Cleaning

For those of you who were keeping up with the cleaning challenge, you probably realized that I gave up after a very short time.  It just wasn't working for me with my life and the way I live.

With that being said, I did come up with a weekly cleaning guideline that has helped a lot. Here it is:

Monday:  Clean the kitchen from top to bottom.  This includes counters, floors, tables, chairs, stove, fan, microwave, etc.  Do a regular cleaning of the rest of the house.  Laundry:  clothes

Tuesday:  Clean the bathrooms from top to bottom.  This includes counters, floors, tub, shower, toilets, sinks, mirrors, etc.  Organize the vanity quickly and throw out anything that looks old.  Also, fold the towels in the closet if they have gotten messed up.   Do a regular cleaning of the rest of the house.  Laundry:  towels

Wednesday:  Clean the master bedroom & dining room from top to bottom.  This includes dusting, cleaning the table, vacuuming under the bed, tidying up the closets and clearing off the bureaus.  Do a regular cleaning of the rest of the house.  Laundry:  bedding.

Thursday:  Clean the kids' rooms top to bottom.  This includes picking up toys, putting things away, vacuuming, cleaning under the beds, and dusting where necessary.  I also pick a few large toys to clean with sanitizer.  Do a regular cleaning of the rest of the house.  Laundry:  none

Friday:  Clean the living room from top to bottom.  This includes vacuuming, picking up toys and putting them back in the kids' rooms (we have a toy basket in the living room, which I empty every Friday).  Also, dust the furniture and vacuum the crevices on the couch.  Clean the sliding glass door and wipe down the TV.  Do a regular cleaning of the rest of the house.  Laundry:  clothes

Saturday and Sunday I just do basic cleaning and there isn't any more laundry to do until Monday.  This way I kind of have the weekends off.  If there is an event happening or I am hosting something, then obviously I do more cleaning.  If things are slow or I am bored, I pick a big task off my list to accomplish.  I keep a pen and pad handy for when I'm doing something else and think of/see another item that needs to be tackled at some point.

That's it.  Basically I pick one area/room each day to tackle and then just do a quick clean up of the rest of the house.  I clean the windows every other week on the inside, and save the outside cleanings for the "spring cleaning/fall cleaning" marathons.