Simple Ways to Keep Household Chores Organized

I am not a clean freak.  A clean bathroom is such a good feeling.  Dumping the dirty water in the utility sink after washing the kitchen floors makes me smile. Crawling into bed at night with newly washed sheets is heavenly.  But getting it all done.  Such. A. Pain!

Enter the power of Google Calendar (my preferred family-calendar).  I use their simple Task interface to list the necessities.  Then my must-dos are integrated with the family calendar as well as my weekly meal plan and it is all simple and easy to stay organized.

Some things are done every 10 days, some things once a month and then some things even every couple of months.

Add an item as a Task and add any notes (I comment on how often I would like it done so I remember when it’s time to advance it … I’ll explain in a moment).

Stepping through creating a Task on Google Calendar
An Example of what I plan on getting done today
When you are done with the task that day simply click on it and change the due date.  By not ‘checking it off’ and instead moving the due date I am saving the work of creating a new task for next time it must be done. Most of mine are set to 10 days so I simply advance the due date by 10 and click ‘Close’.  I always give myself Sundays off so anything that would fall on a Sunday I simply put on Monday.  I tend to have more than one task a day but staying organized gets it done.

If I don’t get something done I don’t feel guilty.  My need for organization is not worth the guilt.  I simply leave it on the calendar and when I do finally get to it I advance it 10 days from the day I finish it.

So what makes up my list?  Glad you asked.

Every 10 Days (each bullet point is a ‘Task’ in my calendar):

• Clean Bathrooms – we have two and a half
• Change my sheets and my 3 year old sheets (that makes up one load in my washer)
• Change the two older boys sheets who are both on full beds (that makes up another load in the washer)
• Wipe down all the doorknobs and light-switches with a Clorox wipe (or three or four)
• Mop the Kitchen Floor
• Vacuum Upstairs (all of our bedrooms, since Sunday nights are our ‘Clean your bedroom nights’ I always put this on the first Monday or Tuesday after 10 days)
• Vacuum Downstairs
• Vacuum the stairs (just a general pain in the neck so it gets its own day)
• Dust the TV Room
• Dust the Living Room
• Dust the Bedrooms

Once a Month:

• Bleach the Counters – Move everything off the counters and use bleach to wash them
• Run Vinegar and Baking Soda through the dishwasher
• Clean the Refrigerator – Wipe down the shelves and clean out the drawers (By the way, this Pinterest idea has helped me keep the frig much cleaner.)
• Clean the outside Refrigerator – I admit I don’t get to this very often in the winter because I’m a freeze-baby.  I give myself some grace and clean out every two months in the winter.  And quite frankly, it stores mostly drinks and is used much more frequently when the kids are outside playing more often.
• Clean Range with Baking Soda mix

Every two months:

• Change the HVAC Air Filter. More often in the winter then summer since we don’t run the Air Condition very often.  This is a great way to remember to do it though.

As you can see there are way more then 10 items so some days I have one major thing to do and other days I have two.  But having it listed and organized really helps me to just get it done and keeps my expectations in check.

How do you stay organized?  What are some of your “must-do-chores” versus “Company’s coming.  Must clean!”  I started doing this system last year at about this time and it has worked!  I love finding a way to get organized that sticks.

Happy cleaning!

Leanne

Join Us    byUnknownonThursday, January 16, 2014Email ThisBlogThis!Share to TwitterShare to FacebookShare to PinterestMilitary Life:cleaning,Leanne,new years resolutions,Organization