I'm going to try something new. Not sure how it will work, but it makes sense to me if it does work out.
I want to set a timer for 10 min every day and have each of us do a "chore". Right now each of us have to keep our rooms clean. I do all the shopping and cooking, hubs does the floors and takes care of the dog, my daughter loads/unloads the dishwasher and son takes out all trash and cans to the street. Everything else sort of gets juggled around and is never done consistantly, hence the idea of my quick 10 min daily cleaning.
Can you help me think of a list of things we can pick from each day in hopes that the house will remain *relatively* clean? THANKS MAMAS AND PAPAS!!!
Thanks for the info so far! My house is 4 bedroom, 2 bath, kitchen, dining room, living room and family room and a pool, if that helps any. And we are "heavily furnished and decorated". I have been downsizing, but I'm sure I still have way more stuff than the average house. It is basically kept up, but I honestly only dust once or twice a year because there is too much stuff to move! LOL! That's why I thought if one of us can take 10 min to do it every week or every other week, then it will be kept up with better. And I think 10 minutes is managable without being overwhelming so even the kids can do something in 10 minutes. Thanks for the ideas and tips, I appreciate it!
Clean the sink and toilet in the bathroom
light dusting
wipe down the fronts of the appliances in the kitchen
clean kitchen sinks & wipe down the counters
general pick-up of common areas
We call this a "10 minute Tidy" in our house.
clear shoes by the door, empty dishwasher, take out garbage, fold laundry, restock kitchen stuff (napkins, paper towel, soda in fridge), clean stairs of clutter, wipe out bathroom sinks, restock toilet paper, clean bedroom mirrors, gather up all dirty clothes, strip bed linens, declutter school papers, gather up dry cleaning/library books.
Hope that helps.
Depending on how "clean/tidy" your space is before you start cleaning, and how large a house you have/ how much stuff you have in it-
OPTION 1 -
a methodical way to go about a 10 minute clean is to start at the entry of each room, and go clockwise cleaning for 10 minutes, or until you finish the job underway. i.e you walk into the living room, you scrub the light switch, door knob, door jamb, dust the bookshelf, removing all the books and tchotckes and giving them a good dust/ wash and your 10 minutes is up, but 1/4 of the bookshelf still needs doing, you finish the bookshelf project. tomorrow, you start off at the bookshelf, and you deal with the media center (dusting, sorting, chucking, donating), the potted plants, the end tables, the next day you deal with all the soft upholstery, the following day you do the windows, etc.
Seems like you are only taking small bites at it, but if you operate in this fashion, you will eventually get to everything, and there is a method to your madness.
OPTION 2 -
An alternative plan is to have everyone clean a quadrant of the same room on the same day.
OPTION 3-
make slips of paper that list cleaning jobs. Keep three jars. things which have to be done daily, weekly, and monthly, and seasonally. each of you draws jobs on monday night for your daily and weekly job.on the first monday of the month, you draw your montly job, on the first monday of a quarter, you draw your seasonal job. each person's tasks go on their own, publicly displayed chore sheet. they are responsible for seeing through their own jobs.
OPTION 4-
What we do. Hubs and I both work full time, we have 1 20 month old. We batch cook about 1 or 2 times a week, we clean the kitchen as we cook. We turn the dishwasher over, take the trash out, pick up/ put away toys every evening. Hubs does the laundry 1x a week. We've got robot minions who take care of the floor. I clean the bathroom as DS is in the bath. We don't accumulate paperwork or stuff, we are tidy, and we are encouraging DS to adopt similar habits. Hubs and I tackle one extra job a night. Last night, I gave the fridge a deep clean, removing all the shelves, sponging off the condiments, etc. Took about 10 minutes. Hubs replaced lightbulbs in ceiling fixtures and washed the glass on the fixtures themselves.
I hope this has been helpful.
Good luck to you and yours,
F. B.
Not sure if you've checked out pinterest, but I searched daily chore and there are a lot of neat ideas.
Here is a link, hopefully it works.
Great idea! You can do a lot in ten minutes if you focus on what you're doing.
You might start just with the timer idea - "I'm setting the timer for ten minutes and let's all see how much of our chores get done in that time." It could be that each of you will be surprised how much is accomplished.
You might start with the jobs that are assigned now. If your son is speedy and efficient at taking out the trash, ask him to see how long it takes to vacuum one room. Can he do both jobs in ten minutes? Try making it a game, with the objective to do the work quickly and well! Will you want to have a reward at the end? Maybe.
Each day a child has a few chores....
Sweep the kitchen
wipe down the base boards
Sweep the bathroom (always full of hair)
Dust the wood
Wipe down the kitchen counters
Vacumm the carpet
Wipe down the bathroom floor
Put up the clean dishes
Wipe down the stove
My (new)chore list is as follows before I was just winging it
Monday-laundry done by Tuesday & One daughter's hair
Tuesday-Kitchen floor & One daughter's hair
Wednesday-Wipe down bathroom wall & one daughter's hair
Thursday-Shampoo Carpet only twice a month
Friday- TBD
vacuum kitchen
vacuum hallways
vacuum stairs
empty dishwasher
pickup living room / family room
clean off bathroom vanity
clean mirrors and bathroom window / shower door
clean glass on sliding doors / storm doors
sort laundry & put a wash in
take wash out of dryer and fold
each family member puts away laundry
make beds / strip bed / change sheets
I think this a great idea - I'm going to try it around our house expecially as two teens are home in the afternoon for a few hours while I'm at work.
Seriously - check Pinterest. There are tons of these little "quick clean" guides and what clean to do each day so that your house is really quite clean.
Our 10 min include: pick up toys in the living room, clean off counters of mail and wipe down, grab the stick vacuum (daily) and go over all the hard living floor surfaces.
It is amazing how long 10 minutes really is:)
Dust a room, run the vacuum, sweep kitchen, wash windows in one room (do a different room each time), wash dishes or load dishwasher, put dishes away, wipe down stove - refrig- microwave, go outside and sweep sidewalks, porches or patios (less dirt to track in on shoes) vacuum furniture, make beds, toss aload in washer or dryer, fold a load of clean laundry.
If each person picks 2-3 things from the list to do daily the house will always look clean.
Check out www.flylady.net Her entire program is based on working 15min at a time.
