Year on purpose: Finding healthy rhythms, Easy Cleaning Schedule
Why is it so hard to get into new rhythms? This year I am determined to do it. I’m a fly by the seat of my pants kind of girl, definitely not type A… I wish I had more of that driven spirit and super productive self discipline… but I do not. At least not naturally. I have to intentionally, on purpose make a schedule to help me accomplish my goals. I even have to work hard at setting goals to begin with. It would be easy for me to just mosey my way through life if it wasn’t for the Holy Spirit prompting me to do more.
So here is a new year and I’m setting realistic goals. Having a cleaning schedule is just one of these goals I plan to accomplish. I have spent the last couple years trying to get into a healthy rhythm with keeping my home clean and having young children. This post will walk you through what works for me and my family. Having a realistic cleaning schedule for our current season of life has made all the difference.
Cleaning schedule
There are so many reasons why a cleaning schedule is important. In my home, if I get off a cleaning schedule for even a day it looks like a tornado went through it, like we’ve never done dishes a day in our lives, and a unicorn threw up in the art area of the kids playroom. But there are so many other reasons that I’ve never considered until recently.
Perks of a Clean home
- A clean home is a healthy home.
- Dirty homes harbor dust, mold, pollen, and other allergens leading to respiratory problems like allergies and asthma.
- Dirty homes provide the perfect opportunity for bacteria and viruses to flourish.
- Damp bathrooms or other areas of the home make an ideal place for mold to grow.
- A clean home is a haven of peace and joy
- It feels so good to come home to a clean house
- That feeling of getting into a freshly made bed… there’s nothing else like it
- Not embarrassed, but excited and ready when unexpected company arrives
- Better wife/mom/human
- A clean home lowers my anxiety, stress and impatience. I’m able to enjoy the sweet, simple moments of the day.
- Less guilt
- I carry so much mom/wife guilt when my house isn’t clean and tidy. No one puts that on me, but I do. It feels like I’m failing my responsibilities and failing as a mom and wife. I’m not saying this is valid or healthy, but when my home is clean I don’t have to try to struggle with those feelings in the first place.
- Family health
- Everyone thrives in a clean home! I’m happier, my husband is happier, the kids are happier! Win, win, win!
- Time for other fun things
- Keeping up on a cleaning schedule allows for more opportunities to do things with my kiddos and husband. Go to the park, the library, a hike! All the things I wish we could do while I’m trying to clean.
My why for keeping a cleaning schedule
Keeping up a cleaning schedule makes me feel good. It makes my family feel good. That feeling when my husband comes home, the kids all run to him, he sets his work stuff down and it does NOT land in a pile of crumbs… pure joy! We can all enjoy each other, and relax at night instead of fighting with a dirty home and feeling guilty for having a dirty home.
I would feel completely overwhelmed. It seemed impossible to keep a clean home with all the chores of a house and small children. I was also learning how to cook from scratch… HUGE learning curve for me. If (big if here) I managed to feed my kids three meals from scratch, the house would be a disaster and I would be exhausted. Until I got into a cleaning schedule and decided I would push through and stick to it. Take a minute and think about what your why for keeping a cleaning schedule is. What will keep you motivated to stick to a schedule? Think of the things that keep you from sticking to a cleaning schedule. What would it feel like if you did keep to a cleaning schedule? Dream about what your family life would look like if your home was clean every day.
Motivation for keeping a cleaning schedule
The truth is I am still very much a work in progress, but even small victories have made such a huge difference. My encouragement to all you mama’s and home caretakers is that tasks and chores that may seem overwhelming at first somehow end up being automatic and just a thing I do during my day. Almost just a background noise as I’m enjoying my day. When I first started learning how to do sourdough bread, the starter was completely out of my comfort zone and to be honest, it was annoying. I was so annoyed I had to take care of another thing and it was such a CHORE. BUT only after a couple weeks I got into a groove and it was not big deal. It doesn’t even take up any of my time anymore. This is exactly how a cleaning schedule works too.
How to start a cleaning schedule
- Determine what needs to be cleaned in your home
- Determine how often they need to be cleaned (daily, weekly, bi-weekly, etc.)
- Create cleaning schedule
- Try out your schedule and make changes if needed
1. Determine what needs to be cleaned in your home
If you are having a hard time with this, I would suggest the good old fashion brain storm method. Get out some scratch paper and just write down everything you can think of in your home that needs to be cleaned.
2. Determine how often they need to be cleaned
A quick internet search can really help you here. There are a lot of people who are much smarter than me who know exactly how often you should clean your toilets, change your sheets, clean your windows, etc. I’m going to share what I’ve come up with and what works best for my home and family.
I’ve decided to prioritize family time over a clean house. This means that tasks that some would say should absolutely be daily or weekly at least… I might do bi-weekly… or even monthly. It’s a judgement free zone here! The goal is not perfection, it’s to bring peace and joy back into my home. I’ll prioritize things like keeping the house clutter free, dishes, laundry, spot vacuuming, and cleaning up toys. I will not feel guilty if my ceiling fans didn’t get dusted when they were supposed to or the trim didn’t get wiped clean. Window tracks will just have to wait another season and the entryway door just might have some cob webs on it for a bit longer.
The above is a picture of when my husband helped me do this years ago. Having a baby and house chores were overwhelming to me. I was horrible at time management and organization so he came to my rescue as usual. You can see from this that it does not have to be something that takes hours to complete or look like it could sell on Etsy. It just needs to work for you and your family. This old crumpled chicken scratch piece of paper worked for me for years.
3. Create Cleaning Schedule
Keeping my cleaning schedule admittedly simple has been key to keeping peace and joy in my home. I’ve tried to do more deep cleaning in the past and it only leads to frustration. It usually creates a bigger mess than I started with. I’ll plan to deep clean the light fixtures and end up with 3 or 4 half cleaned light fixtures sitting on a counter for a week or two because I ran out of time to finish. Glass cleaner and half used towels full of dust and dirt stashed on a dresser for who knows how long. Why put the cleaner away when I only had two fan blades left to clean and I was going to finish it… tomorrow when things aren’t so crazy. (Spoiler alert: things are always crazy).
A good spring cleaning and deep cleaning schedule is in my future. For now, I’m going to feel good great with getting these weekly chores accomplished. My house will still be clean, picked up, and healthy for my family. Snag my free weekly cleaning schedule here or fill in your own with the blank version here.
4. Try out your schedule and make changes if needed
Be patient with yourself as you learn what works and what doesn’t. The most important thing is to just keep trying. Keep up with your schedule as best as you can. If something seems to always be left on the list undone try moving it to another day.
Pay attention to your regular schedule and be mindful of when you will have time to complete each cleaning task. If you have a day that is more open add harder and longer to do tasks to that day. Keep it simple on busy days. I like to make sure my dishes and laundry are caught up so that is a task I do daily. You may prefer to prioritize other tasks. Whatever keeps peace and joy in your home are the tasks to prioritize. As always we need to give ourselves a lot of grace as we do the best we can. We got this!
Check out these posts for tips on keeping up each cleaning task.
