Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day Dish Soap // Grapefruit Candle // J.R. Watkins All-Purpose Cleaner
I’m coming up on the halfway point of my 30 before 30 journey, as my “half birthday” is at the end of this month! This is a good time to take stock of how it’s going. First, I’ve been trying to incorporate a lot of the 30 before 30 goals into my monthly goals, which has been working out really well. And overall, I’ve really enjoyed and benefited from checking these items off so much. So far, they have all added joy to our lives, and that’s the heart of this! If I have some lingering ones toward the end that I just don’t believe are going to be as meaningful, I am happy to be flexible about editing the list. Also, while I may not actually get them all done before 30, that’s ok. Grace not perfection!
On that note, one goal that has made a wonderful difference in our lives lately is implementing a rotating cleaning schedule! Hiring a cleaning service is just not something we want to budget for right now, so I am always on the hunt for new ways to keep our place clean with minimal hassle. We used to try to clean the entire apartment on Saturday mornings. That was very overwhelming, often didn’t happen because we were out of town, and could really take some joy out of our weekends. I decided it was definitely time to try the rotating cleaning schedule before calling in the professionals, and I’m so glad I did!
My Rotating Cleaning Schedule
I’d love to hear from you about your ideas for this, but here is what I tried that has been working so far! First, I built 30 minutes of cleaning time into my morning routine. You can also do it right when you get home from work, after dinner, or as a mid-day break if you work from home! I wish I could say it was 15 minutes, but I’m just being honest and realistic here. You may be able to cut it down to 20 if you’re fast! Second, I broke my normal complete cleaning list into five manageable segments so that I don’t have to clean on the weekends. Then, I added tidying, and potentially dishes, laundry, and trash to the beginning of each day’s tasks. Here’s what my schedule looks like after those things:
- Monday: Linens and Dusting. Change sheets and towels, dust entire apartment, and use bee’s wax on furniture.
- Tuesday: Floors. Vacuum, Swiffer, and use handheld vacuum on crevices.
- Wednesday: Bathrooms. (The worst!) Scrub toilets, tubs, sinks, countertops, and faucets.
- Thursday: The Kitchen. Wipe down countertops, cabinets, and appliances. Clean out microwave, sink, and stovetop burners.
- Friday: Windex and Deep Cleaning. Windex all mirrors and mirrored furniture. Disinfect or deep clean humidifier, coffee maker, Pippa’s bowls, electric toothbrush, vacuum filters, computer and phone.
The Pros
The best part about this system is that you never have to tackle the entire project in one day. Each day is actually quite manageable. Even the bathroom day (my least favorite) doesn’t include the floors or mirrors. This fact makes me more likely to actually tackle it every day, because it’s really not that much!
Also, with daily maintenance, this just gets easier and easier. Once you’ve done a good initial deep clean of each area, it’s really not as dirty the next week and doesn’t take nearly as long.
Finally, something in your place is always clean! Even if you miss a day or two, you’re never looking at an entirely filthy home where everything needs to be cleaned. Plus, a week isn’t very long, so things usually look pretty good most of the week.
The Cons
The first is obvious. You’re cleaning something every day! That alone may be a deal-breaker for some people, and I get that.
Also, especially if you get bogged down in the tidying or laundry phase, it is a discipline to keep this to 20-30 minutes. Done is better than perfect, and the last thing we’re trying to do is spend more of your precious free time cleaning. So work quickly and remember that a little dust never hurt anyone.
Do you have any tips to add? Do you do your cleaning little by little or all at once?
