Stop the Cleaning!

We're moving!  Have I mentioned that?  Sean's uncle fixed up a duplex in the university area and we'll be moving in to one side of the duplex at the end of the month.  As many of you know, once I know something is happening I want to get it DONE.  I've been resisting the urge to pack everything for a month now and it is killing me!  I started the process by going through my clothes and getting rid of things that don't fit anymore or items I don't wear very often.  Is there anything better than that feeling of cleaning and organizing?

I love the satisfaction of cleaning as much as the next OCD person.  A clean house is like heaven to me!  But if you're like me, cleaning the apartment/house means a massive cleaning day on Saturday.  As much as I love getting it all done at once, it kills my Saturday and takes away time Sean and I have to relax on the weekend.  Since both teach and Sean coaches during the week, the weekend is the time we have to really invest in each other.

As the school year begins to approach I've been thinking about being more intentional with my time and especially my weekends.  In order for that to happen, I need to stop the cleaning frenzies on Saturday!  I've come up with a few ideas to help me make the most of my time throughout the week and I'm going to share them with you as the school year approaches.   So here we go!

Have you seen those beautiful cleaning schedules on Pinterest? The ones that look like the women have hours in the day to clean?  I don't know about you, but the last thing I want to do after teaching children all day is come home and do five huge cleaning items.  As I looked through the cleaning schedules I noticed that some had daily, weekly, and monthly items.  I figured I could alter them to create on that fits my schedule and is a bit simpler.

To start, I wanted to use a morning/evening routine to help lower the number of items I would be doing when I came home.  Luckily Sean and I already clean up the dishes and wipe down the counter each day, which helps keep the kitchen clean.  I also LOVE to make my bed in the morning, which makes the room look instantly better...at least in my eyes.  The idea of picking up items every night seemed a bit daunting until I realized that if I did follow through it wouldn't be a huge hassle!

Then I wrote down other items and split them into weekly and monthly.  I was able to organize it all so that I have only one or two items during the week.  That meant I could do one monthly item each Saturday, but still have plenty of time to spend with Sean.  Plus, if I'm feeling extra ambitious I can knock out my Saturday item during the week. (But I'm not banking on that happening too often!)

Here's the schedule!

Not too bad!  This list actually looks realistic for me which is exciting.  And it will help me to free up my Saturdays which will be very helpful during the school year.  Unfortunately between being mid-move and planning the Craft Fair for Sanctuary of Hope our apartment is a bit of a disaster so this schedule might have to wait a bit.  But I hope this might help you, too!