My home thanks you.

I have been trying to get a good cleaning system down for our home for... well, 6 years now... and sadly it has been 6 years of new ideas after new ideas.  Apparently I'm not so great at sticking to routines!  I long to have my home be perfectly organized, decorated, comfortable, beautiful AND CLEAN { as Amy put it, cozy, cute & clean -- I like that! } Sadly, clean just seems to always be the kicker!  And that grosses me out!

BUT, thanks to Amy, I THINK I found one that works!  I haven't been perfect at it (yet).  But, seriously, this is the closest I've ever gotten! YEAH!!!!

Here's the system:
(I modified it to fit my house & weekly routine -- do the same to make it your own! See Amy's version here)

Mondays: Laundry Day + meal plan & grocery + toy rotation (not included in 25 min) 

(I chose to do laundry this day b/c our Mondays are a part of travel for us a lot & laundry is something I can easily do when we get home-- plus its great to throw everything from our suitcase right into the wash!)

Tuesdays:  Downstairs only: Dust + Floors (vacuum + mop kitchen) 

Wednesdays: Bathrooms

Thursdays: Upstairs: Dust + Floors  

Fridays: Wash Bed Sheets  

(my Friday's are really busy, so just doing one load of sheets is actually tangible & so lovely to enjoy the fresh sheets for the weekend!)

Saturday: Yard work

Sunday: Sabbath. Rest. The house has been cleaned.  

Kitchen: clean as its dirty (daily wipe down for us!)

Daily: a 10 minute pick up before bed

Some rules:

-Each daily chore should take no longer than 25 minutes.

-Let kids help me with the chore 

-Resist moving on to another area. Rest. It’s clean and done.

3 Times a Week:

-choose 3 areas in my house to organize, de-clutter and remove “stuff” to keep things simple. This will help to not spend –  see what “things” take up time already.

-This should also have a 20 minute time on it – when 20 is up I need to either come back to it again or it’s done.

-have a box/bin for my car that is Goodwill bound - drop it off when it’s full (I keep ours in the garage)

{ cozy, cute & clean ideas }

> Check out Norwex! They are a green cleaning supplies company -- I'm obsessed... even though I don't have anything yet :) But it's on my wish list!!! So I'll let you know more when I get some stuff! *Goal: buy all Norwex products = never buy another nasty chemical cleaning product again! Whoo hoo!

> Daily goal: clean after each meal ASAP -- put dishes in dishwasher/hand wash, wipe table, sweep floor (under little man's high chair) -- and the backup plan for when "life gets in the way" is to do all this before I go to bed... leave no mess behind!  Bonus for those late, tired nights when I don't want to touch one more dish = wake up to a sparkling kitchen ready for a new day of mess!!

> Everything must have a "home"!  If it doesn't fit, nicely, it needs to go.  My thought is, if we don't have a  lot of stuff (period) AND if what we do have we really love & it has a lovely place to call home then it will be more difficult for clutter/mess to happen.... when we get it out, put it away. Don't have a lot, don't clean a lot. Done. 

> new obsession: chalkboards!  I have one in our master bathroom (well...2!) One is for my hubs & I to leave notes for each other (encouraging or reminders).  And one is very small, for scripture verses, so I am reminded of Truth first thing in the morning :)  My third is in the kitchen.

Do you have any cozy, cute & clean ideas??