Reflections on My New Cleaning Schedule

I recently started a new cleaning schedule for myself and this new to us home. Okay, it’s been over a year and a half since we moved here, but newish! Every change of home requires a new strategy for keeping it clean. I finally realized I need to put myself on a schedule to keep up with this 2600 sq ft home, so that the layer of dust on the furniture wasn’t my only reminder to dust.

As a review this was the schedule I created for me, for this house, for now:

Sunday: take out household trash to curb

Monday: clean kitchen, water plants

Tuesday: dust upstairs, wash master bed sheets if needed

Wednesday: dust main level, wash bathroom towels

Thursday: clean upstairs bathrooms

Friday: clean lower level bathrooms, dust basement

I am generally doing my cleaning in the morning, soon after my husband leaves for work. Some days, I do the scheduled task in the late morning or early afternoon because of morning obligations. It does vary a bit, but because it’s on a schedule, I’m holding myself to that day’s task. I know that if I don’t do it, it will either get tacked on to another day (not appealing) or skipped until the next week. 

At this point it’s been two full weeks of following my new to me schedule and it’s going really well! I have not skipped one day yet. The kitchen on Monday is the area that takes the most time, followed by the bathrooms on Thursday. Both take 25-35 minutes. The dusting is getting done regularly, which means I’m not seeing a thickish layer of dust to point out what cleaning I have neglected. By the time Sunday comes around I can see that yes, the kitchen could be cleaned, but for the most part it feels like the house is clean nearly all the time. 

Yippee!! I’m keeping up with the dust and grime. I’m good at keeping a house clean, I just hadn’t found my new groove with this home, where we nearly doubled our space. 

Hat tip to my husband who helps with evening dishes, and generally does all the floors. I really don’t like doing floors for some reason. Maybe in time, I will incorporate some vacuuming as I get this new schedule down. There’s nothing like a room that’s been dusted AND vacuumed at the same time!! 

Turns out a new to me cleaning schedule is just what I needed. I had not been focused and doing it regularly enough for my own standards. I had to step it up a bit to meet my own expectations! And that is key. Know what standard YOU are striving for, not someone else’s. Are you meeting what you envision? Do you have the time and energy for that vision? Do you need to raise your standard or lower it? Make whatever changes might be needed, do an experiment for a few weeks, adapt it as needed. Also realize that life changes. We might move to a new home, have to work more hours at our job, have different obligations than last year. It’s okay to acknowledge that what may have worked in the past needs to change. 

I’m cheering for you! Do you have a cleaning schedule? If so what is it? Do you need to change things up? 

P.S. Nope, there's no cleaning task on Saturday for me!