Grab my printable of it right here — and then we’ll chat about how I made it, and how to make it work for you!

Daily Tasks

I can think of a couple ways to separate jobs that need to get done at your house (although I’m sure there’s lots of ways — one of these might resonate with you to get started though):

Divide by Room: Every day, a room is assigned to it. That way you’re able to concentrate on cleaning that room, organizing it and really digging deep into that ONE room (and mostly ignoring the rest — although we’ll talk about it).

One TYPE of cleaning: Maybe you’re doing floors, or dusting, or cleaning counters and you from room to room just doing this one task. This allows you to basically have the same cleaning products for each of the rooms, which is nice.

For me, I sort of combined these…. and I’ll show you how.

Prior to do this I was trying to do FlyLady (is that even still a thing?) — but I found it REALLY overwhelming. I had small kids, a job and a husband that was gone a LOT… I needed it simple to where I could either do the bare minimum or more depending on how the day was going. If you’re overwhelmed by a system you have right now, this might be helpful!

Looking for more household management tips — be sure to check out these posts:

• 5 Reasons You HAVEN’T Started Organizing & How to Fix Them!
• Family-Tested Organizing Tips
• Baby Proofing 101: Dani Morin’s Mission for Baby Safety Awareness
• Clever Kitchen Storage: Smart solutions for smaller kitchens
• House Cleaning List {Printable}

Weekly Cleaning Schedule Example:

I did a bit of a combination of those two, and I’ll show you how it works for us:

Mondays: Kitchen/Floors

• Clean the counters
• Deep Clean Something
• Organize something
• Clean-out the fridge
• Sweep & mop our tile floors (which includes our main floor — I do all of the tile on that day)

You’ll see that I front-load our week a lot. I’m freshest, and at my best on Mondays, much less so on Fridays — so make it work for you! (I realize this isn’t true for a lot of people)

Tuesdays: Bathrooms

I should say that I don’t feel an urge to clean my ENTIRE bathroom every week — we get to the tubs/showers and hands and knees for the floor on the weekends. I tend to just do what bothers me, and anything that is gross. You do what works for you.

• Counters
• Mirrors
• Toilet
• Floor around toilet
• Organize anything that’s not working in the bathroom

My kids clean their own bathroom — and I start this early as possible. I start with them cleaning the counter, or some of the floor (kids are close to the floor — so that works well) and slowly add things as they get bigger.

Wednesdays: Bedrooms & Vacuuming

• Vacuum all the carpeted areas in the house
• Organize in the bedroom

You can see that my energy for the week has already started to peter out…. this day is lighter, and it will continue to get lighter through the end of the week.

Thursdays: Downstairs Rooms

We have a home office, a guest room/YouTube filming room, and a playroom downstairs.

Because we’re not down here a whole lot I tend to just pick an organizing project down there. I’m slowly going through our old toys to either donate or keep the items.

Fridays: Living Room/Dining Room (which is also my office)

I like to do this on Fridays in case we’re having company over the weekend.

• Dust the room (we have dark furniture)
• Vacuum out the couch/flip cushions every now and then
• Organize anything in that area

Saturday: Family Clean

I detail this in Family Routines, but it is just about 20 minutes where we go through the house and pick stuff up — mostly just tidy it, and then we deep clean an area — all together (because I desperately needed my kids to learn how to clean and I slowly realized I was going to be the example in that process).

Every week of the month is assigned an area to deep clean:

• Week One: Kitchen
• Week Two: Bathrooms (this is when we do showers/floors)
• Week Three: Bedrooms (including window sills, baseboards, etc)
• Week Four: Living Room (this is usually when the couch gets a more thorough look at, and we also dust our ceiling fans)
• If there’s a 5th week we often deep clean the freezer that week.

Does this always go according to the “plan”? No. Not at all. Often we skip the bedroom week if we’re gone or lazy one week, but I try to do the other weeks on Saturday as the main goal is to teach the kids how to do it.

We’re really just aiming for 20 minutes of deep cleaning amongst all of us — and it’s surprising how much can be done in those 20 minutes.

I also like to have some upbeat music on during that time too.

FYI, I also have my kids doing their own areas on this same routine. They have jobs in the kitchen on Monday, bathrooms Tuesdays, etc…. It’s all routine at our house!

I see a lot of hate online for giving kids jobs around the house, but I couldn’t disagree more and having had kids who moved out — I know these skills that I have helped to build will be worthwhile!

Looking for more cleaning tips? — be sure to check out these posts:

• Smelly Fridge – Here’s the Easy Ways to Clean It
• How to Clean Tile Floors
• I love cleaning {I know, I’m Crazy}: Six things to like about cleaning
• Splitting Household Chores in Marriage
• Why I Don’t Have a Cleaning Lady

Do I do nothing else?

I do a 10 minute tidy each morning. Many people call that a “reset” — it’s normally me emptying the drainer, putting dishes in the dishwasher people left out, cleaning off anything that got dumped somewhere. It’s just a quick run-through.

Think that sounds helpful — I have a little challenge right here for you:

When I had little kids I also did 5 minutes in the evening that was often me pushing a battery vacuum around to get what the toddler spilled, but we now have a robot vacuum that does most of that.

If you feel like you want to clean your bathroom counters daily, or sweet up everywhere daily — do that — I just don’t, and that’s OK too.

You Do You

Whenever I type out this list I worry that people will be grossed out that I don’t clean our shower or bathroom floors weekly.

But, we have tile that is basically the color of dirt, and I have tried to schedule it at a timeframe that I think it’s just starting to get gross when we clean it.

It is a level of dirt that I’m OK with.

You might want to go longer, or shorter, and that’s OK. We’re all doing what works for us.

What did the cleaning schedule do for me?

When I started working as a labor nurse I quickly realized my house was getting out of control, and it just made it hard for me to feel “safe” to sit down because ALL of these things felt like they should get done RIGHT NOW.

Instead, I know that the bathroom will get cleaned on Tuesdays, and as long as it’s not grossing me out too much, it can wait.

Also, no area got lost.

I have also edited this through the years, moving houses and kids getting older, what needed to be cleaned changed. BUT, the basic framework has stayed the same and it still works.

Also, when I started to work full time on my content creation/podcasting/courses business and my husband stayed home, we knew what needed to be done, and it made it easier to share chores.

I have all the tasks in a to do list and it really makes it easy!

So, do you think a cleaning schedule will work for you? How do you think you’ll organize it? Tell me in the comments!

And, grab the printable version right here:

The post Home Cleaning Schedule Printable: Make it work for YOU! appeared first on Pulling Curls.

How I Created My Cleaning Schedule Template

I had just moved to California after my first child had turned one. My whole world had been turned upside down, and there was no mommy to help me. I was working full time (brand new to that), as well as supporting a husband in a very busy job. I was constantly feeling the pressure to keep a clean house, or that nothing was getting done. I was just about to lose my mind when I asked myself what my mom would do.

I reminded myself that my mom had a daily cleaning schedule with different tasks for each day. Bathrooms on Tuesdays, vacuuming on Thursdays, dusting on Fridays.

That day I sat down and divi’d out my chores, and from that day on I haven’t looked back.

And now, with working more and my husband less, we let this cleaning schedule guide us in what we do on a daily basis. It works out smashing and we have a cleaner home!

One of your goals could be a weekly house cleaning schedule or a daily house cleaning schedule {and you groan}. I know, cleaning schedules sound like a lot of horrible work. They’re just no fun and who wants that kind of rigidity?

Pro Tip:  Ever wish your house was easier to clean? The BEST way to do that is to organize it better, and I have FOUND THE SOLUTION!  You can even save 10% with code PC10.

House Cleaning Schedule Printable Template pdf

Don’t worry about writing it all down — you can get the printable right here:

Weekly House Cleaning Schedule

I went years without one, but when I started to go back to work part-time (my first kid was 1) I felt like the system I had grown up with my mom doing would also work for me and could really help me keep a clean home.

