I know, you all think that since I am a stay-at-home-mom, that I must clean all the time. Haha, lol, rofl, hehe... That's funny. I am not a big fan of cleaning. I'd rather read, craft, blog, play with my kids, etc., Since I am a homeschooler, I don't have tons of time to clean. Homeschooling is like having a part-time job. But cleaning is necessary. Why? you say... It just gets dirty again. Well, it is better for the health of your family to have a clean house. It is easier to have guests over anytime if it is reasonably clean most of the time.
Over the years of my being a wife and housewife, I have done lots of different theories of cleaning. I have tried Zone Cleaning, where you clean one zone a day. A list like this would be:
Monday- Baths
Tuesday- Kitchen floor
Wednesday- Dust
Thursday- Laundry
Friday- Kitchen counters, cupboards, micro, etc.,
Saturday- Vacuum
Sunday- Day of Rest
But I never really felt like I needed to clean my house that much, unless we were selling it. When our house was for sale, we cleaned it thoroughly once a week on Saturday, which is what my Mom did. Before I had kids, I would switch off cleaning things each week, kinda like zone cleaning. But I did baths every other week (unless company was coming). I kept a schedule like this for a long time:
Week 1: Dust & vacuum/ baths
Week 2: Kitchen floor
Week 3: wash sheets, towels, etc., /baths
Week 4: Clean kitchen, sweep & spot mop the floor
I liked this because it wasn't so overwhelming or necessary to clean everything each week. I would only clean for about an hour each week. If you have a dog or cat, you may need to vacuum and sweep more often. Now I have my two big kids help me. My DS (7 years old) sweeps the kitchen floor several times a week. He also gathers the trash daily. My DD 11 y.o. cleans the bathrooms each week, and loads the dishwasher each morning, as well as drying dishes after dinner. They also have to pick up their rooms each Saturday (I help my 7 y.o since it is still overwhelming for him). My DH vacuums for me each week. We have done it this way for 2 years now (except my DS sweeping) each week, and I think we will do it this way for a while. The house needs to be cleaned each week with all these people around. Also, after one of us is sick, I walk around with a rag & disinfectant, or a Clorox wipe and clean the phone, light switches and door knobs.
There is a great book that I like, my sister turned me on to it. It is called Home Comforts: The Art and Science of Keeping House by Cheryl Mendelson.
Amazon.com has it here.
She has a lot of great tips and thoughts about cleaning, and how to do a lot of jobs, i.e. folding a fitted sheet, how to wash dishes, etc., I think of it as the Joy of Cooking, but for cleaning. A great manual, a great book to refer to.
Another book that I like on cleaning is called, How to Clean Practically Anything by Monte and Marjorie Florman.
You can find it on Amazon.com here.
It is a great reference guide for general cleaning, and it is small too! I've found it at Goodwill for cheap!
So there you go...
Hope that helps!
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