Setting Up a 5-Week Rotation

I love cleaning in areas for a few reasons:

1)      I get a chance to do a little deep cleaning when I can and how much I can. There is no guilt if I cannot do anything and I know the chance and reminder will come back around for that area again very soon.

2)      I get a chance to look more closely at smaller sections of my house and truly see what needs my attention.

3)      I tend to actually do a little deep cleaning a little through the year in small pieces than having the entire house pressing down on my shoulders.

I basically have a list of everything that could possibly need attention in those areas and then I think about how much time I have on that particular day, what is going on in my life and how much energy I can give to those areas.

For instance, when we got back into town from a trip and the next day was cleaning day, I decided to take it easy since we needed to clean up from the trip, do all that laundry and feel put together. Everyone pitched in for a few hours and then we decided it was good enough. I am always worn out after trips, so evaluating my energy level and what else needs my attention is the only way to really make sure things get done, but with balance.

Here is a list of things I think about when it’s time to focus on my entryways
(I have 3), mud room, hallways (3), stairs, porch and garage. Sometimes I do not mind working on things a little here and there through the week, but I know that I really like the feeling of being okay with whatever I get done until the next time this week comes around. 

Once in awhile, on a Saturday, I get a little boost of wanting something cleaned and I grab my kids to help me out. Most recently it was our garage. My oldest boy loved the chore of getting to use the blower to get all the leaves out of the corners in the garage while the other kids moved their bikes and put toys away correctly. Because the garage had been cleaned out about 10 weeks ago, the job went quickly and we were all back inside before any complaining could really even start. Which is another plus to cleaning in areas.

Here are a few ideas to get you started: 

·         Mop Mud Room

·         Clean out shoe basket/coat hooks (anything not being used that season)

·         Clean out red boxes (my kids have their own boxes in the mud room where they can put things they get right when they walk in the door (school papers, church, etc))

·         Clean the outsides of 2 windows (I totally skip this with snow on the ground)

·         Clean porch rails/porch ceiling

·         Sweep porches

·         Wash area rugs

·         Wash hoodies

·         Straighten linen cupboards

·         Wash coats/gloves/hats

·         Polish shoes

·         Clean fish/frog tanks

·         Vacuum edges (only in those areas)

·         Dust plant leaves (only in areas)

·         Straighten bookcases (areas)

·         Clean light fixtures (areas)

·         Clean mirrors/glass (areas)

·         Vacuum/sweep under furniture (areas)

·         Clean windows/sills (areas)

·         Baseboards (areas)

·         Clean doors (areas)

·         Cobwebs (areas)

·         Clean lightswitches/doorknobs (areas)

·         Dust picture frames (areas)

·         Clean out/off vents (areas)

·         Dust blinds (areas)

·         Clean gutters/window wells

·         Fertilize/repot plants

·         Dust stair rail

·         Sweep garage

·         Organize/clean out garage

Divide your house into 5 areas. Five weeks is the easiest way to divide up the space in your home because if you have to skip an area one week, it is only a few weeks to get back around to that area again. Also, when setting up your tasks in an app, you can easily schedule things in weeks of 5, 10, 15, etc.

Next, walk through your house and write down every task you do, like to do, do not like to do or have dreamed about getting to in each area. Many of the tasks are similar from space to space (dusting or vacuuming, for example), but some are specific to that one area.

Finally, put them into an app or on 3x5 cards or someway of creating a rotating way of getting to each of your 5 major areas every 5 weeks.

This is less overwhelming than it seems because a) you control your task list and get to change it from week to week according to what is going on in your life and b) many of these tasks will need done with greater time than 5 weeks between cleaning jobs. Taking care of your plants might be 15 or 30 weeks while cleaning a light fixture might be once a year, or maybe 50 weeks. Then, if it comes up and you cannot get to it at that time, either move it to another day or delete it all together for another 50 weeks.

Recently, since we were on vacation, I literally deleted every task that had to do with cleaning. Easiest cleaning days ever! Ha!