Cleaning and Laundry Schedule

I’m a fairly organized person. My parents would laugh at this because as a teenager living in their home my room was a complete disaster at all times. But when it comes to my work, and especially my adult life, I am very organized.

Organizing two small children attending school and preschool, before and after school programs, a full time job, and maintaining a house that isn’t a disaster zone takes a lot of organization.

When I was pregnant with Zachary I was introducted ot the concept of “zone cleaning”. Part of my previous cleaning issues had been devoting a big chunk of the weekend to cleaning. I hate doing that. It sucks. And as a music teacher there are many weekends where I have stuff for work I need to be at, so it throws off the entire week. So I started zone cleaning.

Basically, you divide your house into zones or tasks and divide them up throughout the month. Nothing slips through the cracks. Everything gets done. And you’re devoting a small amount of time every day to cleaning instead of devoting a large chunk of your weekend. This is a win.

Laundry was a similar struggle for me. I hated devoting a large portion of my weekend to cleaning and folding the laundry.

(Let it be noted Dennis and I did this stuff together. And stil we hated that it was taking up a large portion of our weekend. I wasn’t on my own with this. For the record.)

Zone cleaning has been a game changer. I had a more elaborate schedule starting the summer I was pregnant with Zachary. I modified it when we moved. And now that my kids are a little older and I’m working around basketball practice and LEGO League, I modified it a bit more.

If you’re interested in this, check out the schedule below. This has helped us a lot as a couple and as an entire household. Things are usually really tidy and it’s easy to keep up with everything. Have people over? No problem - all the cleaning will get picked up in the weekly schedule. You don’t need to go crazy before or after.

Are you a resolutions person? This may be an idea for you!

Note: I tend to do much of this because I’m home first. I get a lot of this stuff started, but on the nights that I don’t get it done, we do these tasks as a couple.

Monday:
Laundry - Towels
Cleaning - Bathrooms
(I’m usually most motivated on Mondays - so this slightly pain-in-the-ass cleaning zone is a good choice for us.)

Tuesday:
Laundry - Master Bedroom Sheets
Cleaning - Dust
(Tuesday mornings are a gym morning for me, so Dennis is excited he doesn’t need to make the bed this day.)

Wednesday:
Laundry - White Load
Cleaning - Kitchen
(Dominic has LEGO League and I’m home alone with Zachary. Kitchen is perfect because I can keep track of Zach while he’s playing and I can get the kitchen done while Dom and Dennis are at LEGO League. I move all the stuff on the counter and use granite cleaner, wipe down the inside of the microwave, and use special wipes on the stainless appliances.)

Thursday:
Laundry - Dark Load
Cleaning - I’m kind of done with life on Thursdays, so I vacuum the upstairs. It takes like 10 minutes, tops!

Friday:
Laundry - Delicates - the things that need to be washed in cold water and hung on the drying rack. Easy!
Cleaning - Nothing!

Saturday:
Laundry - The boy’s sheets
Cleaning - Mop the downstairs

Sunday:
Laundry - Dark Load (we make enough dark load items we need to do it twice a week)
Cleaning - We alternate between 4 different items that need to get done once per month. Clean the master bathroom tub, clean the boys’ tub, clean the interior windows, move couches and search for treasure (toys)

I also try to clean some additional items once per season. First weekend in December (winter), first weekend in March (spring), first weekend in June (summer), and first weekend in September (fall).

Those items are:
Exterior windows
Clean inside or fridge
Wipe down baseboards
Organize pantry closet and linen closet

Is this helpful? Do you have a laundry and cleaning schedule? Let me know in the comments below!