When we moved into our new build home I was a bit overwhelmed by the square footage. And of course, I wanted WHITE EVERYTHING. How was I going to keep it clean? Do we just add a cleaning service to the monthly budget?
While hiring someone would be easier (and I wouldn’t be opposed to it now being pregnant & tired) it just doesn’t make any sense when I work from home. The solution: Cleaning Card System!
I’m going to go on record here and state that my husband is one of the best guys I’ve ever met and I’m v. lucky and grateful for him. He helps cook and clean daily without hesitation. I mean, I usually have to ask… but I genuinely don’t think he’s ever declined to help out.
Between the two of us, we have a handful of items that we never go to bed without doing.
Daily Cleaning Tasks
- Wipe down kitchen surfaces after dinner
- Wash/dry dishes or load/run dishwasher
- Pick up family room (toys in toybox, fold blankets, replace throw pillows, etc.)
- Sweep or vacuum high-traffic areas (foyer, hallway, kitchen, family room)
- Daily load of laundry
The Cleaning Card system wasn’t created for superficial cleaning though. I wanted to ensure my home was deep-cleaned on a regular basis. I cannot function in clutter or messy environments. We run a tidy ship. I’ll blame it on my OCD – or my mother. 😉
I grew up in a home where you couldn’t get a toy out until the one you were playing with was first put back in its “assigned” place. The dishes were always washed AND dried. The laundry basket never overflowed. These things drove me NUTS as a child, but I totally get it now as a parent, spouse, and homeowner.
I created this Cleaning Card System almost two years ago now and it has been a game changer! Even if you HATE certain chores, this allows you to break up the tasks into bearable time slots or split between yourself, your spouse, and maybe even your kiddos if they’re old enough to help!
Cleaning Card System
Weekends are for relaxation, fun, and quality time with our favorite people. Don’t spend your days off cleaning!
I used 20 index cards and wrote down each room/space in our home that I wanted to ensure we cleaned on a regular basis. 20 cards allows you to only clean Monday-Friday for 4 weeks. That means each room gets cleaned at least once a month!
Once you have every room written down, try to place them in an order that fits your schedule best. For example, I put the quickest rooms/spaces to clean on Monday’s and Friday’s to better fit my work-from-home schedule, as I’m busier those days. On one side of the card I write down the week, day and room the card is for. Example: Week 1 / Day 2 – Home Office
On the back of each card I then list out every task that needs done in that room. Be short, but specific. This is basically your reminder card that will make sure you don’t forget to change the air filters, swap out the baking soda in the fridge, or dust the pendant light fixture hanging in the foyer.
Some tasks you may want to complete more often than once a month. Write it down anyway. That way, if time ever gets away from you, you can get yourself back on track. (Ex. We wash our bed sheets weekly, but I put it on our Master Bedroom notecard to ensure it does in fact get done on that cleaning day regardless.)
Side note: These Amazon bed sheets are extremely affordable (only $25 for a 4-pc set) and are amazing quality if you’re in the market for new ones. 🙂
Write down the total number of minutes of how long it should take to complete all of the tasks you listed. (There is not a single room in our home that takes more than 30-minutes to deep clean top-to-bottom. Most only take 10-20 minutes.) The cleaning process will get quicker each time you do it, as regularly cleaned spaces don’t need as much elbow grease. This will give you a goal when you’re going through the card – or it should give your spouse/kids an idea of what is expected when they’re helping out.
Because I do 99% of the deep cleaning, I don’t have the products I’ll need written down on each card. However, if you plan on having family help out I highly recommend writing down what products are needed to complete the cleaning tasks listed on that card. (This may be the mom in me coming out, but doing this allows for zero excuses as to a task getting skipped or hearing “I didn’t do it because I didn’t know what to use.”)
Quality cleaning products (especially those that smell amazing) get me excited to clean!
A Few of My Favorite Products
The Grove Co. is my FAVORITE source for clean, eco-friendly cleaning products. You can get Mrs. Meyer’s & other great products HERE! This link will also get you a FREE Mrs. Meyer’s gift set — and Fall scents were just released!
If you LOVE good smelling cleaning products and get excited over them like I do, The Grove Co. is seriously the BEST resource. You can create your own box of goodies to be delivered once a month (or more often if you’d like!). They even have a convenient app where you can add products as needed on-the-go.
I also linked up a bunch of my favorites from Amazon above as well.
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