Ask:
I am awful since finding this board! I tend to put off cleaning on the days when my girls are in preschool...and then do a mad rush between 2 and 4pm!! I know I would do a much better job (and feel better!) if I would get the girls to school, come home and clean, and THEN do my "me" time. I have gotten into a BAD habit..and after fall break, I MUST get back to some GOOD ones!
Answer:
This may sound weird, but I have ALWAYS been a night time cleaner, at night, I have this urge to start cleaning like a mad woman.
Maybe its the amount of coffee I have in me by that time.
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I always am ready to crash by that time. Plus, I can't do a lot with all my kids in the bed. I also like to have things in "order" when dh gets home, so that is why I do the mad rush before 4pm!! Shhh...don't tell!!!
Answer:
Usually in the morning, it just depends. I do find though, that I get nothing done once the kids get home from school, I don't know why, but I just don't!
I have a loose 'schedule'. I don't deep clean each room, each week (except bathrooms). I rotate the rooms, so that they get tidied up each day, but I don't actually clean (wash the windows, vacuum, dust etc) them each week, but probably get to them every other week or so.
I tidy up every night, esp kitchen and family room areas. I can't bear to see a messy kitchen in the morning, it makes me nuts. So even if I'm tired, I make sure to get everything in the dishwasher, counters cleared off etc
Every morning, I go thru each room and tidy up, make the beds, lay out the kids clothes for tomorrow, get gear together for whatever after school activities might be happening etc
On Wednesdays, after I walk thru and do the tidy up, I clean whichever room or rooms are on the schedule for a cleaning (vacuuming, dusting, wash the windows and woodwork etc).
On Thursdays I always clean the kitchen and all the bathrooms.
I was trying to do each room each week and it was making me crazy. I was just constantly cleaning. So if I don't dust the family room for 10 days, it's no biggie. Not much dust seems to gather in that time anyhow! It works for me.
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This is sort of like your "chore list", huh? That is a good idea. I wonder if I shoudn't do something like this...makes sense..just like for my kids, I would know what was "expected" of me..and once done, I could go on to my other fun things!
Answer:
Yep. For me it works because I felt like I was just wandering around aimlessly and not getting anything accomplished. Or I'd start cleaning out a closet, not finish that task and the room was still a mess. So I really try to stay on target. Like today I cleaned all the bathrooms and my bedroom is on the schedule to be cleaned. But it's not really all that messy because I tidy up each day. For me, what takes so long, is putting everything away, decluttering etc That's why I try to do that each day.
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I have a ten minute rule, I will spend ten minute on each room, this way I won't spend all my time in one room, and don't get the other done, and if someone doesn't like it, they can eat me, because I find spending time with my child more important then cleaning.
I live with my in-laws, so I always feel like an obligation to clean, but now, I tell them "I am no ones maid, and if ya don't like the way I clean, then clean yourself" !!!!!!
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I clean 3 times a day... before bed I will tidy everything up so I wake up to a mess.. If the kitcjen is still a mess from the night befoer I will clean it then. I will then pick up again right after dd goes down for her nap and vaccume then too. Somtiems if it a mess of toys I will quickly pick them up befoer dh gets home.
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I'm at my best in the mornings. But sometimes I find myself not wanting to clean until the evenings when everyone's home. It's like some ritualistic thing from when I worked outside the home.
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I like first thing in the morning best, but it is hard now that I am working pretty much full time. So I frequently rush home at 2 clean up a bit and jump on the computer for a few minutes and then pick up the kids at 3:40!!!! Needless to say, my house is not the cleanest!