Make a Cleaning Resolution that Sticks via Clean Mama

It’s almost 2015 and I am guessing you’re itching to get your house in order and cleaned up and make this the year you ‘finally’ get everything cleaned and organized. Right? If a cleaning/organizing/decluttering resolution hasn’t worked in the past, it probably won’t work for you again unless you approach it differently. Here’s why:

  • No one’s perfect.
  • There probably are other people involved.
  • You work outside of the home, or inside the home, or some combination of the two. Keeping house is hard work to combine with real life.
  • People get sick, tired, bored, busy, fill in the blank with whatever thing has kept you from completing this goal.

These are perfectly good reasons to forego a decluttered/clean/organized house. I absolutely 100% totally get it. But if you’re like me and a messy house makes you a little crabby, I’m here to show you how to REALLY make 2015 your year to get your act together and get your home decluttered/clean/organized.

First things first, you have to DECLUTTER. It’s the only way you’ll get past the stuff and the noise and create a little visual peace and quiet in your home. Decluttering is not organizing. It’s an essential component to effective organizing, without it you won’t form any new habits, you’ll just be moving piles around. Decluttering is a process – keep reading to see how I’m decluttering my whole house in January.

CLEAN A LITTLE BIT EVERYDAY (EVEN WHILE YOU’RE DECLUTTERING):

I am a HUGE fan of a cleaning routine (surprise, surprise). I have developed a simple routine that lots of families follow on a daily basis. I feel like it’s a great solution for keeping the mundane tasks of homekeeping in check. Just a little bit everyday when you can and before long that routine becomes a habit and just second nature. I hope that you find that my cleaning routine (go here for more detail on my routine if you’re new here) is SIMPLE, EASY TO IMPLEMENT, and full of GRACE.

HOW TO MAKE THE CLEAN MAMA CLEANING ROUTINE WORK FOR YOU:

  • Decide when you will do your daily cleaning. Commit to making that time work in your schedule. I rarely or never have a block of time to just clean or organize. I have minutes here and minutes there that add up. It’s important to make those little snippets of time count to move ahead in your homekeeping.
  • Fifteen minutes before work and fifteen minutes when you get home and you’ll be cleaning routine-ing in no time.
  • Don’t get caught up in what you didn’t get accomplished on any particular day – move on to the next day and just start there. There is nothing perfect about living in a home for more than 5 minutes. Embrace the imperfection and keep going. It’s real life!
  • Stop making excuses and start. If you have a hard time making time or if you just don’t have time, set a timer for 5 or 10 minutes/day and do what you can. Increase your time when you are able to and keep going

WHAT YOU SHOULD DO EVERY DAY:

Daily Cleaning Tasks

Every single day I accomplish a handful of daily tasks – chances are you do too. These daily tasks are little things that get done on a daily basis and take minutes but staying on top of them keeps the clutter and visual chaos away. On my daily list are the following tasks:

daily cleaning tasks - clean mama

Daily tasks for your household may vary, but these are the main tasks that get checked off my list every.single.day. These simple tasks have a couple hidden tasks involved too – checking floors sometimes means a quick sweep under the kitchen table, other days it may include getting out the vacuum cleaner. Clutter refers to taking care of any clutter or the act of decluttering. This includes things like making beds, opening and dealing with mail, sorting out homework, etc. Laundry gets done every day. I am easily distracted and hate laundry – so I do at least a load every day from start to finish. It’s a great system – try it! Wipe counters is clearing counters, loading/unloading the dishwasher, checking bathroom counters, etc.

WEEKLY CLEANING TASKS – THE GLUE TO THE CLEAN HOUSE:

Weekly Cleaning Tasks

Every day of the week I tackle a larger cleaning task. Monday is bathrooms day, Tuesday is dusting day, etc. Each task builds on the next and the system itself flows nicely through the week. Friday is catch all day – a day of grace to catch up on anything that didn’t get accomplished during the week or to work on paperwork, bills, etc. Saturday is when I wash all the sheets and towels – this a great way to start fresh for the next week.

CM | day icons

 

Rotating Cleaning Tasks

I also assign a handful of rotating cleaning tasks to each month – these tasks I complete on Fridays OR as I’m cleaning during the week. For instance if I’m dusting (on a Tuesday) I will dust the light fixtures for the month at that same time. (You can see the rotating cleaning tasks for each month on the free monthly calendars referenced below or in any cleaning product in my shop.)  If you are just starting with a cleaning routine, you can easily leave the rotating cleaning tasks out and just do the daily and weekly tasks for a month or two until you want to add in the rotating tasks.

HOW TO KEEP IT UP PAST JANUARY:

  • Get a friend to hold you accountable and do the routine with you.
  • Use a checklist to track your progress. (See below for a freebie for January.)
  • Don’t quit just because you skip a day or a week – keep going and realize that setbacks happen and are part of life!

Need a little jumpstart this January? Join #clutterfree30 with me. It’s 30 minutes a day to clutter-free home! Follow me on Instagram @cleanmama  for daily prompts and tips for decluttering different spaces in your home. I’ll be updating here on the weekends and I’ll be featuring favorites from Instagram that are tagged #clutterfree30. (You can follow along even if you don’t have a smartphone – you can get an Instagram account with any computer or tablet. Or if you don’t want to sign up, you can peek at my Instagram account without an IG account :)

clutterfree challenge

If you’re wanting to do the #clutterfree30 challenge and want a checklist, I’ve got you covered! I combined the cleaning calendar with the challenge for a free printable, perfect to get your 2015 off to a great (fresh) start! If you don’t want to do the challenge and just want the cleaning routine, there’s a free printable for that on the linked post. I give away a free cleaning routine printable every month, sign up for my emails so you don’t miss it!

January 2015 Cleaning Routine + IG declutter challenge

 

I have a couple RESOLUTION KITS in my shop, perfect for getting the year in order:

 

Everyday Resolution Kit - Clean Mama Printables

EVERYDAY RESOLUTION KIT

 

Clean Mama Printables Streamlined Life RESOLUTION Kit

STREAMLINED LIFE RESOLUTION KIT