A House of Order

I made it through the semester, thank goodness! And my first of order of business? To clean my severely neglected apartment! I told Jocelyn that I wanted to start a chore system so that things get done regularly and I don't have to be embarrassed anymore when I get surprise visitors. The biggest thing I learned this last semester was how chaotic I DON'T want my life to be. I feel like I've just been running myself into the ground for so long and I can't catch up on anything. I improved my time management skills over this last semester and I am applying them at home. Anyway, Jocelyn wanted to start the same thing for herself and her home and provided me with a FANTASTIC system that a friend of hers was willing to share. She calls it, "A house of order" and this is how it works:

Step One

Make a list of all the areas of your home to be cleaned.

For me it was bedrooms, bathrooms, closets, hallway, laundry room, living room, kitchen, car and patio.

Step Two

Put your above list into 6 groups that have an equal amount of work.

1. Bedrooms

2. Bathrooms

3. Closets, Hallway, Laundry Room

4. Living Room

5. Kitchen

6. Yaris, Patio

Step Three

Make a list of your Daily Quick-Clean chores. Things that need to be done each day.

Dishes

Vacuum

Pick up floors

Sweep

Wipe off counters/table

Laundry

Step Four

Make a list of To-Do's. Tasks or things that you would be doing each week.

Groceries

Projects

Goals

Learning time

Play time

Exercise

Step Five

Make a list of Add On's. Things that need to be done more than once a week but not daily.

Bathrooms

Mopping

Mirrors & windows

Patio

Car-monthly for me

Closets

Fridge (check for expired food)

Microwave

Stove top

Light switches & doorknobs

Step Six

Write your Deep Cleaning List. Take each one of your 6 areas and make a detailed list of items to be deep cleaned. This will be done twice a year and it's the type of cleaning you would do if you are moving out, and if renting, determined to get your deposit back! Here's mine:

Bedrooms: wipe baseboards/walls, carpet clean, clean blinds, de-junk, retire toys and clothes that don't fit, re-organize as needed, clean vents, etc.

Bathrooms: wipe baseboards/walls, check organization, bleach garbage can, etc.

Closets, Hallway, Laundry Room: de-junk, wipe baseboards/walls, clean under washer & dryer, etc.

Living Room: wipe baseboards/walls, clean under couch and in corners, wipe down front door, carpet clean, vents, etc.

Kitchen: clean oven (ick!), clean under fridge, blinds, cupboards, bleach garbage can, etc.

Yaris & Patio: clean upholstery, clean out trunk, wash cement

Step Seven

Take your list of Deep Clean items and assign months to each one. I tried to alternate between groups with more work and groups with less work. This is how mine went:

July/January: Bedrooms

August/February: Bathrooms

September/March: Kitchen

October/April: Closets, Hallway, Laundry Room

November/May: Yaris & Patio

December/June: Living Room

This way each group gets deep cleaned twice a year and it alternates so that you are deep cleaning one group per month rather than having a TON of cleaning to do two days a year. Make sense? I hope so.

Now, the girl we got this system from put everything on 4X6 cards and organized it in a photobook, which was super cute. We decided to do something similar, however, we used photo magnets so we could put them on our fridge where we can see it everyday no matter what. I have one that shows my daily chores (easy to remember since I do them every day), one that shows my weekly stuff which I've separated into days (from my add-on list), and one that shows my deep cleaning stuff for that month. Since June is almost over, I am starting my deep cleaning with July.

I'm sure some of you are rolling your eyes and thinking this is a lot more work than it's worth. I was overwhelmed at first but once I sat down and broke everything apart, I got really excited and I know this is a system that will work for me and I need it. I decided to share it not because I think everyone should do it this way, but because it works for me. And if any of you are like me, or looking for some direction where your home is concerned, this could be something worth trying.

Good luck!