I was tired of feeling REALLY overwhelmed by thinking all things needed to be clean all the time. I should say that I do think things need to feel “organized” all the time (and that’s just me, and I don’t expect others to live up to it) but I don’t need to have spotless everything all the time. It’s just not realistic with 3 kids. My whole course The Organized Home is based on a realistic lifestyle of organization.

I thought about what my mom had done on a monthly basis when we were growing up and I adjusted her monthly cleaning schedule for what would work for ME.

Then we moved, and I adjusted it for that house, and then we moved again and I adjusted it for THIS house.

My cleaning checklist template gets tweaked a lot depending on where we live and what is going on in our lives.

Looking for more cleaning tips? — be sure to check out these posts:

• Home Cleaning Schedule Printable: Make it work for YOU!
• Smelly Fridge – Here’s the Easy Ways to Clean It
• House Cleaning List {Printable}
• How to Clean Tile Floors
• I love cleaning {I know, I’m Crazy}: Six things to like about cleaning

House cleaning schedule app

I use TickTick. All of my cleaning tasks are scheduled through TickTick, it’s a great way to help me stay on task. The good news most of them are shared with Drew, so if I am working and he’s at home, he can look to see what needs to be done instead of me leaving notes. It may well have saved our marriage. 

Plus, it syncs, so when I do something like clean the bathroom sinks, it ticks off, and if he does something like the kitchen floor, it ticks off. Here’re screenshots of how it looks on my desktop, and also how it looks on my phone.

Ok, and while we’re at it, I think there is something magical about to-do lists. 

It is lovely to just look at your phone, and it TELLS you what you need to get done. I really think that if you are feeling overwhelmed, to-do lists might be just the ticket. All of the tasks are able to be scheduled by the days of the week — so once I cross it off, it just reschedules itself for the next time it’s due! For deep cleaning tasks you can schedule those out further too.

There are a lot of great to-do apps out there, I would encourage you to find something that works for you! I don’t just use them in cleaning. I also use them at church, with my PTO jobs at school, and my business. I feel a huge weight lift when I need to do something, and I just type it and schedule it in the to-do lists. I feel like it will get done.

I am compulsive about getting the things on my to-do list done — and I should probably be more willing to let things fall when they need to — but to-do lists have been my saving grace.

You could also easily use a paper planner (it’s just not as automatic, but it is more intentional –which is why I enjoy it for some things).

On days when I hardly know which way is up, I just look at my phone (and TickTick prioritizes things so that the most important — which you tell them — is on the top) and start “ticking” off the things I need to get done. Sometimes when I am REALLY overwhelmed I will set a timer for an amount of time I think I can handle and just plow (like my 10-minute tidy challenge). It’s amazing how many things you can get off a to-do list when you’re able to focus.

I find that being able to “check” things off helps me to find the motivation to clean.

If you look closely, you’ll see that my 4 things are on my list every day (the screenshot from above only has the jobs I share with my husband, so they’re not there). TickTick just re-schedules them every day for me once I tick them off.

Anyway, think about if a to-do list will work for you?

Will you use it? Because USING it, is the most important part!

Using your weekly cleaning schedule

The reality is that this schedule won’t clean your house for you — so I wanted to give you a few things to make it work:

• Print it out and use stickers — just like when you’re little — it will give you a sense of accomplishment
• Give yourself a reward (like date night) if you do it all week long
• Set alarms on your phone to make sure stuff is getting done!
• Keep a realistic schedule. You won’t be able to clean the entire house in one week!

My Weekly Cleaning Schedule

I’d just suggest finding the system that WILL work for you. People’s brains are just TOO full anymore and cleaning jobs don’t always make the list. There are too many things to think about. This just helps organize them. You can see my other weekly cleaning posts on that tab up there. Or, here is each day of the week is outlined:

• Monday
• Tuesday
• Wednesday
• Thursday
• Friday
• Saturday
• Sunday

Or, you can see them all here!

Yes, I am just this anal. I have found a way to embrace it.

I also think you can adjust this type of schedule can really work for you too! I’ve seen thousands of readers pin this post and make changes in their homes successfully. The goal is that at the end of the week you’ll feel a sense of accomplishment so you’ll want to keep going.

Weekly Cleaning Schedule for Working Moms

I think you really need to tailor the schedule to yourself. Your weekly cleaning tasks may be different than mine depending on your home and family. I work Thursdays, you can see that my schedule has some stuff on Thursdays, but it’s lighter things that I won’t be screwed if I don’t get them done.

I have a whole post on making a cleaning schedule work for you — and for working moms, I think that post is doubly important! It’s nice to create your own cleaning schedule and see things being accomplished.

In an effort to be extra helpful, I am making it available to you  in case you are wanting to replicate it. You can see my kid’s specific tasks are here too. We are all on the schedule, and as soon as my kids get electronic devices, you can bet your bottom dollar I’ll be showing them how to-do lists can help them be more productive and feel more relaxed at the same time. Regular house cleaning I find is easier than trying to do everything in one day.

And, like I said — having an organized house really is the foundation for a MUCH easier-to-clean home. Get started here.

So, can daily cleaning checklist schedules work for you? Could you adapt this to work in your own life? I think you can! Tell me below!

The post Weekly Cleaning Schedule Template: The Benefits of scheduling a clean home appeared first on Pulling Curls.

Creating a cleaning schedule entirely changed my life.  I was a working mom who was overwhelmed by all the mundane tasks I needed to do when I was not at work.  Every moment was filled with me feeling like I wasn’t getting “it all” done.  I made a weekly cleaning schedule and those feelings disappeared.  Thankfully.

BUT, that’s because I created one that worked for ME!

The key to this post is to find one that works for you.

BTW, you can check out my weekly cleaning schedule — and have it sent right to your inbox.

Cleaning schedule that works for you

Here are a few of your options in creating a cleaning schedule that works for you:

1. Daily cleaning schedules — come up with a routine you do each day that helps get to those daily tasks that need doing.
2. Weekly cleaning schedules —  list all the jobs you need to get done weekly and then pencil them into the days of the week.
3. Monthly/quarterly cleaning schedules — maybe you’re struggling with those less-important jobs, that only need to be done once a month or quarterly.  These are often-forgotten jobs, and a lot of people start HERE as they feel like they have a handle on their regular cleaning.

Related Post: I love Cleaning

How to make a cleaning schedule

For me, I give each day a room — and then I do the deep cleaning on that day.

• Monday — Kitchen (I also sweep & mop the tile floors on Mondays)
• Tuesday — Bathrooms
• Wednesday — Bedrooms (I also vacuum on Wednesdays)
• Thursday — Office/Family Room
• Friday — Living Room
• and on Saturdays, we do a whole-house clean-up.

Another way you could split it:

• Surfaces one day
• Floors
• Tubs/showers

Or think of something that works for you!  I find that using a schedule really helps me find the motivation to clean (because I like “checking” things off).

If you have a great way that works for you — put it in the comments so we can all read about it!

Cleaning Schedule for Working Moms

Another option would be to list the items that need to be done, and just check off the week as it progresses.  That might be great if your work schedule varies, and you can’t always keep the same schedule.

However, if your work schedule is fairly predictable, I have found it REALLY helpful to assign tasks to a specific day.  It just makes it easy to think “I have 30 minutes, I can power this out”

Making Your Cleaning Schedule

I do my cleaning schedule on my phone, using the app Ticktick — I like it because I can share it with my husband and it easily repeats tasks and I LOVE ticking things off.

Other options would be a schedule you put on your fridge or in a highly visible area.  You could even print it off  (this is my FAVORITE printer) each week and check things off as you go.

A lot of you reading this might think you’re just bad at cleaning — but maybe you just haven’t found what is going to work for you.

Sometimes you just have to be aware of your weaknesses and then find something that works around those.  When you do that — you’ll have a tool that really supports you in automating your life.

Now, you — of course — still have to actually do the work.  But if you follow the schedule, it can eliminate a lot of stress for you.  Plus, you won’t waste time trying to figure out what needs to be done.  I think you’ll find it freeing — I know I do.

