The Cleaning Schedule

I was reading this other mommy blog the other day. She made a post in which she mentioned how excited she was about "sheet washing day," after which she got a lot of comments from readers who couldn't believe she has an assigned sheet washing day. I'm with them. What?? A sheet washing day!! I didn't know you were supposed to wash them!! (just kidding, I do wash sheets, just not with regularity). I also have to say that I was left feeling a little inadequate. I sometimes pride myself on my ability to maintain a somewhat orderly house. That in no way means that my house often is not a disaster area, but for the most part, it is at least straightened. However, it's just a facade. If you were to look closely, you'd see the crud in the corners, the junk thrown in the guest room, the spots of who knows what on the floor and even the occasional cobweb in the high corners. This other mom blogger went on, in a later post, to write about her "cleaning schedule." Again, What?? AND, it wasn't just a vacuum and dust, clean the bathrooms type schedule. It included things like mopping, cleaning the baseboards and washing windows. There must be more minutes in a day in Tennessee (where this blogger lives) because here in GA there's just not enough time in my day to wash any windows. Maybe she has a nanny or something and blogging and house cleaning are her only responsibilities. Am I the only one who feels this way? Are you all going to think less of me now because I have revealed the lack of cleaning that actually happens on a regular basis at my house?



I think I tried to have something like a cleaning schedule once upon a time, way back when our house was literally 1/2 the size of the one we have now and I only had one kid. Even then, I couldn't keep up. Maybe I didn't do it right.



It seems that now, most of my friends have house keepers, or at least someone that comes every 2 weeks. That has never been a luxury I have experienced. It is, however, something I attain to. For now, it's just me. I do clean. I really do. I just don't do what I call "deep" cleaning as often as I should. I sweep on a daily basis, I wipe stuff down all the time. I clean the bathrooms when a ring appears around the toilet and clean the mirrors when there's enough spots on them to make it difficult to get a clear picture of my reflection. I do laundry when it needs to be done and mop when I can't stand it anymore. The baseboards get cleaned when I'm crouching on the floor to look for some tiny doll shoe or accessory and notice that they are disgusting. All that being said, I am in a much better mood when the house is clean. I do get frustrated though feeling like I am fighting a losing battle. When I do "deep" clean or even straighten up (which does happen everyday and is usually what I spend most of my days doing, straightening) an hour later, it looks like I hadn't done a thing. I have 3 tornadoes who literally follow me around as I clean and erase any signs of progress. So what' the point? Does it say somewhere in the Bible that my house must be clean and orderly? I get tired of cleaning all day everyday! I want/need more to my life! I am not a maid by trade.

As I said before, I do seem to be in a better mood when I know my house is clean. So, I am going to give it a try...the cleaning schedule that is. I'm an even number kind of girl, so I plan to start next Monday. (I can't start anything new in the middle of the week). This is the plan:

Daily
Straighten house, make my bed, wipe down counters, empty/fill dishwasher.

Mondays
sweep and vacuum house


Tuesdays
Laundry
dust, get rid of cobwebs

Wednesday
every other week, mop floors, clean baseboards
alternate weeks, change sheets

Thursdays
clean bathrooms

Fridays
iron

I still refuse to commit to cleaning the windows on any kind of schedule. Another problem I have is laundry. Sometimes, laundry needs to be done more like every 5 days instead of once every 7. And then sometimes, (frequently actually) it takes me longer than 1 day to get all the laundry washed, folded and put away. Somewhere in here, I have to find time to play taxi between 2 different schools and gymnastics, get to my 2 day a week exercise class, shower DAILY (I am not one of those moms who goes without a shower every day. This is a necessity for me!), make breakfast, cook dinner, check and respond to emails, run errands and play with my kids. I need to do better on that last one, especially. I feel guilty about that a lot, that I don't play with my kids enough. My time is usually so filled with the things that need to be done that I often don't have much time left over just to play with them. Maybe a cleaning schedule will help free up some time for that!

Well, wish me luck! I'll let you know how it goes!