Help me make a cleaning schedule...

[cristeen]

So I'm just going to put this out there... I SUCK at the whole house-cleaning thing. We had a live-in housekeeper growing up, so I never had to learn how to do it. I literally do not even notice the mess half the time, until something small gets on my last nerve. Unfortunately, DH does not have the same blindness I do, and it really bothers him. So I need to devise a cleaning schedule for myself that is reasonable.

I SAH with DS who is almost 13 mos and most of the time won't let me walk out of the room without either accompanying me or screaming, so it limits what I can do during the day to mostly naptime. We have a fairly big house, 2 bedroom, 1 bath as it's currently set up, but the rooms that need to be presentable are LR/DR, bathroom and 1 bedroom (along with the kitchen).

So this is what I'm thinking. I want to map out a rough monthly schedule that consists of 2 "projects" per week that when taken in the big picture, will keep my house presentable with not a whole lot of work (like, I can invite people over and just have to spend 10 minutes cleaning, instead of a week). So help me pick the big 8 projects - things that can be done during nap time (so no vacuuming). I think 2/week is reasonable, to account for the days that we may not be home for naps, or I may be too wiped out and fall asleep while I'm putting him down.

So, what would those 8 projects be in your house? Not including laundry or any kitchen work, which each have their own independent schedule. Vacuuming is relegated to weekends or after DH is home because DS is afraid of it.

[bandgeek]

I'm interested in hearing answers too. I just decluttered BIG TIME and then moved into a bigger apartment. Now that I'm not surrounded by junk maybe I'll SEE what needs to be done now. I hope. I'm like you and that I just don't see it until something small pushes me over the edge. Then I go into a frantic cleaning frenzy that exhausts me. I'd rather do a little at a time.

[lach]

Have you looked into FlyLady? Her system is basically what you describe. There are things that you have to do every day, things that you have to do every week, and things that you have to do every month. I fell off the FlyLady wagon after a while, and the system seems more complicated than it actually is when you get down to the nuts and bolts, but I thought that it was VERY helpful in teaching me what needs to be done and how often. And once you get into the groove, it really is only about 15 minutes to 1/2 an hour of cleaning each day for a clean house.

[cristeen]

Flylady drove me nuts. Between the hundreds of extraneous emails and the insistence that i put on my shoes each morning and shine my sink each night... Totally not my cup of tea.

[bandgeek]

Ok, I sat down and worked on my own lists. I couldn't really put it into the type of schedule you want. Mine is daily, weekly, monthly. Here's just my monthly:

Clean blinds and windows, clean ceiling fans, clean baseboards, clean oven, clean fridge (as in take everything out and scrub it down...throwing out old food is on my "weekly" list), declutter, wash bedding


So your "monthly" things would probably be more like deep cleaning and decluttering right? I have 7 things on my list. Declutter could be on there twice.

[Mrs-Mama]

What about Motivated Moms? It costs money, but you can get the last quarter of this year for $2. It's more of a checklist than Flylady, so some things probably won't apply to you. It gives you a list of things to do each day, and adds in non-daily things like cleaning the refrigerator shelves, etc, so that those sorts of things don't get overlooked. Here's a sample.

[zoebird]

at about the same age, my DS was "helping" me clean. by having a rhythm, he knew we would spend this time in the morning cleaning. here is our schedule:

every day: dishes, countertops, sweep up; laundry (wash, dry, put away); tidy away toys at regular intervals; paper declutter; make bed.

monday: scrub bathroom;
tuesday: dust, wipe down walls, scrub anything that's been colored on or what have you;
wednesday: kitchen scrub (including fridge);
thursday: play group, no chore;
friday: vacuuming

we also have certain fermenting/cooking prep chores, grocery days, and so on.