I’m not going to pretend I love cleaning, but I kinda do! Not the actual effort of cleaning, but that feeling afterward is unlike no other. Sadly, we have to do it. Not all, but most of us. We might as well find something we enjoy with it.
Here’s what I’ve figured out after way too many hours lost to inefficient cleaning routines: some tasks give you a massive return on your time investment, while others are basically just busy work that makes you feel productive – like, seriously, clean your moldings once per season if you must. Stop doing this every week.
Let me break down the housekeeping tasks that move the needle to keep your home functional without eating your entire weekend. For starters…
Don’t Clean on the Weekends
When I grew up, chores were done from morning until afternoon every single Saturday and it was an entire family affair. As an adult in my own home, I do maybe 10% of my chores on the weekends. Seriously, it takes 30 minutes most days Monday through Friday to get what you need done. And with a clean home, the weekends are freed up for their true purpose: rest, recreation, and rejuvenation.
Why would you add more work to the days outside of your working days?
From there, I like to follow a very simple schedule. And guess what? It doesn’t involve set days and times to do a certain chore.
Do Housekeeping Only on the Weekdays
If you’ve got a standard Monday through Friday job, then this will suit. All you have to do is keep a list somewhere that has all major chores you need to do each week. Do not put the little tasks down that you have to do each day – like feeding your pets. What you want is to have a small list that does not overwhelm.
For instance, my list has the following:
- Clean Floors
- Clean Kitchen
- Clean Bathrooms
That is literally all I have written out. Naturally, these chores come with automatic things I know are involved. For instance, without writing it down, I already know the following action steps may or may not be needed (depending on level of dirt/grime)
Floors include:
-pull all area rugs and wash them
-vacuum and/or sweep then vacuum (little quick life hack there – sweep then vacuum up the pile)
-mopping
Kitchen includes:
-wiping food markings off cabinets
-cleaning the stovetop and microwave
-wiping down every inch of the countertops
-cleaning out old food in the fridge
-dusting off appliances and polishing stainless steel
Bathrooms include:
-CLR on glass door/window
-scrubbing the toilet
-cleansing the sink and vanity
-wiping the mirrors
-scrubbing the showers/tubs
-washing the shower curtain (I use a reusable one)
Like I said, not all these tasks happen each week. If I cleaned my shower curtains one week, they may not be in a condition where I need to do it again. Perhaps once per month is just enough. I don’t plan this; I use my own intuition on when it’s time.
Daily Tasks
These already come to you as a habit. If you don’t have your action steps to do each day, make sure your list is tiny, too. And call it an acronym. I call mine “HM Basics” which means, homemaking basics. And they are basic. Each day, in combination with my one major chore, before I start dinner, I do the following as a habit:
-start a load of laundry (one or two per day is perfect to get it all done, yes, including sheets)
-straighten the home (I also do briefly in the morning before our day starts; includes making the bed)
-clean the litter box/dog poo poo
-do the dishes
-set up the evening ambience
Then I proceed with cooking dinner and touch up the dishes after. Because I did dishes ahead, ones accumulated from breakfast and lunch, since I work from home, I made my dinner dishes less overwhelming.
Do Not Plan Your Chores
The reason we have a list of our major chores is because we do not want to set ourselves up for stress. We want this to be easy. You never know when you’ve had a really hard day at work. Seeing that you need to scrub your bathrooms that evening as well is horrible. You will risk feeling guilty and like you’ve lost control.
Instead, just check off the major chore whenever you do them. If you decide to do them on Tuesday, while you’re feeling energized, then do one or do them all. If you decide you’d rather wait until Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday to do these chores, split up, then do that.
The whole idea is to allow these chores to fit your schedule and to still leave you time on the weekend to have fun and rest up. Does a bath sound better after you just spent 30 minutes scrubbing the entire bathroom(s)? Or does it sound better knowing it’s already clean and all you have to do is light some candles and get right in?
I’ll end on a point I heard someone say in a movie once but can’t recall whom or what movie. It went something like this:
“You should only have to clean once and for all. Everything after that should be maintenance.”
In other words, your housekeeping chores can be done in 30 minutes or less, and only on weekdays, if you keep maintaining it each week. The first week might take longer, since it may be your first time in a while. However, after that, you may find that you can clean your stove and microwave in less than five minutes.
You’re welcome.
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