Kim's Daily To Do
How I keep a 3-bedroom townhouse guest ready (I mean "spend the night and see every room of your house" guest ready) in only an hour a day.
Matt and I have been married for over two years now and in that time I have been pregnant twice. One of my biggest struggles during all of this time has been finding a routine to keep our house clean. Nothing stresses me out more than a messy home, but no matter how hard I tried, I could not keep it clean! Finally, after what seemed like forever, I figured it out. My method may not be for everybody, but there is a chance it might work for you. This is why I'm sharing it with you today.
My routine is called Kim's Daily To Do and the hardest part of the whole method, is getting started. The first week you could potentially be cleaning 4+ hours a day. It all depends on how messy your house is to begin with. Stay motivated though! Week two onward will Never be that hard again. Once your house is clean, from then on all you are doing is maintaining.
Alright, so here is the plan --
Matt and I have been married for over two years now and in that time I have been pregnant twice. One of my biggest struggles during all of this time has been finding a routine to keep our house clean. Nothing stresses me out more than a messy home, but no matter how hard I tried, I could not keep it clean! Finally, after what seemed like forever, I figured it out. My method may not be for everybody, but there is a chance it might work for you. This is why I'm sharing it with you today.
My routine is called Kim's Daily To Do and the hardest part of the whole method, is getting started. The first week you could potentially be cleaning 4+ hours a day. It all depends on how messy your house is to begin with. Stay motivated though! Week two onward will Never be that hard again. Once your house is clean, from then on all you are doing is maintaining.
Alright, so here is the plan --
Feeling overwhelmed? Don't be. I'm telling you this will truly only take about an hour and you are done. This is also totally adjustable. For example, for me "sweep downstairs" is a blanket statement. I have no carpet downstairs, so all rooms need to be swept. This won't be true for everybody. Also, I hate the dishes, really hate them. This is why I gave dinner dishes to my husband. He works 6-8 hours a day and I don't, so even though it looks awfully lopsided, I like to keep his chores light. Alright, deep breath, time for part two.
So I've discovered that the best way to make all of this happen is to take two little magnetic white boards and stick them to your refrigerator. One is for you and the other is for your husband. In permanent marker write down all of the Daily To Dos for both of you. Then update the Weekly To Dos in dry erase marker every night before bed. As you go through your day (if you choose to do your list over time) or after your one hour blitz, check things off of your list. Be careful to not touch the permanent markings with the dry erase marker though. I've come to the discovery that dry erase marker can erase permanent marker off of white boards.
A few other notes that make this method work - If you see something dirty that isn't on your list, schedule it in, or grab a paper towel real quick and clean it up. Next, you may have noticed that "take the trash out" is not on either list. I used to think that only men were supposed to take the trash out, but then I discovered that more often than not, my trash bag filled up hours before my husband was supposed to be home from work. I had two choices, one, ignore it and let the trash just pile on up until he got home to take it out, or two, get over it, roll up my sleeves and take it out myself. Now I just take it out whenever it is full, or ask Matt to if he is available. Finally, don't be afraid to incorporate your kids in this! Our son is way too little to help quite yet, but seriously, put them to work. I don't think anyone can complain about a chore that literally only takes 5 minutes to do. You can even put on some music and set a loud timer, telling them that they only have to do chores until the timer goes off. They might find themselves surprised at how much they can get done in a short amount of time when you do it daily.
"And inasmuch as my people build a house unto me in the name of the Lord, and do not suffer any unclean thing to come into it, that it be not defiled, my glory shall rest upon it; Yea, and my presence shall be there, for I will come into it, and all the pure in heart that shall come into it shall see God. But if it be defiled I will not come into it, and my glory shall not be there; for I will not come into unholy temples." - D&C 97:15-17
"Organize yourselves; prepare every needful thing; and establish a house, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God;" - D&C 88:119