Want to keep a clean and tidy home but just don’t know where to start? It can feel impossible to keep a consistently tidy home, especially when you have kids. But believe me, it is possible to do if you create a home cleaning schedule that is easy to stick to and gets everyone on board to help out. And makes life so much easier!
Cleaning and tidying. Cleaning and tidying.
Sometimes it just seems like a never ending battle to keep your home in order. I’ve often referred to the saying that cleaning with kids in the house is like trying to brush your teeth while eating an Oreo. There’s constant mess being made. And it can feel like a never ending task trying to clean up after everyone.
Now, I’m not an advocate for keeping an IMMACULATELY tidy and clean home when you have kids. They need space to learn, grow, make mess, mistakes and feel comfortable in their own home environment without having to worry if Mummy is going to flip out over a glass of spilled milk.
But for my own sanity, I do rely on a sense of order and a certain standard of cleanliness in our home so I don’t end up overwhelmed and feeling like everything is on top of me.
I used to be incredibly skilled at the art of procrastination. I had no plan of attack on how to keep a tidy home. And the mess, chaos and disorder would constantly get the better of me. I always felt like I had so much to do and not enough time to do it. And when my husband would ask how he could help I just had no idea where to start.
That’s when we decided to put a plan of attack in place. We were both sick of the mess and the overwhelm that came with it. So we created a cleaning schedule to eradicate the stress of cleaning, organising and decluttering our house. And it has been an absolute game changer!
What is a cleaning schedule and why do YOU NEED ONE?
Keeping a tidy and clean home is a huge task. But if you’ve ever heard the term, ‘How do you eat an elephant?” you’ll know that the answer is, ‘One bite at a time.’
So I took that huge task of cleaning our house and I broke it down into smaller more manageable chunks. And that is exactly what a cleaning schedule for your home is. It is a plan that breaks everything that needs to be done to keep your home tidy into a daily, weekly and monthly schedule.
It just means that the perpetual amount of jobs that need to be done around the house are spaced out over a functional time frame so it doesn’t seem overwhelming. And with a clear plan, you can delegate many of those tasks to anyone in your household who can help. Most husbands are keen to help out these days and your kids are more competent than you think.
4 steps to creating your own home cleaning schedule that works for you! & gets everyone helping!
#1 Create a list of every household task that needs doing
Write down an overall list of things that need to be done around your house!! From big to small, include every household chore on this list and work out how regularly you would like them to be done to keep on top of things. Check out my master list or use it to recreate your own.
Download The Ultimate Housework Cleaning Chart including an empty template, you can customise for your own needs.
#2 Design a housework plan/schedule that works for you
So, once you have made your list of EVERYTHING that you want done and how often you want it done, you can now plan exactly when you are going to do it.
Take all those tasks you have written down and write each of them into your calendar! Whether it be today, tomorrow, next week or even in a few months, get them into your schedule for when you intend to undertake them. And then…….make sure you it happens!!!
I have a weekly cleaning schedule template that I have filled in and stays the same every week. This includes regular, daily chores that need doing and then I distribute my weekly chores throughout the days of the week so that I have maybe 2-3 housework chores to do each day.
For chores that don’t need to be done every day or every week, work out how often you think they should be done and put them on your calendar for a week that you think you could fit them in. For example, if you think that cleaning your windows only needs doing every 6 months, pop that into your calendar in 6 months time and squeeze it into a week that suits you. You can stagger these bigger chores throughout the year so that you are not left doing them all together in the same week.
I’m really not kidding here when I tell you that this works. And it works so well, that I literally look around the house and am astonished by how it just seems to maintain itself!
#3 Use strict discipline. Be disciplined. How else can I say this ….. stick to the plan!I
I used to be the ultimate procrastination queen. You know that pile of washing that is sitting on the laundry floor! It’s calling you. Don’t ignore it! Resist the urge to ignore your chores and watch Netflix instead. Put your household tasks into your daily and weekly schedule and do them! If you fail to do them …. then they don’t get done. And then it can be hard to catch up. But if you are like us, and maintain the consistency and just do what you say you are going to do …. the house miraculously stays in order!
#4 Delegate to other members of your household.
I’m not kidding here. For a long time, I ran around like a headless chicken after my children. It took me a really long time to realise that I was so super stressed and overloaded because I was doing everything for everyone and often it was even the simplest things that they could do for themselves.
Kids will surprise you. They are often more capable than they lead on.
But it is you that needs to be be the CEO. Enjoy being the boss. Delegate …because life is busy and you shouldn’t have to do it all!
When it comes to teaching your kids some new life skills it can be worth it for everyone. And now, in our house everyone feels like they are contributing. The kids have daily chores that they need to complete but will also pull together to get other things done when extra things need doing. And remember, that you are trying to raise your kids to become adults that other people won’t mind living with. So there will be no better time to start teaching them this, than now.
Create chore charts and incentives to motivate your kids to help! And as for your husband or partner or any other adult they can help too. Highlight some chores, even if it’s putting the rubbish out or emptying the dishwasher for you every morning …. every little bit helps!
Read ‘The Ultimate Stress-free Morning Routine (With Free Chore Chart Printable)’ to see how we have done it here.
Or simply download the FREE Kids Morning Routine Chart below to get started! We initially started introducing our kids to chores and routines in the mornings and have added to them since. But getting the kids ready and out the door in the mornings is so much easier now! And I swear most of the time they are all ready, and have done every thing they need to do by 7am! And all on their own! Even our 4 year old!
We have chore charts for our kids and we also have one for us! They are displayed in a corner of the kitchen and the kids can see that we too have responsibilities to keep the house in order.
Why it’s worth putting in the effort to implement a cleaning system!
It may seem like too much effort to sit down and create a cleaning system for your household. I know, I get it. You’re busy and taking the time to create a plan seems like a daunting task. You feel like you don’t have the time and there’s way too much to do.
But the house, the washing and the cleaning …. it doesn’t go away.
Most Mums, do daily chores without a plan. And it can be hard to keep on top of it all without feeling overwhelmed. It can feel like riding a bike with no chain as you pedal harder and harder and never get anywhere.
I know what that’s like because before we created a home cleaning system, I felt like I could never keep up and often I felt extreme overwhelm and fatigue from rushing around trying to get everything done all day long. And would go to bed feeling like I had failed and still had so much to do.
With the simple system that we created, our house now stays consistently clean and with little effort! It means that we do the little things everyday to keep on top of it and everyone in the house is helping to do this! Keeping the house clean no longer falls only on my shoulders as everyone has a responsible part to play! And I can’t tell you how amazing it has been for us!
Trust me when I say it’s worth the effort and your sanity.
