Detailed Housecleaning Week 1 ~ The Bathroom

 

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Other links:

Detailed Housecleaning ~ Don't Get Overwhelmed!
Detailed Housecleaning Week 2 ~ The Bedroom
Detailed Housecleaning Week 3 ~ The Living Room
Detailed Housecleaning Week 4 ~ The Dining Room

I have been wanting to blog about my housecleaning schedule for a while now, so now is as good a time as any.

This is a schedule that I've been devising and tweaking for a while now until it was something that was easy for me to work with, and to stick with...and I think I have it just about right.

First of all...why do I need a list? I am a terrible procrastinator, and will put things off and put things off until they are just not done at all.

What works to motivate me and get me going are lists. I make lists for all kinds of things, but it wasn't until I put together this housecleaning list that I felt I really had a handle on my home and it's organization.

My inspiration for my housecleaning comes from the Flylady website. I followed it for a while, and while some of it worked for me...some of it just didn't. So I took what I learned from it, and tweaked it to fit into my life.

Now before we start, I will explain the basics of it. I have 5 areas/rooms in my home: our main bedroom, the bathroom, the kitchen, the dining area, and the living room (I don't clean the kid's rooms...they are old enough and responsible for their own spaces)....and each week I work on a different room and do a detailed cleaning which I divide up all through the week. Then there are certain chores that are done every day of the week, and finally there are certain chores that I do once a week on a particular day.

How did I come up with the chores for the detailed cleaning? I stood in each room of my house and asked myself, "If I were to do a thorough cleaning in this room right now, what all would I need to do?" I then sat down, wrote out each chore that would need to be done, then divided the chores throughout the week.

I know...it sounds confusing, but I will list each thing I do every day. It will also look like a LOT of work..but once you get into the routine, it really only takes no more than about an hour.

I go into a little more detail about how to get into this routine and how certain things are done here:
Detailed Housecleaning ~ Don't Get Overwhelmed!

Just a couple other things before we start.

A HOT SPOT is an area in a room that is the most cluttered. I always do the visible hot spots first, like tabletops...and if there isn't any visible clutter, I will work on a hidden hot spot, like a drawer or cabinet. So when it's time to clean a hot spot for 5 minutes...I look around, and just straighten the messiest spot in a room.

DECLUTTERING is done each day in a different area of the house. For this, I set a time for 15 minutes, and straighten a room. Get stuff out of there that doesn't belong, throw out garbage, put things where they go. 

CHORES THAT ARE DONE EVERY DAY:

• Dishes (Load dishwasher and run it before bed, empty it in the morning.)
• Fill pet dishes/ check and clean cat litter
• Wash, dry and put away one load of laundry
• Wipe bathroom (spray sink, faucet and toilet...wipe clean (disinfecting wipes work great too). Swish inside toilet with toilet brush)
• Vacuum (don't move furniture, just do around everything. I have 2 cats, a dog, a 12 and 17 year old, a 6 month old and a husband....I HAVE to vacuum every day haha!)
• Straighten surfaces (before bed I make sure the kitchen table, the kitchen counter and living room coffee and end tables are clutter free)

WEEKLY CHORES:

• Monday: Change and/or wash bedding
• Tuesday: Dust surfaces (I feather dust everything in the whole house, shelves, knick knacks, lampshades, etc. When I think it needs it, or I have time...I use furniture polish and do tabletops, etc.)
• Wednesday: Empty all garbage (Bathroom and bedroom cans are emptied, kitchen garbage goes out if full....anything else that has been set aside that needs to go out....gets put in garbage cans in the garage.
• Thursday: Clean mirrors and glass (Spray and wipe all mirrors, spot clean the inside of each window in the house)
• Friday: Purge mail and magazines (go through all the mail is laying around, throw out what is junk. Go through magazines and newspapers and throw out what has been read....straighten what you are keeping)

Oh my....ok....is anyone still with me??? Haha! I PROMISE....this is MUCH easier than it looks.

 

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To put it simply....the hot spots, decluttering, daily and weekly cleaning are ongoing upkeep, while you are concentrating on doing a thorough cleaning during the week in a particular room.

Easy peasy! ;p

This week....I am cleaning in the BATHROOM.

Ready? Here we go!

 

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MONDAY

• Change/wash bedding
• Clean toilet inside and out
• Declutter living room for 15 minutes
• Wash/put away dishes
• Fill pet dishes/clean litter
• Clean hot spots for 5 minutes each: Bedroom & kitchen
• Wash, dry and put away a load of laundry
• Straighten surfaces (before bed)
• Wipe bathroom
• Vacuum
• Spray and wipe down plastic shower curtain, wash fabric shower curtain

TUESDAY

• Spray and wipe bathroom mirror and window
• Spray down and wipe shower walls and bathtub, throw out any empty bottles 
• Declutter bedroom for 15 minutes
• Wash/put away dishes
• Dust all surfaces in house
• Fill pet dishes/clean litter
• Clean hot spots for 5 minutes each: Kitchen & bathroom
• Wash, dry and put away a load of laundry
• Straighten surfaces (before bed)
• Wipe bathroom
• Vacuum

