Company is coming. You feel the need to impress your mother-in-law, accommodate a ghastly amount of family members, and have a relatively organized linen closet. With all of the other stresses and demands brought along with the holidays, lets not forget about cleaning!
What is a tired and busy woman to do?
First, let's take a tip from Fly Lady and shelve perfectionism. Perfect is for the birds- not for people with children, full-time jobs, or laundry to do and mouths to feed. If you dream of inviting visitors into an enchanting, fairy-tale-picturesque and pristine home, do yourself a favor now and forget about it. Be realistic- a tidy, welcoming, and festively decorated home is possible (unless your circumstances are particularly difficult, in which case, just ignore me). A perfect home is not.
Get into a cleaning routine. If you don't already have one, I highly recommend developing a regular cleaning routine. Right now in our home Friday is my cleaning day. I scrub the bathroom, vacuum the high traffic areas, and mop my linoleum floors. It is so nice to start the weekend with my husband and babe in a clean house :).
My weaker points are tasks like vacuuming side rooms and dusting- these things don't get quite as dirty, and are rarely seen by outsiders... but unfortunately, still need to be done. My goal for today's assignment is to develop a routine that includes these neglected areas!
If you're looking for cleaning schedule inspiration, these are a few resources I commend to your attention:
Fly Lady- This former "messy" helps you organize your life from top to bottom in her 31 Baby Steps. Each day she gives a special cleaning mission, and each week she focuses in on a different "zone" of your home (master bedroom, kitchen, bathroom, etc.). Very helpful!
Cleaning Your Home in 30 Minutes Per Day- Lindsay at Passionate Homemaking shares her plan of attack for keeping a relatively orderly home (with three littles!). I think I will be adopting her proposed plan- it includes both tasks that need to be done weekly, and rotates the tasks that need to be done less frequently. Very sensible and practical!
15 Minutes of Cleaning A Day- Becky at Organizing Made Fun shares the routine that kept her house clean and her sanity intact when her kids were little little. Very useful!
The Case for Once a Month Cleaning- Jamie of Simple Homeschool shares how once a month deep cleaning works for her as a homeschool mom! She doesn't use this system any longer, but it worked great for a certain season in her life. Perhaps it will work for you?
Make a Master List. While you can't have a perfect home, there may be some legitimate special tasks you need to accomplish before all of the holiday
Go through your home and make a list of the jobs you'd really like to get done before Christmas or company arrives. Depending on your number of tasks, you might have to do one a week or one a day until your deadline. Spread the tasks out evenly over the next month and a half.
Today's Assignment: Develop a cleaning routine if you don't have one already. Try it out over the next couple of weeks, and if it isn't working for you, find another that does. Schedules should serve you, so if a particular plan doesn't work with your life, go with one that does! Walk around your house and make your "master list" of projects to be done before the holidays. Plan a day to do each task, mark it on your calendar, and follow through!
Don't Miss the Other Posts in this Series!
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| Photo Credit |
Gifting: Your Plan of Attack
Gifting: Think Outside the Box
Gifting: To Make or Purchase?
Christmas Cards: Your Plan of Attack
Christmas Cards: Making Your List and Checking it Twice
Christmas Cards: I've Got Your Number
Holiday Food: The Menu
Holiday Food: A Timetable
Holiday Food: Let's Get Down to Baking
Playing Christmas Keep Up
Holiday Schedule: Keep it Simple, Keep it Meaningful
Holiday Schedule: Plan and Chart
Linked with: Growing Home .
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