Back in 2018 I wrote the first version of this post. Nothing has changed. I am still not a huge fan of housework (Read understatement of the year!). I still don’t have cleaning support. I still try to do it myself (with the husband’s help) and the result is rarely up to my standards. Mainly because I just don’t want to waste my time on tasks that I know I will be doing next week again. I hate wasting time. I’d rather read. In the past weeks I have a feeling this all is slipping away from me and if I don’t want to end up in utter chaos I need to get a grip. All that said, dear household chores – another attempt at a scheduling plan is necessary.
Observation: Ever since the pandemic when video calls became the norm and replaced phone calls this house doesn’t get a dusting anymore. That was my go-to thing when talking to people on the phone. Now I need to make time for dusting. Ughhhh.
Last year during Black Friday sales we invested in a robot that manages vacuuming and mobbing. His name is Axel. I only set it up in January. And only now do I think about automating a few of the tasks. Another reason why I need an overview on when what is getting done.
Daily
- Before lunch: Unload dishwasher
- Weekdays: Axel is vacuuming the floors in the kitchen area after lunch at 3pm.
On weekends we are spending time in the area and it would annoy us to no end. - At night: Clear kitchen counter and start dishwasher
- Sometime: spent 10 minutes to clean up clutter throughout apartment to make it look tidy (fold blankets on couch, put away mail, clear dining room table etc.)
Weekly
- Mondays/Fridays: husband is doing laundry and is folding throughout the week.
- Wednesdays: water plants, change water for Axel
- Thursdays: Axel will do a full cleaning cycle of vacuuming and mopping the floors.
Scheduled to start at 10.15am as I should be done with yoga by then. - Thursdays: clean bathroom & wash all towels, clean all mirrors and glass doors
- Friday: Deep clean kitchen most likely after grocery shopping and before dinner
Bi-Weekly
- Second/Fourth Tuesday: change and wash bedsheets
Monthly
- First Thursday of month: deep clean shower – we do use a shower swiper every time since we moved here which helps tremendously to keep it clean.
- 15th of month: Decalcify the water filter & electric kettle
- 15th of month: throw in cleaning tab for dishwasher
- 20th of the month: deep clean carpet – unfortunately Axel is incapable of doing so. And it’s a pain to do manually as it is a bubble carpet. Sigh….
Quarterly
- Husband: Cleaning program for washing machine – no idea if that is correct as he does it
- Jan/April/July/Oct Clean oven
Biannually
- Mar/Nov: wash bedding when changing winter/summer bedding
- Apr: deep clean terrace incl. mobbing tiles and railing, wash outdoor cushions & pouf covers
- Apr/Oct: clean windows
- June/Dec: wash all throw pillows, blankets
- Nov: set up terrace for winter, remove leaves, winterize plants
Annually
- January: clean kitchen cupboards
- November: Vacuum the couch
A few things have changed compared to my original plan. Mainly days switched around since Home office for the husband became a thing so I try to do my chores on days he is gone. Also I feel better washing the bed sheets more often. Still not the recommended once a week. Sorry.
Now I just have to find the motivation to really implement it. I probably also forgot about a dozen important things – or maybe it’s a work in progress.
Do you have a similar list? Do you need to write done household chores or are they so ingrained it’s not necessary? Do I miss some tasks here? What is the worst chore for you? What chore would you do without complain if all others could be crossed off?
Happy housewifeing!
32 comments
I have no good plan for household cleaning and it is likely reflected in the state of certain things. I aim for neatness over deep cleanliness. I do like the satisfaction of finishing a deep clean, but I also find it barely lasts a day with two kids in the house (when they were both at camp for a week this summer I literally could not believe how clean and tidy the house stayed all week!!!).
I feel like I need to get in to a better rhythm though…it would likely make it less work overall and I’d feel more on top of home chores. Right now I dust things when they look dusty, mop when the floors look dirty enough to warrant mopping. Sigh. It’s not ideal…but it works.
I definitely like the house to be deep clean, but I really don’t want to do it. It’s just so annoying that it’s a reoccurring task to do. Before owning a vacuum and mopping robot I would mop the floors when necessary, and that could be twice a year to be honest. But now at least that gets done on regular basis which reduces some of the dust I guess.
I have a rough idea in my head when things are scheduled for, nothing is actually written down. I rely on my brain to tell me, “Oh, it’s March, it’s spring clean this.” The weekly stuff is easy, it’s all done Sunday morning. I really should have a mini planner to schedule stuff. I just might get one and write it up, inspired by your post.
I would never want to do cleaning on a Sunday but it works for you.
I am not sure how I follow through with all my plans because it is just no fun but sometimes it helps me to see it all written down. Makes me at least feel I have a grip on things.
