How to change from Slob to Spotless
Now that I am almost 2 years into being a full-time stay at home mom and “house wife” I have noticed a major change. The funny thing about that is, it has turned me into a neat freak. Not that I have a clean house all time, but the will and desire to have a perfectly clean house is there now more than its ever been.
You see before when I worked full time and wasn’t home much, a messy house didn’t bother me. In the last 5 years, I have been home more, only working part-time, and having an untidy house has slowly gotten on my nerves.
If my mother is reading this, I am sure she is reminiscing about my teenage bedroom and thinking “you, a neat freak? YA RIGHT!!!”
Why is keeping a spotless home important?
My motto used to be, there will always be something to clean why not enjoy life instead. The funny thing is, now having a tidy, sparkling clean home is part of what makes me enjoy life. Being proud of my tidy home, and not embarrassed to have an unexpected visitor, truly brings me joy. Hey, it may sound silly but it is true. It makes me feel in control. Since staying home full time is now what I view as “my job” it brings me a lot of pride to have a clean home!
So if you are someone who is always trying to get on top of things or a slob convert like me, then this post is for you!
The first thing you need to do is have a fresh start.
Devote some time to do a full deep clean. Ask your mother for help. Hire a maid service, heck move to a brand new house. Whatever works for you, but having a standard to start with, and keep up with definitely helps.
Secondly
Make a list of all the tasks you need to do in order to keep your home tidy and maintained, don’t forget things like grocery shopping and paying the bills, this is all a part of home care.
Thirdly
You need to make a cleaning schedule that works for you. For some, this will be speed cleaning a certain amount each day. For others, it may mean spending several hours on a Saturday, or it might even mean picking one room each day to devote to cleaning and organizing. Also, depending on what stage in your life you are at, this will vary. For myself who is a stay at home mom to little kids and under this is going to look considerably different than someone who works full time and has one child in full-time daycare.
In Conclusion
Once you decide on the schedule you simply stick to it. Make it easy to follow and doable with your time constraints. Here is a sample stay at home mom schedule that I use. View it down below or you can print out and stick on your fridge. Enter your email into the pop up in this page which will sign you up to receive the free cleaning schedule chart
Also do not forget to play an awesome playlist, or podcast while you do this. I find my self lost in a podcast that the time flies and before you know it my cleaning checklist for the day is completely checked off!
Here is my cleaning checklist
Daily tasks take 15-20 minutes AM and PM
Weekly Tasks take 20 minutes
Monthly Zone – I do a power hour per week focusing on one of the rotating zones
Seasonal – I have no set time to do this, just when I have some spare time and I keep it as a reference as what needs to be done.
Daily AM
- make beds
- dishes
- counters (wipe and sanitize)
- unload dishwasher (reload)
- sort mail
- laundry (wash and dry)
- meal prep
Daily PM
- pick up toys
- dishes
- counters (wipe and sanitize)
- load and run dishwasher
- sweep
- empty garbages
- fold laundry
Weekly
M – bathrooms
T – vacuum & mop
W – Kitchen (appliances, empty fridge, organize cupboards
T – dust surfaces
F – change sheets and towels (laundry)
S -Homecare & Catch up
Monthly Zone
Each week I focus on one of these 4 zones in a Power Hour
- furniture wash cushions, wipe down hard furniture, move and vacuum behind
- declutter & organize (closets, cupboards, toys, paperwork)
- deep clean (baseboards, light fixtures, stove, scrubbing)
- home maintenance (paint touch up, fix broken things, make a To Do list)
Seasonally (January, April, July/Aug, November)
- clean out vehicle
- yard work
- steam clean carpets
- window frames and screens
- wipe walls
- change filters
- check detectors & monitors
- change filters
- clean and organize garage or shed
- purge and organize paperwork
- change decor
- curtains and rugs
- clean mattresses and pillows
You will feel better implementing this checklist
When you have a tidy house and take pride in your home, I promise you, you feel so much better about your housewife status! You will not feel overwhelmed, and hate cleaning. When you make it easy and doable it actually becomes enjoyable and liberating! Hey, who knows maybe you will even start making home-baked goods in your insta worthy kitchen!