Busy Woman’s Cleaning Routine

Saturday mornings, loud music, cleaning products in hand, and washing machine going all day was how I grew up! Ugh, I couldn't stand it.  I promised myself I would not do this once I graduated from college and got a nice job! Skip to adulthood, I kept my promise. I pay for someone to clean my home and a laundry service that wash/dry/fold my laundry to free up time for my kids and me. Yet During this quarantine, I have stopped “non-essential” traffic to my house to protect my babies. My nanny (who also did light cleaning) is gone and so is the cleaning and laundry company (for now).  I seem now to have more “free time” at home to clean and take care of my kids all while maintaining full-time employment.  As if homeschooling wasn’t enough to pull out my hair, add cooking and cleaning to the list. I decided to come up with a cleaning schedule so I can enjoy more weekends in my bed binge-watching shows on  Netflix.

Below is a printable chart that you can use to help guide you to get an idea of how biting off a piece of the elephant one day at a time will help you achieve the same clean house you get around 12 pm on Saturdays. Remember to modify it to what works for you. This schedule has you focusing on cleaning one big area of the house each day of the week along with a load of laundry.

BUSY WOMEN CLEANING SCHEDULE

~Monday: Bathrooms- Used every day a minimum of two times. I start the week off with it only because they are the smallest room to clean and normally my Mondays are hectic. This way at least something will be cleaned.
~Tuesday: kitchen- because on Monday I cooked enough for leftovers today.  I can focus on cleaning the fridge/stove in time for trash day.
~Wednesday: family, living, and dining room by the middle of the week, these rooms are messy due to school projects, pop tart crumbs, or PlayStation controllers all over the floor.  This is one of my days the kids help majorly and are assigned a room. This day is a major determining factor on if they get an allowance this week.
~Thursday: Floors/mirrors/walls- Hands touch everything and items drop everywhere. This day I use Mr. Clean erasers and clean fingerprints off of walls, handrails on the stairs, and all other mirrors in the house.
~Friday: bedrooms- Friday night is normally a take out food night. I come home and eat then start the cleaning of my bedroom. The week's clothes are put up. I FINALLY, hang up clothes and go through papers that sleep in the bed with me beside my remote.
~Saturday: outside (car, garage) special projects. The kids clean my car out before I take it to be washed. I also use this time to declutter or unpack luggage from a month ago!
~Sunday: REST Netflix/Hulu/popcorn/take out

It helps that I have 3 kids ages 12,10, and 8 to help but let’s face it.  They can’t clean like mama. In order for you not to be overwhelmed with cleaning during this newfound life of quarantine, break it up and end up with the same clean house by Friday evening. Modify the schedule by what days work better for you. I’m off on the weekends so my Saturday and Sunday are light. Switch it up if your off days are during the week or split. This cleaning routine has helped take the stress out of household chores. While I’m saving money and home more this helps but I’m sure to go back to paying people to assist once I’m forced back into the streets after the pandemic is over. Let me know what other routines you’re had to change during this quarantine.