WEDNESDAY

• Clean out medicine cabinet (take things out, wipe inside cabinet, throw out old medications, organize and put away what you are keeping. Now is a good time to write down anything you need to stock up on...bandaids, cold medicine, etc)
• Declutter kitchen for 15 minutes
• Wash/put away dishes
• Empty all garbage and put out
• Fill pet dishes/ clean litter
• Clean hot spots for 5 minutes each: Bathroom and living room
• Wash, dry and put away a load of laundry
• Sweep and mop kitchen and bathroom floors
• Straighten surfaces (before bed)
• Wipe bathroom
• Vacuum

THURSDAY

• Clean cabinet above toilet (this can be any other storage cabinet or area in your bathroom. Take things out, wipe clean, throw out anything old, organize and restock it.)
• Clean all mirrors in the house, spot clean insides of all windows in the house
• Declutter bathroom for 15 minutes
• Wash/put away dishes
• Fill pet dishes/ clean litter
• Clean hot spots for 5 minutes each: Living room and bedroom
• Wash, dry and put away a load of laundry
• Straighten surfaces (before bed)
• Wipe bathroom
• Vacuum
• Collect and wash bathroom rugs, curtains and any stray towels laying around in bathroom

FRIDAY

• Scrub bathroom sink and faucet. Empty out cabinet under sink, wipe clean, organize and restock.
• Straighten up in the laundry area/room. Take out garbage, organize shelves and cabinets, wipe down washer and dryer.
• Wash/put away dishes
• Fill pet dishes/clean letter
• Clean hot spots for 5 minutes each: Kitchen and bathroom
• Wash, dry and put away a load of laundry
• Purge mail and magazines (throw out junk, organize what you are keeping)
• Straighten surfaces (before bed)
• Wipe bathroom
• Vacuum

SATURDAY & SUNDAY

• Wash/put away dishes
• Fill pet dishes/check litter
• Wash, dry and put away a load of laundry
• Straighten surfaces (before bed)
• Wipe bathroom
• Vacuum

Every Monday I print out my weekly list, and I mark off each chore as I do it.

At first, if your house was as cluttered and disorganized as mine....this will take you a while to get through, but if you keep at it, eventually you will be able to get all of your cleaning done in an hour or so a day. You will start to notice a difference in your house, and you won't panic when you hear someone knock on the door because your home will be presentable.

If you follow this, you will of course have to tweak it to what will work for you. You will have to add chores, and omit chores, but this gives you a basic idea of how I keep my home clean and organized.

IMPORTANT NOTE: After hiding my cleaning list from The Kids and The Husband for a long time because I was embarrassed for them to know I needed a list to clean the house.....I started leaving it on the counter so that it was easier to see what needed to get done...The Kids started looking at it each day, and asking to HELP! The Husband has not yet caught on though, ha ha! 

 

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Please leave a comment if you have any questions.

For the next 4 weeks, I will detail a different room, so if you want to continue to read further installments of my housecleaning schedule, please make sure you follow me by one of the options in my sidebar.

Other links:

Detailed Housecleaning ~ Don't Get Overwhelmed!
Detailed Housecleaning Week 2 ~ The Bedroom
Detailed Housecleaning Week 3 ~ The Living Room
Detailed Housecleaning Week 4 ~ The Dining Room

Next week we will clean.....The bedroom.

Have a wonderful week everyone!

Linking to:
A bowl full of lemons ~ A Glimpse Inside ~ At The Picket Fence ~ Between Naps on the Porch ~ Boogieboard Cottage ~ Brassy Apple ~ Cherished Handmade Treasures ~ Chic on a Shoestring ~ Coastal Charm ~ Confessions of a Stay at Home Mommy ~ C.R.A.F.T. ~ Craft-O-Maniac ~ Debbie Does Creations ~ DIY by Design ~ Elizabeth & Co ~ French Country Cottage ~ Handy Man, Crafty Woman ~ Happy Hour Projects ~ Here Comes the Sun ~ home happy home ~ Home Savvy A to Z ~ Homemaker on a Dime ~ homework ~ House of Hepworths ~ How To Nest For Less ~ I Heart Nap Time  ~ little becky homecky ~ live laugh rowe ~ My 1929 Charmer ~ My Girlish Whims ~ My Repurposed Life ~ My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia ~ No Minimalist Here ~ Not JUST A Housewife ~ One Artsy Mama ~ Our Delightful Home ~ Petite Hermine ~ Randee's Organized Chaos ~ Sassy Sites! ~ Savvy Southern Style ~ School House Scraps ~ Serendipity and Spice ~ Serenity Now ~ Sew Chatty ~ Sew Many Ways ~ Skip To My Lou ~ Someday Crafts ~ Southern Lovely ~ Stuff and Nonsense ~ Sugar and Dots ~ Sugar Bee Crafts ~ Sumo's Sweet Stuff ~ Tea Rose Home ~ The Blackberry Vine ~ The Brambleberry Cottage ~ The Charm of Home ~ The Grant Life ~ The NY Melrose Family ~ The Project Queen ~ The Southern Institute ~ Thirty Handmade Days ~ Thrifty 101 ~ Tip Junkie ~ Under The Table and Dreaming ~ Vintage Gwen