I am a big believer in finding what works for you — and I think you’ll find that in my course The Organized Home.  It’s tailored to make it all work for you.  Check it out!

Grab this printable cleaning schedule, to give you a starting point!

The post Making a Cleaning Schedule That Works For You appeared first on Pulling Curls.

Creating a cleaning schedule changed my life. I was so lost, with a stressful job, a new baby and in a new location and pulling my house together in a cleaning schedule made SUCH a change. I can’t wait to share it with you!

This post is inspired by my post on my Cleaning Schedule Template. You can find it here: https://www.pullingcurls.com/the-benefits-of-weekly-cleaning-schedule/

You can actually get my actual cleaning schedule sent to you via email right here:

Big thanks to our sponsor The Organized Home. If you’re truly looking to clean less — it is the COURSE FOR YOU! Nothing makes cleaning easier, than having all of your items put away. Be sure to use the coupon code mentioned in the episode!

Things I share in this episode:

• Why a cleaning schedule can be beneficial
• How to start about making a cleaning schedule
• The most important part of a cleaning schedule.

Mentioned in this post:

• My Robot Vacuum Wars
• Making a Cleaning Schedule work for YOU
• All of my cleaning & organization posts
• Family Routines Course with the chapter on getting your family to clean on Saturdays

Check out my other household tips podcasts:

Show Transcription:

Hilary Erickson 0:00
Hey guys, welcome back to the pulling crows podcast today on episode 12. We’re talking about cleaning schedules.

I know you’re thinking like why am I going to listen to a podcast about cleaning schedules and I don’t know that I’ve ever heard another podcast about cleaning schedule. But I wanted to tell you why I find cleaning schedules so important and why Hilary with a one year old and a new job just was like, the brains were exploding out of my head and I had no idea how to keep like moving forward and the cleaning schedule totally helped me out.

I’m going to share my exact cleaning schedule. I’m not talking about like some perfect schedule. Like if I really ran perfectly, this is what we would do. No, this is what we do at our house and I’m going to share an app you can use and how I use it and how it really helps me stay on top of things. Let’s untangle it.

Welcome to the pulling curls podcast where we untangle everything from pregnancy, parenting, home routines, even some family travel because heavens knows our lives are tangled. I’m your host Hilary Erickson.

I remember the first time somebody came up to me and was like, I saw your cleaning schedule. And I was like, Oh, that’s cool. Like, kind of awkward. The she was like, you don’t follow that, do you? And I was like, Yeah, I really wrote that. Because that’s what I do every week. And she was like, You seriously clean your house that much. And I was like, it’s not really that much work. And she was just like, wow, that’s just crazy.

So I feel like when you write out a cleaning schedule, it can be overwhelming when you look at it. Because you know, during the week, you do do a lot of jobs. But each day really isn’t that bad. Now, why do I think cleaning schedules are great, I didn’t follow on for probably my kids first year of life. And I didn’t follow one when I was working as a nurse because my days were totally random. And when I had a day off, I was completely off. And I only worked three days a week because that’s how nurses go. But once I had a kid and I had a little bit more of a set schedule, I was feeling like the whole house was kind of closing in on me and I felt like I needed to do everything every day.

And I was thinking back about what my mom did, and she had a pretty strict cleaning schedule. At least we knew what to do. jobs we were doing each day. And I was thinking, let’s give that a try. Because I was just feeling so overwhelmed with the kid and I was working more than I had. And it was just a lot. So if any of you guys are feeling like that and you’re feeling like the cleaning schedules just going to make it worse, it did not it made it so much better.

Some people feel like a cleaning schedule is going to be too restrictive. But for me, it frees me because I know I only need to do those three to five tasks that day. And then I’m moving on to all the other things that I need to do because clearly cleaning is not the only thing a mom does. I think we all can agree that cleaning is a very small segment of what we do during the day. So I think that it frees up my mind from all of the should do’s and it you know, narrows those down to three to five, do do’s – hhah, do-do’s so

and my house is generally always clean. It’s not immaculate. It doesn’t look like a maids come every day and that’s okay for me. I just want it fairly kept cleaned up feet not sticking to the floor counters look fairly wipe down stuff like that. And I feel like the cleaning schedule also makes it so that I don’t invest a ton of time on any particular day because I find that overwhelming. It ends up getting me really tired and little bit depressed. So I would much prefer just cleaning small amounts each day. And then you know, just getting it over with.

So how do you make a cleaning schedule, there are many ways to making cleaning schedule. And I would encourage you to make a way that makes sense to you. Now I have a post on making a cleaning schedule that works for you. And it gives a few different ways on how to do it. For us we go room by room. So on Mondays we clean the kitchen and the floor on Tuesdays we do the bathroom Wednesdays we do bedrooms, and that includes vacuuming the whole house Thursdays, which is usually the day that I work, I try and clean the office in the playroom if I’m off on those days, and that’s better because those rooms tend to take large amounts of time to like organize and really get through. But if we ignore it for a few weeks, that’s okay. Because you know, it’s generally well kept because of the organization systems that we have in there. And then on Friday, we work on the living room just in case we have guests over on the weekend. That just makes it nice and tidy and I’m not worried about feeling like the house is a mess. We also do a family clean on Saturdays just because I really wanted to get my kids involved in helping clean the house and I talk more about that in my family routines course so I will link that in the show notes.

Sponsor 4:06
This episode of The pulling girls podcast is sponsored by the organized home the realistic way to manage your home reduce clutter and clean less ever wish you could relax with Netflix rather than worrying about the state of your home or that last paper you need. No more needing hours to prep for company be prepared for any doorbell. Let’s simplify organizing so you can enjoy life more save 15% with the coupon code untangled you can find it at pulling curls.com and the menu under courses or in this episode show notes.

Hilary Erickson 4:35
I actually use a system in my phone called tick tick and it lays out each of the tasks each day so I have it programmed in there clean the bathrooms on Tuesdays and then I also have it programmed in there for like every three weeks we need to clean the shower because I don’t feel like the shower needs to be cleaned every week and clean the tub clean the floors. I don’t feel like those things have to be done every week and some houses they may have because we have enough bathrooms. It just doesn’t feel like It needs to get done every week. So it’s easy and tick tick to be able to differentiate jobs that need to be done weekly, and jobs that need to be done less than weekly.

So what I would do if I was you is I would sit down with a pen and paper and I would make a list of all the main jobs, you could also do it in a spreadsheet, love me some spreadsheets, but I also really like writing things down because that’s me. And then I would also make note of how frequently the jobs need to be done. So sweeping and mopping the floor, that may be an everyday task for you. For me, it’s just once a week because we have a robot vacuum that sweeps the floor a few times a week also. And so the actual sweeping and full mopping of the floor only needs to happen once a week. But every family is going to be totally different. When we were in California, I vacuumed every day under our table because I had small children and life just different when you have tiny people. As you’re making the list. Make note of how often you think that needs to be done.

The most important part of the cleaning schedule is to adjust and refresh it as you go through. If you’re really overwhelmed by one day adjusted, maybe things didn’t need to be done as frequent as you thought they needed to be done. And maybe you give yourself a little leeway. I mean, they areas of our house that get a little bit grungy, like showers and tubs and things like that before they’re on the list to get clean. And that’s okay, like life goes on. We just make it work for us for us. And like the bathroom area, I just have one of those clean the shower, clean the tub, clean the guest room clean the kids bathroom, like each of those is set for once every week, so that they kind of rotate through. So we always clean the main bathroom area, the toilets and stuff like that. And then we have like an extra job of the shower and tub and they rotate through and I have that all set up and tick tick. It just reminds me what needs to be done. I do it and then we move on. So it’s pretty awesome like that,

like in the kitchen. I don’t feel like the microwave has to be cleaned every week. So microwave, sink, stove, all those kind of rotate dishwasher, we rotate through those extra jobs. So each week when we clean the kitchen, we have kind of an extra job while we do it.

