I don’t like having a messy house. If there is one thing that will turn me into a mean-mommy-monster (say that ten times fast) quicker than anything it is a house in chaos. This past year has been a constant battle with the cluttered mess that threatens to take over my house. I am sure you have all found that an unintended consequence of homeschooling is the constant battle to keep your house clean. Being home a lot more this year hasn’t helped and has illuminated the need to re-establish a cleaning routine.
I have found over the years that establishing certain cleaning routines makes all the difference in my little homeschool world. There is much more patience and productivity (and grace) flowing from me when it doesn’t look like an F5 tornado dropped down right in my living room. I have developed a cleaning routine that usually doesn’t take more than thirty minutes a day and prevents the mad dash to wipe pee off the toilet when someone drops by for a visit (you know you’ve done this too). If you need some inspiration or ideas for how to accomplish a clean house while homeschooling, then this is for you. Without further ado, here is my Save-My-Sanity Cleaning Routine.
How to Start a Cleaning Routine
Getting started with a cleaning routine can be a challenge. This is especially true if you have let your house go for awhile (it happens). Sometimes the best way to start is to take a weekend and do a deep clean. My cleaning routine is great for keeping a house clean, but it works better when you start with a clean house. I find that even if I haven’t stuck with the routine for awhile, I have to take a weekend and do a reset. My family recently took advantage of a blizzard that left us stuck at home to get our house in order. This is never fun and always a lot of work, but the reward of a clean and orderly house is well worth it.
My Number One Rule
Before I get into my cleaning routine, I feel it’s important to establish a few things. Everybody lives in our house, so everybody helps clean the house. Being home with my kids doesn’t mean my job is to be the maid. I am busy with teaching and raising functioning human beings, and that is where I will focus my attention. There is no way one person can clean up after four people, and I refuse to spend the majority of the day cleaning. So, everybody has their jobs to do according to their ability. I highly encourage you to establish this rule as well.
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Morning
Unload Dishwasher
My husband usually does this task first thing in the morning while our coffee brews. It is important to start the day with an empty dishwasher so dishes don’t end up piling up in the sink all day long. When you can clean up dishes as soon as they are used, you don’t have to spend much time standing at the sink or loading the dishwasher.
Start Laundry
Everybody does their own laundry on their assigned laundry day. This includes washing their sheets/bedding. I do the household laundry, like towels, once a week, but other than that everyone does their own laundry.
That’s all we do for morning chores. I like to get into homeschooling right away in the morning so we can finish around lunch time. By design, I keep our chores pretty light in the morning.
Afternoon
Switch Laundry
In the afternoon (around lunchtime) we switch the laundry to the dryer and start a second load.
Run the Dishwasher
If our dishwasher is full enough after lunch, then we will run a load. When this happens I usually will empty the dishwasher later in the afternoon or while I am cooking dinner.
Weekly Rotating Chore
The rotating chores are things that only need to be done once a week. Our rotating chore schedule is as follows.
Monday: Vaccuum upstairs bedrooms
Tuesday: Vaccuum basement and stairs
Wednesday: Clean bathtubs and mop bathroom floors
Thursday: Mop main level (wood floors)
Friday: Things that need to be done less often (cleaning baseboards, dusting window blinds, etc)
Evening
After dinner is when the majority of our chores get done. We don’t have many evening activities so this is the time that works best for us to get the most cleaning done.
Kitchen Clean Up
The kitchen is a rotating chore that the boys switch every week. They usually get some parental help with this one, but we clean the kitchen throughout the day so this isn’t a big undertaking. Kitchen clean up includes loading the dishwasher, wiping down counters and sweeping/vacuuming the floor. Once a week they mop the kitchen floor, usually on Friday because that’s pizza night and there are no dishes to clean. This seems like a big job but it only takes about 10-15 minutes.
Pet Care and Vacuuming
Whichever child is not assigned to the kitchen takes care of feeding/watering the guinea pigs and vacuuming the loft (where we keep the guinea pigs) and the stairs. This is the only carpeted area
that we vacuum everyday and it’s mainly because of the hay we feed the pets. The hay has a tendency to get everywhere and the only way to manage this is to vacuum every day. Before we had the guinea pigs this was a once a week job just like the rest of the vacuuming.
Bathroom Wipe Down
We do a quick wipe down of the bathroom sinks and toilets. Once a week we will swish a toilet wand inside the bowl. Tthis is a pretty easy job and only takes a few minutes. Everybody does a bathroom, but when the kids were younger I used to do them all. It seems like this could be a job that would take forever, but I found that since the bathrooms get cleaned every day, it doesn’t take very long. I could do four bathrooms in about ten minutes when I did them all myself.
Wipe Down Dining Room Table and Vacuum Dining Room and Living Room
This is a pretty quick job too. We have dark hard wood floors that show every piece of dirt and dust. We have this Dyson Stick Vacuum with wood floor attachment that I love using on my wood floors (it also makes vacuuming stairs a breeze).
Put Second Load of Laundry in Dryer
This actually happens whenever we remember to do it. Sometimes afternoon, sometimes evening or next morning. One thing that we haven’t established in our routine is laundry folding. We have baskets for clean laundry and sometimes we have time to fold a load in the afternoon or at night, but sometimes it sits in the basket until the weekend. I am okay with this because we all have clean clothes and towels and that’s the important part.
No Routine Is Perfect
It’s important to remember that no routine is perfect and it will never be followed perfectly. That’s okay. If you miss a weekly chore, don’t try to make up for it the next day. Just pick up where you left off and the chore will get done the following week. If you miss wiping down bathrooms one night, they will get done the next night. Don’t be a slave to any routine or schedule. Let it make your life more peaceful not stressful.
Make It Your Own
I am showing you my routine as an example you can get ideas from. Do what works best for you and your family, whatever that looks like. Find the things you prioritize and put them on the list. No matter what you do, it needs to be manageable for you. Give yourself some grace as you go through the process of establishing your cleaning routines.
