Cleaning, laundry and other necessaries

jbcurio - flickr

Some One more of the 'ten posts' alleged in previous post...

Next thing that needs to get on track is cleaning, tidying, laundry and other necessaries. I am going back to a system that has been very successful in the past.

I don't do well with schedules. I am a perfectionist, if my schedule says, '12 noon - laundry,' and I am ten minutes late my brain is going, "FAILURE!". For all you relaxed non-perfectionists who are thinking, Well duh! Get a grip woman!" I just can't help it, that's the way I'm built. :P

The way I keep on top of things at home is by timing myself. Incidentally, this can apply to other work, not just household work. Although in the workplace I like lists and computer generated reminders - but that's another post I'm sure! :)

I shared in a Happy Homemaker Monday post, a couple of Mondays ago, that a great way to do a quick tidy up after the chaos of weekend (are all you mothers nodding your heads?), is to time yourself with no more than 5 or 10 minutes in every room. Your home won't be perfectly tidy and clean after this, but it will feel a million times better and then you can concentrate on laundry (the other post-weekend nightmare).

For the rest of cleaning, here's how I do it, (Flylady has similar schemes)[This can be done a couple of times a week, or once a week if your time is precious]:

1. Get a clock, timer, mobile phone - anything that you can time yourself with.
2. Starting in the kitchen after breakfast and my prayer/Bible time I start with 15 minutes, clean around the sink, stack the dishwasher, wipe the surfaces, clean the floor - as much as you can do in 15 minutes.
3. After 15 minutes move on to the next room - the aim isn't perfection, but just as much as you can do in 15 minutes. Carry a box or basket round with you and chuck stuff that needs to go into a different toom. Carry a couple of bags too, 1 for rubbish and 1 for recycling.
   
4. Depending on your energy levels, take a 15 minute break every hour (that's what I'm doing right now!).
5. Work your way round every room in the house.
6. Once I've done this, I move onto my 'projects' list. This is a list of things that I find hard to keep on top of, my perfectionism gets in the way and I spend far too much time on them. Here's what's on my list and the time I allocate every day to: windows (5 minutes - usually works out at 1 window), filing (5 minutes), ironing (30 minutes), shelves/cupboards/drawers in the kitchen (5 minutes), putting away laundry/ironing (15 minutes)...you get the idea.

Opps, there's my 15 minutes gone.

I'll be back! :)