Cleaning & Organizing
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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
How to get out of a cleaning rut?
Okay so here is my problem. Our first few months of marriage I didn't have a job because I just moved into the city from out of town. And so I was really good about cleaning the house and keeping it that way. Now I have a job which is great but now u can't seem to have enough hours in the day to clean again. And things just keep piling up. How to I get back into a routine that is simple enough for me to accomplish even when I'm dead tired from work?
Re: How to get out of a cleaning rut?
I'm not much help because sometimes I can't pull myself up to do anything after work, but I try to clean a different room every night. I don't know the link, but I think her blog is called "the good wife" she has a good schedule I try to follow. Then you don't have to clean everything every day. Good luck.
A few things that have worked for myself & DH:
Stick with a routine & things will become a habit:
Make yourself a list that consists of 3 bullet points each morning while you eat breakfast:
Change *How* you Clean:
I love to organize my closets or do a boring task most when DH is home. You can put on a movie as background noise or dance to music while you do it. Also, give yourself a "reward" like saying if you get a closet organized, you're taking the rest of the day to catch up on DVR, etc.
I like to clean as you go, it takes very little time in the morning to make the bed and pick up your clothes etc., hang up your towels, put the dishes in the dishwasher etc. Also I hope your spouse is helping, if I am overwhelmed I ask DH to help with the laundry, grocery shopping etc. to free up time to get everything done.
In the evenings, I will set the timer for 20 mins and do a task, you can get more done in 15 mins than you think.
DH does help. He is great but unfortunately he doesn't always pick the easy stuff. This past week he was home all week but couldn't help because the Friday before while he was being the wonderful husband is he by taking out the trash( I didnt even ask) he fell down our stairs and twisted his ankle. Which why most of the mess has gathered to a horrible highth. As my helper was out for a week.
Ugh, I feel you! I recently started doing motivatedmoms.com but I have posted some other schedules and techniques I use on my blog, too. www.hautemommyblog.com/search/label/homekeeping
I will say that making it a point to make the bed, do one load of laundry a day, and clean out the bathroom and kitchen sinks daily helps me at leaset feel like things are clean. Then I try to tackle one big task a day (vaccum, mop, clean kitchen or bathroom).
I follow flylady.com for general ideas.
But things that I stick to:
- I get up and make the bed (DH gets up first)
- I leave the house with the house tidy: dishes in the dishwasher, things put away, a load of laundry on.
- I go to bed with the dinner dishes done, the house picked up, any laundry folded and put away etc etc.
Every week I focus on a room and I just spend a few minutes a day cleaning or decluttering in that room.
I do a lot of quick jobs during the ads on TV.
Like pp I always wipe down my bathroom. I've also found that as I've kept on top of the kitchen it's easy to extend out my, "I always wipe down my counter tops at night" to, "I always wipe down my counter tops, stove, microwave, front of fridge)"
Once a week I vacuum, wipe down door frames, clean mirrors, dust.
I lay out my clothes the night before, so that getting up and dressed in the morning is quick and easy.
I also lay out my daughter's clothes and make both our lunches and pack her bag for daycare the night before.
Sometimes when I'm just really tired but my house is a big icky mess, I watch an episode of HOARDERS. I get to relax for a hour or so while getting really motivated to clean after looking the hell holes these people live in.
Music, music works too!
I have a cleaning schedule I stick to.
Monday-dust and vacuum
Tuesday-kitchen
Wednesday-bathroom
Thursday-misc (sort through the mail, vacuum again, etc)
Friday-grocery shop and meal plan
Sunday-laundry and all things pup related
Every evening I do the dishes after dinner. Before bed, I pick up the living room and move any stray dishes to the kitchen.
My cleaning takes about 20-30 minutes in the evening. It's nothing over whelming.
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