It’s Wednesday. I’m rushed for time. Same old story as every Wednesday.
So since I haven’t been home and therefore haven’t made any progress, I thought I’d share my weekly tasks and how they’re working for me, all together in one post.
Here goes:
Monday – Laundry.
Tuesday – Bathrooms.
Wednesday – Out all day, but I do my grocery shopping on Wednesdays, so I consider that a big old necessary task.
Thursday – Mop the kitchen
Friday – Dust and Vacuum.
Saturday and Sunday – Not gonna happen.
So there you go.
If you’re not a slob, and there’s some huge and glaring omission from this list, please don’t tell me. I’m sure I’ll figure it out eventually and blog about it. For now, I’m pretty pleased with myself.
So, how’s it going with all of these?
I started the weekly tasks about 2 months ago. For the first 6 months or so of the blog, I added a daily non-negotiable task almost every week. Those made a huge difference in our home. They were designed (by me, NOT an organizing expert) to help me build habits that I’ve never had. I did them to help me start to see things that had always escaped my selective slob-vision. Things like piles of shoes, newspapers (multiple weeks’ worth) on the kitchen floor, and bathroom counters covered in . . . . stuff.
The daily tasks made a huge difference, and they’re a great thing to refocus on when I feel things start to spiral. I attempt to do them everyday, but even if I only do 4 or 5 a day, and have one day a week when I do them all, the house mostly stays out of chaos.
I began the weekly tasks after I felt like I had the daily ones somewhat under control. I knew that my house not as much of a disaster, but I also knew that the real and basic cleaning, like the weekly tasks listed above, was still only getting done randomly. And for me “randomly” doesn’t mean as soon as I notice that the tub is getting a bit grimy, it means when I look down in the shower and happen to notice that there’s at least a month’s worth of grime built up under my feet.
The weekly tasks are making a big difference. I’ve been mostly consistent with them, and if I’m truly unable (meaning I have a really good excuse) to do them one week, I know that at least they’ll get done the next week. The only one that this really happens with is mopping. Every other Thursday, I have a morning activity, so I have been mopping every other week. When I compare that to my previous method of mopping every Christmas, I think it’s okay.
But the weekly tasks are a little tiresome. They do get easier the more times I do them, and they are much easier on the weeks when I’ve done my daily tasks consistently.
But . . . .
Honestly, they make me feel like I’m always running, and not getting as many big and showy decluttering projects done as I did last fall. I guess that’s how it’s actually supposed to be. If you are consistently doing the real (and necessary) cleaning every week, and your daily tasks everyday, you avoid the need to spend 4 days a week, every week, doing major decluttering.
And here’s the part I didn’t want to learn. Keeping a clean house is work. Normal people make it look easy, but it’s work. When I walk into someone’s home that always seems perfectly clean, I get jealous that it’s so easy for them. But it probably isn’t. They probably get down on their knees and scrub that corner behind the bathroom door where their hubby’s leg-hair collects. And they probably do it before they jump out of their skin thinking it’s some sort of breathing organism.
Their back hurts too from bending over the dishwasher and they probably don’t like the smell when they clean behind their little boy’s potty.
But they do it, because it’s what needs to be done to have a clean, welcoming, comfortable home.
I am enjoying my more-clean, more-welcoming, more-comfortable-than-it-used-to-be home. And although my eyes have been opened to the amount of work this requires, it is completely worth it.
Yes a clean house is a lot of work. My friends often comment and I do not keep my house clean for their comments but more for my sanity. with four children in the house (a set of 4 yr old twins) and a dog oh and let us not forget the husband…I need some order.
I also like to clean and I clean two other homes for cash. I'm strange I know!
I do have certain rooms I leave chaotic and I see nothing wrong with that. I'll get to them someday when my kids are older.
I still love your blog and you have motivated me to start weekly tasks. Monday's are bathrooms.
Funny, your weekly task list looks very similar to mine. And I also often have weeks where I just dread getting those things done. And some weeks they don't get done. It is hard work. And there are so many other things I would rather be doing!
Don't feel guilty about having Grocery Day as a task instead of a cleaning project. I am an organized person with a neat house, and I don't try to tackle anything on Mondays except the grocery store because when I get home, I put everything away, bag chips for lunches, wash fruit, brown meat, marinate meat, separate and freeze meat, and make a baked dessert treat for my family. I do make sure the daily tasks are done like unloading the dishwasher, making the beds, and straightening the living areas, but not much else. I also don't try to make my grocery list on Mondays. I make the list Sunday afternoons, starting with menus and ending with coupons or price matches. Grocery shopping is such a time-consuming, important task that I think it should receive it's weekly task day.
I know this is an old post, but i had to comment! I have been reading and rereading your blog for hours yesterday and today! I absolutely love how you nailed it in this post. I KNOW it takes work for ANYONE to have a nice house, and deep down, I think I really don't want to admit that I have to get off my duff and *just do it*. Thanks for the encouragement in the 'deslobification' of it all….. ~another reforming slob.
What a revolting development! Cleaning is Work? LOL. I have loved catching up reading your blogs and you have inspired me so much. I was really discouraged and not sure where to turn. My sister sent me a text with a link here and I wept. Dramatic,yes, but a fourth baby on the way…hormones. You (and you are hearing this more and more) are writing what I have been feeling yet couldn’t verbalize. this post really nailed it!!
Thank you for sharing. It has made a huge impact on me and my house hasn’t been happier:) long way to go but progress none the less.
Mandy, what a wonderful comment! I completely understand the emotion! It’s how I felt when I put myself out there as a slob and then started learning I wasn’t alone!
Oh my goodness what have you done to me? As I having been moving through your blog I came home and before I sat down to read, I picked up the living room and vaccumned and clean of my counter…my nonnegotiables. 1 month ago it wouldn’t have happened and so far so good…baby steps 🙂
Yay!!!
“Saturday and Sunday –Not gonna happen.” –Oh, how I laughed and laughed at this. And then I stopped laughing, read it again, and laughed some more. Thank you for writing!
Thank you for your honesty. I stumbled across you on youtube and decided to read your blog from the very start. A year ago I assigned a task to each day of the week.
SuNday = bathroom SiNk,
Monday = MOp,
TuESday = ToilEtS,
WeDNeSday = WiNDowS,
THurSday = SHeeTs,
Friday = Floor (vacuum), and
SaTUrDay = DUST
It’s working some days. And doing just one thing helps me start and do something more. Your blog is helping me work out she daily not negotiables. Thank you.