How to Free Yourself from the Drudgery of Housework by Taking Baby Steps

Every time you see someone's home that seems to be "company ready" do you wonder just how do they do that?

I used to think that something was wrong with me for feeling depressed and frustrated when I left those wonderful, perfect homes, that looked like a superwoman cared for them. (I KNOW that someone's immaculate appearing home just invaded your mind, right!) Well, knowing that I love my family every bit as much as these seemingly "superwoman" types stirred something in me to try to remedy my over cluttered, over junked, and under-managed home.

What really convinced me that housework, for a fact, is never ending and little appreciated was the enormous number of offerings I found in the book stores of self-help manuals promising to teach me how to get-clean-and-organized, along with various titles of 12-step programs on how to de-junk and de-clutter my life, not to mention those endless lists of must have mops, brooms, vacuums, and amazing cleaning products we are bombarded with on TV commercials and all night infomercials . After reading and purchasing many of these books and products, I determined that natural homemakers are a myth and that we all have mountains of dirt and dust in our lives. It's not so much the tool or product we use as it is that we must, as Nike™ advises, "Just Do It".

Some of us are just natural "doers" and some of us are eternal "procrastinators" in the way we tackle and handle the management of our homes and our lives. For you "doers" read no more and go enjoy a nice cup of tea in your organized, dirt and clutter free homes with my sincere blessing. However, you fellow procrastinators, take heart, we can do better and be more "company ready" with just a little more body movement and a little less giving in to our ever procrastinating ways.

I began realizing that there really is no magic cleaning tool or product. Of course, some products are better than others and the trick was to find the ones I liked and would actually use. As far as the advice of the experts, well they were so many and so diverse in their ways of cleaning that I just became overwhelmed and de-junked my book shelves by passing those items on to another procrastinator. So when I actually started this endeavor, I determined that the first thing I would do is use up every drop of unused cleaner in my house before I would allow myself to purchase another cleaning product. (I had such a huge assortment of Comet cleanser, Scrubbing Bubbles, Soft Scrub with Bleach, Tilex Mold and Mildew, Mr. Clean, and about a zillion other "must have" products lurking in cleaning closets, bathrooms and the basement that I could have stocked a good sized Mom and Pop store.

(That was just the bathroom stuff, you can't believe how many cleaning products can accumulate when you want a clean home, but never actually bother to use the products to clean it.) I am now more disciplined and only buy products when needed, only if I am low on something, and only if I have a coupon to try that amazing new product. That alone has saved me a good bit of time and money. (Searching for just the right product can keep a procrastinator busy for hours on end and by then it's too late to clean so it's put off until tomorrow.)

What I needed was a workable plan that would be easy to accomplish. I began by making baby step changes toward a cleaner and neater home. My first plan of action was to "make a list" and I started by listing things that bothered my family most about my procrastinating ways. For my husband, it was the fact that I would leave the dishes "until later" (sometimes later would be when it was time to make this night shifters lunch--AFTER all the prime time shows of interest were viewed--and by that time, let's face it, it was either too late, or too I was too tired so I'd get them first thing in the morning). My kids also had a problem with the Kitchen, since I was prone to leave the dishes until later, they complained that they could never find a clean glass when they needed it.

So the first thing on my list of converting to a "doer" was starting Monday I would DO THE DISHES immediately following the evening meal. I made a sincere effort to implement this plan and determined I couldn't leave the Kitchen until the dishes were washed (by hand or in the dishwasher) and all surfaces were wiped down and items were put back in place. The sink and counters had to be cleaned and clutter free. Only then would I allow myself to leave the Kitchen after the evening meal. I did this each day until it became a habit, which didn't take very long since it seemed to make me enjoy those prime time shows more than I did before with no thought of dirty dishes subconsciously invading my mind.

So baby step one was to NEVER LEAVE DIRTY DISHES AFTER A MEAL and a thorough cleaning of the Kitchen happens each Monday.

Okay, now after a couple of days with the Kitchen looking nice and tidy, I noticed I was more motivated to move on to other things like the bathrooms, bedrooms, and other rooms. I still was overwhelmed by the amount of work to be done, but I determined that I should keep it simple, after all, just keeping the evening dishes done was a biggie. So my next listed item became the bathroom. I don't know about you, but cleaning toilets is just not my idea of fun. Knowing this, I determined that I would start by cleaning the bathroom on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

I figured I could force myself to don the Playtex Gloves and swish a couple of toilets twice a week without any adverse effect. What I found is that Thursdays and Sundays really started to bug me when I saw wet towels and bathroom products piling up in my just cleaned yesterday bathrooms. The result was that I stuck to the thorough cleaning on Wednesdays and Saturdays, but I found myself picking up, putting away, and wiping down my bathrooms everyday. What I also found was that by doing this, the job was much easier on those assigned Wednesday and Saturday bathroom cleanings. Eureka! My bathrooms became usable at all times and we no longer had to worry about twisting an ankle on a pile of wet towels when stepping out of the shower.

Baby step two became clean the bathrooms thoroughly on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Now I had to face the fact that in my 9 room house, I was only dealing with 3 of those rooms. At this point I can honestly say I was becoming motivated merely by the thrill of walking in to a kitchen that was acceptable and bathrooms that didn't make me cringe. The baby step I next worked on was planning how to come up with the next logical way to improve our home. Since my bedrooms are on the top level of my home, out of sight, I determined that I should first consider dealing with the Living Room and Family Room which are on two different levels but both can be seen when the front door is opened. Our Living Room is only used as a catch all for coats, backpacks, magazines, and shopping bags full of items procrastinators empty and put away several days, weeks or months after purchasing.

