Thursday, March 8, 2012

Cleaning questions

I am in a debate with myself. One in which I hope you will help me solve.

Are you a do a few things daily schedule cleaner or a do it all in one day cleaner? Why?

I usually do it all in one day. And it usually works for me. I do it on a day Eddie is home and he entertains the kids and/or takes pity on me and helps me clean. But sometimes we have a crazy week. Some weeks Eddie doesn't have a day off. Some weeks I have stuff to do on the days he is home. Some weeks we have activities with the kids. So on those week I am stressed because now I have to squeeze my cleaning in at other times.

So I am considering a schedule. You know, like dust on Mondays, bathrooms on Tuesdays, etc. But I'm not sure how I'll like it. I am thinking I won't like it because my house will never be clean. It will always be in the process of getting clean. Ya know?

Ok guys, if I devoted a whole boring post to this topic, the least you can do is gimme some feedback! What works for you?

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Just don't clean!

Laura@The Oily Cupboard said...

i wish i had a schedule..i always tell myself to and then get sidetracked

wed are my big day...it's the day my inlaws come and so i pretty much have a pretty house....that and they gave me my maid for a bit (which the funds ran out already boo) the maids came once a month and by week 2 you couldn't tell haha

Laura@The Oily Cupboard said...

floors are something i do everyday...that and wiping bathroom (guestroom bath down...since rest are upstairs) and kitchen counters down everyday

everything else suffers prob

Unknown said...

Hi I am a pastor's wife in Venice beach CA. Your kitchen is beautiful!
I started a cleaning schedule this year using the Maxwell family's books, from Titus two ministry. They have an amazing chore system for kids. I have had to let go of perfection since I home school five kids. Their system worked great super organized. I recently gave birth to a baby boy stillborn on 1-24-12. My schedule and cleaning has flown out the window for now. You have a Lovely family!

Jill said...

hey stacy! thanks for the comment :)

i have a cleaning schedule. I wrote it all out, posted it in my kitchen, and never ONCE followed it. ha!

basically, i clean when we have company. so we try to have a lot of company :)

Mindy said...

Hey Stacy! Thanks so much for coming to my blog! I love yours too!
I look forward to getting to know another mom of 4 PW!!!

I do have a cleaning "schedule". I love my schedule.....but it rarely goes off as planned.....

Jason and Jackie said...

Stacy - -

Speaking from the perspective of a "type a" who has company all the time and a toddler boy (We live on a military base and people just drop by almost on a daily basis.), I've had to let God change me, A LOT. At one point in my life, I HAD to have it all clean at one time at least once a week. Now, I keep the toilets and bathroom floors as clean as possible for potty training, I try to clean the kitchen as soon as I can after I cook and I throw everything else together when I know someone is coming to stay. I have Jonathan and Jason help me pick up once, before Jonathan's bedtime, so that I can at least wake up to a "straight" house, if not a clean one. If I have extra time and the inclination, I dust one day, or run the vacuum over the hard and carpeted surfaces. I'm letting it go. Someday I will be back in a "season" where I'll be able to have a clean house much of the time. This is not that season. I know that Jonathan will not remember how clean our house was. He will remember how much time I spent in the floor with him, on the playground, pushing him in the swing, etc. I don't have a schedule because I know it would just add stress that might later be directed at Jason or Jonathan as anger and frustration. Hope you find something that works for you. It's definitely different for everyone.

Laurie said...

I don't have much of a schedule and my "clean" probably isn't the same as other people's clean (and not in a good way).

I do have my kids doing chores. They have the same chore(s) for a week at a time because when I had it on a daily basis they were doing horrible jobs and leaving a mess for the next person to deal with. Does that make sense?

One kiddo will have laundry, another dishes and cleaning the kitchen, and the third has garbage, pets, and floors. Man, that makes me sound like a tyrant. Really though I come home from work at 1:30 and pick up, start laundry, and do any dishes from that morning. I'm lucky enough to have a job that lets me be at home with my kids whenever they are out of school so during breaks and summer I do more of the chores and I do get into a routine of sorts.

I'm still not answering your question am I? I guess I would have to say that I have a floating routine. I go about things in the same pattern but not always on the same day.

hollie marie said...

Hi Stacy!
At our house, we do a good scrubby cleaning once a week. Then I usually vacuum on other days as well d/t our shedding dog! Usually by friday, I'm itching to clean again, but find mucho gratification in seeing a completely clean house!

Allison said...

Stopping by from Kelly's link up. I always clean it all at once, b/c I'm with you on feeling like it was never clean by doing a little everyday. I like to do it, get it over with, and it looks good, for a day (maybe) anyways!

The Braddocks said...

So...I had the same issue and decided to do it in 2 days...one day would be downstairs (kitchen, master, living, dining, guest and ALL TOILETS- want to get that out they way). The second day I would tackle the kids room, play room and other rooms upstairs (and all the vacuuming which consists of the master down & all upstairs.) This helped b/c I could usually do 1/2 in 2-3 hours and if I had to interupt then I could make up the slack the next day. No, I wasn't excited to know there were 2 half days involved but I had the sanity of knowing it was clean at once. I tried the Monday dusting, etc. but by Thursday it looked like I had made no progress and I was frustrated and gave up. So there is my 2 cents...and if you were to come over now you would probably think "I will NEVER take her advice!" But it is a rainy Saturday with bored kids...

The Braddocks said...

And this is Kate...no way does the husband clean or get on the schedule...not sure why I am considered "The Braddocks."

Meghan said...

thanks for stopping by my blog! I have NO, NONE, ZERO workable advice on the cleaning agenda... I've never been able to commit to either kind of schedule much less execute, its a free for all when the mood strikes and denial when it doesn'!

Monica said...

So glad you stopped my my site!

So, I try to dedicate Mondays to "deeper" cleaning like floors and bathrooms. Then the rest of the week, I'll spend about 20-30 min doing lighter stuff each day. I tried doing all cleaning on only one day -- but I just get bored and annoyed after 45 minutes. :)

I'm also very weird and can only effectively clean in tennis shoes. So if the shoes are on, I'm about to get biz-ay.