How to Make a Cleaning Schedule

I've always been one to get overwhelmed when I look at my home and try to figure out where to start with cleaning. Someone suggested I schedule my cleaning in a way that makes sense to me and gets everything that needs to be done finished without overwhelming me. At first I struggled with where to begin with creating a cleaning schedule, but I knew I did well with lists. I figured if I wrote a list of everything that needed to be done in each room I might be able to see something that resembled a pattern or even see similarities in the types of things that needed to be done from room to room. I started by creating a master list, and broke that list down into daily, weekly, monthly and yearly tasks. Once I broke it down I plugged the info into my computer and setup reminders to help me remember to do things I need to do. I worked on this for about a week it may take more or less time for others to do this, depending on how distracted folks get or if you get overwhelmed with the project or not. There were times when I got frustrated with the process, because things weren't making sense to me, and when this happened, I would step away from the project, take a break, and continue once I was no longer frustrated or overwhelmed. I know that it sounds like a long time to figure out a cleaning schedule, but for me that is what it took to overcome my internal and external distractions Some may be able to finish it in an afternoon, where others ma need a month to complete it, the key is to work at a pace that meets your needs. Below, I've written an outline of the process I went through to develop my cleaning schedule.

The walkthrough

Using a pen and notebook, I started in the room I got the notebook from. I get distracted easily and decided that starting in the room I was in would decrease the potential for distraction. I wrote doiwn the name of the room I was in at the top of the page, then stood in the entrance to the room with the mindset that I was going to look at the room as if I was getting my first impression of someone else's housekeeping. I then looked at everything from floor to ceiling writing down anything that looked

- Cluttered

- Dusty

- Had cobwebs or dust bunnies

- Dirty

- Disorganized

- Pet hair that may have accumulated

- Crumby

- Sticky

- Or otherwise in need of attention because it created an eye sore

I made a separate list for each room things that were needed in several rooms like sweeping the floor got written down on the list for each room individually. My goal was to get everything I had ignored, overlooked, neglected, or otherwise not done regularly on paper. I was thorough and included but didn't limit myself to the following tasks ...

- Bag dirty laundry

- Put away clean clothes

- Make bed

- Clean desk

- Sweep floor

- mop floor

- Clean out closets

- Bag clothes that don't fit to donate

- Wash dishes

- Wipe down counters, stove and sink

- Take out garbage

- Wash curtains

- Wash windows

I tend to need more detail when I make lists because I get sidetracked and forget what I was doing if I change from room to room. If you have a yard, make a list for it, you may want to break the yard into smaller sections for example, front yard, backyard, side yard ... etc. Making lists for any sheds, decks, porches, or garages is a good idea as well. I know that for many folks, things like wiping down the counters is something they do automatically, but for whatever reason, my mind doesn't engage right and things that are automatic for others are things I need reminders for. It isn't that I don't want to do them I'm just in a sense oblivious to the fact they need done daily unless I have a reminder. If you do something automatically and don't feel it is needed on your list of things that need done, don't put it on there, the list should meet your needs and have as much or as little detail as you need.

The breakdown

The next phase is to break the master list down into 4 smaller lists. I looked at my master list and marked everything on it as either daily, weekly, monthly or yearly marking them as follows ...

- Daily or "D"

- Weekly or "W"

- Monthly or "M"

- Yearly or "Y"

Now I have a master list with a bunch of letters labeling my tasks, so I then took a separate sheet of paper and wrote "Daily" at the top of it. The next step is to list everything I had marked with a "D" on my "daily" list. Make a separate list the same way for weekly, monthly, and yearly. This gave me a better picture of what my cleaning needs were and I began to feel more at ease with cleaning because I was beginning to see starting points. It still seemed like a daunting task though to try and remember to do all these things on a regular basis, so my next phase was to schedule everything using my computer. The next part describes how I did that.

