a cleaning what?

This is the response I got from my mom once when I told her I had a cleaning schedule.

"A cleaning WHAT?" she said.

"Yeah, you know... a cleaning schedule." I responded.

It sounded normal in my head, but when I said it out loud I got an opposite response. Oh well. I don't mind being a bit non-normal from time to time. For my sanity about 5 years ago I made myself a cleaning schedule. And I love it! I was going crazy trying to keep up with my house cleaning. I decided having little ones in the house was going to cause me to stay in this crazy stage at least for the next 10 years until we were done with the little kid stages. 10 years is a long time to feel crazy. Part of what was so stressful was feeling like I was never going to find time to get to a certain chore. They just piled up on me and I would go to bed feeling very defeated in the "proverbs 31 woman" area of my life. Not that she only keeps a tidy and efficient running house, but it is a big part of her duties I assume.

Finally, I decided to try a schedule. Sounds a bit much, but it worked! I sat at my computer and typed a little trial schedule of when things needed to be done. As I tried it, I tweaked it a bit and now I have what I like to call my "mama's master house schedule"! Beautiful!

What do I love so much about it? Well... let me tell you! I love that I wake up each day and know what needs to be done. I love that when it is a Thursday and I see my weekend is full and I know my bathrooms need cleaned really bad, I can relax, because bathroom cleaning day is just a few days away and I have already carved time out to do this task. I love that I don't have to feel overwhelmed cleaning a bunch of rooms all at once. I love that my oldest knows when it is bedroom cleaning day and he just does it now. Awesome. I love that random cleaning things get done... like baseboard cleaning, window washing, and getting cobwebs down...without having to stress about when the last time was they were cleaned or if ever? I love that when my husband is bored on a Saturday I can look at my last week's cleaning list and see what may have been missed due to a sick kid, a field trip, or doctor appointments. And then I love giving them to him when he can't possibly think of anything to do :) I love knowing my house is running in a somewhat organized chaos mode. It's still considered organized even if no-one can tell but me, right?

Yes, my Type A cleaning schedule has made me a bit more sane for a few more years. Thank goodness, because we all know there is more important things to stress about then whether or not our homes are clean!!!

Mama's Master House Schedule

Sunday :: Day of rest
Monday :: Bathrooms
Tuesday :: Floors (sweep & vacuum/mop every other week)
Wednesday :: Dust
Thursday :: Bedrooms
Friday :: Basement
Saturday :: Catch up day from anything not finished during week

:: Do laundry daily as needed
:: Clean & change sheets on bed every other Thursday

Wash Windows :: Inside every month, outside in May & October
Baseboards :: Clean in January & July
Cobwebs :: Feb, May, August, November
Outside :: Care for as needed