Housekeeping routines

[Desiree Allen]

I'm in a funk and need a different perspective on doing my housekeeping. Would anyone care to share your routine?

[Terri Knoll]

live with someone else who cleans lol

[Desiree Allen]

live with someone else who cleans lol

That's helpful.

[Wendy Smith]

Desiree

Not sure what kind of funk you are in as far as cleaning but maybe this could be helpful..or maybe not! LOL

A few years ago I was introduced here on Naznet to www.flylady.net
Lots of good info there on organizing and cleaning.

She suggests cleaning in Zones. Each day clean a different zone. If you look at that site, it will explain the zone concept. You can sign up for daily email reminders also.
I tried it for awhile but i can't seem to stick to it.
Can't hurt to check it out see if it will work for you.

I am in some kind of cleaning funk myself. Tho i think that comes from trying to repack ornaments and things, so the rest of my house suffers while i am doing this project. So I am behind on laundry, bathroom cleaning etc. Happens everytime i have any projects going on...I fall behind.
Since i don't have a routine, can't wait to see if someone shares their ideas here!
Wendy

[Joanne Vergin]

I second flylady. I use her 11 commandments. http://www.flylady.net/pages/FLYingL...mmandments.asp

[Barb Bouldrey]

My dad left us when I was 10 and Mom had to go to work. We had a routine that I still do today. When I go to bed at night my house is in order. When I get up in the morning I make the bed right away.

When I was teaching school I would start a load of laundry as I left the house in the morning and put it in the dryer as I arrived home before supper. By the time supper was over, I could fold the clothes and put them away, after I did the dishes. It did not hurt the laundry to stay in the washer all day.

I never leave the kitchen after a meal until the dishes are done.

I read a book once that suggested that if you want to take back your home and have it clean you start with whatever is inside the front door and clean it first...coat closet, living room, hallway. The next day you tackle the kitchen, but straighten what you cleaned the day before. Work your way around the house, but start each day straightening what you have already cleaned.

The key is to go to bed with your house in order, even if it is not clean and there is laundry to do the next day.

When we left for school and Mom left for work, the house was in order. When we went to bed, the house was in order. We spent every Wed night at the laundramat and every Thursday night we stood at 2 ironing boards all night, ironing shirts and blouses and nurses uniforms for 11 people. I hate ironing today.

Barb

[Sheya Stephens]

I used to do Flylady. I still try to keep some of her basic concepts. I have started a new job and with 3 young children, my house usually looks VERY lived in, but there is an organized chaos (does that sound like denial?). I do what Barb does with the laundry. It does help to keep it going and you get at least one load done a day. If I didn't do that, my house would be unbearable. I have also realized that I focus on different areas at different times. So for a while I will try to keep my kitchen in order before I go to bed, so that it is ready to make the girls breakfast when we wake up... or I try to have the family room in order so that we can enjoy family time without the clutter... or sometimes (and probably not often enough) I try to keep my bedroom organized and clean so that my husband and I have a place that isn't as chaotic as the rest of the house.

I guess it depends on what our life and days are like for the period of time. the trick would be to keep everything going at once. I was raised by a perfectionist, so I tell my husband that this is my way of rebelling... I just can't be a perfectionist when it comes to worrying about my house.

[Desiree Allen]

Thanks ladies, for the the thoughts so far. I have used FlyLady's "routine" before, and have come away with a lot of good, basic ideas I can use for my family. I did try to do the emails, but they were getting out of hand for me and so I've got a household notebook now that I'm trying to "build" with routines that I can refer to until I get them down pat.

What I am finding in myself is a situation very similar to what Sheya describes: working a full time job with small children makes it very easy to come home absolutely exhausted and say, "I'm too tired to do (this or that)..." And, of course, there is the excuse that I'm a single mom and it's sooooo tiring driving to work and school and keep up on my housework alllllll by myselllllllf. (Can you hear the whining in my voice?) My mom told me last night that if I can't have the President over, my house isn't clean enough. This frustrated me, because I grew up in a house with six children and two parents, and our house was NEVER that clean.

Do you think it is different when you have two children as opposed to six? or does it depend on the attitude of the parent and what he/she instills in him/herself and the rest of the family? Maybe that's the funk I'm in... maybe my attitude needs an adjustment...

[Barb Bouldrey]

My mom had 7 kids. It did not matter how many. She liked a house that was in order when she left for work and when she went to bed.

It is a shame when a mother makes her daughter feel like a failure when the daughter does not clean house the way the mother thinks she should. A mother does not walk in her daughter's shoes and this is a different time than when the mother was young.

My house is always in order, but it is never completely clean. The older I get, the less often I dust. I just do not care. I never move furniture to sweep under it. I just do not care.

There is a difference between having your home in order and having it perfectly clean.

Personality type makes a difference, too. I hate clutter. I love simplicity. What some people consider "decorating" is clutter to me.

It is hard when a woman feels pressured by a spouse or parent to do better at cleaning the house. It is better when the drive to do it comes from within.

Barb

[LoraineStanton]

Your mom said WHAT
Pardon me, but that's a bunch of rot in my opinion. If the president wants to come over, let him send his housekeeping staff ahead

I mean obviously you don't want any breeding spots for bugs or mice. You'd like to be able to get from the front door to the bathroom in a hurry, and you don't want any smells sneaking out that make the neighbors wonder if their is a dead body in there some where. But let's be real.

It's taken me years of getting FlyLady e-mails just to absorb three things
1. it does NOT have to be perfect
2. babysteps
3. I can NOT have it all because I don't have enough places to keep it

Now all I need to do is figure out what to keep and what to let go of