So, you'd think with my obsession over cleaning schedules/routines/etc I'd have an immaculate home right? WRONG! I'm obsessed with cleaning schedules and routines because I suck at keeping a clean and tidy house. It is the one thing I struggle with that really bothers me. Not good at cooking? No problem. But not being able to keep things tidy is really annoying to me. It has never been a priority - the thing I'm doing now to make the mess is the priority. Then before I know it there are little pieces of crap laying around and I don't understand why.
So this post is just another post on what I'm doing to keep my house tidy - yet as I write this the house is a wreck! Zach just left for another work trip, so rather than worry about the dust we wanted to spend time together. So don't come over today......you might not like what you see.
I created a routine
I can't remember when I came up with this routine, but it's been a while - 30 min of cleaning/tidying a day in a different zone. I'm pretty sure this isn't the first time this has been done either. I have a blog post here about the 4 questions I asked myself in order to make my perfect cleaning list and those questions have pretty much framed my routine. (I plan on having a video on routines in my planner up in the next few weeks as well!) I decided to clean only Monday - Thursday, 30 min a night, in one of four zones. I have a post that goes more in depth here.
I made the routine a priority
How can you do something regularly if you don't find it important? I decided to track my cleaning schedule using a habit tracker. I made it a priority to clean each day. It was a personal goal for myself to stick to my cleaning schedule. Keeping the routine a priority slowly meant that I was getting a better grasp on what I could do in that time. I'd set a time and the first few days of cleaning (like I know these next few days will be) the whole 30 min was spent tidying/cleaning. Priorities are to vacuum and to pick up the clutter. We have a dog so the hair is what gets on my nerves though I've gotten used to it and know there is no way it's going to go away any time soon! Eventually it would take me 15 min to clean and declutter and the rest of that time could be spent on a deep cleaning task - like the baseboards in the bathroom, or moving things around to dust/vacuum more thoroughly. I loved that part! Keeping up with the routine meant the chore got easier.
The routine made it less daunting
Cleaning one thing a day means I'm only focusing on that one task. I don't stand in a room and am completely overwhelmed making me want to stop before I've even started. In previous posts I've mentioned that I choose three things to focus on each of the days and make those the priority of the day. As long as those are done I can feel satisfied. By being super specific the task is narrowed and I can feel more confident in my ability to complete it. Even if it's been a busy week like the passed one focusing on three things means something is getting done to make the next time I'm in that zone easier.
A less daunting tasks is a task that gets done
Because I'm able to break my cleaning list into the most basic parts, I feel I can get more done. Like I mentioned above - eventually, from week to week and day to day, there's very little that needs to be handled and that leaves time to focus on things like deep cleaning. 30 minutes of something I feel like I have a handle on is totally different from standing in a room freaking out!
The biggest thing for me was making cleaning the priority. It's not going to get done if I don't do it. I would say I'm still a messy person but I try to be more aware of it and actually do something about it. When I'm making a mess I make an effort to clean up afterwards. If part of the thing you're doing is making a mess, part of finishing that thing is cleaning up.
If you haven't checked out the etsy shop recently, each printable kit has 6 habit trackers and there's even a full page of habit trackers!
How do you tackle your cleaning or any task that you hate doing? Are there any tips you have?
I like your blog site, but the light blue text is really hard to read. Black would be so much better.I would like to read more of your posts, but it's just work when it's hard to read.
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