The Real Secret to Housekeeping

I have discovered that the real secret to good housekeeping is MAINTENANCE. Now, that might not seem earth shattering to you, but I've come as close to staying on top of my housework in the last 2 months by doing regularly scheduled maintenance cleaning, than I ever have before.

Sure, I have always done basic housecleaning every week, such as clean the bathrooms, vacuum and do laundry. But by scheduling regular maintenance cleaning, I have kept my house really clean. For Example:

1. I have a really dusty house. In the past I would dust the entire house and then let it go until it really needed it again. Meanwhile I was constantly complaining about how dusty our house is and how there must be some problem. I finally came to the conclusion I just wasn't dusting often enough. Now that I dust my house every single week, alternating extra attention in certain areas, I feel that I have finally conquered the "dust monster" in my house. Even the ceiling fans are dust free!!!!

2. I now sweep the kitchen/laundry room area of the house every single day. I never have to complain about all the dirt I feel with my bare feet anymore. I also mop every week, but can go as long as two weeks, if time is not available for this. I still believe that there's no need to clean it if isn't dirty! I plan to do a focused mopping about once a month which means that I do an extra good job.

3. We have two bedrooms upstairs that don't need vacuuming as often as the rest of the house. I tend to let these go for a long period of time and then, as you would guess, it gets bad. So now I make sure that I vacuum the upstairs and the stairs themselves every 2 weeks. About once a month I will do a detailed job of this.

4. Bathrooms. We have 2 bathrooms. I clean both every week, but alternate doing a detailed job. One week, the floors, rugs, and entire room gets cleaned really well in one bathroom, and the next week I concentrate on the other one. Daily I check to see if the potty and counter need wiping off in between more thorough weekend cleanings.

5. All Around Deep Cleaning. Every week I try to do one or 2 small jobs that need to be done, but seem to get postponed. One weekend I washed 2 windows and the mini blinds for those windows. Another weekend, I cleaned out the spice cabinet. I can also do small jobs like cleaning out a junk drawer while something is cooking or while on the phone,etc. Ever get up on the counter and look at the space above cabinets? Well that was a job that I got done one weekend.

6. The living room gets vacuumed every week, but I do a detailed cleaning of it once a month. This means getting out the crevice tool and moving some furniture and other items.

7. I am in the process of setting up a maintenance schedule for things like washing windows, cleaning the oven, changing out seasonal clothes in the closet, etc. that only need to be done about every 3 months.

Every weekend I now strive to keep what's already been cleaned.... clean. The best thing about keeping the house maintained is that it gives me more free time in the long run. If I am through cleaning the house, I really enjoy sewing and quilting much, much more!!!