# Suggestions for Daily Housekeeping Routine



## AppleCrisp (Aug 19, 2005)

What would you include on your list of daily "must-dos"? How about weekly?
So far, daily, I have:

Make bed
Tidy bathrooms
Empty sink/empty dishwasher
Sweep floors
Wipe counters

Weekly:
Vacuum/mop
Completely clean bathrooms


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## mightymoo (Dec 6, 2003)

Beds are never in my must do









My daily list:
-Pick up each room (meaning get everything off the floor and surfaces, put away, wipe down counters in the kitchen) - I find if I do this every day housekeeping is easier to keep on top of, when I'm behind it takes days to get back to where I can do this in just a few minutes

-Load the dishwasher (basically empty the sink - done even if the dishwasher isn't full, includes emptying the dishwasher if clean)

-Wash and fold a load of laundry (I find if I keep on top of laundry its easier)

Weekly would probably be sweeping, vacuuming, washing floors but I don't get to it that often yet.


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## 59046 (Jun 24, 2006)

Daily- Make bed, pick up, do dishes

Mondays- all laundry (Wash, dry, fold/iron/hang, put away)

Fridays- clean bathrooms (tub/shower, toilet, sink and wipe down floor, counters etc.)

When it is visably dirty- sweep floors, wash floors, clean mirrors, dust.


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## SaraMama (Sep 19, 2004)

Daily -
MORNING
Make bed
wipe down bathrooms
quick vacuum of hardwood
empty dishwasher
one or two loads of laundry

EVENING
clean kitchen after dinner
start dishwasher
quick pickup of toys
take kitchen trash out
clear off flat surfaces - desk, table, counter

Weekly -
mop hardwood
vacuum carpet
dust
empty bathroom/laundry room trash cans


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## phathui5 (Jan 8, 2002)

*Daily*:

Straighten beds
Empty trash
Unload/load/run dishwasher
Sweep kitchen
Clear/wipe kitchen counter
Clean kitchen sink
Wipe out bathroom sink
Do laundry
Help kids pick up playroom
Straighten up living room
Sort mail
Clear office floor
Clear dining room table before bed
Start dishwasher before bed
Check lesson planner for tomorrow

*Weekly*: (Usually done with mil on Monday or Tuesday when she comes over)

Mop kitchen floor
Clean old food out of fridge
Scrub counter/stove
Clean bathroom mirror
Scrub down toilet
Mop bathroom floor
Empty bathroom trash
Wash diapers (2x week)
Dust mop living and dining rooms
Dust furniture
Clean glass on furniture
Vacuum office
Plan next week's menu and grocery/errand list
Clean up backyard toys
Check bill folder
Clean out van


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## CandyApple (Nov 1, 2004)

I have a daily and a day of week schedule.

Everyday, am or pm depending on energy level!








Dishes
Sweep kitchen/dining floor
Pick up toys
1 load of laundry, washed, dried
Neccessary messes; dirty bathroom, spills, etc

Then I try to do one area each night of the week. If I stay on track, then my weekends are free, or available for organizing projects (cupboards, closets, clothes etc.)!
Mon: Deep clean kitchen, sink, drainer, stove top, microwave, mop, cupboards/counters
Tues: Living/dining room declutter, dust, mop, vacuum as needed
Wednes: Errands, sweep/mop halls, straigthen entrance, bills
Thurs: Upstairs (bedrooms) Put leftover all clothes away
Fri: Deep clean bathrooms, fridge, car (if I don't put it on the list, it never gets done)

Hope that helps, just having a list helps keep me sane, even if it doesn't all get finished til the weekend.
Amanda


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## AngelBee (Sep 8, 2004)

:


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## somanyjoys (Mar 14, 2006)

Fun! I'm new to this part of MDC, but this looks like my kind of place to hang out. (I'm an organization freak!)

Daily:
make bed
one load of laundry
pick up toys before naptime and before bed
one task from my rotating list

Rotating List:
*Monday* -- bathrooms
*Tuesday* -- rotating organization (I have a list including closets, pantry, fridge/freezer so that each area gets organized about once a quarter, except for fridge and pantry which is organized monthly.)
*Wednesday* -- rotating rooms (living room, dining room, office, master bed, guest bed, kitchen) for deep clean -- dusting, baseboards, etc. hitting each about every other month.
*Thursday* -- hard floors (sweep and mop)
*Friday* -- vacuum

I wash diapers once or twice during the week and one day on the weekend.