So that’s how we do a cleaning schedule. I honestly feel like it just made my life so much easier. I was definitely at a point in my life where I was super overwhelmed could not handle what was going on in my life. And by getting a cleaning schedule. I really felt like I took the reins of it. So if you’re thinking that it’s going to be too much, give it a try. It really helped me out and if you guys have any comments about how a cleaning schedule work for you please leave a comment either in the show notes or on whatever platform you’re listening in. I would love to read them. I’m always interested to hear how people like do cleaning at their house. I’m always interested in other people’s systems. So hopefully this has given you just a glance into our system.

Thanks so much for joining me on today’s episode. I know cleaning schedules doesn’t sound very exciting but honestly it is exciting because it really frees up your brain to tolerate the rest of your life. If you’d like to know more about cleaning schedules, I actually have a few posts that I’m going to link to in the show notes you can check out our show notes at pulling curls .com backslash podcasts or you can search out this episode if you just type in 012 into my search bar it will bring up the cleaning schedule episode with you’re listening to right now

Big thanks to our sponsor the organized home for making this episode possible. You can find out more about it in the show notes or you can just google the organized home it pops right up or you can find it anywhere on my site also under courses if you like today’s episode, I’d love it if you’d Share, Subscribe and review. It really helps out and I really appreciate it when I see those It just warms my heart and I love bringing this kind of episodes to you guys and giving you some ideas to help you out in your home and I hope we’ll have you with us next time we drop episodes every Monday and until then I hope you have a tangle free day.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

The post Why a Cleaning Schedule Changed My Life — PCP Episode 012 appeared first on Pulling Curls.

Today I’m bringing my HUSBAND on to talk about a pretty hot-button topic — how we split up the chores at our house.

We’ve both been the main breadwinner in our family, and it has certainly changed how we view chores. Both of us came from families that the mom did most of the household work — but since I worked we needed to find a new solution — does any of that sound familiar? I think you’ll love today’s episode!

This episode was inspired by my post on splitting household chores — which you can find here: https://www.pullingcurls.com/splitting-household-chores-in-marriage/

Big thanks to today’s sponsor The Organized Home — if you’re looking to spend LESS time cleaning up your house and more time ENJOYING your relationships, it’s the course for you! Don’t forget to use the code mentioned in the podcast!

In this episode:

We’re going to talk about how we ACTUALLY split chores in our house. How we split it now, and how we split it when my husband had a very busy job.

We’re also going to talk about the magic tool we use to eliminate nagging.

Mentioned in this episode:

• Armchair Expert with Dax Shepherd & Kristen Bell (one of my favorite podcast episodes of all time)
• Tick-Tick App
• Why we don’t have a maid
• Teaching Teens to do Laundry
• More info on our Saturday Clean can be found in Family Routines
• Our Cleaning Schedule
• How we clean our floors
• Robot Vac Wars
• How to make a cleaning schedule that works for you
• How to not kill your husband

Show Producer: Drew Erickson | Photo Credit: Photography Hill

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Show Transcription:

Hilary Erickson 0:00
Hey guys, welcome to episode nine of the pulling curls podcast. Today we’re talking about splitting chores in a marriage. Now you don’t have to be married. But if you’re in a relationship sometimes deciding who does which jobs at your house is mind boggling. So today I have a very special guest coming on. I’ll let you guess who that is. We’re talking about handling chores when one of you is working a little bit more and our family I have actually been on both sides of that I’ve been the one who stays at home more and now I’m the one who works for income more than my husband does. We’re going to talk about our favorite and our least favorite cleaning jobs and I’m going to share a big tip in a way to stop nagging. Let’s untangle it.

Welcome to the pulling Curls podcast where we untangle everything from pregnancy parenting, home routines, even some family travel because heavens knows our lives are tangled I’m your host Hilary Erickson.

Okay, you guys I bet you guessed too it’s going to be today’s show guest is actually my husband is Drew Erickson and he is actually the show’s producer. So if you’ve ever thought I love how quick this show is, he’s so good at like editing out my 700 arms and all the stuttering that I do. He does such a great job. So if you like this podcast, it is actually him not so much me

Just so you guys have a little bit of background about him. He was actually a band director for the vast majority of our marriage. He worked as a high school band director. He worked both in California and here he left band directing about four years ago and he now works at a local community college. He teaches a few classes there on campus and he really enjoys that he has also been a Scoutmaster for six long years, and he’s my best friend.

Sponsor 1:35
This episode of The pulling curls podcast is sponsored by the organized home the realistic way to manage your home reduce clutter and clean less ever wished you could relax with Netflix rather than worrying about the state of your home or that last paper you need. No more needing hours to prep for company be prepared for any doorbell. Let’s simplify organizing so you can enjoy life more. Save 15% with the coupon code untangled you can find it at point girls calm and the menu on courses or in this episode show notes.

Hilary Erickson 2:04
Well, hello, Mr. Erickson. Welcome to the Pulling Curls podcast.

Drew Erickson 2:08
Hello Mrs. Erickson. So fun to be here.

Hilary Erickson 2:10
I don’t actually respond to Mrs. Erickson. That’s your mom.

Drew Erickson 2:13
That’s very true.

Hilary Erickson 2:14
Anyway, my wildest dream is that we will come close to Kristen Bell and x Shepherd today. So we’ll see.

Drew Erickson 2:21
We’ll try to keep it civil

Hilary Erickson 2:22
All right. So I want you to describe our chore system. It is a tour system that I mostly created while I was the loner stay at home mom, but I want you to describe it for the people at home.

Drew Erickson 2:34
So we have specific days that are devoted to specific rooms. So for example, we do our kitchen on Monday, we do our bathrooms on Tuesdays, we do vacuuming of the entire house on Wednesdays Thursday, you tend to work and I’m teaching and plus got a bunch of other stuff going on on Thursday. So that’s kind of a light day and Friday is really just kind of catch up where other things didn’t happen before primarily. That’s kind of catch up on laundry and finish additional laundry for the week. and things of that nature. Saturday is kind of our big clean, doing the cleaning schedule with the kids and getting them involved and making sure that we’re all at least for 20 minutes very focused cleaning, and get it done really quick. And then we can move on with the rest of the day.

Hilary Erickson 3:14
Okay, so how do you know what’s supposed to be done?

Drew Erickson 3:17
We use an app called tick tick.

Hilary Erickson 3:20
And by we he means me.

Drew Erickson 3:22
Well, no, I use it to keep track of which what’s on my list of things to do that day. So the tick tick helps me communicate to you what it is that has been done. And then vice versa. So that when for example, if I am teaching in the morning, come back then I know what I need to focus on the rest of the day. Now that’s been really useful. We’ve also learned over the years that there are certain things that are on my list, or that are things that I have to do that don’t actually qualify or that don’t make your list on tick, tick, for example, folding laundry, things of that nature, the folding laundry just has to get done. It’s not on the list. So

Hilary Erickson 3:55
uh, yeah, but I you know, you can make your own lists on tick tick, right. Like I have my own blog. Yeah. Okay, just checking.

Drew Erickson 4:01
I have my own list as well.

Hilary Erickson 4:02
And how much time would you say on average cleaning takes

Drew Erickson 4:07
with a Wednesday or sorry, Monday and doing the kitchen sweeping and mopping an hour, maybe an hour and a half?

Hilary Erickson 4:13
Wow, you are really slow at that.

Drew Erickson 4:15
That’s all right, I can edit that part out.

Hilary Erickson 4:17
So I have a super popular post called why we don’t have a cleaning lady. And one of the reasons is, it really doesn’t take that much time Mondays is the worst because we have a ton of tile. And so at some point, you have to sweep and mop all of that. And so but that would have to happen. Like if we had a maid every other week, we’d still have to do something with the tile probably weekly, because we have kids and they are like elephants. So

Drew Erickson 4:37
that’s very true.

Hilary Erickson 4:38
Do you feel like it takes a lot of time? No, no actual cleaning of your house, once you’re organizing stuff, I think

Drew Erickson 4:43
maybe an hour on that same token of the post about why we don’t have a cleaning lady where it takes so little time and it is you own the home, you’ve got to have some skin in the game and keeping it up to date and keeping it clean and making it the place that you want to be. And otherwise it becomes kind of to me anyway becomes kind of a sterile environment that somebody else deals with. And you just happen to sleep there.

