My house keeping schedule

My laundry room doesn't look like THIS anymore!

As a busy, part time working, homeschooling, whole food eating, cloth diapering, more-baby-wanting mama of 2 littles I kept finding myself completely overwhelmed with keeping my house tidy on top of all the other things I'm juggling.  I'm a bit of a neat freak and I have trouble focusing on anything when my space isn't clean.  A few months ago I HAD to make a plan to keep me from going crazy!  I'm also working really hard to form good housekeeping habits, hoping that as we have more children we will have a good system in place.

Here's what I've come up with and it has CHANGED my life!! We've been doing it for several months, and I'm not as crazy as I used to be because I have a routine. Yay! I'm about half-way through a whole house organizing/decluttering spree and that has helped a ton- to have a specific place for everything to go.  I'm planning on writing up a simple organizing schedule that takes me through 1 or 2 areas a week to maintain the closets, cabinets, drawers, toys, etc.

I am constantly simplifying our belongings.  I keep a kitchen trash bag hanging in the laundry room to gather donations and when it's full, out it goes.

I broke it down into just a few things a day and it's sooo nice. Like one day, I was running low on time and started to deep clean the kitchen out of habit, and I actually pulled myself away, knowing it will get done later that week. It lifted the stress and time crunch I was feeling and I was able to spend time with my kids instead.

I underlined what's on my list- just a few words to make it easy for me, but explained a little in case it could help anyone.

Every night before we go to bed :
1. All toys cleaned up
2. Sink clear or almost clear
3. Kitchen table clear
These are fairly flexible- like if we are out late or have company, but that's only happened a few times.

As needed - usually every other day:
Sweep main floor
Vacuum kitchen rug/shake rugs
Wash cloth diapers
Extra tidying
Extra laundry

M- laundry/change sheets- I take ALL the laundry downstairs and sort it. I wash/fold/put away as much as I possibly can. I usually get almost all of it done and if I don't, I still have all week to work at it. I used to try to do one load a day and it was too crazy for me. Changing sheets this same day guarantees that clean ones get back on my bed, and the spare set gets put back in the closet. I also have cleaning our room on Mondays- picking up my clothes, putting away necklaces that I pile up during the week, etc.

Tu- girl's rooms - . I just check their rooms for any extra messes that need to be cleaned up. Or I organize their drawers, clean up random stuff that may have fallen to the closet floors, change their sheets, get the changing table organized, etc My husband's Tuesday job is to clean the basement - I usually have it almost done, but sometimes ask him to vacuum, or pick up toys I missed.

W- Dust. My house is small, and my decor is simple and pretty practical.  It doesn't take me long to wipe down the kitchen and living room.  I dust bedrooms and the bathrooms on their cleaning days. Organize a closet or drawer. Tidy main floor. Wipe the hallway mirror down.

Th- Deep clean kitchen - I wipe everything down, organize a cabinet or drawer, clean up the fridge, microwave, etc. I also deep clean the bathrooms on Thursdays, so they are fresh for the weekend in case we end up with company. My husband's job is to finish the bathrooms and do trash on this night.

F- Free day/Catch up day. I usually take the girls out to do something on Fridays. Shopping, playdates, etc. My main thing on Fridays is to plan next week's homeschool stuff. (more homeschool posts coming soon!)

Sa- I work on Saturdays, so I don't have chores this day, but DH sweeps and spot cleans the upstairs floors (we have hardwood that he refinished, so he likes to check it out every week and watch how it wears  and any of his laundry that I may have missed/didn't have time for.

Su- We rest!

What do you do to keep your house in order ?