Keeping Our Home Tidy 15 Minutes At A Time

You've heard me mention before in a post I did last fall that I do my housework on a schedule and I only spend about 15 minutes at a time doing so.  Sometime less, sometimes more, but for the most part I try to stick to just 15 minutes.  And it really work well too.

I make a habit of picking up after myself.  When I change clothes I hang up what needs to be hung up, put my shoes in the closet and put dirty items into the laundry basket right away.  I also make my bed the moment I get up every morning.  It only takes a minute and then it is done.

My girls aren't as good about it as I am so we have a rule that at the end of the day we go through the house and collect our things and get everything put away.  It is a good time to tidy up the living room, vacuum the floor if it is needed, wipe up any spills on the floor, dump the trash or whatever we find needs to be done.  We spend no more than 15 minutes doing this.

When we do dishes, we also wipe down the stove and counters as well as the dining room table.  We all help with cooking, setting and clearing the table as well as putting away the food after each meal.

I try to do something extra on each scheduled day for deeper cleaning.  For instance, when I cleaned the dining room last week I dusted the ceiling fan and the shelves, this week I focused on removing and cleaning the mini blind, next week I plan to wash the window and the floor.

Every day we swish the toilet bowl and wipe the sink and counter.  When I cleaned the bathroom on my schedule last week I mopped the floor and shook the rug.  This week I super scrubbed the sink and toilet with a scour pad and cleanser, next week I plan to wash the mirrors and tidy up under the sink.  The following week I plan to bop the cobwebs and wash the walls.

Not everything needs to be done every time.  You can rotate the deeper cleaning on a weekly basis and still manage to keep up on things just fine.  Admittedly it helps that all three of us work together and get things done.  I take care of the downstairs bathroom and the girls share the responsibility of the upstairs bath.  I vacuum and dust downstairs, they take care of the upstairs.  Every once in a while we switch off so I make sure things are done thoroughly.

It is truly amazing to me how much I can accomplish in just 15 minutes when I really focus.  This method saves me a ton of time which allows us to do other things, like have fun.  I still spring clean each room every six months and we declutter on a routine basis.  But for the most part 15 minutes a day on set chores it more than enough.