|
If you hate having a designated cleaning day, but love having a clean house, it can seem that the only solution is to hire a cleaning service. But that can be expensive, and many people who hire others to do the dirty work for them often end up cleaning before the cleaning staff arrives anyway! You can avoid spending an entire day cleaning the house if you break the housekeeping chores up into about 15-minute segments each day of the week. This will let you maintain a pretty clean house much of the time without having to spend your entire Saturday scrubbing.
Here we've broken up most of the cleaning necessities into shorter sessions you can fit into each day of the week—with one cleaning-free day off to enjoy your spic and span house! Monday: Dust No one wants Mondays to be more miserable than they already are, so reserve one of the easier tasks on this list for the beginning of the week. Grab your dust rag or dusting device of choice and dust furniture, bookshelves, dressers, night stands and the TV. You can even tackle this chore during commercials to break it up even more. Tuesday: Floors Floors take some time to tackle so do them early in the week before you're totally wiped. Sweep wood floors and grab the vacuum and hit carpeted areas. Once sweeping is done, tackle the kitchen and bathroom floors with a mop or a quick spot-clean with a wet rag. Wednesday: Bathrooms The bathroom is most people's least favorite room to clean. They get grimy and gunky and who really wants to get super friendly with a toilet? Whether you have one bathroom or several, this room is a pretty quick clean even if it's the least fun. Scrub the sink and wipe the counters, and swipe any spots off the mirror before hitting the toilet. Then clean the tub and shower walls, and be glad you did the floors the previous day. Thursday: Kitchen Hopefully you're already cleaning the kitchen a little bit every day after cooking and eating meals. So focus on those areas you don't touch every day that need a deeper clean: Give the floor a quick sweep and glance around for areas that need spot cleaning. Then, wipe down the insides of the microwave and fridge before you wipe them down on the outside. Give the stovetop a good scrub, and then wipe the backsplash and clean the sink thoroughly. Friday: Clutter You'd rather spend Friday evening at a happy hour or on a romantic date, so this final weekday should be an easy one. Go through the whole house and put any clutter that has accumulated over the week into its rightful spot. Saturday: Laundry Laundry isn't exactly a 30-minute chore, but it doesn't require constant attention either. Make laundry day the day you change your bed sheets and towels, then remember to rotate the laundry throughout the day. Sunday: Day off! Use Sunday to enjoy your house or to occasionally do those cleaning chores that are seasonal and that don't need weekly or even monthly attention, like cleaning windows or the oven, washing slip covers or curtains, or wiping down baseboards and switch plate covers. Mix and match your days (outside of the schedule above) to make them work for you. If you hate having a day dedicated to laundry, for example, toss in a load or two a few other days of the week. If you find your floors need a quick vacuum more than once a week, add that chore to one of your least busy days of the week. No matter how you slice it, breaking your task list into smaller chunks will help cleaning the house seem more manageable—especially if you manage to recruit a roommate, spouse or the kids to further lighten the load! How much time do you spend cleaning each day? Do you prefer to break it up or dedicate one longer day to cleaning? About the Author  Erin Whitehead is a health and fitness enthusiast who co-founded the popular website FitBottomedGirls.com and co-wrote The Fit Bottomed Girls Anti-Diet book (available May 2014). Now busier than ever with two kids, she writes about healthy pregnancy and parenting at FitBottomedMamas.com. |
|
.jpg)
