Once a Month Cleaning Update

I mentioned back in May about being interested in once a month housecleaning. Well, I'm back with a report.

I started out going only two weeks between cleanings. By cleaning, I mean the list of weekly cleaning chores, such as mopping, dusting, wiping down cabinets, etc. Not the daily chores.

After doing bi-weekly cleaning a couple of times, I tried going the full month. I really love it!

The most obvious clue that I was going longer between cleanings was dust. Which, by the way, I use the crochet dust mitt I made. It works great!



So, like I was saying, it really wasn't that obvious that I was going longer between cleanings. Really, what makes or breaks a cleaning schedule is the daily work.

If I see that someone got something on the cabinet in the kitchen, I wipe it while I'm wiping the counters off. If I see that someone let the bathroom sink dirty, I rinse it out when I'm there. It's those sort of things that make a difference in your cleaning, regardless of your cleaning schedule.

Will I continue once a month cleaning? Yes! It frees up an hour or two every week that I can spend on other tasks. But yet, it doesn't take any longer to clean on cleaning day!

Although, I will vary the cleaning schedule according to our family happenings. We're having company at the end of this month, so it makes sense to wait and clean right before they get here. If it works out better for us and our schedule to do a 3 week schedule, I will be flexible.

So what do you think? Do you think a monthly cleaning schedule would work for your family?

Once a Month House Cleaning?

Have you read any of these articles about once a month house cleaning?

The Case for Once a Month Cleaning - Part One

How to Clean Your House Once a Month - Part Two

A Day in the Life of a Once a Month Cleaner - Part Three

They definitely have my attention!

Since I'm still not feeling up to par most days, could I really skip most weekly cleaning tasks? It sure would be nice to be able to put my energy into other projects that need to be done besides cleaning.

So, I'm going to try this!

Well, actually, I'm going to ease into it by trying bi-weekly cleaning. Since we're having company the last Friday of this month, I don't want to subject them to my cleaning experiment.

No weekly cleaning for me this week. Yea!  I spent my time and energy working in the garden instead.  :)

So what do you think? Would you try monthly cleaning?

Is Housework a Blessing?

Most people think of housework as hated chores to get through, not a blessing.

I consider housework to be a blessing.

I have changed my weekly cleaning day to Thursday, instead of Friday, so I can cook for the Sabbath on Friday. I thought I'd share a few ways I get a blessing and bless others while cleaning.

Every time I get my dusting mitt, out to dust, I think "Oh, I get to pick a new Bible verse today." We have Scripture holder on top of the entertainment center in our living room. Every week, when I dust, I shuffle the Scripture cards and pick a new one. See?

I am blessed while dusting!

Don't like laundry or ironing? Pray for each family member as you handle their clothes.

Don't like dishes? Turn on praise music while you work. Or, invite the family in the kitchen with you, not necessarily to help, but to talk.

If your family disappears when your working in the kitchen, use the time to pray. These can be rare peaceful moments in an otherwise busy household.

Doing housework is not only a blessing for us, we in turn bless our families.






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Our Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving, that time of year when we are supposed to be thankful. I'm thankful everyday for what the Lord has done for me and provided for me. I have tried to teach my children to be thankful everyday also. That said, Thanksgiving is a great time to gather the family together and reflect on all that the Lord has done this past year.

Here are a few pictures from around our house:

2 different looks we've had on our dining room table this fall season.

In the dining room corner

The kids Thanksgiving Tree on the front door. Yes, a girl made the leaves this year!

Basket of flowers to the right of the front door

Basket of flowers and candle on the piano

Yes, those are the tissues tucked down inside the flower basket!

Our Thanksgiving Tree is where the kids, parents, and even guests and friends are welcome to take a leaf, write what they are thankful for and put it on the tree.  I try to have the kids do one leaf a day, starting on November 1st. Guests are welcome to add as many as they want. This encourages kids to think about being thankful on a daily basis. Since we've been doing this for a number of years, like almost 20?, I have had many a good chuckle at some of the things the kids put on their leaves. And, nope, I don't make them change a thing. If there are leaves on the tree that say "kool aid" and "legos", well, I'm just happy my kids are thankful they have something to drink and something to play with. :)

I had a great idea this year, instead of the Thanksgiving Tree on the front door, we would use a wreath. I had a nice grapevine wreath, and was going to buy the leaf garland to cut the leaves off. The kids would use a permanent marker to write what they were thankful for, and tuck them in the wreath. I love how pretty that sounds. My kids didn't. "But, Mom, it's tradition!" was the great chorus that went up. So I quickly gave up that idea, and went with tradition.

Food is another area of Thanksgiving that tradition dictates. Here's our menu:

Turkey
Stuffing
Mashed potatoes
Gravy
Creamed onions using onions I canned from our garden
Corn (this year, we're having corn on the cob from a neighbors garden that we froze)
Green beans
Cranberry sauce- the jellied kind, of course!
Homemade dinner rolls
Gingersnap pumpkin pie
Pumpkin pie
Apple pie
Chocolate pie

The Gingersnap Pumpkin Pie is new, and oh, so delicious. Of course, you also see the traditional pumpkin pie on the menu, too. There would be a pumpkin pie revolt from certain traditionalists if there wasn't! lol

Dad is taking his vacation this week, so no school for us!

