One of the things that I really liked about the book, Large Family Logistics, is that the author appeared to make good housekeeping seem rather simple. I have always struggled with housekeeping. When I had four little kids under foot it seemed like my house was a constant wreck, but as they have gotten older it has been easier to keep the house tidy. Still, I don't want a tidy house I want a super clean one, but I don't want to have to do the work all alone. Not only do I not want to do it all alone - I cannot do it all alone and still keep up with homeschooling. Homeschooling isn't negotiable, so for a while I have done the bare minimum in the house to make it look respectable (beyond just picking it up). I didn't/don't like feeling like I have a constant housekeeping list over my head. Now that I have implemented my new system I don't have that worry anymore because everything is getting done or will get done on a regular basis. Check it out:
Monday is Laundry Day.
This is when I have the kids pull off their bedding as well as bring me their laundry baskets (on Sunday before bed) so that I can begin laundry first thing Monday morning. It usually takes me all day to do laundry for our family.
I also made two posters which show the kids how to do the laundry so that they can help me on Mondays, but also in the event that they need something washed during the week they can do so on their own. These posters are hung up in our laundry room.
Tuesday is Kitchen Day.
As you can see on Tuesday all 4 kids are responsible for cleaning 1 drawer, 1 pantry shelf, and 1 cabinet. Every other week we clean out our refrigerator. I clean other appliances and the kitchen counters while my kiddos are doing their kitchen chores. Then I get down on my hands and knees and scrub the kitchen floor.
Wednesday is Deep Cleaning Day.
On Wednesday we pick 1 zone in the house and deep clean the walls, floors, ceilings, and furniture. Each child is assigned one of the above spaces to clean and then I help each of them accomplish their task. We all help each other out as we finish our assigned section of the room so that we can all be done more quickly. So far, it takes us about 30 minutes to deep clean our zones.
The zones are broken down into the following weeks:
Week 1: Family Room & Living Room
Week 2: Bathrooms
This isn't that hard to do because we are wiping down our bathrooms each day. What we focus on is cleaning out the tubs, ceilings, and walls. Other than that the toilet, floor, counters, and mirrors are cleaned daily.
Week 3: Play Room & Game Room
Week 4: School Room
Week 5: Closets & Laundry Room & Hallways
We also deep clean one section of our rooms. Each child is responsible for that on his/her own, but I sometimes help the girls depending on what part of our room we are working on. I clean my assigned section of my room. Our sections are: closets, under our beds, walls, ceilings, floors.
In doing it this way our rooms get deep cleaned once a month without seeming overwhelming. It takes between 10 - 25 minutes to do a zone. That is very manageable.
I also do a load of towels this day & any left over sheets/ blankets from Monday.
Thursday is my Office Day.
This is where I prep for the next week.
Friday is Errand Day
This is the day (and I try to make it only this day) that I am out and about running errands. I spend a few hours running errands, but I get everything I need done for the week which is really nice. We also have a light schooling day. The boys are assigned all of the things that they can work on on their own and the girls do just a couple of subjects.
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Saturday is Yard Day
This is where the kids and I help Bob to maintain the yard. The yard is broken down into zones and we focus on one zone each Saturday. This helps to make things appear more manageable.
This is also an opportunity for Bob to get any help that he might need with the pool, garage area, van, etc...
Some random notes:
*Everyone is responsible for an individual room(s) - Andy has a bathroom, game room, and the school room floor. Josh has the family room and the living room. Sarah is responsible for the master bathroom, the dining room, and the kitchen floor. Elizabeth is responsible for the playroom, the main bathroom, and the hallways.
*When we clean our floors (unless it is the room being deep cleaned that week or Kitchen Day) I put our homemade floor cleaner into spray bottles for the kids. I have them spray their assigned floors and then place two clothes that we use just for housecleaning under their feet (we have a whole basket of these in the cupboard above our dryer) and they "skate" their way around the floor mopping it up.
*Sarah and I buddy up on her assignments. It is very important to me that she be able to do all of these tasks, but it takes her quite a bit longer to get her stuff done than it does the other kids. I help her get her jobs done while still making sure that she knows how to do each one.
*On Saturday night I will also prep for Sunday's meals. We usually eat finger food and then have a casserole or a crock pot dish that I don't have to do anything for on Sunday.
Sunday the whole family does nothing but relax,
If you are looking to read this whole series here are the links:
Awesome to see the system that is working for you guys! We switched to once-a-month house cleaning a few years ago and love it.
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I remember reading that post, but I will definitely check it out again.
DeleteIn the last year or so, I've also been steadily increasing the number of daily chores (I'm blogging about that), which keeps things from getting quite so dirty between monthly cleanings. Our lack of pets also means we don't need to do some things quite as often (although we're thinking about getting a dog, so I may have to re-vamp our whole cleaning system soon). :)
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