Hilary Erickson 5:04
Yeah, although I my main reason is to the kids, I don’t want them to think that having a maid is a normal thing. Absolutely. And I want them to be our kids. Actually, besides sweeping and mopping our kids, they clean two of our bathrooms, they vacuum extra rooms and on the Saturday clean that we add other things into it that a maid would normally do. And so for us, that’s just how we’ve decided to do. I’m not saying that it’s bad to have a maid and I hope to have one as soon as my youngest moves out of this house. But until then I want her to think that everyone just cleans their house on their own

Drew Erickson 5:34
well, and I think it’s important for the for kids to have that same kind of buy in that they have a part in. Yeah, first the place that we live. I will say that we stopped doing our kids laundry when our oldest was 12.

Hilary Erickson 5:47
Maybe a little older than that.

Drew Erickson 5:48
A little bit older than that. But we realized that if we want them to be learning basic life skills, they need to actually be doing it. And so particularly the the two older boys have been doing their own laundry, not just folding their own laundry. They’ve been doing that for a long time, but actually washing and scheduling their own when they’ve got plenty of dirty clothes, that they are actually taking care of their own laundry. They’ve been doing that now for for quite a while.

Hilary Erickson 6:12
Yeah, and our youngest is 10. And I think probably this coming summer, we will transition her into doing her own her big problem right now is that we have a it’s no longer like a front loader. It’s a top loader and she can’t reach the clothes in it. unless she’s on a stool.

Drew Erickson 6:27
Yeah, she does have to get help to get the wet laundry out. But she does a pretty good job. Like she’ll do the towels by herself. If she forgets to take care of the bathroom towels in the morning, she can take care of getting it started by yourself. And really, she can start her the wash cycle of her own laundry pretty well. She’s now getting to the point where if she’s just tall enough, if she stands up on a stool she can actually reach in, but it is a little bit easier for her to get some help to reach and put it in and she can run the dryer herself.

Hilary Erickson 6:53
Yeah, right now I think our chore system is kind of that you do the basic cleaning, I maybe do some deep cleaning and organize. Is that what you would say?

Drew Erickson 7:03
Yeah, and I would say that I also as I’m going about the week looking around for other projects is usually on Saturday will have the kids do an extra special cleaning, whether that might be cleaning corners of the walls where their hands touch a lot as they’re going down the stairs or what have you or something that because of our schedule this week just didn’t happen between you and I cleaning but it is something that they can do. That’s something that gets tacked on to their lists. So I kind of look at that part of the organization as kind of my job to make sure that there’s an extra job lists that we can pull from for the kids on Saturdays.

Hilary Erickson 7:36
Yeah, so if you guys are looking for more information on this family Saturday clean actually have a whole chapter about it in family routines. And I will put the link down in the show notes. That’s not today’s sponsor, but it is a super helpful thing for families if you want to get into a routine of cleaning together.

Okay, so currently drew and I each have part time jobs that we work out of the home some we mostly, you know, run Erickson creative LLC. And so for, most of our marriage, I was the one home 90% of the time. And now drew is probably home a little bit more than me. He’s definitely not as like involved in the writing process of the blog, but he is actually the Podcast Producer. So he has a little bit more free time probably than me. So what which

Drew Erickson 8:16
That is why I take up more of the cleaning duties myself.

Hilary Erickson 8:19
Okay, so Drew, I know a lot of women are like, Oh, that must be such a dream to have your husband home full time. That is a podcast for another day. But today, what was the hardest part of splitting up chores when you worked full time outside the home

Drew Erickson 8:32
when I was a band director, it was the constant. I mean, there were so many so many weeks where it was 60 to 80 hours of work a week at school. So then coming home and finding the time to actually be contributing to all the stuff I constantly felt guilt that you were having to do the vast majority of the housework while I was just trying to scrape by making a living and make my contribution to our home. Since making this career shift. I find it much easier. I think our relationship in terms of diversifying what’s happening at home is a lot better. I think it’s better balance. But for the band director life, it didn’t ever slow down to a point where things would get better. It just changed gears it just was constant all the time having to be at school or having to be doing basically a pseudo parent for somebody else’s child instead of being able to be a parent for my own.

Hilary Erickson 9:21
So we did have summers though, where I would then go to work. So we’ve kind of we have shifted this way before because during the summers I would usually work more towards full time if we weren’t on vacation and you would be at home doing the chores, which is why tick tick has always worked so well because we have bounced off. When you worked full time at school though you pretty much just folded laundry, right? That is your main like assigned air quotes assigned chore.

Drew Erickson 9:45
I remember doing a lot of sweeping and mopping of the kitchen floor when I got home from marching band practice on Monday night

Hilary Erickson 9:51
drew is hallucinating.

Alright, see you guys. I mean, I think every couple feels this way. Like he thinks that he’s swept and mopped. But I promise you will slept in my maybe 10% of the time. And I did a lot more than he did. But he wasn’t home. And so I was home much more.

Drew Erickson 10:07
Let’s just say suffice to say that I was not home a lot of the time because I had to my job requirement had to be someplace else. A lot.

Hilary Erickson 10:15
Yeah. So if you’re at home and you’re struggling with a spouse, you’re at home with small children and your spouse is not doing the housework, I would recommend like he didn’t like the way I folded laundry. And so clearly that needed to be his job. And so that is one way that we diversified things. And then if I was sick or whatever he was sick, then I would help fold laundry or he would help sweep and mop. Yeah, sweeping and mopping, if you can’t tell is our biggest job here in this house. And so it does take a lot of extra time. Yeah. So what is the hardest part about splitting chores now that you’re home more?

Drew Erickson 10:45
Now that I’m home more? I don’t know that it’s terribly difficult to try and split up the jobs so much anymore? I think it’s like I said, since going through this career shift, I think that aspect of things has become much better balanced.

Hilary Erickson 10:58
I have the problem that I feel like things need to be done on the day they’re assigned because that’s the nursing school in me and sometimes you don’t do them on the day that’s assigned. Do you ever feel pressure that your wife is so anal that you would like to… put her in the mop bucket?

Drew Erickson 11:13
I don’t know that Id put you in the mop bucket necessarily. That seems a little dark? I wouldn’t. But that is a difference in philosophy. I think if by Saturday or within a given timeframe, the work gets done. That’s the that’s the primary goal, the having it done on a specific day having been in our relationship for as long as we have I get where you’re coming from, but I still have the same philosophy of get it done when you can get it done. That’s the end of it.

Hilary Erickson 11:38
I believe everything in life has a due date. Anyway, is there anything that you would change with the chore system that we have now?

Drew Erickson 11:48
No, I think our tour system actually works really, really well. I think it works well for our kids knowing their expectations of what’s expected when they come home from school. And it gives them a bench mark for when they can get when they can get things done. I actually do enjoy having specific days where the due date, if you will, air quotes is consistent, because even if it doesn’t get done on that particular day, then I know it’s first priority on the back burner.

Hilary Erickson 12:14
I don’t even have a back burner,

Drew Erickson 12:15
I have many back burner. Just as a matter of survival

Hilary Erickson 12:18
Everything’s front burner for me. Um, what about I know I’ve talked with other people, and I’ve mentioned to use tick, tick or any To Do List feature, you can do it on tasks on Google tick ticks nice because you can share one of your task list but then you can also have your own, you can get it’s free, the one we use is free, you can upgrade for pro or something like that. But what do you think about using that type of a thing, it was not the easiest to get you into that zone.

Drew Erickson 12:42
I think in hindsight after doing it for many years now I think it’s actually a great way and I’ve actually recommended it in the scouting life for my scouts that are doing personal management to keep track of what they have to do. One of the things they have to do is to make it to do list and do it for a specified amount of time. I think tick tick is a great tool in order to be able to do that and not only that it allows again communication with everybody who’s on the team to know what is expected and what has to be done.