Here are a few Thanksgiving links for you to check out:
Simple Schooling Thanksgiving Cursive Copybook
Thanksgiving and more Thanksgiving ideas
Read the Thanksgiving Proclamation
Free Thanksgiving Ebook

What are some of your favorite Thanksgiving traditions and recipes?



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Children's Daily Routines

Today I'm sharing my 4 youngest kids morning & afternoon routines. I would love for them to do the lists in order, they love to not do the lists in order. I try not to stress about it, as long as they mostly get everything done. I don't always get everything done on my lists, so I can't expect more of them. And if they're doing their schoolwork in pajamas? At least I didn't have to tell them to do their schoolwork, as I would have told them to get dressed first!

These are their regular jobs to do. We do ask them to help us do other things as needed, for example, they have to help with the goats sometimes. Or help dad with projects.

These lists are their summer lists, as you can tell by the gardening and weed wacking. lol The laundry on their lists is their own clothes. They don't wash their clothes every day. This is the summer schedule, and since we hang out clothes out on the line, it's on the list every day, they just pick a sunny day. When we change to the winter schedule, they have an assigned laundry day.

They do have evening chores to do, but our evenings are more relaxed with Dad home, so they don't have a written list.

I hung their lists on their bedroom doors, so they can easily refer to them as they work.

Image via Wikipedia

Zachary's Morning Routine (age 10)

Get Dressed
Put dirty clothes in hamper
Make bed
Eat Breakfast
Start laundry
Pick up Schoolroom
Schoolwork

Zachary's Afternoon Routine

Eat Lunch
Pick Up Schoolroom
Vacuum Schoolroom
Fold and Put Away Clothes
15 minutes in garden


Abigail's Morning Routine (age 12)

Get Dressed
Put dirty clothes in hamper
Make bed
Eat Breakfast
Start laundry
Clear the Table
Schoolwork

Abigail's Afternoon Routine

Eat Lunch
Sweep & Mop Kitchen Floor (yep, everyday!)
Feed rabbits
Fold and Put Away Clothes
15 minutes in garden
Finish schoolwork


Hannah's Morning Routine (age 14)

Get Dressed
Put dirty clothes in hamper
Make bed
Eat Breakfast
Put away Clean Dishes
Start laundry
Schoolwork

Hannah's Afternoon Routine

Eat Lunch
Clear Table
Put Away Clean Dishes
Pick Up & vacuum Living room, Dining room
Feed cats
Fold and Put Away Clothes
15 minutes in garden
Finish schoolwork


Calen's Morning Routine (age 16)

Get Dressed
Put dirty clothes in hamper
Make bed
Do Chickens- feed, water, gather eggs
Eat Breakfast
Start laundry
Weed Whack 15 minutes
Schoolwork

Calen's Afternoon Routine

Eat Lunch
Clean bathroom
Pick up back porch
Fold and Put Away Clothes
15 minutes in garden
Finish schoolwork

In case you missed them, you can see my Daily, Weekly, and Monthly Lists, as well as How to Make a Housecleaning List.




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How to Make a Housecleaning List

Image via Wikipedia

You can see my Daily, Weekly, and Monthly Lists, in case you missed them.

Your welcome to copy my lists if you want, changing and adding chores to make the lists your own.



The best way to make your lists, is to walk through your home, room by room, making a list of everything that needs to be done, and how often you think it needs to be done in your house. Frequency will be different for every home, depending upon the number of people living there, and if any are little kids.

Don't worry about making your list perfect. You can adjust it as you go along. If you've forgotten a chore, just add it in. As you start working your lists, you may find that some chores need to be done more often, or less often (always good, lol), you can easily adjust that also.

Here are a few resources to help you in your list making:

Flylady has a lot of great information about setting up your lists. You can also sign up for her reminder emails. When I was on her email list a few years ago, she sent out a lot of emails every day.

Organized Home has lots of help. They use a 3x5 card system, instead of lists. I started using the card system way back before my kids where born. So it's been about 25 years. I still prefer to keep the monthly chores on cards. But at this time in my life, with kids and homeschooling, I find lists easier to use for daily and weekly chores. There's even an Index Card Christmas Planner. Organized Home also has the Holiday Grand Plan with printable lists to get you ready for the holidays.

HouseCleaning Tips.com has information on how to set up a house cleaning schedule.

I hope you have found these posts about my cleaning lists helpful. If you have any questions, just ask!


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My Monthly Lists

Last week, I shared my Weekly Lists, and before that, my Daily Lists. This week, it's on to the monthly lists. If the daily work is done regularly, the weeklies are pretty easy to do, and they go fast. And if the weekly work is done regularly, the monthly work is pretty easy to do.

Is everything on the list done? Not always. Some months, I even skip tasks. *gasp* I try and make a note if I skip something, so I make sure and get it done the next month.

