Cleaning for Dummies (aka me)

The older I get, the more I find cleaning to be rather therapeutic at times (key: at times).  Folding some laundry and watching a show on netflix is a great way to unwind after work.  I get to be productive (laundry) and lazy (watching TV) all at the same time.  However, I do not find it therapeutic to clean when we are having people over in 20 minutes, I got home from work 5 minutes ago, I need to start dinner, the bathroom is a mess, the kitchen floor needs to be swept, and the tablecloth is beyond wrinkled because I let it sit in the laundry basket for almost a week.  The Fly Lady calls that living in CHAOS (Can't Have Anyone Over Syndrome).  Funny but also true!

My goal via

My reality via

It's a little different for everybody, but for me the two biggest contributors to a messy place are:

1) We have way too much stuff (we're working on this, I'll continue to post our progress on this blog).

2) We don't have a good maintenance schedule for what needs to be done and when.

Now there are some obvious ones: dishes need to be done everyday, laundry needs to be done before you run out of socks and underwear, etc.  But what about all the other little things that add up to a clean home?  For example, how often should I launder our bath mat?  Or what about our kitchen floor -- how often to I really need to bucket-and-mop clean it?

I came across these handy-dandy checklists from Martha Stewart: daily, weekly and monthly tasks to keep your home clean and in good working order.  Perfect.

Again, do what works best for you -- for me, I slipped each checklist in a page protector and put them in the front of my "home book" (my collection of recipes, crafts, paint chips, fabric swatches, etc.) with a dry erase marker.  Reusable lists and a daily reminder of what needs to be done -- perfect for a visual learner who needs a check mark in order to feel productive. :)

P.S. My all time favorite, use-it-on-everything, cleaning product is Mrs. Meyers Lemon Verbana Countertop Spray.  This thing is a miracle worker and you really can use it just about anywhere.  A little goes a long way, I got a bottle of it from my sister-in-law for our wedding over a year ago and I just recently had to replace it!