We stay on top of the obvious stuff pretty well, laundry, dishes, clutter on the kitchen counter, vacuuming, etc. But everything else just goes until someone can’t take it any more, and then that task gets done. Really, I’d like to move and start over in a freshly painted house with new carpet, and see how that feels.
Well, I would guess it feels amazing. Unfortunately, you would have to pick up the entire old house and that is so much work. I’m not sure I’m up to it just for a new carpet.
The regular stuff is usually something I don’t need to schedule. It’s just habit but the bigger stuff, it’s good to have it written down.
Nope! I do not have a list like this! I know I should though. I feel the same way as you- I don’t enjoy housework, I would rather be reading, and it’s annoying to do something that’s just going to have to be done again, over and over again. But… the house gets super gross pretty fast, so we have to do it.
Obviously there are some things I do daily, like preparing meals, doing the dishes and cleaning up the kitchen. I also do a load of laundry most days. Most other things are done when we notice it’s really messy. Maybe I should come up with a schedule like this and see if it works better for us? Anyway- good luck with your schedule!
Thank you, Jenny. I think I’ve already failed in my schedule but he has to next week not that I run out of tasks. It’s so frustrating that you’re doing the same thing over and over again but living in crime and mess. It’s just something you can’t take after a while, right?
I have tried so often to have set days for things and the only one that has really stuck is changing the sheets on Mondays. Because of this, I resorted to writing out all the jobs with a note of how often they should get done. I call this my master cleaning list. I use ROAM research, which easily allows me to highlight and assign things to a daily page using keystrokes. For example, cleaning the toilet is done weekly. On the day I complete it, I mark it with the date seven days later. This means it shows up on my daily page a week later. Then I either do it or, if I don’t have time, I highlight it. So when I have time, I just work through the things on my daily page or the ones highlighted on my list. You could make this work with cards and tickler files for an analog version. I’ve found this is heaps easier to get caught up with when you have a busy/sick/can’t be bothered week because everything gets rescheduled to keep happening at the right intervals. That being said, I currently have 15 items highlighted on my list, but I’m going to tick off the bathroom ones today and I know I’ll work through them eventually. I actually find this less stressful than when I had recurring tasks that built up with multiple weeks of “tidy desk” listed.
OK, I am intrigued because that sounds much more manageable than having it on a fixed date, but I just hadn’t any idea you could do it that way. Do you use an app? Or just regular calendar where you move it around? Tell me more.
I’ll try to do a post about it so I can explain it properly. It probably needs some screen shots.
That would be wonderful
I’m with you. I hate cleaning. I don’t have a schedule for any of it, I just do it as I can. I do have lists of the different chores that need to be done, but there is absolutely nothing scheduled about them.
Well, Tina here is a secret: just because writing it down, doesn’t mean I have the schedule all figured it out. This was my attempt as I said in the title. I think I’ve already failed.
We have bi-weekly cleaners come, so I guess every two weeks, we madly tidy and clean for the cleaners. Our cleaners also change our sheets, which is nice because otherwise I have no idea how often I would change the sheets if we were left to our own devices.
I like the idea of implementing a cleaning routine – especially for the bigger things that need a deep clean. Like our cleaner is good for making sure the bathrooms and kitchen don’t build up grime, but she doesn’t do windows or the vents, for example, so those can get really dirty. A couple times a year, I’ll just get disgusted by the dirt and just clean them randomly.
But a routine … that sounds like it could be very soothing.
Having someone come in and doing a regular clean is such a relief because deep clean goes much easier. But I always forget until I get really disgusted and swear I will do it more regularly. Well I’m at that point again. I really had to sit down and think about how often I wanted to have things like sheets changed because I love going to bed with fresh sheets, but I hate doing it.
wooo you are so organized! I am fortunate to have helper to do most of household tasks. the only think I do have a calendar mark is the AC cleaning every 3 months.
If I have to do it all myself, I’ll have to follow your list.
Having a helper such a luxury, but I’m currently too cheap to spread on it because I am not working that much. The husband says we should get help because otherwise I’m doing it all but right now I’m OK. But then I rarely do it all…
We “kind of” have a schedule, but not really. Our loose schedule is that we aim to clean the main area of the house (for us, this = living room, kitchen, and our sunroom) every other week. In theory, this is also supposed to rotate between me and my husband, so we’d each only have to do it once per month, which seems reasonable? But in reality, it doesn’t always work out. For example, this past weekend was a “cleaning weekend”. Well, my parents were in town, my husband worked on fall lawn clean up and cleaned out the garage, I took down Halloween decorations and took my son to drivers ed and we went to a soccer team banquet. Not much time in there for cleaning! But you know what? Our house is still standing. ;) Ha. I think we’ll just bump it forward to THIS weekend, and continue the rotating schedule from here. I feel like if the house ‘usually’ gets cleaned every 2 weeks, and sometimes every 3 weeks…. who cares? lol. The bathrooms get rotated between the boys usually every couple of weeks too, though I do spot cleaning in those a lot.
