeps the floor after every meal time. (these rotate each week - the younger kids aren't given the harder tasks like washing dishes at each meal)

My older 5 kids are very competent with their jobs. I only have one kid that needs daily reminding of everything she's supposed to do...everyone else does really good.

It hasn't always been this organized or easy...it's taken a while to train my kids and help them learn how to do each task...and to keep at it...but I'm finally seeing the reward of my hard work! It definitely helps our home run smoother & we are all happier for it...and clean! :)

And I know this isn't for everyone, but we are all sort of neat people over here (including hubby) and with a large family I just think it helps everything run a little smoother.
 
Its just DH and I now so the house doesnt get too messy. I tend to do one house cleaning job a day plus a load of laundry or grocery shopping. DH does all the vacuuming which helps. I've been thinking of getting a house cleaning service to come in twice a month and do some of the heavier duty cleaning.
 
I DO NOT CLEAN, well, sometimes, but that is when we are having people over, which is generally only a few times a year. I do keep the kitchen tidy, can't stand dishes in the sink. DH is semi-retired, and has worked from home for years, so I always come home to a disaster. Some days are worse than others.

DH will often vacuum and dust since if he waits for me, it could be a while. I would LOVE a maid.
 
When I worked full-time I had a maid. In the smaller house, she came weekly. In the bigger house, every 2 weeks (more house to spread out our dirt in). She just did the basic cleaning. She didn't do things like cleaning the windows, or washing baseboards.

FYI - best way to get the baseboards washed (until they figure it out) - not my idea, but it works. So I homeschooled my two (middle school & elementary school) and they would often argue since they spent all day together everyday. As soon as 1 made a smart remark and 2 gave a smart answer back, I considered it an argument. As punishment, each got a 2ft section of kitchen baseboard to clean. If one complained about his share of the work, he got another section to do. They made it all the way around the kitchen one and half times before they wised up and stopped arguing (or at least where I could hear them).

And no one was ever Bored at our house either because if you told me that, you had to clean something.
 
i have a cleaning lady. i detest cleaning. i just straighten and spritz a little between visits.
 
I don't clean unless I absolutely have to. My back hurts too much. I pay for a cleaning service that comes in every other Thursday. They will be here tomorrow morning. When it was just my husband and me, the house stayed spotless. Then daughter #1 moved back in with her dog. Need I say more. I make her clean in between since the dog is the reason anything needs to be cleaned.
 
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