De-Clutter Your Life (Week 1, Day 7)
De-Clutter Your Life – Week One
Hip2Save Cleaning Calendar
Many of you mentioned the need for a weekly cleaning schedule. To help out a little (since I can’t actually go to your house and clean it for you) I put together a cleaning schedule that works well for me.
SCRUB-A-DUB! 🙂
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Monday
- Change/wash sheets & bedding
- Empty all wastebaskets
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Tuesday
- Sweep/mop all hard flooring surfaces (excluding bathroom/s & kitchen) and vacuum all carpeting & rugs
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Wednesday
- Clean bathroom/s – a) With a disinfectant spray or homemade natural product (try vinegar or dish soap + baking soda solution) wash and dry the sink, tub/shower & toilet b) Sweep and mop/scrub floor and base boards c) Shine mirror with a glass cleaner or homemade natural product (try vinegar + water solution or newspaper for wiping rather than a cloth or paper towel) d) If necessary launder shower curtain, curtain liner and/or bath mats
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Thursday
- Wipe down all window sills, stair railings and spot clean walls
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Friday
- Using a microfiber cloth, duster or dryer sheet (reader tip!) dust all table tops, shelving, bed frames, etc.
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Saturday
- Clean Kitchen- a) Sanitize counter tops (Be sure to remove all small appliances and other items first) b) Sweep/mop kitchen floor & shake out and/or vacuum area rugs/mats c) Clean the inside of the microwave d) Wipe down and polish (if you have stainless) appliances e) Toss expired/spoiled refrigerator items f) If necessary degrease range top and/or range hood
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Sunday
- Put your feet up! 🙂
DAILY DUTIES
(TIP – Choose a time of day that you can dedicate 20 – 30 minutes to…. First thing in the morning or end of the evening usually works best. Pick some motivating tunes, put on your headphones and enjoy yourself!)
Bedroom’s – Make bed’s * Place clean clothes away and dirty clothes into hamper * Tidy night table and dresser surfaces
Bathroom’s – Wipe down sink, tub & bathroom fixtures * Squeegee shower door after each use * Tidy countertop * Empty trash can if needed
Kitchen – Wash and store dishes, pots & pans * Wipe down counter surfaces, range top & table top * Scrub and dry sink * Take out the garbage if needed * Living Room, Hallway, Staircase * Adjust sofa cushions and fluff pillows * Put magazines, toys and other clutter in their appropriate places
MONTHLY DUTIES
(TIP – Pick one day a month to knock it all out by assigning tasks to each family member…. then choose a reward to enjoy together!)
Throughout House – Wash windows and glass doors * Clean screens * Clean/dust blinds and wash curtains if necessary * Clean and/or replace air filter of heating/cooling unit * Dust light fixtures & wall vents * Wipe down walls & baseboards * Vacuum under & behind furniture, remove cushions from sofa and chairs and vacuum crumbs & debris
Kitchen – Clean cabinet surfaces * Wipe down cupboard and pantry shelving * Thoroughly clean interior and top of refrigerator * Clean oven interior or run self-clean cycle if available
Bathroom– Use a heavy duty cleaning agent to scrub any grime and soap scum built up from sink, tub, shower and plumbing fixtures
ANNUAL/QUARTERLY DUTIES
(Most of these are chores that may be done as frequently as you desire.)
Bedroom/s – Flip Mattresses according to tag instructions * Rid closets and drawers of items that have been outgrown or not worn in 6 months. Sort items by consign/eBay, charity, family, trash, etc.
Bathroom/s – Clear medicine cabinet, bathroom pantry and vanity drawers of medications, toiletries, etc. that have expired or that are no longer being used
Kitchen – Pull out the refrigerator to vacuum coils and vent * Go through pantry/cabinets and throw away items that have exceeded their shelf-life. (Check to see if you can donate these items to a local soup kitchen or charity.)
Living Room, Hallway, Staircase – Shampoo carpets and rugs * Clean dryer vent * Clean out and re-organize hall closets, kitchen pantry, built-ins, etc (Donate and/or sell items that you wish to remove.)
You Rock Collin!
Thank you so much! I have been needing this like you would not believe! You’re the best, Collin.