I do have a “weekly reminders” list on my Google calendar that tells me to change/ wash the bath towels, change out the kitchen hand towels hanging on the oven, change the sheets, and do a load of our cleaning rags (which I accumulate in a bin until I have enough to wash). But otherwise, I have not had lots of success with assigning specific days for things, just because our life quite varied and not all days look the same.
Honestly, I’m not sure how the specific dates work in my routine because what happens if I have a meeting on that day or I have to leave the house or I’m having a migraine or whatever. But I feel like if I don’t write it down it’s not getting done and easy enough four weeks and the bathroom hasn’t seen any real cleaning. And that just disgusting. And I really don’t wanna clean on the weekends so I’m trying to do it during the week, but the husband would help if we do it on the weekend I guess.
I’m sure your house is still standing and if you’re feeling fine in your home, I think it’s up to you how much you clean who cares what other people think.
I used to have a very strict cleaning schedule – but after my eye issues, I totally let it go. Now, I clean when something looks dirty, and that has been working well for me. But I honestly don’t mind cleaning! I love to listen to audiobooks while I clean, and the time flies by! I still have a schedule for things like changing filters, etc. Otherwise, I’d forget them.
That’s true audiobooks make it more acceptable to clean, but still I don’t like it. My current strategy to clean when it’s dirty just doesn’t work and I guess I need a bit more routine to force myself into doing it. But I’m glad it works for you.
I loooove a good deep clean. I love to do it and I love how the house feels afterwards. I prefer a wet mop since the smell is so good (I use Murphy’s oil soap on wood floors). I also do furniture with it, it leaves a subtle lemony scent, not too overpowering. The division of labor. I do most of cleaning, with T being a more messy person by nature, while me being more anal about cleanliness.
Ha ha you’re very welcome to come and deep clean my house. Well on second thought maybe I would be ashamed since you’re such a pro. My husband is much more tidy than I am, but I am the one who sees the cleanliness more so I guess we are a good fit, and gets done a little bit.
I should make a copy of your list! I don’t really have one. I tried before and things always come up like homework help or extended work days or husband travel or migraines. It always derails my schedule so I gave up. But maybe I should give it another try.
Oh, don’t assume my schedule is being put into motion most days it’s derailed to because I have to work or migraine or I just can’t find any energy. But having a routine, I’m hoping to force myself into doing it. We’ll see.
I don’t really have a schedule as detailed as this! I have a weekly schedule that I just figured out but ADHERING TO THAT SCHEDULE?! That’s where the problems come in. I just find it really hard to stay on top of things when LIFE happens. Between work and blogging and reading and all that other stuff… it’s hard to fit it in. Ugh.
I know right because cleaning is never my priority. It always falls to the wayside. Sigh. Having a written down as a first step, but the more difficult one starts now to extreme implemented. Wish me luck.
I think putting it down on paper is a good step! Otherwise days, weeks, months can go by before you realize that the thing has not been done in a while! I am a very tidy person, but I do not prioritize deep cleaning, and also I like to batch things, so that I do it all in one day and then can have the other days fully off. So I would clean the bathroom, do laundry and run the dishwasher all on the same day. I admit, I did not dust much… Also I feel the same way about my car as you do about the house, it is just going to get dirty all over again!! I run in the mud and then get in the car but why clean it when I am going to run in the mud again the next day or the next weekend? Life is too short. Also I used to wash my sheets every two, but sometimes three weeks…Is that gross? Maybe, but it was just me in there!
I agree doing it all in one day will probably be more efficient. However, I need to work from home and losing a whole day would not be sufficient. Also, I don’t want to spend a weekend day doing all the chores. I guess you could change sheets as often as every two days but honestly who’s doing that. There has been a time when I change sheets not even every month. I think this is a lot of leveling up I did.
I try to do as much cleaning as possible in a “do as you go’-approach. I try to wipe down the counters (kitchen or bath) right after using them, I pick up/vacuum up dust/hair as often as I notice it, and I do mop the floors once a week.
Luckily, Jon takes care of the laundry (washing, I do the folding) and he does most of the kitchen cleanup after I cook.
I like it clean/neat, but I am also not a neat freak. Most things happen weekly, but I also just clean depending on need.
I usually do the do a few co-approach too but at times when it’s just not working and I get major crisis because it all looks like a pig stall. Hence my scheduling attempt, but I probably go back to doing it whenever I feel like it really needs to be done.