The Schedule

I tend to be a computer junkie, so for me it was almost natural to use my computer for my schedule which I sync with my PDA so I have two active copies of it in case I have technical difficulties. I know there are a lot of folks who prefer a more traditional form of scheduling and do better with an appointment book or wall calendar. The point is that whatever format you choose, make sure it fits into your lifestyle and above all is a comfortable format for you.

Next, I started by deciding what time of day seemed like the time of day I was at my best and least likely to be tired or otherwise unmotivated to follow through with things. For me I chose 4:00 pm as my cleaning time. I've never been much of a morning person, and generally if I have appointments I'm home from them by then, and in the evening is when I tend to be more active overall. They key here is to pick times when you are at your best if your not a morning person don't schedule your cleaning for first thing in the morning it'll never get done. Likewise for those of you who are at your best in the morning you probably won't want to schedule you're cleaning in the evening since morning is your best time of day.

Once I figured out my best time of day, I then took my "Daily" list and began scheduling daily tasks. The daily tasks were scheduled between 4:00 pm and 7:00 pm daily. This three hour window allows me time to not only do the cleaning on my list, but also allowed me to combine tasks so that while I was cooking dinner for example, rather then going and sitting at the computer while I waited for the water to boil, I might unload the dishwasher so that it will be ready for any dinner dishes after I eat.

Next I tackled the "Weekly" list. I decided right away that I didn't want to spend an entire day each week doing nothing but cleaning, so I wondered how I could avoid this. What I came up with was to take a weekly task scheduling one task per day. Leaving me with a weekly schedule that looked something like this ...

Sunday -Daily (D) dishes + one weekly (W) clean kitchen table

Monday - (D) dishes + (W) Clean Desk

Tuesday - (D) dishes + (W) Gather garbage and take it out to the dumpster

Wednesday - (D) dishes + (W) no weekly

Thursday - (D) dishes + (W) Laundry

Friday - (D) dishes + (W) Dust and knock down cobwebs

Saturday - (D) dishes + (W) sweep/mop floors +Monthly (M) check prescriptions for refills

Wednesdays tend to be busier for me so I decided to make it a light cleaning day and only have daily tasks scheduled for that day. This is just what I did, because it worked for me, but what works for me may not work for you so create a schedule that meets your needs and lifestyle. If you have a day where you don't have anything going on you might want to schedule the heavier tasks for that day. Keep things in mind like what day your garbage and if applicable recycling is picked up and plan you garbage gathering so that when garbage day comes around you have all your garbage gathered at least by the day before it is picked up. If you have a weekly task that could involve lots of garbage schedule it for the same day or day before you take the garbage out. Most people like to dust before they vacuum, so you may want to schedule dusting and cobwebs on one day with sweeping/mopping the floors the next day.

Monthly tasks were staggered throughout the month much like what I did with the weekly tasks. Yearly tasks are those things you only do when you spring clean for example. I put things like washing curtains and Cleaning out closets on my yearly list. Since I have four closets I scheduled one closet per week during a single month. I scheduled the curtains to be washed on a day I was doing laundry.

Once I completed the schedule, I gave myself a couple days to mentally prepare for implementing it and also to look over the schedule and fine tune anything that looked like it could be a problem. I tend to need extra time for transitioning from task to task or even for changing a routine and I find that if I take time to mentally prepare myself for a change, the transition goes smoother.

If you use your computer to setup your schedule, make sure you have a backup copy of your schedule whether it be on a PDA, flashdrive, CD, or memory card it will save you from having to re-do the schedule in the event that you need to set your computer back to factory settings, or upgrade to a newer one.

I'm finding that with a schedule for my cleaning, I not only have starting points, but I'm not spending entire days doing nothing but clean only to find that I'm not accomplishing everything that needs to be done. As I said before though what works for me may not work for you, so be creative in picking a format that works for you and in how you spread the tasks out. Sometimes less really is more this is one of those cases.