Coping with Housework Drudgery
When it comes to keeping their house clean and their daily life organized, some people never give up their search for some easy solution that will eliminate the effort. Eventually, though, just about everybody comes to the realization that household chores are never-ending, involve drudge work, tedium, and getting your hands dirty… and that if we want to live like civilized people, there are always chores that need to be done.
There is only one long term solution… to develop your own work routine, based on YOUR house, YOUR family, and YOUR lifestyle… and then fine-tune that routine until you can accomplish what you need to do efficiently, quickly, and with as little stress as possible.
Some people like to spend one day each week deep-cleaning the whole house… others like to clean or organize small areas each day. What works best for me is to try to keep my house (and my life) as orderly and organized as I can ALL the time. I have learned to tackle big jobs in the early hours of the day because that is when I can accomplish the most. I am a morning person… your most productive time may be at the other end of the day… but if you can find the time and the routine that works for YOU, everything suddenly becomes a little easier.
Here are a few ideas that work for me:
- I have found if I take care of little things as soon as they happen, it prevents them from becoming big (problems, messes, whatever). Spilled juice, for example, takes just a few minutes to clean up when it’s fresh, but is just one more sticky, discouraging mess to tackle if it is left for later. This same principle works for everything. It is just so much easier to take care of one thing than it is to tackle a long to-do list.
- Every morning I make the beds right away, then I look around the rooms and do a quick “pick up and put away.” I hang up clean clothes and put any dirty clothes in the hamper. If any family members who are old enough do this too, their rooms can stay relatively neat and clean all the time.
- I have learned what a valuable habit it is to put things back where they belong when I am finished with them. This one simple habit (and it IS a habit) can make an amazing difference in how your house looks. Kids can be taught to pick up their own toys before nap or bed time… this is a great behavior for kids to learn that will serve them well all their lives.
- I never let dishes accumulate. I have a dishwasher, but almost always I find it’s so much easier to wash the dishes by hand… as I’m cooking or baking… right away before food has a chance to become dried on. I soak the dishes in hot soapy water and they almost wash themselves. When the dishes are clean, I put them away immediately. That way the entire dish washing process is taken care of quickly and with very little effort, thus eliminating the problem of a counter full of dirty dishes making the whole kitchen look unkempt.
- I take wet clothes out of the washer as soon as the cycle stops. When I’m drying clothes on the lines outside, I shake each item hard before I hang it on the line… it’s amazing how many wrinkles a good shake will eliminate. When I’m using the dryer, I take the clothes out of the dryer a few at a time (keeping the dryer running) and fold or hang all the clothes while they are still warm… resulting in almost wrinkle-free laundry… which is a good thing because I absolutely hate ironing!
- And finally, every time someone takes a bath or a shower, they are expected to give the shower walls and tub a quick wipe down. This takes only a few seconds, but it goes a long way in helping the tub and shower stay clean and shiny.
All relatively easy and simple things… but what a difference they can make!
Written by Shirley | Filed Under Organization Series, Personal Development
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Comments
Comment by Alissa:
I do many of the same things! I try to keep things as tidy as possible (well, as tidy as can be with 2 kids under 4), and then each day of the week I have a “focus area” of my home that I do deeper cleaning tasks. These tasks generally only take me 30 to 45 minutes each day, and while it means that my whole house doesn’t sparkle all at once, it is always presentable, and I know that each area of my home will get hit once a week, so I don’t stress about it. I figured out once I had kids that cleaning it all in one shot was not going to be possible, as I would never have that much consecutive time again!
I posted about my weekly schedule here, if anyone’s interested:
http://onpurposeliving.blogspot.com/2008/03/weekly-schedule.html
I do the same as you with making beds first thing in the morning and picking up the bedrooms. I find it’s a great way to start the day. I would hate to go upstairs later in the day and see unmade beds, then it would seem like drudgery to make them later on. For some reason, doing things right away seems to make them more bearable.
I like your idea of wiping out the shower after each use. Since I only use natural cleaners, I find it tough to remove soap scum if I only do it once a week. I’ll have to give your method a try!
I also agree that it’s important to teach children to put things away where they belong. It also alleviates a lot of frustration on their part when they want to know where their such-and-such is! If they learn to put things away when they’re finished with them, you aren’t endlessly searching for their toys.
Great post, and lots of good ideas here!
Comment by Thomas:
One of the numerous domestic tasks that my ex-girlfriend and I argued about was the dishes. Our unfortunate agreement was that when one of us cooked, the other had to do the dishes. “Unfortunate” because I cleaned as I cooked and left a sparkling (or near sparkling) kitchen at the serving of the meal. On the other hand, she managed to find a use for every piece of cookware we owned and left a huge pile of dirty dishes to be cleaned after the meal. That is how I learned that it is very hard to clean encrusted garlic on a full stomach while sleepy after a heavy meal!
Comment by Cindysoowho:
I also have the rule that everyone must wipe out the shower after using it. One really good benefit of this lifetime habit is that it basically eliminates the use of cleaning chemicals in the shower. There is no chance for mildew or soap scum to grow because the shower is always dry and the faucets always sparkle!
Comment by Alissa:
I’m back to ask a quick question! I’ve been thinking a lot about your post. I mentioned in my earlier comment that I have scheduled “deep-cleaning” days for each room of my house. I was wondering, how do you handle your deep-cleaning tasks? Do you have a schedule, or just do them as needed? Particularly things like dusting, vacuuming, scrubbing floors, cleaning toilets, etc. I’m always curious how others do things, to see if there is a more efficient way.
Thanks!
Alissa
Comment by Shirley:
Alissa, I suppose I keep a schedule of sorts in my head, but I don’t have any written schedule. Out of necessity, I have had to learn to do some things differently since my back injury. As to toilets, dusting, and vacuuming… I vacuum every morning and clean the toilets every evening, which means that neither job takes a lot of time or effort. Dusting more or less gets done when needed. Give me a little time and I will see if I can come up with a better description.
Comment by anna:
how clean is clean? Where do you draw the line? I often feel like a fanatic.
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