Since everyone in our house is guilty of this habit of using the unused Living Room as a catch all (including the rotten dog whose trail of animal hair all over the never-used-sofa would be more than enough evidence for any CSI investigator to determine his guilt of climbing on the "he's not allow on the furniture rule"), I promptly announced to everyone that I would no longer be responsible for any messes in the Living Room and would gladly donate any unclaimed items to charity that were not picked up, put up, or packed up. Amazingly, this pretty much solved my problem and now the only thing I have to do is run the sweeper, dust and light candles weekly in that room. Since the room is rarely used and not overly stuffed with furniture, this room can be completed in a matter of 15 minutes a week. Ah ha, baby step three was now in place.

My Family Room has the usual fair of TV, Sofa and Love Seat, Recliner, Curio Cabinet, end tables, and dog bed. This room gets the most use so I decided it requires daily de-cluttering with thorough cleaning once a week.

Baby step three became thoroughly cleaning the Living Room and Family Room once a week (this includes vacuuming the Sofa and Love Seat that mysteriously continue to shed hair whenever we leave the house).

Now we have a decent Kitchen, Bathrooms, Living Room and Family Room. On to the Bedrooms.

Bedrooms also seem to be catch all areas. Especially for clothes that we take off, drop on the floor, and intend take to the basement Laundry whenever. I decided that I should deal with this each evening so I don't have to trudge out of bed and glare at mountains of clothes each morning wondering why I am such a slob. Establishing this as a daily habit and a thoroughly weekly cleaning became baby step four. The Bedroom once a week cleaning is done with the same agenda as the Living Room and Family Room. Making the bed daily is a huge help in the Bedrooms, however, in this house I must be honest and say that during the week, I am really just straightening the bed for my night shift husband to climb in since he is gets home at 8 a.m.

Of course, most bedding today consists of comforters that double as the bed dressing anyway, so if you choose wisely, your bed will always look good. Two of my other 3 bedrooms belong to my teenage children both of whom have totally different ideas as to what criteria is needed for a "clean" room. We have simply agreed to disagree on these two rooms, but I retain the privilege to come in unannounced once a week and dust and vacuum to my liking. They are required to pick up and de-clutter at least twice weekly. This system seems to be keeping reasonable boundaries that keep their rooms from becoming completely out of hand, so I guess we will keep it for now.

Baby step four became clean the Bedrooms thoroughly once a week and pick up and de-clutter daily.

Since my fourth bedroom is used as an office/computer/craft room and it is currently being re-vamped, I will just say it will be counted as a Bedroom and fall under baby step four.

To conclude, it's been several months since I began my quest to Baby Step my way into a neater home. I have a long way to go, but the drudgery has vanished from housework is routine. I can say it is not nearly as overwhelming as when I was simply procrastinating about it. I am constantly refining my system and I am enlarging it all the time. I will say that this commitment to "Just Do It" has created a nicer environment for me and my family and it is improving our relationships along the way.

Just try your own system of baby stepping your way to better managing your home and you will not be disappointed in your results. Below is my ever evolving, ever refining and ever growing list of how I am managing my home at this time.

Daily Chores

De-clutter each room before going to bed each night, this includes emptying the dishwasher, gathering magazines and newspaper, carrying snack dishes to the dishwasher. Taking dirty dish towels/rags to the basement. Emptying garbage. Gathering wet towels and wiping down bathrooms. Refilling dog's dishes with food and water. Laundry, laundry, laundry (did I mention the LAUNDRY!)

Weekly Chores

On Monday, I do a complete run through of entire house dusting, vacuuming, and mopping floors (I spend about 10 minutes per room, including the Kitchen since I am leaving it in good shape each night, for a total of 90 minutes.)

On Tuesday, I pick a room of the week to do some detail cleaning like looking for cobwebs, cleaning out a drawer, washing light fixtures, hawking for items to permanently de-junk or de-clutter from the house. This room of the week chore is never the same task. On most Tuesdays it's just a 20 or 30 minute commitment to that room and limited to just one room a week. Sometimes this motivates you so much, you will find it taking more than 20 minutes, but very rewarding. For example, if it's the Family Room this week, you may choose to clean the curio cabinet and wash each of your treasures, which may be a 2 to 3 hour job.

On Wednesday, I scrub the bathtubs, sinks, and toilets with one of my many bathroom products. Shake or wash rugs. Put out clean hand towels, replenish toilet paper stash, refill hand soap dispenser, clean mirrors and light fixtures, light candles (approximately 15 to 20 minutes each bathroom). Clean and vacuum the Living Room (10 minutes).

On Thursday I usually run to errands, grocery, meet friends for lunch, etc.

On Friday, gee, I did so well the rest of the week, can this day actually be free? Yep, this is my free day.

On Saturday I clean the bathrooms before we go off on our weekend activities because Sunday is such a great day for people to drop by.

Sunday is truly a day of rest, our family starts out with church and then we just rest. And since I'm no longer procrastinating about my house, I can truly rest.

Taking baby steps to change my procrastinating ways has me now managing my neater/cleaner home with the effort of just 2 or 3 hours per week. The getting up and doing those nightly de-cluttering chores is the key to freeing yourself from the drudgery of housework by keeping those mountains of clutter contained to daily mole hills. Remember, babies wobble, fall, and bump their way into learning to walk, but if you take those baby steps, you will soon be walking through a neater, cleaner, and more relaxed home.