Home Management: Simplified and Streamlined, Cleaning Routine

I have long struggled in keeping up with a regular cleaning routine. Most days, I feel like I do well to just keep up with the daily necessities (dishes, etc.)--but the reality is that toilets and floors do need to be cleaned regularly.

Our assignment for last week was to develop a simple cleaning routine. After giving it a little bit of thought, I decided to go back to the Motivated Moms chore planner. What could be more simple than someone else making a list of what needs to be done and when? :)

For $4, I downloaded this year's planner (regular price is $8, but once the year is halfway over, the cut the price in half). I have used Motivated Moms in the past, and I definitely can see the difference in our home when I keep up with the list (and I love having a list to check off--ha!). For me, the small price is definitely worth it. I'm not sure why I stopped following their list before (I think I finished 2010 using it, and never picked back up at the start of 2011 right after Benjamin was born), and I'm definitely glad to have it as a helpful tool once again in simplifying my homemaking.

I find that most days, the chores take around half an hour or less. In case you're curious, here are the chores on the list for the last two days:

Yesterday:
Change dishcloth/towel
Change hand towels in bathrooms
Clean top shelf of refrigerator
Inventory refrigerator contents and plan meals around leftovers
Vacuum main/public rooms or first floor
Clean Toilets
Replenish stock of toilet paper in bathrooms

Today:
Clean out purse/wallet
Pay/File bills
Clean bathroom mirrors
Clean/wash hairbrushes and combs
Dust children's/guest room(s)

Another thing I love about their system is that if you miss a day or part of a day, it's easy to catch up in little bits of time throughout the remainder of the week. And everything will show up on the list again--so if you just can't get to it one day, you can get to it the next time.

In addition to the Motivated Moms weekly chore lists, I have a list of chores I try to do every day to keep things tidy. These can be found throughout our daily routine which I posted several weeks back as part of this series .

This week, we're just going to focus on continuing to apply all the things we've worked towards throughout the series and we'll be wrapping up next week!

Be sure to visit Rachel at Intentionally Simple to see her cleaning routine!