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.

The bathroom.

Maybe because the bathroom is almost entirely cleaning, and much less organizing, I’m just not a fan.

BUT, there is something about a clean counter that makes my heart sing.  Let me show you how I clean the bathroom.

This post was originally written in December 2013, but was updated in April 2017.

This post is entirely about cleaning the bathroom.  If you’re looking to ORGANIZE your bathroom I have a handy page right here all about your organized home.

Weekly jobs:

• Clean the sink/counters (I use a vinegar cleaner and a microfiber cloth)
• Clean the toilet (toilet cleaner and the ol’ IKEA toilet brush)

That’s about it — there’s no real science to cleaning a bathroom.  Although I was inspired by this video (see below), I don’t think my shower needs to be cleaned weekly, so it made it into…

Rotating jobs (Which come up on my to-do list on tick-tick)

• Mirrors — every 2 weeks
• Organize the linen/hall closet (I tend to just take a shelf each time and pull stuff out and re-put back, this also holds all our medications and first aid items, etc) — every 4 weeks
• Steam floors — every 8 weeks (Spencer vacuums them weekly)
• Steam each of the bathrooms tubs (we have 3 bathrooms, which I find excessive, but the way our house is made it’s really the only way — and it is lovely when we have guests).  I tend to steam these, but if I’m pressed for time I will just wipe down with an antibacterial wipe.  Also, if you steam your shower wear earplugs.  It’s loud! — each one gets done every 8 weeks.
• Steam the counters (as with Mondays, there’s something about steaming that gets things extra clean.  Horray for extra clean!) — every 8 weeks.

As I type this, I’m kind of embarrassed — some of these things feel like they’re not getting cleaned often enough.  However, my bathrooms are white subway tile.  They really look fairly clean most of the time.  I was inspired by this cleaning video:

But honestly, full cleans of all 3 bathrooms won’t happen.

Here’s the rest of the day:

Kids

• 16 year old cleans the guest bathroom.
• 13 year old cleans the kid’s bathroom toilet and the floor around it (two boys — #eww)
• 7 year old cleans the counter in the kid’s bathroom

** I also follow behind and really make sure they’ve gotten it — I want these boys to KNOW how to clean a bathroom before they leave the home.  They will.

BTW, I have an awesome printable with awesome printable house cleaning checklist that is GREAT for kids — you can grab it here:

Laundry

• Wash the towels
• Wash our color clothes (genius hack:We have separate hampers for colors and whites — which makes it REALLY easy)

Life tasks:

• Mending (there’s something liberating about just throwing the shirt you lost the button onto the sewing cabinet and knowing you’ll get to it on Tuesday — I often just sit in front of the TV and mend — I put a LOT of tucks in kids pants, and things like this too).

So that’s it for Tuesdays.  It’s not that heavy of a day.  I sometimes work Tuesdays so I need to make it manageable to do before or after work.

*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 my cleaning schedule template right here.

Check out all my other weekly cleaning posts:

[pt_view id=”41b314549f”]

And check out ALL my cleaning posts here:

[pt_view id=”93e22895b7″]

The post Weekly Cleaning: Tuesdays Clean the Bathroom appeared first on Pulling Curls.

This post was originally published in December 2013

We had a really small kitchen in California, but when we moved here I got more real estate, which meant more room to clean (which was the same for all of the house).

Mondays has a few jobs that get done weekly (in addition to my regular daily jobs):

*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.

You can also get a free printable house cleaning list (outlining what needs to be done in each room).

• Sweep and mop the tile (most of the time I use my Rubbermaid mop and my Hoover Linx vacuum) — I have a full post about my floor care (facinating stuff, people).
• Clean the stovetop
• Clean out the fridge
• Clean out the sink
• I also rotate around my kitchen attacking each cabinet and organizing (it takes me almost a year to get around my entire kitchen — I pull all the stuff out, I wipe it out and then I put it back in all organized, and sometimes I have to skip to another spot if it is getting too disorganized).  You can read all about my organization plans in my course The Organized Home.  Or try my free 5 word organization challenge:

**I am a firm believer that organizing an area is time better spent then just cleaning an area.  If I can have a spot to put each item back in, the system will work and I won’t get as frustrated, leaving me more time to clean.

Those above items take about 40 minutes.  Sometimes I get too into my organizing and it takes longer, but that’s likely because I an indulging my OCD and really trying to find the BEST organizing solution (which is probably only 2% better than the organizing solution that is obvious).

In addition to those weekly jobs, I have a few other rotating jobs which come-up in tick-tick to do every few weeks:

• Deep clean the sink (using comet — I throw my sponge away after this) every 4 weeks.
• Steam the counters (Conner wipes the counters every Monday with an antibacterial wipe, but steaming does such a great job of getting them SO clean, I indulge) every 4 weeks
• Deep clean the microwave (get a large micro-avable container (I use a pyrex measuring cup, put some baking soda in it, put some water in it — microwave until REALLY boiling, and then stop — wait for 5 minutes and then open and wipe out — the water and baking soda gets behind all the gunk and makes it really easy to clean!) every 4 weeks — or you can try this cute little product.
• We have a bucketload of tile in this house, so when the kids are on break I often have them clean the tile.  They love it.  They are often my grout cleaners too.

Kids:

• Conner (16):  Take out the recycling
• Spencer (13): Windex some of the glass
• Paige (7):  Clean the front of the oven, garbage and dishwasher (stainless steel — such a pain!)

Laundry:

• Wash whites (I am able to wash all our whites together)

After all that cleaning, I still have a few life tasks I do on Mondays:
1.  Clean out my inbox (I have an inbox where all the papers in my life land and I go through them on Mondays to fix whatever that paper needs me to fix)
2.  Menu Plan Monday (plan out the week’s — or two weeks) meal plan.

That’s about it.

Mondays are a heavy day.  P is at preschool and I try REALLY hard not to fill my day with errands.  I really like having the kitchen clean to start the week off.  The reality is that it probably takes about an hour to get all the cleaning done (possibly a bit more, depending on how dirty the floor is).  So, that’s my Monday — anything I am missing on Mondays?

*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 below to get the free printable sent to you!

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Check out all my other weekly cleaning posts:

[pt_view id=”41b314549f”]

And check out ALL my cleaning posts here:

[pt_view id=”93e22895b7″]

The post Weekly Cleaning: Mondays — Cleaning Kitchen appeared first on Pulling Curls.