January 17, 2013
Clean + Organized 2013 – Do These 4 Things Every Day
Last week I talked about the Daily Cleaning Tasks that I rotate through every week. These are the daily cleaning tasks that I post on my Facebook page and Tweet every morning as little reminders.
Monday – Bathrooms
Tuesday – Dusting
Wednesday – Vacuum
Thursday – Wash Floors
Friday – Catch-All Day
Saturday – Sheets + Towels
If you are just starting my cleaning routine, hopefully you’re getting used to spending 15 minutes or so every day on the daily cleaning tasks.
Here’s the ‘do these 4 things every day’ part of my cleaning routine:
Most days I need to at least do a quick sweep of the hardwood floors on our first level. Sometimes I need to haul out the vacuum cleaner and do a little touch up, but most of the time it’s just a once-over with my sweeper. My kids are in charge of crumb clean-up under the kitchen table with a little mini broom and dust pan. You can go here to see what products I use to sweep and vacuum my floors.
I wipe the kitchen counters after each meal and I check the bathroom counters daily and if they need to be wiped down, I give them a little wipe down. I use this method for kitchen counter clean up and keep bar mop towels in a cute jar for easy access and great wipe-down capability.
Clutter is different for every person and family. If you have a big clutter problem you could use this item on your list to get some decluttering done every day. Make a list of all your little clutter areas and then every day spend 15 minutes knocking them off your list. For me, I use this time to sort through daily mail and papers. I need to deal with paper clutter every day to keep up with it and not let it get out of control. (If you struggle with paper clutter too, I did a paper series a couple months ago – you can see all the posts here.
I do at least one load of laundry every.single.day. I know it sounds annoying and monotonous, but for me it’s the only way to stay on top of the potential piles and piles of laundry. So this is how it usually goes – Monday – kid clothes, Tuesday – adult clothes, Wednesday – cleaning rags and dishtowels, Thursday – kid clothes, Friday – adult clothes, Saturday – sheets and towels, Sunday – anything that’s unfinished. Curious about my favorite laundry products? Check out this post. What’s the key to making one load a day work? Actually starting AND finishing a whole load of laundry every day. Don’t let it pile up in a corner or on a table or couch or bed. Start it and finish it. It’s a great process to master because you will have clean clothes at the ready at any time and you shouldn’t have to iron as often if the clothes are put away right away.
So how’s the routine-ing coming along? Any questions on the 4 daily tasks?
Don’t forget to like me on Facebook and/or Twitter for daily reminders in your feed. If you’re a Pinterest-er, you can follow me here. And if you haven’t subscribed to posts in your inbox – just go to the little white box on the sidebar and enter your email address.
Have you seen my shop? It’s full of organizing printable goodness!
If you need a little help starting a cleaning routine, you’ll love my new ebook!
Erin Says
Dear Clean Mama,
Can you suggest deep cleaning ideas for the rotating schedule?
Thanks!
Eileen Says
Often enough these four are the ONLY things I get done but it makes such a huge difference overall to do them daily so on that catch up day, your load isnt TOO overwhelming! I’ve learned a lot from you Becky!
Kristy Says
I have heard others say to do a load of laundry every day. But my question is this: How do you do that when you have colors vs. whites and cold vs. warm laundry all within one category (kids’ clothes, adults’ clothes). For example, I have deep blue colored denim and white t-shirts. I would never wash them in the same load. And, I have delicate camisoles and bras vs. jeans and sweatshirts. Again, I would never wash them in the same load. So, I don’t understand how you can do 1 load of laundry a day using your system. Maybe you could break it down by category a different way (dark colored in warm, light colored in warm, light colored in cold) and do one of those each day. That is a little more difficult, because then you have to sort all the clothes (there are bins in each of our bedrooms for each person) every time. Am I over thinking this?
Becky Says
Post authorHi Kristy!
First off, I don’t buy a lot of whites for the kids and I always wash their clothes in cold. If I am washing something of the kids’ that is white, I will usually just lump all the kids’ whites together into one load. I do separate my clothes and my husband’s clothes up in whites and darks and towels get separated the same way. Whites are washed on warm and darks are washed on cold. Here’s the same breakdown from the post but with a little more specifics ( I hope it helps!):
Monday – kid clothes (2 loads, one white, one dark), Tuesday – adult clothes (2 loads, one white, one dark), Wednesday – cleaning rags and dishtowels – on hot, Thursday – kid clothes (one load dark), Friday – adult clothes (1 load, darks), Saturday – sheets and towels, Sunday – anything that’s unfinished.
Nina O Says
Hey, I thought of this as well. I went online to lnt (linens n things). They had a sale on a three basket laundry sorter. So, now I can just grab the bag off the sorter, and go! It’s actually really good, too. Because the clothes are always being rotated. So it cuts down on how many times I have to change out a pair of pants etc. Hope this helps!