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## celestialdreamer (Nov 18, 2004)

*Daily-*

Morning-
make beds
cook breakfast, then wash dishes (unload dishwasher if necessary)
Wipe down kitchen and bathroom counters
take laundry to laundry room and start laundry (usually 1-2 loads)

late afternoon-pick up toys and any other clutter
clean up any lunch/snack dishes
quick vacuum hot spots if necessary
start dinner

After dinner-
dishes, leftovers put away
get food out of freezer to defrost if necessary
quick wipe down of kitchen hot spots and dining room table with old kitchen towel, lay out new dishtowel
fold 1-2 loads of laundry
get kids ready for bed
pick up changing table area and lay out clothes for next day

*Weekly-*

Kitchen- usually done on the weekend while dd is watching a movie w/DH and the baby is napping. Otherwise dd is in the middle of it all undoing my work







I scrub all the counters & sinks & dishrack, wipe down the appliances and usually one other deep cleaning task (wiping upper cabs, lower cabs, cleaning the fridge or washing the garden window, etc)

Bathrooms-counters are cleaned daily but mirrors, sink, toilet, etc get done usually on Mondays (except the shower which is done as needed)

Bills/Paperwork- Tuesday mornings I go through the bills and sort what needs to be paid. If its the Tuesday after the 15th (like today) then I pay them and file away all the nonsense. Today I'm being lazy cause I'm sick







:

Dusting/Vacuuming/Mopping- Used to be daily vaccuuming but I'm slacking due to demands from my kids







We are a no shoes house so its pretty much only pet hair/toddler crumbs I'm cleaning up. I do a detailed vacuuming (and usually mop also) every Wednesday afternoon or Thursday am before dd's in home therapy session, and then usually sometime on the weekend another quick vaccuum.

Decluttering-I pick one to two projects a week and try to finish up on Fridays

I've worked up to this routine in the past year. I was really struggling trying to clean my whole house in one day but by the end of the week it was gross and I was so overwhelmed. Then started Motivated Moms as a New Year resolution. It was completely life changing


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## AppleCrisp (Aug 19, 2005)

Thanks for all the good suggestions! I am still working on my routine as a SAHM and so far, I feel like I've been failing, but I'm going to try to compile a better list with your suggestions and put it where I can see it.

Another question: if you could pick one or two things that are a total, non-negotiable must-do before you go to bed (as in, you tried to complete your list, but didn't quite make it), what would it be? Mine would be put away any and all food and tidy the kitchen to prepare for the next morning.


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## SaraMama (Sep 19, 2004)

My "must do" before I go to bed is to have the kitchen sink empty and the dishwasher started. That way when I get up in the morning I can fix breakfast and/or lunches without having to clean up last nights mess.

Picking up all the toys in the living room and kitchen before bed is a close second. I like coming downstairs to a room that doesn't have toys scattered all over it. Puts me in a good mood first thing!







(and it really only takes 5 minutes to throw them all in the toy box or on the shelf)


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## sphinxie (Feb 28, 2006)

Daily:

air the bed while getting ready (throw back the duvet, open the window)
make the bed (having a duvet & no top sheet makes this easier)
dishes (includes wipedown of kitchen as needed)
tidy
(DH takes out trash & recycling usually)

dishes & tidy get repeated throughout the day.
any extra laundry if needed.

We are currently working on a better routine in the evenings. Right now it's just a mess overnight and gets cleaned in the morning.

Weekly:

Monday - laundry (clothes)

Tuesday - meal planning, extra cooking

Wednesday - clean bedroom & bathroom ... also monthly tasks & quarterly tasks

Thursday - laundry (household), clean living room & kitchen ... also fortnightly tasks

Friday - organize, work on rotating tasks, that sort of thing

Saturday - meal planning, extra cooking

Sunday - quick houseclean of anything that needs it in kitchen & bathroom (usually scrub the bathroom sink, anything I didn't get to that needs attention)

Weekend days are often switched.

I realized this apartment was pretty dirty and not getting clean, just tidied. So I got a couple books, "Home Comforts" and "the idiot's guide to cleaning." (Don't usually keep idiot's guides in my house, but DH bought it and it was so good I decided to keep it! Might cover it with brown paper.) I got the idea for the weekly schedule from Home Comforts, and a list of weekly/fortnightly/monthly/quarterly tasks from idiot's guide, and adapted that. I'm being somewhat intensive now because I'm getting through months, sometimes years of grime and old dust.

