Weekly Cleaning Schedule & Our Calendar

I am by no means a clean freak, but cleaning is a necessary part of maintaining your home. Before I had kids and was working all week, I would clean the house on Saturday mornings. We didn't have a big house so it didn't take me long to do it. During the week, I'd wash dishes, do some picking up and wash laundry as needed. It worked well.

Now that I am staying home and have little kids, my cleaning strategy has changed. It is unrealistic for me to get it all done in one day. Our house is bigger now so it takes longer. Plus, having a large block of uninterrupted time doesn't always happen. I've tried a few different ways of breaking up the cleaning into smaller bits--one or two rooms a day, doing all one task in one day, etc.

Finally, I decided to match the amount of time needed for cleaning tasks to how much time I had available each weekday. I laid out the daily taks that I have to do: dishes and kitchen cleaning, making our bed, picking up, and sometimes laundry. For the rest of the weekly cleaning, I figured out about how long it takes me to do each task. Then, I looked at our weekly schedule. Some days we have more time at home, and others we are gone more. On the days that I have more time at home, I do tasks that take longer (ie, cleaning the upstairs bathrooms). On Wednesdays, I have less time at home, so I just have to vacuum the stairs and Windex glass surfaces.  On average, the cleaning for each day takes only 15 to 25 minutes.
(Sorry for the light on these pictures. It was cloudy and I couldn't use a flash because I'd get a glare.)

Once I had a schedule that worked for me, I made a reusable cleaning list that I posted on my refrigerator. I'm big on lists, especially 'to do' lists. They help me to stay focused and I feel good when I get things done.
As I get my cleaning tasks done, I fill in the circle in front of each task. If something doesn't get done on the day I have planned, I can easily see what still needs to be done the next day.

While we're in that neighborhood on my fridge, can I tell you how much I love my calendar? I have used this type of calendar since John and I were married--this is my third one. It's a Real Simple Flexible Planning Calendar.

It's an undated eighteen month calendar (it does also come in a predated version) that has five different colored sets of stickers. You can assign a color to each person in your family or color-code your activities (ie, work, school, social, appointments, church, etc.). I like that at a glance, I can see what days we have things going on and what days we are free. You can purchase it at Target.