Hilary Erickson 13:09
Yeah, I think initially though you didn’t love being

Drew Erickson 13:12
No I did not

Hilary Erickson 13:13
what needed to be done but I feel like it’s a way to be like this is what needs to be done without me needing to nag you because nagging is what bugs you and bugs me that I need to nag because I’m not your mom.

Drew Erickson 13:23
Yes. The the nagging part of it was the worst

Hilary Erickson 13:25
even though they call me Mrs. Erickson sometimes Yes, which is your mom.

Drew Erickson 13:29
I am still Mr. Erickson, but I more frequently go by just by my first name these days. So your students in college call you drew if they call me anything they usually call me Mr. Erickson or Professor Erickson but I always sign my emails with just my first name Wow.

Hilary Erickson 13:45
Alright, so let’s share what’s your least favorite job around the house

Drew Erickson 13:49
sweeping and mopping?

Hilary Erickson 13:50
Yeah, you guys are getting a sense that that is it’s just a long job. And it has steps and there’s a lot of like corners.

Drew Erickson 13:58
Yeah, but I say it’s my least favorite job by anymore. Because I’ve kind of got a system going, it’s not as bad as it used to be used to be a lot worse

Hilary Erickson 14:07
well, and one thing that we do, it’s the kitchen area that really gets the dirtiest. And so we do split up the other areas of tile in tick tick so that you kind of know where you’re rotating to. And that makes it a little bit easier because we don’t always need to sweep them off the entryway because it doesn’t get that dirty. We also have a little robot vac that I will link to in the show notes. We had one robot vac commit suicide, it was so sad. And we bought a new one that I really liked. He liked the new guy. Yeah, and the robot vacuum has been so helpful. So if you guys are thinking about something that maybe both of you could love for Christmas, a robot vacuum robot

Drew Erickson 14:42
vacuum is really been great in terms of getting the food falling food particles falling off the table cleaned up, because I’ll be honest, our kids are not great when it comes to cleaning up after dinner about going sure and making sure that the counters and the table or the floor is cleaned up. So the robot vacuum is really taking care of that that aspect of things.

Hilary Erickson 15:01
Yeah, and I love it. Um, what’s your favorite job to do, um, cleaning-wise,

Drew Erickson 15:04
probably doing the laundry because one shot, it’s done. It’s like two minutes,

Hilary Erickson 15:08
mine’s totally cleaning counters,

Drew Erickson 15:10
I do enjoy cleaning counters. I’ll agree with you on that one, I would say my second least favorite job is probably checking the water schedule. Although I will say with tick, tick, being able to have all the information on tick tick to know what day is what initially when it was first on the schedule, we didn’t have that information. And I hated it. Because then I had to go and find what information however many days we were supposed to be irrigating all that garbage, and then go deal with the sprinkler system.

Hilary Erickson 15:35
So if you guys are wondering what in the heck I was talking about. Because we live in Arizona, like during the winter, you can like water, it’s like 20 days between watering. But during the summer, you have to switch it to like every three, we only have a very small amount of grass. I know please don’t think we’re like ruining the world, or grass consumption. But every month it pops up and tick tick to change how often the watering schedule is.

Drew Erickson 15:57
And it’s again, because we live in the desert, it makes sense because we’re wanting to conserve water and not abuse those privileges. But the other primary reason is because we live in Arizona and going out to check the water system means that we have to go outside and it’s 110. And just miserable and ugly. And

Hilary Erickson 16:15
so great living here what a blessing it is to live in the desert. Yeah. All right. Any other tips you would give for a mom who’s at home with kids and who feels like she has to do all the housework coming from someone who was on the other side,

Drew Erickson 16:27
even though I resisted it a lot. Making a consistent schedule using some kind of an app where communication takes the nagging part out of it makes the relationships so much better. But having that cleaning schedule on a consistent schedule, I remember growing up we used to have basically Saturday was the clean day and every other day was whatever happened happened. Dinner cleanup was consistent. But it just made Saturday kind of the dreadful day because we had a ton of cleaning up to do versus going through and doing it consistently throughout the week makes the weekend much more enjoyable.

Hilary Erickson 16:57
Yeah, so we don’t we do do a 20 minute clean, which usually spreads into 30. When we ask kids to deep, clean. But that’s really all we do on Saturdays. And that comes from I couldn’t do all the cleaning on Saturdays, because I worked every other weekend for such a long time of our lives. So

Drew Erickson 17:10
and I will say that living on a schedule, I realize a lot of people, there’s people out there that don’t like being on a schedule, but I can promise the living on a schedule. And having some kind of a schedule actually frees up more time either later in the day later in the evening, or on the weekend, when you really want to have some time to relax and chill out a little bit. It really allows that time to happen rather than constantly having something that’s nagging at you that has to be done.

Hilary Erickson 17:34
Yeah, well, and I use tick tick for all a variety of things. And it’s just so nice to have things pop up on there. Instead of having to be like When was I supposed to do XYZ check the watering schedule, you know, when was I supposed to instead of having like, it just takes all that out of my brain so that I can just check, tick, tick, do the things and move on. I’m not stressing about them all the time.

Drew Erickson 17:54
And we have certain things that they’re not a weekly thing or a daily thing. That’s a regular scheduled thing. So it’s nice to have tick tick kind of come up and remind you that oil needs to be changed, the registration needs to be done so that we’re not somewhere out of state when the registration becomes due as has happened before. And then we are technically violating the law because we are cars not registered, things like that. Things that are a little bit more far spaced out in terms of house maintenance things, it’s really nice to have that on the schedule so that when it needs to be done that pops up, and there we go.

Hilary Erickson 18:23
Yeah, and again, there’s tons of to do apps, we started tick tick so long ago, there’s probably there might be better ones now. But I’m never going to set up anything else because it is it just has everything set up already. And it is a little bit of a task to get it on there. But once it’s on there, it’s easy to add new things or whatever

anyway, so if you’re a mom who has is feeling frustrated that your husband doesn’t help or you don’t want to nag him tick tick might be a great thing. You can share one list, keep a list for yourself. But I think now that I’ve been on both sides of the chore table where I’m working more than drew right now, but he’s worked more than me for most of our marriage, I just think it’s really easy to feel like the other person hasn’t done much all day. And that’s is not helping anyone don’t feel like your husband hasn’t helped out the house when he’s been at work all day because somebody has to have the money so you can buy groceries and pay your mortgage. But also he needs to feel like that even though you’ve air quotes just been at home with the kids all day, you’ve still been incredibly busy. And that is sucking the life force out of you. And so you each need to have some give and taken that and we’ve just felt like tick tick kind of made it so everyone could kind of see what got done and what needs to get done. Because really all you need to focus on is what needs to get done versus like what has gotten done right.

Drew Erickson 19:28
And like I say it’s been very powerful in improving our communications on the basic house stuff.

Hilary Erickson 19:35
Anyway, thanks so much for joining us in this episode. Today. You guys might have some questions.

I think the plan is that when there’s a fifth Monday of the month, Drew and I will do the podcast together just because I think building a strong marriage can be difficult and the more you realize that everyone else kind of struggles with the same things that you struggle with, the more likely you are to maybe stick it out or find a solution that helps both of you be happier in life.

So thanks so much for joining me on today’s episode. If you’d like to learn more about spouse chores, I actually have a whole post about how we split ours and how we split it before our working situation changed so you can check that out in the show notes or you can go to pullingcurls.com backslash podcast where all of the podcasts are Listen You can also find this exact episode at pulling curls. com backslash podcast dash oh nine.

big thanks to our sponsor the organized home I will say that the biggest way that we don’t clean as much and have as many chores is that we have things organized because the more clutter and stuff you have around your house the harder it is to get clean. That’s what I find. In fact the organized home says it reduces clutter and helps you clean less which is true. If you want to know more about the organized home it will be in the show notes.

Big thanks to my husband Mr. Drew Erickson for coming on today’s episode as well as being our Podcast Producer. If you liked today’s episode, please share, subscribe or review. We really appreciate it. Hope to have you with us next Monday when we drop another episode. Until then I hope you have a tangle free day.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

The post Splitting Up Chores in Marriage with Drew Erickson — PCP Episode 009 appeared first on Pulling Curls.

