I/m back to talking about cleaning again. For a subject that I don’t like very much, I sure feel like I’ve blogged about cleaning quite a bit. Today, I wanted to share a simple newĀ cleaning schedule that I’ve come up with for my family. I am hoping that it may be helpful to some of you.
For a few years now, my family and I have been tackling a lot of our cleaning together. My philosophy is that we all create the dirt and mess in the house and we all need to contribute to the cleaning. We used to Ā spend Saturday mornings cleaning together. To be honest, it worked, but we usually fought and it didn’t make a very good start to the weekend. With my oldest daughterĀ getting busier with everything she is doing in High School, I knew I needed to figure something else out. I still wanted everyone to help contribute, but I wanted to figure out a way to allow everyone to complete their tasks for the week in their own time.
I held off figuring anything out for a few months because we have all been busy and I didn’t think I had the time to come up with something new that would work. Then a couple of weekends ago, I got smart! I realized that I could use something from my Labels & Tags Bundle and super easily makeĀ cards for each task that needed to be done. It was so quick and simple to complete.
I’ve got a freebie for you today as well so you can create your own quick and easy cleaning system. Yay!
For my wonderful subscribers/members, I pulled this sheet out of my labels and tags bundle and I have it in an editable version for you. Yay! Of course, I love the whole bundle. It is so great for all kinds of organization projects in your home and office….and if you get creative, you can use it for plenty of other uses as well, like a cleaning system for the whole family.
To start getting your cleaning organized and allow everyone to help out, you will first need to figure out what cleaning you want everyone to do.
Enter those items into the tags and print them off on cardstock.
I used my sheet in a way to further keep things organized. I used all the pink tags for one week of cleaning and all the blue tags for the following week of cleaning.
We usually clean our upstairs one weekend and the downstairs the following weekend. I know for some people that isn’t cleaning frequently enough and for others that’s too much, so decide what works for you and your family. This works for us.
Once you print your tags, laminateĀ (affiliate link) them and cut them apart.
Just to give you an idea, you can see all of our cards above. I separated things out into very small tasks so we could divide things up easily among the 4 of us.
The blue cards are for our downstairs cleaning week and the pink cards are for our upstairs cleaning week.
Now, you have to start using the cards. I will tell you what we do, but as always, just use that a springboard of ideas for what will work for you and your family.
On Sunday night, we pick who is doing what for the following week. As you can see above, we mark the card with a dry erase pen so we know who is doing what.
We decided that we can complete our cleaning between Friday and Sunday night at 6 p.m.
There are some tasks that need to be completed by Saturday at 8 p.m. because that task needs to be done before someone else can do their job. We call those coordinated tasks. They are things like the kitchen sink and counters, kitchen table and oven, microwave and toaster oven. Those tasks must be done by Saturday so that the people sweeping and mopping can do that on Sunday.
We also decided on those coordinated tasks, if you are not done by Saturday at 8 p.m. then you are completing your task as well as the coordinated task.
Finally, we also decided that if you do not have your cleaning completed by Sunday at 6 p.m., the following week you will have your usual 2 cards to complete AND an additional task.
The system has been working well for us. It has taken the stressful start to Saturday morning out of our weekends which is really nice. Also, there have been 2 weekends now that people haven’t completed their tasks….it is kind of nice because then it lightens my cleaning load the following week. Yay! Oops…that is totally not what I am supposed to say…and yet, let’s be real. It is nice!
The other thing that I have been doing is using a few of the blank cards that I had from when I printed out all the cleaning tasks to keep track of any restrictions or consequences for my kids.
I’ve been really trying to do a better job at following through rather than just threatening my kids. So, the blank cards are a perfect way for me to tell my daughter that if she chooses to do X, Y. or Z, she will lose her phone. Then if she does X, Y, or Z, I take away the phone and write it down on the card. Then neither she nor I can forget what the consequence is and when it ends. I’m really loving that! It is really helping me remember things and be more consistent and I know that both of my kids need that from me.
So, not just cleaning tips today, but also how to follow through with your kids. All from one sheet from my Labels and Tags bundleĀ (this is the grey version)! Win, win! š
And a win for you, too! You can get your free editable tags by entering your name and email below. If you are already a member/subscriber then nothing new will happen. If you aren’t, you will be added to my member list and get this and other freebies. Yay!
You can also snag the whole Labels and Tags Bundle in my shop. I’d love to hear your other creative ideas for using all the other goodies in the bundle. š I know it hasĀ many more uses than the obvious!
Do you have a cleaning schedule with your family? Leave what works for you and your family below. I love hearing more ideas!
Don’t forget to follow me on Instagram, where I share even more fun ideas and inspirations.
Love it! And passing it on, too. Thanks for sharing with us at Throwback Thursday and have a wonderful Thanksgiving!
Mollie
Thanks so much!
This is a very sweet idea. I like the idea of giving each person their own cards with their tasks on them. We used to do something similar with my nieces and nephews when they visited in the summer. We did it with chores…but also with the fun stuff they liked to do like cooking.
Thanks! That is a great idea to add in the fun stuff as well. Makes it a little less dreaded and a little more fun. š
One summer when my nieces and nephews were pre-teen and came for a visit they seemed to have a list of wants three pages long. I decided that they needed to learn a bit about managing money. I took the amount of money their father paid in monthly child support and multiplied it by two (mom’s half of their upkeep). Then I divided that by 4 because there are 4 weeks in each month. I then divided by 3 because there are 3 children. I gave each kid a starting budget for the week of that amount which I deposited into pretend checking accounts…with a check register and pretend checks for each kid. Then I decided on a small amount for daily room and board which covered meals at home, and whatever we did at home but didn’t cover trips, souvenirs, things they wanted at the store, or meals out. Those they had to cover themselves with the money in their pretend checking accounts. They could buy anything that they could afford but had to be sure they had money for trips and for meals out. At the end of the week they could keep any money they had left over in their checking accounts. I also put up help wanted jobs on sticky notes and they could earn extra money by applying for one of the jobs, getting the job and doing the job. Yes, they had to actually fill out a job application and interview for the job. š It was a huge learning experience for them. They all learned how to write checks, how to budget money, how to fill out job applications, how to interview for a job. They still talk about that summer today and they are in their mid 20’s. Most of them have children of their own now.
Wow! It sure does sound like a great summer of learning and fun!