My Laid-back Cleaning Routine

After having Carolina I never got into a groove of taking care of her and the house.  I was feeling really overwhelmed anyway adjusting to a new baby, but when she started crawling and then walking, everything quickly changed.  I was getting frustrated because I felt I couldn't keep up.  My priority is taking care of her but I wanted to find a way to "do it all".  I'm not going to tell you that I figured that out, but I do feel better about the housework/Carolina balance these days.

I'm not someone who ever really had a "system".  If you know me, you would know I'm not that kind of person.  I have to make myself do schedules and then I learn to like them.  

At first I thought about getting someone to come and clean for me once a month.  It sounded like a good idea and I had friends who used that service.  I even had a lady come and quote me, but I just couldn't do it.  I thought that surely I can do this, I can clean my own house for goodness sake!  So I started googling, as I do, and found a system from another blogger that seemed like it might work for me.  I knew it had to be a little flexible or I would quickly abandon it.  I felt like this was a challenge that I wanted to conquer so I could feel proud of myself.

I modified what she did to make it work for me.  I printed hers out and used it until I established the rhythm of my own.  

 Laid-back Cleaning Routine

Everyday

Make the bed

Pick up the house

Clean the kitchen

Laundry (almost every day)

Monday

Vacuum all the floors

Clean the kitchen floor (with a rag and bucket! I feel like Cinderella!)

Tuesday

Clean the bathrooms

Wednesday

Clean surfaces-dusting and always picking up

Thursday

Special project like organizing or decluttering

Changing sheets, cleaning blinds, 

some deep cleaning item that needs to be done

Friday

Pick up house

Finish laundry

Get ready for weekend

Weekends

Make a mess!

I have been doing this schedule since July and it's really working for me.  I love that just vacuumed feeling every Monday and clean bathrooms on Tuesday.  It's something that makes me feel assured that any day of the week my house is going to be moderately to really clean.  

It's also progressively easier because you do the majority of the cleaning at the beginning of the week.  I don't usually spend more than an hour a day cleaning.  If I don't have time to do much that day, I will at least do part of it.  It's like I have to check the box because it makes me feel I accomplished something.  A few times I have done my cleaning the night before if I have a busy day the next day.  

I want to have people over at any moment and not worry about my house.  But let me tell you that my house is never perfect.  It doesn't have to be!  I'm not ashamed to have a few things in disarray or obvious life happening in my home.  To me it's more about being proactive than having a perfect house. 

What's your trick to keeping the house clean?  

xo-Jennifer