I don’t know why I viewed being a stay at home mom any different than my job.

My job certainly has routines. We have checklists to make sure it all gets done.

But, put us in a home and somehow we think it all comes naturally?

Not-so-fast liars of the internet, and moms who seem to have it ALL TOGETHER (because no one really has it ALL together).

Being ar home has countless jobs (whether you work outside the home or not) and scheduling them in helps a lot!

A note on me: Hi, I’m Hilary — I am the curly head here at Pulling Curls. I quickly realized that having a baby had thrown me for quite a loop. Since 2000 I have been working to refine my routine to better workaround myself, my husband and my kids and keep us ALL happy. I hope you find this post helpful.

If you’re looking for more routines to make day to day living easier do NOT miss this. People love that course, and the price point allows so many to enjoy it!

Other posts you might enjoy:
Best ways to clean your floors
Hacks for Universal Studios Hollywood
Stitch Fix Review (and unboxing)

Mom Daily Routine

I know what you’re saying.

Every day is different!

And, I totally get that.

But, sometimes you can make your week a big more predictable and that helps the general routine.

When we went to the library, we went on Wednesdays, and we always had playdates on Fridays. Stuff like that.

Sure, stuff is going to change. Routines should have plenty of space to bend and flex. And being in a routine is SUPER motivating!

Stay at Home Mom Daily Schedule Template

We’re going to talk more about all the small routines that go into the day — but having a general plan helps a lot.

I have a downloadable instruction sheet on how to do this that I think you’ll like a lot!

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Ok, let’s talk about a bit of prep work you should do before using the template:

1. What time do you want to wake-up? Or, what time are you forced to wake up — is probably more accurate, right?
2. What times do you have to use for your routine? For some women who work they may only have a routine from 6-9a and 5-10p. BUT, you can still make a routine for the times you’re home!
3. What things do you need blocks of space to use?

These can be like this (they will be general categories):

• Makeup
• Cleaning time
• Playing with kids
• Self care time
• Organization time
• Dinner preparation
• Bedtime

Every family will be a bit different.

Once you have those written down — now is the time to plop them on the schedule!

**I also recommend a reasonable bedtime that you STICK to (at least on weekdays). It will just help you get up and feel more like a human… It doesn’t help to feel like a zombie, even if you’re getting a lot done.

Another option:

A Daily Routine Checklist

If specific times don’t work for you — having a check sheet of things you want to accomplish each day can help a lot as well!

In fact, I mostly have my daily routine as a ROUTINE at this point — but I use the TickTick app to remind me what needs to get done each day.

Bonus: I can share it with my husband, so we can view those chores as a team (I also have to do lists that I don’t share with him that are just my jobs).

Ok, let’s get a little bit more specific on how this can work for you:

Stay at Home Mom Cleaning Schedule

Creating a cleaning schedule allows you to just make the block “cleaning” and then you have jobs you do each day of the week.

I am 100% TIED to my cleaning schedule. It saves my life because I just don’t have time to think about what needs to be done next.

I would promise that moms who have houses that look clean and put together use a cleaning schedule (or, perhaps suffer from OCD). I love mine, and you can read about my cleaning schedule here.

I also have a post on making a cleaning schedule work for you (because as nice as it is to have a SCHEDULE — it really doesn’t work unless you do).

Stay at Home Mom Schedule with an Infant

Because I have an OLD kid who was born in 2000 — I followed the BabyWise schedule (sort of).

Honestly, it really helped me ease into parenthood.

And I used each of his naps to do something else in my schedule. Cleaning happened during the first nap, and TV happened during the second one and meal prep happened in the third.

The key, really, is finding something that works for you. Schedules work for me. Some moms much prefer to allow each day to be run by the child’s needs.

Both are fine. As is a combination of them! Just make sure that what you’ve decided to do is deliberate. That you are picking it because it’s how you like it.

**It is also 100% fine to have a daily routine — although I do find these next ones to be helpful:

Mini Mom Routines

While it’s nice to have all those things on your schedule. The reality is that you will have small routines in each part of your day that make it run more smoothly.

That is honestly what my course Family Routines has going for it.

I am going to help you creat/refine/enhance routines for many sections of your day:

• Mornings
• Making lunches
• Cleaning your house (and getting your family involved)
• Grocery Shopping
• Menu Planning
• There are MANY more (and more being added) — check out the current list here (just click on that list to toggle it open)

Daily Routines for Kids

The people who have benefited MOST from my routines were the little ones who hung with me from age birth til’ just after 5.

That’s right. My kids.

The knew what would happen and that they’d be able to watch Blue’s Clues if they did some reading with me.

They knew that they needed to play for a bit by themselves so that I could get some cleaning done, and we’d clean together after that.

In general, kids thrive on routines. It’s just SO nice to know what to expect.

That doesn’t mean the routine can’t change — but having a basic idea of what will happen each day is so great for them.

They feel more secure and safe — and in turn it was easier to parent them.

Some other posts about helping kids in routines: 
Positive Self Talk in Kids
Teaching Teens to do the Laundry
How NOT to kill your husband.

If you liked this post, I bet you’ll be interested in my cleaning schedule, which you can also download right here. And check out my other parenting posts after that!

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The post Mom’s Daily Routine appeared first on Pulling Curls.

Our garage is a 3 car garage and I often throw things out there when I am done with them, so Saturdays is a good time to tidy those up.  I also take this day to clean/ defrost the fridge and freezer that are out there.  About once a year we clean it out.  We are lucky enough to have cabinets out there (although, honestly, if we did it again I’m not sure I’d do that.  I think I may have preferred the open shelving that costco has, but what’s done is done.  This only cost about 800 dollars so if I felt like I want to rip it out, I guess we can.

Note, this post was originally written in December 2013.  I had smaller children, less “job” and more time on my hands.  I think this type of approach can be used by anyone — but I will admit they don’t all get done anymore.  Make some goals of your own and see what you can make happen.

Anyway these are my Saturday jobs:

• Clean the garage (depending on what else is going on that day, my “clean the garage” looks like me setting the timer for anywhere between 5-20 minutes and just putting stuff away or cleaning up).  The garage tends to be a place I just throw things, so it REALLY needs some weekly attention.
• Gunny Bag Vomit (the Gunny Bag eats the “leftover” toys each week — mostly for P — and it throws them up on Saturdays)
• 20 minute tidy (I lengthen the daily 10 minute tidy to 20 minutes on Saturday) — I actually have started using my high intensity trainer on my phone to ring every 5 minutes and I switch areas at that time — seriously.  I am just this anal but timers REALLY work for me, and my house — at the end of these 20 (sometimes 30, if I have the time) minutes looks SPOTLESS.  The end.  I also tend to tackle things thare a little more time consuming to organize during these 20 minutes.  Nothing big, but if the piano books have looked a wreck all week, I will stop to re-pile them during this.
• Balance the Checkbook (because cleaning is about all areas of your life, not just your home)
• Give out allowance (by incentives for your kids jobs, they might actually get done!)
• Outside work — this doesn’t always get done, weeding is actually on my phone for every other day and I mostly hope to get outside twice a week anymore (ticktick allows you to make “lists” within the “outside work” so when I think something needs doing — like right now I need to prune some of the things that died during the last freeze, I put that on the list under “weeding” and I know what needs to be done next time I’m out there).
• Laundry:  Wash sheets.  I did this weekly for a long time, but I noticed our sheets weren’t lasting as long/well as I’d hoped, so I changed to every other week.  I’m not a fanatical clean sheet fan — don’t tell my mom.  My kids HATE changing their sheets, so we voted and this is what we came up with.
• Kids:  They get their room “mommy clean” (which includes their closet, under their desk and behind the door), they each have some areas for “touch-up” vacuuming, they weed specific spots, and clean out the car.

The post Saturday Cleaning: The Garage appeared first on Pulling Curls.

This post was originally written in Jan 2014, and was updated in 2017.

