karin
Posted : 12/3/2006 12:27:41 PM
It's tough to keep up with everything, and each person has their own standards of clean. Some people can handle clutter or whatever better then others. I work full time, and DH works more then full-time. He will help when he is home, but also adds messiness as he will leave a coffee mug out, mail not put away, laundry started, but not finished. I try to clean as much as possible when he is not home, and relax and enjoy his company when he is home for a few days. I will second the 15 minute cleaning idea. I basically do this, it it works well for me. With 2 saints and 4 cats I
MUST vacaume every day. I own a canister vac that I really like, and try to make vacuming *fun* rather then a boring chore. As in let's see how much hair I can fill the canister with today??? It's nutty, but I have to do something so it does not suck so much.
Daily Chores
* Make bed
* scoop litter boxes
* vacume family room, couch and kitchen
* do dishes (always, always, always....I hate dishes in the sink)
* wipe down counters and get coffee pot ready for the next day after dishes
* sort mail (throw away junk, stack bills in drawer)
* if the bathroom gets gets funky wipe down with clorox wipes
* do a load of laundry if needed
The above takes me less then 30 minutes. I can whip through it in no time. For example I can vacume the house while dogs are outside eating, and usually get the dishes done before they come back in the house.
One day a week I deep clean the house, finish any last laundry and put clean sheets on my bed. This does not take more then a couple of hours because I keep the house neat and tidy each day. My biggest hint is do your "chores" daily as soon as you get home from work, then you can enjoy the rest of your evening, and
Whatever you get out, put it away. It makes my life easier to sort dirty laundry in baskets as I get undressed, wash dishes while cooking dinner, sort mail as soon as i come home. This way each task is smaller and more manageable instead of letting each days clutter accumulate and then trying to clean everything.
My last piece of advice is this quote by
Lao Tzu "Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished." Lately I have been trying to remember that no matter what everything will get done somehow, and I need to take a few minutes each day and enjoy life.