Returning to Routine

This week my oldest daughter returns to preschool! This means we reinstate our school routine, from morning wake-ups to the bedtime routine. I figured this would be a good week to introduce you to my routines. I crave routine as much as my children, so I’ve developed several of them to make our life a little easier. Today, we are going to look at my cleaning routine.

I don’t like to spend my entire weekend cleaning, which is what I used to do. So when my youngest daughter was about six months old, I drew up a new routine and I’ve stuck to it ever since.

Mondays are bedroom day. It’s one of the bigger tasks, but I like to get it out of the way.

• On Mondays, I dust all of the bedrooms, wipe down all of the other surfaces with disinfecting wipes, vacuum and put away all of the clutter that somehow comes about during the week. I will also change the sheets of the kids’ beds and sometimes I wash ours (though sometimes I do that on the weekends because it takes a little while). I finish up by cleaning the mirrors and windows with glass cleaner.

Tuesdays are living room day. This is really easy because it’s just one room. It makes me feel like I’m getting a mid-week break.

• I start by wiping down all of the door knobs (front door, closet) and switch plates with disinfecting wipes. I clean off the remotes with the disinfecting wipes as well. Germs. Yuck. I then dust the end tables, picture shelves and picture frames we have on the walls. I fluff the pillows, put away any stray toys and then vacuum. I also clean up the entertainment area of the room and put away any DVDs we haven’t relocated as we watched them throughout the week. The final task is spraying down my kids little table with Pinesol, wiping down the chairs and cleaning any papers out of the table’s little shelves.

Wednesday, how I loath you. It’s bathroom cleaning day!

• I’m actually terrible at cleaning the bathroom. I try though. I start with the tub. I use Soft Scrub to clean the actual tub part. Our Newfoundland sleeps in our tub so I have to use something powerful and with bleach. I then wet down the rag and use that same rag to scrub the walls. After that I rinse it out and move on to the sink. I clean off the counters, returning all of our styling products to the cabinets and boiling toothbrushes if they are looking shabby. I wipe down the counter with bathroom cleaner and clean the mirror. Once that is all organized, I move on to the toilet. I clean it out with toilet bowl cleaner and then I wipe down the rest of it with one of the rags from the tub. I take the rugs out and vacuum the floor and then use my steam mop to wipe up the floor. In our non-tub bathroom (yes, we only have two), I do the same thing, minus the tub part.

Thursdays round out the week.

• Thursdays I clean the kitchen up. Our dining room is part of our kitchen so I include that in the process. I clean everything off the counters and wipe them down with a hot, soapy rag. I clean all of the appliances with Pinesol (my favorite cleaner). I wipe out the sink, making sure to put all of the dishes in the dishwasher. I sweep the floor and vacuum up the pile. Then I steam mop. I wipe down the kitchen table with Pinesol and clean off this counter area that we use as a desk. This is our family hub so I always save it for the end of the week.

Throughout the week, I keep up on laundry and load/empty the dishwasher as needed. I also vacuum the entire house just about every time I vacuum. We have a small ranch so it really doesn’t take long. I also vacuum the basement once a week and try to keep that cleaned up (it’s carpeted and we keep some of the kids toys down there). On the weekends, I have time to tackle bigger projects like cleaning the garage, cooking and freezing food or washing our sheets, like I mentioned above.

Keeping this routine has really allowed me to have more relaxing weekends. Maybe that’s why it’s lasted for so long. Week day evenings aren’t as relaxing for me so tackling these projects during the week a better time to do it. Then sometimes (most of the time) I get a nap in on Saturday. And that makes it all worth it.