Fridays is my day that I get ready to enjoy my family over the weekend, and possibly have my house presentable to guests

I have 2 rotating jobs that I swap between each week

• Dust (be it the fan blades or furniture, I tend to — of course — set a timer and just dust what seems to need dusting)
• Organize laundry room (our laundry room is right off the kitchen and I’ve made it store a LOT of different items, but since my family is often the ones getting things out of here, I often have to “pull it back together”) — btw, want to see how I organize my laundry room?

Each week I also switch out a few books we have in the livivng room for P and I plump pillows, re-combobulate (becuase I’m pretty sure that’s a word) the couch.

Other rotating jobs:
Clean washing machine (with bleach, my washing machine has a cycle to do just this) — monthly
Vacuum out dryer lint — every 6 months (I was doing it more frequently but didn’t find much lint, we recently bought a new dryer so maybe this will shrink with time)

Kids:
Conner: dust living room (the main furniture)
Spencer: Vacuum the stairs (with a little hoover dirt devil)

Laundry:
Adults: Colors

By Fridays I’m just tired.  I’ve done a full week, often with a couple of work days and I’m ready to just do a little organizing and relax.

*My hope is that this weekly cleaning schedule might inspire you to make your own.  I know my own OCD schedule won’t work for everyone, but I really think that cleaning schedules helps you stay on top of your life without being overwhelmed with all of you have to do.  You can read more about weekly cleaning here.  Or, sign up for my weekly cleaning template sent right to your inbox:

Check out all my other weekly cleaning posts:

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And check out ALL my cleaning posts here:

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The post Weekly Cleaning: Fridays — Living room/Laundry appeared first on Pulling Curls.

Our house is built so that all the bedrooms are upstairs, and the guest room/office/playroom are on the bottom floor, so naturally, I congregated those rooms together.

This post was originally written in Jan 2014, and was updated in August 2017.

There is no weekly Thursday job, I rotate between

• Organizing in the office
• Organizing the playroom

(cleaning-up the play room is a daily task — so that clearly can’t be done weekly)

I find that both of these jobs don’t need to be done weekly and by taking “small bites” each week I slowly rotate through what needs to get done.

I also really try to set a timer and clean up as much as I can for the time I have allotted down there.
I think I care very least about our downstairs rooms.  I’m not hoping for a pottery barn life, and I know my kids live down in that playroom so I need to let stuff go.

And I’m fairly good at it.

Playroom cleaning/organization:

In CA I had a serious obsession with toy rotation as we had a VERY small playroom with not much room for toys.  Here we have a lot of room for toys.  Although, toy rotation can still be VERY helpful to give “new” toys to play with sometimes.

My kids are old enough now that they don’t play with toys too frequently.  But, by rotating through these areas it allows me to weed out what we really don’t use/need and what is useful.

We are slowly turning our toy cabinets into household storage, so I can also go through that.

Plus, we have a computer desk area that needs some straightening up from time to time.

Office Cleaning/Organization

I file papers, as well as go through the filing cabinet (very slowly) and take out papers that we no longer need.  We just sold a car, so we no longer need the maintenance records for that, etc.

I used to be a BIG scrapbooker, and I have a goal to go through those items and pick out what I can use, or my daughter can use….

**Clearly, both of those areas is more organization than cleaning — but SO helpful!

Kids jobs:

Each child is responsible for what they get out in the playroom.

I’ve had kids in charge of organizing the bookshelf in there once a week – -but at this point, I would hope we are all old enough to take care of what they get out.

On Wednesdays we vacuum in there — so we do all try to go down and get things put away.

Are you sensing Thursdays are fairly light?  I often work on Thursdays so I plan it that way.  On days I don’t work I really try to give that area a good hour of my time (mostly because I don’t have anything else planned).

**This is a good tip for you as you plan YOUR weekly cleaning schedule — if you have one day that is busier with carpool or work — try to schedule less to give yourself a break!**

You can also sense that I do my largest amount of cleaning on Monday and it tapers as the week goes on.  Maybe you want to ramp it up?  You need to figure out what works for you!  This just happens to work for me.

My hope is that this weekly cleaning schedule might inspire you to make your own.  I know my own OCD schedule won’t work for everyone, but I really think that cleaning schedules help you stay on top of your life without being overwhelmed with all of you have to do.  You can read more about weekly cleaning schedules and you can get the free printable right here:

Check out all my other weekly cleaning posts:

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And check out ALL my cleaning posts here:

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The post Weekly Cleaning: Thursdays — Office & Play Area appeared first on Pulling Curls.

This post was originally written in January 2014, and was updated in June 2017.

A bedroom is a special place.  We looked at homes and they had HUGE bedrooms, and I asked myself if I want such a large space devoted to an area I spend SO little time in.

Honestly, I sometimes run through my bedroom to use the restroom, but in reality, I mostly just “retire” to my bedroom at night when I truly need some peace after a long day.

On Wednesdays I focus on bedroom cleaning so it can become a place that I enjoy and find peace in.  This is part of my weekly cleaning schedule which you can read all about.  I love it — but you have to find how to make it work for you.

Did you know it’s taken me 37 years to figure out how to spell vacuum.

True story.

Wednesdays are about bedrooms, and since our bedrooms are all carpeted, I vacuum that day too

Weekly jobs:
Vacuum — I just have your basic vacuum.  The fancy vacuum we had died, so I took to the repair shop and he said it was just dead.  He recommended just a basic vacuum, very few bells and whistles (you can attach a hose and it has a few parts).  It has a bag (which I enjoy taking out, it’s nice to dump it all over my trash and then get to re-vacuum around my trash).

It’s big and yellow.

Rotating jobs

(this is the time to organize the bedrooms — and each of these is done every 6 weeks and comes-up in my tick-tick to do list on my phone/tablet)

• Mr middle’s drawers (the boys organize their own drawers with my supervision, this is a time to pull out items that are too small and put them in a bin to hand down as well as to see if there are clothes they need and basically to make sure their dresser doesn’t look like it’s vomiting clothes — they hate this job, I wish they’d just keep it clean)
• El Presidente’s drawers
• Organize master closet (pull out things that I don’t wear or put stuff in the right “section” – and I’d say “section” pretty loosely)
• Organize my drawers (because I sometimes have similar problems as the boys — but I started doing shirt filing, and boy oh boy has that made my shirt drawer a dream!).  You can find out more info on shirt filing here.
• Every 3 weeks I flip or rotate our couch cushions, and if I’m feeling extra exuberant I vacuum it out.  We didn’t do this on an old couch we had and it wore so badly, i’m adamant we do it with this one!

UPDATE IN 2017:  I don’t take care of my teenagers drawers anymore.  I just don’t have time for it anymore.  They’re horrible.  But they’re their horrible.  I do my daughters when we change seasons.  However, I am slowly pushing more of it on her.

BTW — all of these jobs and rotations can be found in my weekly cleaning schedule template.

• Conner vacuums the playroom
• Spencer vacuums their room (the boys share a room)
• Paige vacuums the tiny area between her dresser and under the window — we’re working on it)

BTW — if you’re looking for a checklist of things that need to be cleaned in each room.  Check out my printable house cleaning lists:

 

On Wednesdays when I have time I try to work on my family video (I do a video every year that puts all our video clips as well as photos to music, it’s a favorite, and it keeps those things organized too so we can enjoy them!).  Wednesdays is also early out so I’m often just trying to make it through the afternoon with no bloodshed.  Darn you early out!

2017 UPDATE:  Dude, I’m insanely busy — the family video is a thing of the past…. I wish I could get on top of it, but this just isn’t the season.  Life is like that — give yourself a break.

Looking for bedroom organization tips?  Check out my organized home page!

*My hope is that this weekly cleaning schedule might inspire you to make your own.  I know my own OCD schedule won’t work for everyone, but I really think that cleaning schedules helps you stay on top of your life without being overwhelmed with all of you have to do.  You can read more about weekly cleaning here.

The post How to Clean Your Room: Weekly Cleaning Series appeared first on Pulling Curls.