My lists are a tool to help me take care of my home, not something that has to be followed no matter what. I have learned to not be so hard on myself when it comes to my lists. See, I'm a perfectionist, and can have a hard time with not doing everything perfectly.  I've learned, (and am still learning) to put people before the lists. While still getting to the lists. :)

Here are my monthly cleaning lists.

Schoolroom
clean rug
cob web duty
cull bookshelves
rearrange tops of shelves,cabinets
dust above shelves, put everything where it goes
find things we don't use anymore to give away
clean light fixtures


Master Bedroom
clean out dresser drawers
cob web duty
clean closet shelves
wash shower walls
clean carpet
clean light fixtures
declutter
turn mattress
mop bathroom
wash rugs

Living / Dining Room
clean light fixtures, ceiling fan
cob web duty
clean carpets
wipe down doors, light switches
move furniture and vacuum under

Kitchen
wipe down laundry room door, inside and out
straighten drawers/ cabinets
clean light fixtures
cob web duty
dust above cabinets
wash rugs
wipe step stool
clean off top of fridge
clean oven
move stove and fridge, clean under

The kids do their own bedrooms and bathroom. Their lists are similar to mine.

Next week, I'll share how I came up with my lists.


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My Weekly Lists

Last week, I shared my Daily Lists. This week, it's on to the weekly lists. If the daily work is done regularly, the weeklies are pretty easy to do, and they go fast.

Is everything on the list done? Not always. Nor is everything done on the day planned. But everything goes much smoother if I have a plan. Something always comes up. With a plan and a list, I can get back on track quickly.

My Dining room table

Weekly Plan

Monday - desk duties, print assignment sheets & to do lists
Tuesday - monthlies
Wednesday - Master Bedroom, Bathroom and Kids bathroom
Thursday - School room, Craft Room
Friday - Living Room, Dining Room, Kitchen, Laundry Room
Saturday - porch, outside chores
Sunday - coupons


WEEKLIES

Living room and Dining room
Straighten shelves
Dust LR, DR
Wash windows
Edge vacuum LR, DR
Clean out furniture
Wipe down electronics
Vacuum DR chairs

Back porch
pick up
sweep
wipe down rocking chairs


Front Porch
pick up
sweep

School Room & Craftroom (2 separate rooms)
Straighten Bookshelves
Straighten computer desks
Straighten drawers
Dust
Wipe down electronics
Edge vacuum


Kitchen
Dust
Wipe down cabinets
Wipe down appliances
Wipe inside of Fridge
Remove & wash ice/ water tray on fridge
Wash drip pans
Wash Kitchen window
Wash Laundry room door windows
Wash glass doors on cabinet
Straighten Laundry room shelves
Wipe down Washer, LR fridge


Master Bedroom/Bath
Change sheets
vacuum
wash mirrors
dust br/bath
clean off sink vanity
clean tub, toilet, sink
sweep bathroom

The kids do their own bedrooms and bathroom. Their lists are similar to mine.

Next week, it's onto the monthly list!



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My Daily List

I have used lists to keep me on track for years. I prefer to use routines, instead of a schedule. I have learned that is is next to impossible to follow a timed schedule. A list of tasks to finish sometime in the morning or afternoon is much more achievable for me, and for my children. The four youngest that I am homeschooling (the older 2 already graduated from our homeschool) have their own morning and afternoon lists. Morning list are supposed to be done before school starts, and afternoon lists are done right after lunch.

Every so often, I go through my lists and update them. For example, I don't need  "test the pool" cluttering up my list in the winter. The change of seasons is a good time to update my lists.

Here is my current daily list:

MORNING
 Make my bed
 Pick up master bed, bath
 Take dinner out of freezer
 Breakfast
 Vitamins
 wash dishes
 desk duty
 School

 Clear Hot Spots:
 computer desks
 washing machine
 LR-TV
 tables- school room, living room
 piano

 AFTERNOON
 Lunch        
 Vitamins
 wash dishes      
 Check school work                  
 Put away School stuff
 Start dinner
 weeklies
 monthlies

EVENING
 Dinner
 Vitamins
 wash dishes

Clear hot spots:
 computer desks
 washing machine
 LR-TV
 tables - schoolroom, living room
 piano

A hot spot is a place that everyone dumps their stuff. The places that would be piled sky high if not dealt with on a regular basis. You know the spots I'm talking about, every house has them.

Now, my list probably will look quite different from yours. My kids have a lot of the daily tasks on their lists.

They set the table, clear the table, take out the trash, do pick-ups of all the rooms, do the daily vacuuming. I believe in training the kids (boys and girls) to do housework so when they move out, they are equipped to take care of their own houses.

Housework is the responsibility of ALL the people that live in the home. Not just the girls. My boys hate it when I say that. lol

You've probably also noticed that laundry is not on the list. The kids are responsible for their own laundry. Since my youngest is 10, I just have to supervise the laundry process, which includes hanging the laundry on the clothesline outside.

Next week, I'll share my weekly cleaning list.

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