Think a Cleaning Schedule Won't Work for You? This Will Change Your Mind (Free Download)

One of the things that Mr. C and I have struggled with is developing a routine that keeps the apartment in top shape. Last night, as I folded the last of seven loads of laundry (in fairness, we have a TINY washer and dryer) I realized that I needed to do something to intervene.

When Mr. C decided to go back to grad school, we discussed it and decided that I would step up and take on more of the housekeeping activities. Even before he started classes again, I cooked all of our meals, but now I'm supposedly in charge of making sure everything still looks nice. This is not to say he doesn't help clean, because props to those women who can keep a house looking sharp solo, but I am not one of them. He is definitely in charge of his bathroom and the den, but if I ask for help with the rest of the apartment kicks in.

The problem I've run into in trying to develop a routine is that our days vary quite a bit. I have evening meetings, we go out to dinner or drinks with friends, our parents are in town for a few days, it makes it difficult to find a consistent schedule. I scoured Pinterest looking for ideas. I found daily lists that required an hour day, I found breakdowns by room, breakdowns by task (i.e. vacuum, dusting, etc.) but nothing that really fit. Then, I stumbled across this gem:

"Cleaning Schedule Architecture, Building One that Works for You" by Of The Hearth

Isn't it pretty? AND it looks like a board game. AND it doesn't say that on Wednesdays we scrub toilets. Because sometimes on Wednesdays, I have a meeting and don't get home until 10:30 and don't WANT to scrub the toilet! I love the central, daily to do tasks, and the ability to move around the outside at your own speed. That means, those rare days when I get into a cleaning frenzy, I can work my way through the boxes. 

I adapted our tiles a little bit. As she says in her blog, the original creator really wanted to focus on the bathroom and the kitchen. I may readjust a bit after we've sort of settled into the schedule I worked up, but I roughly envision getting once around every week. Here's what I came up with:

Nothing too fancy or crazy, but I figured this way, Mr. C won't mind it hanging on the fridge. For now, I'm going to hang it with a couple small magnets, and move one like a little game piece around the square. 

I hope this helps you (and me!) get a grip on keeping things tidy. Do you have a system that really seems to work for you? Want to try the board game approach yourself? Click here to download the free blank template! And don't worry, I made it a nice pretty blue, just for you :)

From the Other Side

Photo courtesy of our friend Katie

Well, I am now officially a Mrs. We just returned from our honeymoon, and we are exhausted but very, very happy. I will try to go post some "recap" style posts for you, but I'm already kind of happy to be done with wedding things and moving on with real life. We got engaged in May of 2013, and I was told I was a very well organized bride, so there were lots of little details. I'm excited to get some free time back again to start doing other things.

Here's a couple of pieces I'm going to try to work on, to name a few:

• Writing a book
• Getting my ankle back in shape and then getting the rest of me there as well
• Recording and sharing my recipes
• Revisiting my museum focused blog, and reconnecting with the social media happenings in my field