A Clean House

Now, I am not saying that my house is always in perfect order, or ever in perfect order, but over the last few years I have come up with an order in which I clean and organize my house each week that I find quite nice, and less stressful.  I try to have all my jobs done by noon each day, so that during nap time I can have some time to myself to do what I want.  Then after school I can spend time helping with homework and making dinner.
So here it goes...

Monday:
Sheet day.  Everyone knows they do not make their beds in the morning, instead they bring me their sheets.  By the time the kids get home from school their sheets are washed, dried and ready for them to put on their beds.
Floor day.  I dust before vacuuming (or one of the kids if it is summer break). I vacuum all of my floors upstairs, mop floors upstairs that may need it.  (I vacuum my kitchen floor everyday, but this is the day it gets mopped also along with any other day their is a spill) I move the furniture around in the front and living room about once a month, beds and such once a year (usually during spring cleaning time).

Tuesday:
Toilet day.  Enough said.  :)  I now have 5 bathrooms, so as you can imagine that is all I need to do that day. The kids do help, they each get 2 toilets, or 2 sinks, sometimes they get all the mirrors, or dumping all the garbages.  I have the kids help as much as they can according to their age.  This is the day I also clean the bathroom floors if they need it.  They all get vacuumed the day before, so unless they are really dirty, I usually only mop them once a month.
Towel day.  I wash all the towels, cleaning rags, placemats, and anything else along those lines.  I also really, really try to get them folded and put away!  That is the hardest thing about doing laundry for me!!

Wednesday:
Wash Day.  This day is a very busy day.  I gather all the dirty laundry baskets, sort and start washing.  I usually have about 5 or 6 loads of wash.  I work really hard at only concentrating on doing laundry so that by the time the kids are out of school I have all their laundry done, in their baskets and ready for them to put away.  (sometimes, when I don't get all the towels put away, I will send the towels that go downstairs with the kids that are downstairs, and stick the others in my basket so I have to put them away) I always have the kids put their own clothes away, even my 4 year old (whom I help) and have them return their baskets, that way I know that they put the clothes away and they are not just sitting in their room in a basket all week.
Windows.  I have the kids go through the house and wash all the windows.  With 3 helpers it doesn't take long.

Thursday:
Floor day.  I dust downstairs, then I vacuum downstairs and the stairs.  The kids each vacuum their own rooms.  I also re-vacuum the family room upstairs since it is the most used room in our house.  And I usually get the hardwood floor in my entryway again for the same reason.
This is the day when I can either catch up on other things that have gotten away from me during the week, or I pick a project room or closet to work on.
Bills.

Friday:
Fridge Friday.  I clean out my fridge and get rid of any nasty-ness.  Then I make a menu for the upcoming week, grocery list of what I will need and go shopping.  Obviously, I am not perfect and forget things that I may need and make extra trips into town during the week, but I do try to get all my shopping done on one day.

Saturday:
Free day.  I try to have everything done by Friday so that on Saturday when my hubby is home we can spend that time together as a family doing something fun, instead of cleaning.  When I was growing up Saturday was our cleaning day, and I dreaded Saturday.  It felt like all we did all day was clean, nothing fun. I know that is coming from the mind of a child and it was probably a little better, but that is how I remember it.  I want to be able to go and do things and not be embarassed if someone were to come over on Sunday morning after we were gone playing all day Saturday.  Of course we still have to do the dishes, but that is about it. :)

Now my kids help out a lot.  I have a chore chart for them, actually 4 of them so they can rotate and not get bored with the same thing.  I rotate a lot of little jobs for them that really help out, and everything listed up above is on their charts.  But I have other things like taking out all the garbages the day before garbage day, cleaning the fronts of the appliances, organizing mud room.  My sister Heather taught me that kids can help with the dishes everyday.  I make sure I unload the dishwasher every morning, and every night the kids rotate who washes and who loads.  (On the chart) I am kinda a freak when it comes to how my dishwasher is loaded, so when they are done I fix a few things, but they actually do a very good job of doing the dishes.

Well, I think that is about all.  This routine has been working for me for about 5 years now.  My house is never perfect, but it is clean.  I don't feel stressed during the week because I live in a mess.  Hope that someone can at least use some of this to help them be more organized.

~Rachel~