Don’t get too excited.
It’s not the maid.
Well, I take that back.
It IS the maid.
Except I don’t get paid.
And I’m not here to clean your house…
rather, I’m here to help you clean your house better.
Not that you’re not doing a good job.
Not that I’m doing a better job.
I just thought I would share what works for me… and, perhaps, it might work for you also. Because, let me tell you, I do not enjoy cleaning.
There. I said it.
Go ahead. Judge away.
But, you know what? It’s not so bad when the tasks are scheduled, you know what you have to do, things are kept orderly, cleaning doesn’t take all day (or ruin your entire day) and you have time to accomplish other things throughout your day, to boot. Like craft time. 
You see, cleaning is a very overwhelming, daunting task for me. When I worked full time (which felt like ALL the time) I would save all of the big cleaning for one day…usually Saturday. And by the time it was done, I felt like my weekend, my day off, my “me” time was ruined. And by the time I was done, I didn’t feel like sewing, crafting or doing the other things I enjoyed. My creativity was squashed beneath being plum tuckered out.
Thankfully, I found a solution.
Something that works for me.
Something that might work for you.
I like order. I like my cleaning to be predictable. And on my terms.
So I developed a monthly cleaning schedule.
Each day has a different task in addition to my daily “chores”.
This is what my schedule looks like:
Every day I have my daily chores:
♥ Make the bed.
♥ Pick up any items out of place around the house.
♥ Cook.
♥ Dishes.
That sort of thing.
BUT! On top of those, I add a chore or two a day. For instance, Monday… I do laundry and I thoroughly clean the kitchen.
Turn the music on, put your pretty gloves on and get cleaning. Work fast. Work efficiently. Keep away from anything that can be potentially distracting (except kids. keep the kids around. 
)…the television, the computer, your phone…things like that. I know the second I turn on the TV for “background noise” (yeah right, nice try.) I am just asking for my cleaning to take 3 hours to accomplish. In reality, it should take less than an hour to get your daily list done. Except laundry day… but you can do other things while waiting for the washer and dryer cycles.
Get it out of the way in the morning and the rest of the day is all yours to run errands and have a little extra time to relax. (This applies if you don’t work a traditional job…and if you do and are taking care of the entire house, you deserve so much more credit than you are given. And I mean that!)
On a side note… y’all know how much I love to cross things off lists. You can only imagine my glee when I get to cross my chore off as DONE. I feel so accomplished.
I know it is tempting to do Monday-Thursday chores on Monday just to get it over with and not have to do anything for the rest of the week…but I have found that keeping to a consistent routine is the most efficient way for things to stay clean. And one or two tasks a day help spread the workload evenly, leaving behind any feelings of being overwhelmed and the constant nagging of falling “behind” in your housekeeping.
Here is my schedule:
Click to view full size here
And here is a blank schedule to customize and print out if you’d like.
Click to view full size here.
I’ll be doing other posts on what kitchen detail, bathroom detail, etc. entail…with some great cleaning tips to make the process efficient and quick. So keep your eyes posted for those.
The most important thing to remember is that life is going to happen and it is not only okay but necessary to be flexible. If you have all day plans and don’t get around to dusting that day…life will go on.
As women, we always demand perfection for ourselves, but tend to be so much more lenient on other women. Yet, for some reason we can’t grasp that concept and apply it to our own thinking. We feel like if unexpected company shows up and our house isn’t dusted to the point of reflecting sunlight off of every piece of furniture we own, we automatically feel embarrassed and judged…feeling like we have failed as a housekeeper and as a woman.
But isn’t it funny, when we go to a friend’s house and notice that the house looks “lived in” we feel a sense of relief and understanding? We realize that we aren’t the only ones living a “less than perfect” life? Isn’t it ironic that we hold ourselves to such a high standard to maintain a perfect image but don’t project those expectations onto others? You cut them some slack. And guess what? They will cut you some slack, too. Nobody expects your house to be perfect…and you shouldn’t either. Life is too short to demand perfection. Resolve to doing what you can and learn to be forgiving for what you can’t. Let’s just aim for our housekeeping to be orderly so we don’t view it as a source of stress. Deal?