I figure if I do a semi deep cleaning once a week, overall I'll always get to the stuff that needs doing, based on what looks dirty to me. There are a few things I would never remember or would do too often that I have scheduled. (I use iCal to space them out automatically.) I actually have my routines written in iCal and could copy and paste them here, but I think I'm being anal enough as it is


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## somanyjoys (Mar 14, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *sphinxie* 
I actually have my routines written in iCal and could copy and paste them here, but I think I'm being anal enough as it is


















Love it! Anal is great for keeping up with housework. LOL

I actually created a yahoo group for my family (we really just use the calendar function). On it, we list the activities DH or I have going on. I also included the outings that DD and I do regulary. My favorite thing on the yahoo calendar, though, is that you can set up events to repeat...weekly, monthly, biweekly, etc. I set up cleaning tasks and how often they should repeat and have that on my calendar. I did include a couple of catch-up/make-up days for those times I get behind.

I'll have to google iCal. Sounds like my kind of program.


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## sphinxie (Feb 28, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *ajfowle* 
My favorite thing on the yahoo calendar, though, is that you can set up events to repeat...weekly, monthly, biweekly, etc....

I'll have to google iCal. Sounds like my kind of program.









Yup exactly, I set things to repeat. Otherwise it'd be hard to remember what to do quarterly, monthly, and all those tasks would loom up in one week rather than getting spaced out.

iCal is the calendar program that comes on macs. I'd imagine any calendar program would have a way to set events to repeat at various intervals... I'd hope so anyway!

Another great thing is that iCal also has a section to the side for to do lists. I really depend on that, so that I can keep chugging away even when my brain is off... just follow the list. It took me awhile to get the hang of iCal, but since I did it's been so helpful.

Housecleaning has become my passion lately, alongside homemade bodycare like no-pooing. I'm so boring at parties now! I just decided I want to live in a really clean apartment and I'm having fun working up to it.

Ahwuko, would you consider checking out books? I would suggest getting them from the library, esp Home Comforts. The first few chapters are useful for putting together a routine, but after that it's mostly how tos and can be a little scolding.

But from "the complete idiot's guide to cleaning" I learned a lot of useful stuff. For instance, the kitchen sink is apparently the most contaminated place in most houses--it can be disinfected easily and regularly, just fill it with water and add a disinfectant (I use oxi-clean) for at least five minutes. It has info on making your own green cleaners... a schedule for working people with nightly tasks so that by the weekend there's no cleaning left to do... a good list of the regular tasks (daily to quarterly) and the room-by-room chapters are really useful too.

Ah, the dorkier pleasures of life...


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## mama kate (Jul 19, 2003)

Wow - You Mamas Rock!
I am taking notes as we just stopped our cleaning lady through the end of the year.







Hopefully since she was on top of it all I can stay on top of it!


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## helen_emily (Jun 13, 2006)

Wow, the idiot's guide sounds really good! Heh heh.

Atm, while I'm still at uni, I clean on weekends (ugh).
But soon I will be home during the day most days







with no homework to do. And that means I'll get the housework as my "job".

I'm a lazy person by nature... but I really enjoy a clean house







:

I have iCal so maybe I should learn to use it now.
Any other notes for a beginner?


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## bscores (Oct 20, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *ahwuko* 
What would you include on your list of daily "must-dos"? How about weekly?
Vacuum/mop

Look into irobot vacuums and mops. I'm completely sold. You can program them to vacuum and mop when you know you'll be out of the house or when most family members are out of house. They do it all for you: clean, recharge...they even have one that tells you when you need to empty the waste...just like baby does.









Except for the occasional intensive, I've taken vacuuming and mopping off my to-do list.


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## WhitneyCole11 (Oct 22, 2006)

Ah yes. The old routine. I've seen this one before. Have one myself.
I have an scooba by the way. love it. you're right bscores. they do break up the routine.


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## OakBerry (May 24, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *SaraMama* 
My "must do" before I go to bed is to have the kitchen sink empty and the dishwasher started. That way when I get up in the morning I can fix breakfast and/or lunches without having to clean up last nights mess.

Picking up all the toys in the living room and kitchen before bed is a close second. I like coming downstairs to a room that doesn't have toys scattered all over it. Puts me in a good mood first thing!







(and it really only takes 5 minutes to throw them all in the toy box or on the shelf)

Exact same for me!


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## volcano (Nov 8, 2005)

I definately clean the kitchen everyday
i SHOULD:
do laundry
sweep floor (4 DOGS)


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## Mama2-4 (Apr 5, 2006)

I have to pick up everyone's clutter, sweep and vacuum daily. I also keep up with the dishes, do laundry as needed daily. Anyone have any suggestions for keeping up with the kids clutter? I swear over half of my cleaning time is just spent picking up everyone's stuff and trying to find a place for it. Then I am accused of throwing it away or misplacing it....I have thought of getting everyone a very large basket with their name on it this way I will just toss their stuff into the basket and they can do what they want with it. The problem with this is then the baskets would probably be overflowing....


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