Thanks for this Collin. I also work outside the home full time and by the time I pick up the toddler from day care and get home, it’s after 5! Some days, it feels like I’m swimming up stream, trying to make a decent dinner and still spend time with my sweet daughter. But I think this list will help motivate me and budget my time a little bit better! Most days, i’m overwhelmed by the untidiness of my house, so I’m excited to try some of these tasks and slowly improve! Does anyone have any tips about getting the hubby to pitch in a little bit more? Without sound like a nag!
Best way to get the husband to pitch in is to assign him something to do. Mine doesn’t mind doing things, just needs a little “guidance.” 🙂 So just show him the list for the day, and say pick what you want to do!
when is laundry day? haha- with five kids, every day is laundry day! Thanks for the list:)
1.I think this may be helpful. I will not clean the top of refrigerator.I covered with aluminium foil with the help of tape and once in 2 months i remove the old foil and change again. No need to clean.
2.For Garbage, keep 3 bags one inside one and put into your garbage, every time it completes remove the top one’s and you will have 2 remaining and you no need to clean it and no need to keep a clean bag every time you throw. This takes little time but this will be helpful. I thought this is a silly thing but after using this tip its easy now.
3.Clean your stovetop by mixing 1cup white vinegar and 1tsp baking soda and wet stovetop with this and after few minutes wipe it off. Even the plates of stove top i mean which are under the coil. i don’t know what to say. Take those plates out and in sink fill water and pour some vinegar and soak these plates for one night and clean next day it goes of easily and can’t believe yourself.
4.Even you can clean your toilets,tub daily by mixing a cup of white vinegar and 1tsp baking soda pour this mixture in the tub and on to the walls and toilet leave for half an hour and just pour water it cleans everything and sometimes am lazy i will do bath and after completing my bath everything goes off. While i bath just take care of walls that all sides become wet.And cleaning of your tub is over.After a week you can clean with brush it will not take morethan 5minutes. This will be very easy if intrested try this.
The only thing i don’t like is smell of vinegar.
If you add a few drops of essential oils to the mix it helps the smell and certain oilds-like thyme oil, actually have anti bacterial properties and can be found at most health food stores
This listing is fantastic, but how do women that work 40 hours a week outside the job and juggle a household and teen activities, still maintain their household chores and the meals? Would love the tips on that!
Thank you so much for posting this. We have a family of 6 and most of the time it is hard to keep up with all of the house duties (cleaning, laundry, etc.). This schedule really excites me and I feel it is actually doable. So many times I feel like I need to clean the whole house in one day. It never happens and I always feel like a failure at the end of the day. Thank you again!
I love this list. Some days I try to do it all and end up half completely each. This is so simple. It’s taking less time than before. It fits perfectly too b/c Monday we gather the trash and Tuesday is pick up which means the floors are free of bags 🙂
I usually do sheets Friday but with company this past weekend I was able to kick off with your list and do it Monday.
Wow, Collin!! Is there anything you don’t do?! Thanks so much for this awesome list! Just in the last couple of weeks I decided I was going to make a list for myself so I could get this kind of thing under control, but in the process just felt overwhelmed! I’ve tried Flylady a couple of times, and although her system is suppose to be really helpful for those wanting to start a cleaning routine, I just find that I feel overwhelmed when I look at her site/read her emails. Thank you for everything you do – I hope you realize how much you’re helping others!!
Oh, and for the people that were asking about where laundry fits in – One tip that I’ve stuck with from Flylady is to do one load every day. For me, I try to do bedding & towels on Mondays, baby clothes on Tuesday, darks on Wednesday, and whites on Thursday and anything additional on Fridays taking Saturday and Sunday off. When I stick to this it really seems to help keep laundry from piling up too much. And, by one load a day I mean wash, dry, fold and put away that load.
What a great idea! It seems like I always have a pile of laundry on the sofa. 🙁
Thanks for the list Collin! I printed it out and my sheets are in the washer. 🙂
NICE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I LOVE THIS LIST>
Does anyone know of good ways to “de-grease”? I can never seem to get my stove top as clean as I’d like.
https://www.associatedcontent.com/article/46776/home_remedies_to_remove_sticky_grease_pg2.html?cat=6
This is a site I found for helping with degreasing stovetop.