Monday 12 November 2012

Housekeeping at its Finest

This weekend was a very exciting weekend for our family as we welcomed a new sister into the Wiebe clan at my brother-in-law's wedding. It was a wonderful day, but came with the unfortunate side effect of a pile of dishes slowly piling up as we ate and ran continually through a very busy weekend. 



Housecleaning is the death of me, and so I've started the process of creating a home organization binder to keep things under control. I'm a list person, and so I'm hoping these lists will be just the motivation I need to get everything done on a regular basis.

I started by finding a binder in a pretty color to make it a little more aesthetically pleasing. Next up is a cover page, there's a placeholder currently made of a scrap piece of paper and some highlighter...this will be replaced at some point when our printer is properly set up and I don't have to go to my parents to print things. 



In the front pocket, I can keep extra papers that I'm working on. Currently I have a grocery list and a list of ideas for the December version of this binder now that I've learned a few tricks after a month of use. 

The first few pages are calendars of the month used for meal planning, event planning, and blog planning. 

After that I have a page for each week of the month. At the top of the page I have seven columns, one for each weekday, with the list of things I want to do everyday:

Wash Dishes

Make Bed

Put Away Clothes

Wipe Counters

Organize Incoming Mail

Tidy Up Any Clutter

Blog Post

Below that, I have a list of the things that I want to accomplish each week. This allows me to be flexible with which days I do things, but I know that by Friday I want all of the items checked off. 

Change sheets/towels, wash/fold/put away all laundry, clean toilets, windex mirrors, wipe down sinks/counter, clean shower, vacuum house, mop kitchen floors, dust, enter expense receipts in the budget, empty trash and recycling, clean out fridge, windex kitchen table, meal plan for the week.

I also write a few extra items that are specific to that week. I usually work on that Sunday night, or add things as I think of them ahead of time.

The last section of the binder are monthly maintenance items such as vacuuming out floor vents, cleaning out garbage cans, going through the freezer, and flushing drains.

Hopefully this plan will help me to get more organized and motivated on the cleaning front. I strive to be as domesticated as Martha Stewart but I am far far far from it. This whole housekeeping thing really takes a lot of learning on my front, it's not something I come by naturally and before I moved out I hadn't even done laundry. I'm getting there though!

What's your least favourite cleaning task? Most favourite? Any ways of making it more fun/engaging? Anything I should be adding to my list to maintain my home properly?


2 comments:

  1. Valentina Tereshkova10:23 pm, November 12, 2012

    Listen to music while doing chores! It makes the time go by a lot faster!

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    Replies
    1. That's a great idea :). Lately I've been putting Netflix on while I work but it can get distracting. Then I put on a kids show so I don't get as distracted so I'm cleaning while "Rugrats" or "The Berenstein Bears" are on.

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