Bathroom Day!

I have missed both Monday's since I started my challenge. Today is the first day that I've done all of my weekly's on a Monday. My bathrooms are sparkling clean and I love it!

Another product review: the Swiffer sweeper. Last week on kitchen day I tried the sweeper (which I also purchased with coupons a few weeks ago). I hated it but I didn't want to review it yet because I wanted to give it a chance on bathroom day. The reason that I hated it so much for my kitchen is because I have kids. If you have kids you know what I mean. If you don't have children then let me explain. My kitchen floor usually has enough crumbs to feed a small army. Daily we have large crumbs, small crumbs, wet spills and sticky messes on the floor. I am fairly confident in saying that as much food as enters the mouths of my kids also ends up on the floor. When I tried to use the Swiffer sweeper on it there was no way it could all stick to the magic pad. It was simply too messy.

So what did I think about the sweeper for the bathroom? I LOVE IT!!! Why the difference? The main difference for my bathroom was that my bathroom floor is fairly clean to start with. We don't have food crumbs or other messes on the bathroom floor. The main mess on the floor is either dust or hair. The sweeper did amazing with both of these messes. I also used the wet cleaning pads after sweeping with the dry cloths and it did a great job. I love that you can flip it to the edge and scrub - I used it to clean off shoe marks on the floor. I also used the scrubby edge to clean the base boards without bending over. I really did love using it.

How is everyone else doing? I miss having other bloggers add feedback. Let me hear what you have been up to. What is working in your home?

New Idea

So I was talking to a friend this week about the blog. Our conversation has inspired a new idea for this blog (thanks Laurie). She said she was amazed if I do everything I say I do in the heavy duty schedule, I quickly told her that I do not. But then as we were talking I explained that I do have a printed schedule that I check off what I've done so that I can look back and actually know when the last time was I did each chore. For example, even if I don't get my bathrooms cleaned that week I can look back and realize, wow it's been 3 months, I better go scrub some toilets before mold starts growing in there.

So what is this new idea?? Have you seen Julie & Julia the movie? Well I know I'm way behind the times here but I just saw it about a month ago. My new commitment is that I am going to follow (as best I can) the heavy duty schedule for one year and see how it goes. I figure next week we start a new month and kids just finished school - it is the perfect time to start a new routine for my life. Feel free to join me or just check in and laugh at me when I don't get my chores done - we all know I'll miss a day or two, or twelve. But I'm committed to doing my best and reporting honestly. Even if no one reads I think it will be handy for me to keep track of what I'm doing a little better.

One important reminder for myself as much as anyone else is that my whole goal is to find better ways to keep up with the daily 'to do's' without feeling like it takes over my life. I have little ones at home and they are my most important priority. I will not neglect my kids in order to have a clean house. So buckle up and here we go - I'll begin reporting next week.

The Heavy Duty Schedule

This may look familiar to some of you, especially if you are my sister. I have had this schedule for a while (and I have altered it somewhat from the original) but rarely use it. I wish that I were organized enough to use it because it covers just about everything you need to do in your house EVER, but alas, I am still a work in progress.

DAILY CHORES

*make beds *dishes *bath kids *pick up clutter *sweep floor *read books to kids *dinner *weekly chore

WEEKLY CHORES

*Monday - bathrooms (toilet, tub, sink, counter, mirrors, shower, mop floors), laundry, take out garbage

*Tuesday - dust (frames, lamp shades, furniture), vacuum upstairs

*Wednesday - change bedding in one room, ironing, grocery shopping

*Thursday - kitchen (appliances, counter tops, mop floor, clean out baskets and organize), vacuum downstairs

*Friday - monthly chore, laundry, yard work

*Saturday - windows, clean out fridge, clean out cars

MONTHLY CHORES

*Week 1 - Baseboards, vents, window wills, clean & sort toys downstairs

*Week 2 - Wipe doors & knobs, light switches, telephone, remote, deep clean fridge

*Week 3 - Yearly job, sweep garage, clean car, wipe fronts of cupboards

*Week 4 - Clean & sort toys upstairs, window sills, wash trash cans

YEARLY CHORES

*January - vacuum under furniture, replace air filter

*February - Clean inside oven, wipe walls down

*March - Wash blinds &/or curtains

*April - Wash screens & outside windows, replace air filter, change batteries in smoke detectors

*May - Plant flowers, straighten & wipe closet (Master)

*June - Straighten & Wipe Drawers

*July - Straighten & Wipe Cupboards, replace air filter

*August - Defrost Freezer

*September - Straighten & Wipe Closets (All except master)

*October - Turn Mattresses, Wash Comforters, Pull up Plants, Replace Air Filter, change batteries in smoke detectors

*November - Wash Light Fixtures & Ceiling Fans

*December - Organize Desk & filing cabinets

The Original version of this schedule had the weekly chore of bathrooms divided up into two different days doing certain jobs in the bathrooms one one day and the remaining jobs in the bathrooms on a different day. I am a little bit OCD and I like my bathroom to be completely cleaned when I do it, so I moved it all to one day. Feel free to use this schedule and re-arrange stuff differently if it works better for you.

Also, we will talk more later about the "clean out baskets & organize" listed on the day to clean the kitchen so don't be confused. Good Luck!

The schedule...

It's a long and probably never ending journey to balance life, family, and housework. Since my 2nd baby was born I've had many discussions with friends on how to improve the system. I have to give my friend, Heidi, most of the credit for this schedule idea. The plan is to have a set schedule for basic cleaning throughout the house. Ideally, if you miss a day you don't double up, you just wait for it to come back again. I've found it helpful to include a "free" day. I use this to do detail cleaning, grocery shopping, or catch up when things are out of hand. So, here it is for your thought:

Monday- Downstairs & Garbages
Tuesday - "free" day
Wednesday- Bedrooms
Thursday - Vacuum
Friday - Bathrooms

Adapt for yourself and give it a try. In addition to the schedule, my goal is to do 1 (and only 1) load of laundry every day and clean out the sink every night. I try to get my cleaning done after breakfast so that we can play in the afternoons, but that's still a work in progress.
Any suggestions on when to actually get ready for the day? It would be quite embarrassing if any of you knew how often I'm still in pj's well into the afternoon.

Go Clean Your Kitchen Sink

A year or more ago a friend of mine told me that she keeps her house clean by using a website called flylady. I tried it but there was so much information there and I ended up wasting more time reading all about how to clean my house than actually doing anything to make my house any cleaner. Anyway, she did have a few good ideas and my favorite is to clean your kitchen sink.

It sounds simple, and that is the beauty of it, it is!! Every night before you go to bed you clean your kitchen sink. She even has a slide show of images sent in by people whom she has inspired, you guessed it, the images are all kitchen sinks. I will submit an honest before and after picture tonight after I do it but I haven't done it yet. Today is my starting point. Feel free to share your sink as well.

And just in case you want more info, here is a link to the fly lady site, enjoy. http://www.flylady.net/