Tuesday 3 February 2009

A Housekeeping Schedule

When it comes to keeping house, I like to think that I am somewhat house-proud, with a clean and tidy house, while certainly not being the obsessive type. Saying that, there are plenty of times that I slip off the wagon and wander in the housekeeping wilderness (apologies for the mixed metaphors!).

In the past, I have tried the Flylady system. It was a bit too regimented for my liking, and dear Brad got a good chuckle out of all of routines and lists. He knows me so well that he knew it was only a matter of time!

But now I am enthused again, for my friend Rachel Anne at Home Sanctuary has blessed us with her system. It consists of some minimum maintenance each day - ie. what is the bare minimum that it takes to keep the chaos at bay? Then schedule the tasks that you feel are the important ones for keeping your family and house chugging along. Rachel explains it wayyyy better than me, so head on over to her blog for details. But, in case you are interested, here is my system:

Minimum Maintenance (done daily and at least once on the weekend):

* Make beds
* Run dishwasher and empty it out
* Sweep kitchen and dining room floors
* Tidy kitchen after dinner, including wipe down benches.

Additional Scheduled jobs:

* Monday - Dusting and all floors (vacuum / sweep / mop as required), grocery shopping
* Tuesday - Laundry (family clothes)
* Wednesday - Change beds, Laundry (linen & towels), sweep outside areas
* Thursday - Bathrooms, internet banking and clean windows (in rotation, different room each week)
* Friday - vacuum lounge carpet
* Saturday - make sure Brad's work shirts all washed
* Sunday - iron work shirts ready for the week, review menu plan and shopping list

It has been nearly a week now, and so far so good. I only got 3 work shirts ironed on Sunday, but my excuse is that we had a power black-out for most of the afternoon / evening, and I don't have one of those old-fashioned coal-heated irons to finish off the last 2 with!

3 comments:

Emma said...

That's pretty similar to what I 'try' to do. My only suggestion is that in the humidity of FNQ you will really need to do laundry, especially the kids' clothing, every day. I lost clothes to mildew in summer in Mount Isa; it sprouts really fast in the humidity.

Kara said...

I sort of do this, but need better discipline!! I am going to check out the site, thanks:)

Tami said...

Love your site! Love the schedule. Very manageable. Except, there is no ironing here. Husband is a physicaL Ed teacher!! Just t-shirts. I will try this!!!!