At one time we had eight people living here daily, and many, many visitors. In the early years of home and family I didn't have a good grasp on how to keep every room tidy. Many Saturdays were spent doing a "big cleaning" in the kids rooms. Sigh.
Thankfully I learned some skills to keep up with the house, on a daily basis, so that it stays generally clean.
Here is what I do.
I make my bed every day.
I keep the kitchen tidy throughout the day.
This includes keeping up with the dishes. I or the kids empty the dishwasher and work on re-loading it all throughout the day. I also keep the hand washed dishes washed.
We vacuum regularly.
We only have three rugs in the whole house. Two are right by the doors we enter our cottage by, and one is an area rug in the living room. The rest of our flooring in the whole house is wide plank pine. So we can easily just sweep up a small mess, though the kids often just drag the vacuum out to deal with any mess.
I wipe down sinks, counter tops, and toilets daily.
I attempt to tame the clutter monster daily!
There are things that come into the home, that we need to deal with and somethings I don't always have a good solution for. This is an ongoing process.
We wash a fold laundry every day.
We no longer deal with Mount Washmore in our home, because we only have five people living here, and it has become routine for us to process a load or two a day. There are days when there is not that much laundry and everyone's needed items are clean, so we skip a day here and there.
These six things allow our home to be clean for us, and ready for us to welcome unexpected guests. I don't know about you, but clutter makes me feel agitated and unsettled, and by keeping on top of these areas in our home brings peace.
Are there daily tasks that are a must for you in your home? Let's chat in the comments!
Today I will be deep cleaning my bedroom. Next week I fly to California and then will have a week at home, before a friend moves in with us for a month or so while he recovers from knee replacement surgery.
We're going to give him the master bedroom so he'll have his own sitting area and bathroom. Also we'll be bring his own bed here from his apartment, so we will move our bed downstairs and any other daily use items we will need.
I'm trying to get an idea of what those things will be, so that I can properly prepare now, so that the week I get back from California won't be so crazy!
21 comments:
I need to follow your daily list and/or come up with one of my own. My house is always in disarray. I do try to do laundry every day and keep up on the dishes in the kitchen be we always seem to have clutter everyway that I need to come up with a way to handle. Thanks for the tips and have fun in California!
I make my bed every day, too. :) What kind friends you are to relinquish your bedroom as you comfort your guest. I hope his rehab goes well.
I like the way you do things! I do much the same. Back when I had children at home I cleaned the entire house the last week of he month. A room each day. It was pretty thorough but then the only thing to do the other 3 weeks of the month was to maintain. With my second batch of kids, we cleaned as we went and always my children have done chores. By the time each of them were 12 years old they knew how to keep house, mend, cook and do the yard. Now that it's just the two of us, I clean from back to front and then the next time from front to back. That means I clean the back of the house - bedrooms and bathrooms - to the front of the house - living room, dining roon, sewing room, foyer and kitchen. Then the den is a day of its own. Just keeping things neat and tidy doesn't work for my twisted brain. I suppose it's because we have so much debris! Knowing that I have a cleaning plan and that absolutely everything gets CLEANED within a certain period of time makes me happy. Mind you some things only get cleaned once a year or so. As in the kitchen - along the tops of my cabinets is where I have lights and lots of decorative debris. This is on my radar since I climbed up to change our some strands of white lights and notcied it was due for a cleaning.
I function best when things are clean!
By the way - I bought some beautiful handmade pillow cases at a thrift store recently and thought about you and the ones you make!
Can you elaborate on "wiping down the toilets" daily? Do you use chemicals for this? I use chemicals that will kill germs/bacteria when I clean the toilets, but I don't fancy getting that on my hands every day.
My sister and I were just discussing routines this morning. She is feeling defeated because her home is in a remodeling phase. I have every area under control except for the basement and an upstairs bedroom. Time to get out the timer! I need to work on the upstairs in the early morning when it is cool. I prefer daily routines over the Saturday all-day-long sessions I did before FlyLady.
We have pretty established routines for clean up. Like you, I can't stand clutter. I have worked very hard for the last while to make sure that everything has a place and everyone knows what that is. 😁 I am a "cleany,who lives with three "messies",but we do pretty well to keep things decent. I pretty much do the same as you daily.
I have a similar routine to yours and it surely helps to keep things in order around a house. I have read that people who make their bed each day are generally more successful in life--or something like that. I can't stand to get into an unmade bed at the end of the day. But that's just me. How kind of you to help your friend out as he recovers. It sounds like it will require some major moving of things around in your house. By the way, I'm having my second TKR next week! Have a great trip out west!
Clutter is a huge issue! A person needs to always stay on it or it comes back!
Our friend is single and has no family, but us.
I did not deep clean my room today. I chose to mow instead. Tomorrow is busy, but maybe Thursday! Sounds like you have a good system that works for you!
I use either a Norwex cloth or an organic cleaning spray for the outside of the toilet. I don't wipe the outside of the bowl every day, but the top of the back, the area behind the seat etc. These are huge dust and moisture collecting spots. I don't like to use chemicals either. I have made my own cleaning sprays before with rubbing alcohol, water and essential oils.
Your poor sister! When you are remodeling you just have to do the best you can and ignore what you can't control, until you can control it, if you know what I mean.
Good for you!
I used to be pretty lazy in my teens, and had a messy room. As I got older I liked to decorate and enjoyed having things clean. When kids came along, I wanted things to be clean without having to work at it! LOL! Overtime, we've come up with a pretty good plan.
I hear you about getting into an unmade bed! I also love fresh sheets! Ah!
I assume your first surgery went well!? Praying for the second one!
My mom was (and still is) a fastidious housekeeper. However, when I got married I knew absolutely nothing about keeping a house; I only knew the standard of how things "should" look. It took me years to come to a system that works for me (us, really, because my children are a part of the team) and routine is a big part of it!
One thing I can tell you, it gets a lot easier when the kids move out and it's just the two of you. That's a double edged sword though, since I miss my kids! I try to keep the kitchen clean too, for some reason if my kitchen is a mess it feels like the whole house is awry. Also making the bed and a daily wipe down of surfaces, although if I'm honest, I am prone to miss a day here and there ;)
Your "six" pretty well cover MY routine (such as it is). Habit is a good thing in this area. I don't even think about most of them. Let one slip - even one day - and things can unravel pretty quickly around here (even with only 3 adults)!
My mom hated housework, so I 'hated' it too! I had to learn to love my home and desire to make it a haven for my family before I came to enjoy "keeping" my home!
Yes, its easier with only three 'kids' home and the youngest is twelve! He's the main culprit - legos everywhere! and dirty socks. LOL!
I hear you! A few busy days where were are out and about a lot means that stuff is undone - dishes in the sink, no vacuuming etc...
Great and helpful tips, Deanna, I will admit with all the canning and preserving of food, I have somewhat neglected some of my daily routines, but am happy that I will finish the canning this weekend, and will begin my cleaning routine next week! That is after a few days of R&R, ~wink~Enjoy your trip to California! Thanks for sharing.
Sue
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