Clean Enough

Let's get down and dirty to talk about cleaning.  It's not the most fun thing I do each week, but I've found some things that help make it more bearable.  First, let me tell you a little about my house so you will know what I am dealing with.  I live in an old two-story home with hardwood floors in every room, even the bathrooms.  It's about 1,800 square feet with a living room, dining room, eat-in kitchen, 1/2 bath and laundry/office on the main level.  The upstairs has 2 bedrooms, a playroom and a full bath. There are three main things that helped the task of cleaning become less of a chore to me.

1.Define what it means to you to have a clean house.  This may sound strange, but just think about it for a minute.  To you does a clean house mean spotless and shiny like a magazine photo?  Does it mean everything is super-organized?  Does it mean that toys are put away each night before bed?  Does it mean you have clean towels each time you shower?  None of these answers is right or wrong.  Determining your expectations for a clean home will help you create an action plan.

I used to feel that for my house to be clean everything needed to be in it's place, the floors mopped, the bathroom sparking and generally looking like a magazine photo.  But there is one problem with this idea:  I don't have a live-in maid and I had two little boys 4 1/2 years ago.  When I had this mindset it was truly a rare occasion that my home met this pie-in-the-sky expectation.  So I lowered my expectations, got rid of the guilt of never measuring up and now take pride in my house that is "clean enough". 

2.Organization will truly change your life.  Some people are born organizers and some aren't. If organizing doesn't come naturally to you get an organized friend to help you out.  Watch and learn from him or her so you can develop this skill yourself.  I feel that if everything in your home has a designated place you have conquered  80% of the battle of keeping a house that is  "clean enough".

I will cover organization more thoroughly in another post but here are a few general tips to get you started organizing.  Put like items together, i.e. all spices in one drawer.  Put items used together in the same place, i.e. stamps and envelopes in the same drawer near where you will use them.  Baskets and bins are useful in every room.  If you haven't used it in a while sell or donate it to clear up more room.

3.  Develop a strategy for keeping up on your housework.  By doing this you create an action plan rather than just "wishing somebody would clean up this mess!"  For me this includes daily, weekly and bi-weekly tasks.  Since developing a schedule for cleaning my home I no longer look at something that's getting dirty, like the bathroom sink, and think, "Ugh!  When am I going to find the time to mess with that?"  I now think, "Well, that's no big deal because it will get cleaned up on Friday."  Sticking to the schedule actually allows me more freedom because I know it will get done.  I don't dread trying to figure out when to squeeze one more thing in my schedule because that task is already scheduled. 

I am sharing my schedule to give you an example of what this looks like at my house.  My way obviously isn't the only way, but hopefully this will help you have a jumping off point if you don't know where to  start. Every day or two I keep up on clutter by putting things away.  It only takes a very few minutes because it's done regularly and because everything has a place.  I also sweep the kitchen floor as it tends to be a crumb magnet for two little boys.  If I make a mess on the stove it gets cleaned up when it happens. The table and counters are wiped after use.  The playroom gets picked up two or three times a week.  Every Thursday is when the towels and sheets get washed.  Other laundry gets done as needed.  I fold and put my clothes and the boys' clothes away, but my husband is responsible for his. His closet is messier than I would like, but it's his space and it has a door so I don't worry about it. 

I alternate cleaning my first floor and second floor on Fridays.  This means my whole house isn't "magazine ready", but remember I gave up that expectation.  On the weeks I clean the first floor I dust, sweep all rooms with the vacuum and broom where appropriate, clean the 1/2 bath, clean the stainless steel appliances, mop the kitchen floor, and clean the toilet and sinks in the upstairs bath. I mop other rooms as needed.  Since I have been keeping up on other kitchen tasks they don't have to be done on "cleaning day".  The weeks I clean the upstairs I dust, sweep, clean the entire bathroom, sweep the high traffic area in my living room and clean the 1/2 bath downstairs.  I also vacuum the high traffic area on my front porch each time I have the sweeper out to help eliminate some dirt from even getting in the house.  

So that's what I do.  It might not sound like enough to some, it might sound like too much to others, but this system really works for me.  My "cleaning day" takes about two hours each week to complete.  It's so worth it to me to designate the time to get it done.  I honestly don't dread it because I love the feeling of knowing that my house is "clean enough".