Keeping Your House Reasonably Clean Without Spending Hours at aTime

Setting up a cleaning schedule with no more than one task per day has made such a difference and helped me to feel much less busy and stressed. Maybe this is old news to most of you - and kudos if it is - but it was enlightening to me and improved my life so much!

Start by brainstorming what tasks need to be done at least once a month in your home. Mark each task by how often each must be done for you to feel your home is reasonably clean. I use the term "reasonably clean" loosely, because if this is going to work, you need to let go of sparkling clean. Be willing to have some cleaning tasks done less frequently, knowing everything important will be done this month at some point. Group your listed tasks by their frequency. Here's a sample list:

 

Daily:

Wipe kitchen counters

Wipe dining table
Sweep floor under dining table

 

Weekly:

Vacuum living room

Wipe down bathroom counters

 

Bi-weekly or Monthly:

Dust house

Vacuum bedrooms

Clean toilets

 

Now, even though you are creating a daily cleaning schedule, everyone needs a few days off. And you need to account for things coming up.

Here's my final list, as a starting place: