PON Week #3 "Organize Your Cleaning Schedule"

I am following the weekly schedule found in the book:

The book is available at Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

Week 3 is "Organize Your Cleaning Schedule"

This Week's Goals:

~Make a list of all the chores that need to be done around the house.  Break them into daily, weekly, and monthly activities.  Create a chore chart and have a family meeting to delegate the jobs.  Post the chart so everyone can see it on a daily basis.  I have done this in the past and it has worked quite well.  We are very blessed to have two ladies that clean our house top to bottom every other Thursday.  Make no mistake though, having a cleaning service does not get you off the hook from having to clean your house.  It just means that know know it will be deep cleaned every other week and you need to keep up with the day to day cleaning (and deep cleaning on that off week).


~Carry a basket around the house while you are cleaning.  If you find something that does not belong where it is, put it in the basket.  Just make sure you empty the basket out and it does not become a clutter collector!  This a fab idea and I sort of do my own version of it.  As I am going through the house picking up things I put anything that needs to be taken upstairs on the steps.  When I am done cleaning I make sure that I take everything upstairs.  You will not see clutter left on my staircase because that is the first thing that all visitors see when they come into the foyer.  We definitely have our clutter hot spots; mainly certain counters in the kitchen and the laundry room of course.


~Take 15 min each night to straighten up the house.  Make it a family chore by assigning each person a different room and list this on the chore chart.  This is such an easy and simple concept, but one many people do not take the time to do.  I LOVE the idea of everyone in the family being assigned a room.  Either Greg or I make sure the kitchen is clean and we usually have the boys work on the living room and den.  The spouse that is not cleaning up kitchen could make sure the laundry room is clean (that is where all our winter gear goes, as well as, the boys backpack so it is definitely a clutter magnet.  My youngest is four and he tends to help out, but is not ready to do a room all by himself.  The older boys are great cleaners (especially my middle son).  I think if this becomes an expectation/habit you can set the timer for 15 min and it will become more of a game/challenge to see what each person can accomplish.  We have used the timer method for years to increase the cleaning efforts of our boys, with great success.


~Clean one room or complete one chore each day.  This will save you from wasting your entire Saturday cleaning.  I LOVE this idea and would love for my family to buy into it more.  My dh and I both work full-time so cleaning after a full day of work and making dinner/doing dishes, is sometimes the last thing we want to do.  We definitely do much more cleaning on the weekends, but I would love to get into the routine of doing one thing each day to leave less for the weekends.  Things are obviously easier to keep up with in the summer because I am not teaching.


~Assign each family member his or her own towel.  Color-coding the towels is the easiest way to tell them apart.  I actually thing this is a great idea.  I want to purchase new towels sometime this year and picking out two different colors for the master bath will be easy.  Right now the boys' bathroom is Pottery Barn Froggies and there is a blue and green that would be perfect, but I am not sure about the third color and think white is a mistake for little boys (well my boys anyway and I speak from personal experience).  Anyone want to share a brand of towels you love and where you purchased them?


~Place a set of disposable disinfecting wipes in each bathroom.  It's a quick way to keep the bathroom neat between thorough cleanings.  I completely need to buy stock in Clorox wipes.  Three boys, three bathrooms "nough said!


~Save space by minimizing cleaners.  Start buying one all-purpose cleaner whenever possible.  This makes sense.  I know there are all sorts of homemade cleaners people use.  We use vinegar on our hardwood floors.  I use windex for the window and glass and myriad other uses.  What are your favorite cleaners?

The author shares several great tips in this chapter and I will share a few on my faves:

~Make your bed everyday.


~Clean up the kitchen as soon as dinner is done.


~If you have small children write down jobs they can do on small pieces of paper and stick them in a jar.  Each day have your child choose a chore from the jar and complete the task.  This makes chores a bit more fun.




I think this chapter has a lot of great tips and ideas for getting yourself organized.  Remember that being organized is a journey, not a destination.  As soon as you get yourself organized everything starts over (like laundry).  Every step you take in the right direction will help you feel more organized and at peace with your home and life.  Good luck and please answer some of the questions I asked above.