My Kind of Cleaning Schedule

Have you seen those cleaning schedules that are floating around on different blogs and Pinterest? The ones that call for 15 minutes of cleaning a day, and your house will always remain spotless?

They have certain tasks that are done each day. Mop the kitchen on Monday; dust the living room, clean a bathroom, and tidy your bedroom on Tuesday. The list goes on.

And. They want you to do a load of laundry every day.

That, my friends, does not work for me.

If you can't follow those daily cleaning schedules, you've come to the right place. I work better on a different kind of schedule. One where I do all of the cleaning tasks in one day. When the hubs is around, so that he can help, too. He does all of the vacuuming. I hate vacuuming. Mostly because of the stairs. Vacuuming stairs is a horrible chore.

I digress. This isn't about horrible chores. I've already written about those (vacuuming and laundry). This is about how I get my house clean (and keep it that way).

Okay. I've kind of misled you thus far. You can't keep a house clean and picked up in one day a week. It just isn't possible, as messes are created every day. But, all of the "heavy cleaning" happens on one day.

Monday through Friday

• Set a timer for 10 minutes to tidy things up and put stuff away.
• Do your typical "chores" - wipe the counter and sink down after dinner, take the trash out when it's full (you know, those common sense things).

Saturday or Sunday

• Turn up the music and take care of everything else:
• Dust the whole house
• Vacuum (or, have your husband do it!)
• Clean all counters (kitchen, bathroom)
• Tackle the laundry. I hate laundry, and would despise having to do a load every day. It works much better for me to do it all in one day.
• Clean the bathrooms.
• Swiffer the non-carpeted floors after vacuuming them.

And, you're done.

In all seriousness, this takes about an hour to an hour and a half. I have a small house. That may be the reason that this schedule works for me. The daily schedules don't work for me because I don't work in the home. I return home with Kid around 4:30 or 5. By the time we get dinner on the table and play a little bit, I'm tired and want to relax. Cleaning is the last thing on my mind.

Nesting

I'm fairly certain I'm nesting.

I always thought nesting included vacuuming, dusting, and baking. I'm not there.

I'm reorganizing, recycling, donating, and throwing away. And it feels amazing. I'll be stopping at the local thrift store with 7 bags of stuff. Stuff that was taking up precious space in my house. Some stuff that hasn't been used in two years! Three of the bags are filled with clothing that didn't fit before I was pregnant. Why did I feel the need to hang on to it all?

With two months to go, I'd be okay if the reorganizing and de-crap-ifying continued...

Oh, and? We're in a blizzard warning. In Minnesota? Not that surprised...

Yesterday was full of laundry. And taking care of a puppy (a LOT of work!). Needless to say, there wasn't much time for anything else. I just happened upon this post about laundry, over at You Know It Happens At Your House Too and had to smile. The last photo? Of her laundry room? That's what mine looked like yesterday and part of today.  That's right. I didn't get all of my laundry done yesterday. Had to do some today.

All in all, I finished TEN loads of laundry. I'm sure many of you are thinking, "Ten loads? Well, that's not so bad." But, I am currently childless. It's just me and my husband creating all of those ten loads of laundry. Oh, the socks we now have! The undershirts! My husband swore the dog had eaten or somehow destroyed all of his undershirts.

Alas, the truth is told. We are both terrible at laundry. Neither of us like it. But, it has to be done. And someone has to do it. If only my dad still did my laundry (is that bad to say?).

My Other Least Favorite Chore

Vacuuming isn't my only hated house related chore. If you know me, that probably isn't surprising. I promise, though, that I do enjoy some chores. Like cleaning the mirrors. Or steam mopping the kitchen. I also enjoy .. Hmm. I'll get back to you on that one.

So, my other least favorite chore? Laundry. It's time consuming. It's tedious. I'm just not a fan. In fact, my husband and I haven't done a load of laundry in three weeks. I am out of socks (and underwear). My favorite skirts are all dirty. Our hamper is full. In fact, it spilled onto the floor a week ago.

Maybe I would like doing the laundry if my laundry room looked like this. Pretty, right? Mine doesn't have drywall. It has pretty pink insulation covered by plastic. It is bea-u-tiful. Can you sense my sarcasm?

Honestly, I don't think that will make my love of laundry grow (or my hate of laundry disappear).

So, tomorrow, I will be enjoying my first day of summer by doing the laundry. All of it.

I'll let you know how many loads I end up doing...

Project: Organize #?

I haven't organized anything in a really long time, which is a bummer. I get such a sense of accomplishment after organizing a part of my life.

I do, however, have an idea for what I would like my next Project: Organize project to be. Project: Organize #1 was a huge success. I truly enjoy the new look of my pantry. It has made cooking that much more enjoyable. Project: Organize #2 was also pretty awesome, but not as fun to complete.

For Project: Organize #3, I would like to complete the office. The one that is filled with all of our "stuff." The one that has an almost empty closet, but a door that doesn't open all the way. To fix this, we really do just need to organize.

Good thing it is my last day of work for the summer and my projects can begin!

Camera Problem

I have a major camera dilemma. You see, I have two cameras. One is a point-and-shoot, the other is a DSLR. I love them both. My problem is not that I have two cameras.

My problem, my friends, is that their batteries are dead. And I have no idea where either charger is... uh oh!

I probably need to clean, huh?

My Least Favorite Chore

I really, really, really do not like vacuuming. I've been vacuuming the ceiling. That's right, the ceiling. I'm a bit embarrassed to admit it, but today marks the first time the ceiling has been dusted or vacuumed since we moved in.

Gross, I know.

There was a healthy spider web in each corner of the living room and the bathroom, too. It's amazing how quickly these things can pop up out of nowhere!

I know that we have to be more diligent about keeping the house clean, but vacuuming is not enjoyable. One bit.

We have a nice vacuum, and I probably wouldn't mind vacuuming the floors (but my husband likes it, so he can continue with that chore!), but it is so time consuming. It doesn't help that we live in a smaller home. To do a good job in the living room, for example, the coffee table needs to be moved, otherwise, the vacuum cleaner can't maneuver around.

But, man. I was on an amazing cleaning kick this afternoon. Vacuumed the ceilings, around the cupboards and cleaned the entire kitchen. Ugh.

I feel like such a grown up.