April 10, 2013

Good Housekeeping

I’m a clean freak. A germophobe. A neat-nelly. I’ve been teased – and even accused – of being obsessive and freakish about the cleanliness and tidiness of my home. And I’m OK with that... I’d rather be accused of being too clean than the alternative.

The alternative is someone like Mr. Right’s sister, D, who is an incredibly generous person but has a house worthy of that show “Hoarders”. It’s not just untidy – it’s filthy. Unhealthy and Disgusting. Mr. Right and I have spent the weekend at D’s house several times and each time it’s worse: my allergies go into full-blown killer hives mode, I’m afraid to touch anything in the bathroom, my socks come home almost black with dirt, and I spend pretty much the entire weekend with my skin crawling. I take pride in knowing that when people come and stay at my house, they appreciate the high hygienic standards and general orderliness of their environment without having to fear picking up some obscure disease.

And if that’s not reason enough to inspire cleanliness... cleaning helps me relax. I clean when I’m bored, or when I’m stressing out about something and my Type A mind just. Can’t. Let it. GO. I clean when I am craving a cigarette so badly that I am tempted to light up a butt out of our old can (speaking of... I really need to empty that bad boy!). I clean when I just want a big old chocolate bar or I cannot take a poop (lately I’ve been so freaking constipated I could cry. I’m usually a one-a-day sort of girl without any pooping issues at all, and this is like trying to force what feels like a tennis ball out of my sphincter! Not that anybody cares and Wow I have really sunk to a new low, haven’t I??). My Mom introduced me to the therapeutic benefits of precision cleaning, though I’ll admit that at the time she was teaching me all about good housekeeping it certainly wasn’t restorative.

I do, for the most part, follow a mental cleaning schedule based on the needs of my household in conjunction with my available time – I’m a busy, social person and I'm finding that, since beginning my new job and moving to a bigger, two-story house I've been struggling to keep up. I used to do the majority of my heavy housekeeping on the weekend, but I've decided to change it up and I've come up with a schedule that fits my needs. Here’s what my daily/weekly schedule - which now hangs on my fridge - looks like:

The Spanxsterlish Schedule to Cleaning Perfection

Daily Upkeep:
Make beds
Dishes/After Dinner Clean-up
Everything in its place!
Sweep kitchen floor
1 – 2 loads laundry

Mondays:
  • Clean bathroom (scrub & disinfect exterior and interior of toilet, sink, bathtub, door handles, light switch; polish mirror/faucets, quick mop of floor)
Tuesdays:
  • Clean out cat litter
  • Dust and clean windows/mirrors
Wednesday:
  • Vacuum
  • Quick mop of kitchen floor
Thursday:
  • Clean out cat litter
  • Deep clean kitchen (wipe cupboard doors and handles, sanitize sink and countertops, wipe fridge shelves, purge any items in fridge that have spoiled*, take quick inventory of pantry/fridge and note any items required on grocery list)
Friday:
  • Dust and clean windows/mirrors
  • Tidy front entrance
Saturday:
  • Strip beds and wash linens as well as any remaining laundry for the week
  • Clean out cat litter
  • Update new weekly Dinner Meal Plan (I'm going to create my first meal plan for the week on Saturday)
  • Run any required errands, including trip to grocery store for weekly meals (I used to shop bi-weekly and I may eventually return to that, but for now I'm going to do a weekly menu to get into the swing of things)
Sunday:
  • Vacuum
  • Hand-wash kitchen/bathroom floors
It's a fairly simple schedule; nothing too time intensive and the minimum required to keep the house spic and span. Every night I do a quick run-through before bed that I call "Everything in its place". It's basically just a quick tidy of any items that have been left sitting around the house instead of in their designated area(s). I will continue doing this, but I think that this schedule allows for more efficient use of my time while cleaning.

Speaking of time management, I stumbled on this awesome app called Cozi - it's an online calendar/meal planner/grocery and to do list that I can access on the computer or on my iPhone. I am in love with this thing!! Mr. Right also has it on his Android, and our apps access shared calendars/planners and we can message each other on Cozi and notify each other of appointments and the like. It's even got a recipe box linked to the meal planner! I love technology that helps me to stay organized and this is definitely one of my favourites. I've been using the free version for about a week, but I love it so much that I'll probably end up spending $25 to upgrade to the Gold version.

How do you stay organized both with your housework and life in general?

1 comment:

  1. I want to follow this plan so badly, but I just don't know where you find the time/energy. I wish I liked cleaning. I really do. I like a clean house. Our house is cluttered and a little dirty and it's only gotten worse since Owl was born. I am just so wiped at the end of the day that I'm lucky if I can manage washing the dishes. HELP!!!

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