April 17, 2020
The Magic of Catch-All Day
My secret to a clean house most of the time? I always incorporate and plan for a day to catch up every single week. I believe that this simple mind-shift is one of the secrets to a clean home and that is where the magic of Catch-All Day comes in.
Here’s that shift: Build in a day that accounts for life’s surprises, because you know they’re going to happen. Someone will get sick, you’ll be needed somewhere else, or maybe you just won’t feel like cleaning bathrooms or vacuuming. It’s absolutely necessary to give yourself grace and plan for that list to have more on it than you can accomplish. If you didn’t complete everything this week or left something out, go back and finish it up.
Catch-All Day is a day to catch up, get ahead, plan for the week ahead, relax, it’s what you need on any given Friday. Catch-All Day is how I integrate grace into the Clean Mama Routine. When you don’t get the bathrooms clean on Monday you KNOW that you have time on Friday to clean those bathrooms OR you can save them until the next week.
One of my favorite little routines is that I empty and wipe out the refrigerator every Friday before grocery shopping. I might not completely clear everything out like this every week but I do clear and wipe off the shelves every single week. What’s the point of this? Isn’t this extra work? Nope. This makes meal planning and prep easier, it keeps your refrigerator clean, and you know exactly how much food you have, and what you need to shop for.
Right now we’re doing grocery delivery every 10 days – 2 weeks with the goal being delivery on Friday so the routine stays the same.
DIY REFRIGERATOR CLEANING SOLUTION:
- Mix up 1 teaspoon of dish soap, 1 teaspoon baking soda, and about 4-6 cups of warm water.
- Wipe down the shelves with a well rung out BAR MOP TOWEL. Repeat until all shelves and drawers have been wiped clean. Dry if necessary.
I find that just this process of taking a visual inventory and clean out really helps me start my shopping list and menu plan for the week ahead – I keep it handy with my Homekeeping Planner and write down what I need as I’m quickly wiping down the fridge.
See my favorite weekly planning tools here.
I love Fridays for a lot of reasons but one is that I treat it as a day to get things done – I catch up on any Weekly Tasks, prep for the weekend and the week ahead, and I also tackle a Rotating Task or two.
Once you have the Daily Tasks and the Weekly Tasks down in your home and it’s running smoothly, it’s time to add in the Rotating Tasks. (If you are just starting the Clean Mama Routine, file this away, get the routine down first!) The Rotating Tasks are those deep cleaning tasks in your home – I have them scheduled throughout every month and they change monthly. You can find them in the free Monthly calendar (on the free printable page), in the Homekeeping Society subscription, and in the Guide to a Clean Home printable kit.
Most of the time I’ll just ‘attach’ a Rotating Task to a Weekly Task – for instance, vacuum baseboards is done with Wednesday, Vacuuming Day or polish wood furniture would just be adding a little more to my dusting routine on Tuesday, Dusting Day. I find that it’s nice to have a day that I can do those extra cleaning tasks – a great one for Friday is wipe down appliances. This fits with wiping down the refrigerator and is accomplished pretty quickly.
This post is part of Cleaning Class – I’ll be on Instagram quite a bit this week in Stories and going live – make sure you’re following along over there too.
Cleaning Class Introduction Post
NEW here? Start with this post —-> It’s Cleaning Class Week – DAILY TASKS
Monday – BATHROOMS + daily tasks
Tuesday – DUSTING + daily tasks
Wednesday – VACUUMING + daily tasks
Thursday – FLOOR WASHING + daily tasks
Friday – CATCH-ALL DAY + daily tasks
Saturday – SHEETS + TOWELS + daily tasks
Cecilia from Georgia Says
I followed along this week for the first time and it has given me encouragement and helped keep me on task. I have always tried to be neat and keep a clean house. However, after cleaning this way I find I may have a neat looking house, but far from clean!! One thing I am particular about is washing the mattress pad and pillows. I find if I do this on every month that has a “P” in it (April & September) I don’t have to remember the last time I washed them. I dread cleaning out my refrigerator! But after I get it done I’m delighted to open the doors and admire my work! Be safe and stay strong!
Clean Mama Says
Post authorGreat tip and thank you for joining in!
Diane Wood Says
Oh Becky I clean my refrigerator routinely. Why??? Because it needs it! I have seen refrigerators crammed full ( probably expired ) and need a good cleaning, yuck. In the past I’ve thrown away expired condiments from the refrigerator at church. Somebody has to do it!!
Terri Stamper Says
Do you have a recipe for a produce spray cleaner that I can make at home?
Thank you.
Clean Mama Says
Post authorHere you go:
https://cleanmama.com/diy-cleaners-fruit-veggie-sprayand-soak/