So for as far back that I can remember, I have been slightly messy. I guess it’s just in my DNA…in fact as I watch my kids I see how some kids are more concerned with the moment {me and Jake} and how some kids are more concerned about layout and their surroundings {Evy and Brandon}. Well, unfortunately, this lack of caring about my surroundings has been one of my biggest frustrations and battles in life. I started thinking more specifically about cleaning my house when I read this blog post and actually commented for the first time in FOREVER. ha. My comments prompted a blog post, imagine that! 
I learned very early on that a messy environment creates havoc in your life. I also learned that if I didn’t want to be embarrassed when people showed up unexpectantly, that I better learn to have things somewhat clean most of the time. {learned that the hard way when my brother brought a guy I liked over and let him go into my room that was HORRIBLY messy. Will NEVER.EVER.FORGET that. ever.}
So even though my bathroom is always a mess {sorry Babe}, and so is my closet…and ok, really my entire room, the rest of the house has to look somewhat decent or else I start panicking. When we lived in Stockton, I really struggled because the truth of the matter was, we were really starting to outgrow the house, even though it was a nice sized home. Evy’s Tree was the biggest problem…there really was no way to keep a house clean that also ran as a factory 5 days {or sometimes 7 days} a week.
I did make a rule for myself while living in Stockton: clean the kitchen and family room EVERY night. No exceptions. That helped so much. But otherwise our Stockton house didn’t get cleaned until the house cleaner came, which was usually once a month.
When we moved to Santa Rosa, our budget changed and since we moved into a larger home, we just could not afford a house cleaner anymore, which meant I had to keep up on it myself. One day while browsing Pinterest, I found this great pin from this website telling you how to have a clean home in 15 minutes. The gist of it was…get your house really clean and then just maintain a little bit every day. Her personal schedule looked like this:
I realized that I could do that!! So without thinking I kinda started doing little things here and there, and realized that I really do only spend about 30 minutes a day cleaning up at night {kitchen/family room} and maybe another 10-15 during the day {rest of the items noted}. And I HARDLY EVER spend all day cleaning, unless I have slacked and it’s gotten really bad. So despite the fact that I am NOT a neat freak, I am proud to say I have acquired some sort of cleaning schedule. Mine varies from hers. I do not have an assigned day per item. I just do them when I can. Here’s mine:
1. I clean the kitchen and the family room EVERY night after dinner. This includes doing a dishwasher load, wiping down counters, sweeping, putting away toys, fluffing the couch, etc. also includes vacuuming the family room when it gets horrible looking, which is probably weekly. This whole process takes no more than 30 mins, but usually 15 if I have been up on it every night. I only wet mop our hardwood floors monthly {or whenever Brandon decides he can’t take it anymore and he does it himself }. And to make you guys feel fabulous about your home, here’s an unedited shot of my kitchen right after dinner. wow.
2. The kids pick up the their rooms every night before bed and put toys away. This is a MUST to keep my sanity.
Side note: I do have these great baskets from Pottery Barn that I keep in the Family Room and I toss random things in during the day. If they start to get rather full {like they are now} I take them and dump them in the kids room.
3. I clean the kids bathroom once a week during their bath. It only takes 15 minutes and I just usually sit in there anyway so I figure its a good time to take it on. I usually do this when I notice the room is getting a bit messy. I keep supplies in their cabinets above the toilet for easy reach. Here is a picture of their bathroom, and it’s desperately needing to be cleaned. I think tonight will be the night! Oh PS. The tile. It’s horrible. Bathroom remodel in the near future.
4. I clean the guest bathroom only when visitors are coming over or when Jake pees on the floor or forgets to flush the toilet and it starts to stink down the hall. ha. oh boy. Oh and this bathroom is being remodeled next month. We are adding a shower. Follow my guest bathroom board on pinterest if you are wondering what we’re going to do.
5. My husband makes our bed daily. I probably deep clean our bathroom{disinfect counters, mop floors, bleach shower} once a month. We clean the toilet whenever it needs it. I leave toilet bowl cleaner and supplies by the toilet.
6. I vacuum the rest of the house {besides the family room} whenever it is 100% necessary. Otherwise I don’t worry about it.
7. I sweep, dust, and windex the rest of the house when I notice it needs it or when we are having company. Here is our entry way and Living Room. These two rooms rarely get touched, so I just sweep when I see dust bunnies {like there are now under the bench seat there} or dirt.
7. I do all the laundry on the weekend and after I clear out the laundry room I also clean the floor in there as well. Probably takes a total of 10 mins. For those of you who think your laundry is overtaking you..check this out. This is when I was sorting laundry the other night. WOW.
8. Guest room is only cleaned when we have guest. Otherwise we keep that room locked and untouched. We just had guests, so the sheets are stripped. It will stay that way until guests come again, then we will make the bed and dust, sweep, etc.
9. Brandon cleans his own office. The kids are not allowed in there and he keeps it locked during the day when he is not home, so it stays just how he likes it and it rarely get seen, to be honest. ha. Bonus!
10. I clean the studio when necessary. Usually every couple of days I vacuum, straighten, etc.
xoxo
great post! I have never been able to adapt the cleaning schedule of doing a little bit each day of the week. I like my WHOLE house to be clean at the SAME TIME. So, I have one day per week (usually Mon or Tue) that I clean everything: dust, vacuum, mop, bathrooms, etc. Laundry happens during the mid week days. The kitchen gets swept and mopped daily. I do another dust/wipe down of furniture late in the week (usually Fridays) and run the vacuum over the rugs every 2-3 days. It sounds like a lot, but my routine is to start right after breakfast while the kids play in their rooms. It takes maybe 30 minutes and I’m done for the day (with the exception of cleaning up the kitchen after each meal). I am a major clean freak! Can’t stand things to be dirty/messy. A few times a month I will dust the higher shelves/light fixtures and re-organize my too small for my stuff closet.
Lana, can you come clean my house?!?!?
I agree though, I hate for things to be messy…which is so weird as I am really not a clean freak as I mentioned. But it sounds like you have a routine like me! All of us probably do. 
big hugs xoxo
I love all the airy white in your home! And I can relate on the cleaning- it can be so overwhelming (I have a toddler) so that schedule is amazing!
I’m a friend of Jenni Roseland. I love your blog AND the stuff in your shop
Hi Lauren! Thanks for stopping by and thanks for your compliments!
I LOVE Jenni!! xoxo
First of all let me say that i am glad that someone else has a child who sometimes pees on the floor, ughhhh
. I love when others share their cleaning tips and love that you shared pics too, great!!! As a working mom w/kids, i wish my house stayed in ‘model home’ shape but it’s not a reality…here’s a little bit of what helps keep my sanity and when that even gets overwhelming , i say a prayer and ask God to help me:) 1) all beds are made as soon as we are out of bed and the last person out gets the pleasure…it INSTANTLY makes the rm look and feel better! 2) the kids pk up toys as they play and for sure everything is bk in its place when finished playing…i have a lg basket in the living rm to catch balls, bats,etc, to help…i also try to do at least one load of laundry daily…otherwise, i do all baths, vac, and dusting all in one swipe on Fridays when i have some time off and the kids are at school. Thanks again for sharing!!
haha!! Kim!! I have no idea why it is impossible for Jake to get everything in the toliet, but it is!! ugh! And you have one up on me…No one ever makes the bed around here except my husband. Something I SERIOUSLY need to work on that! xoxo
oh how i wish i had the cleaning gene! sad, but i do not! my mom is crazy cleaner, not so much me! too many ideas spinning in my head and cleaning time just gets in the way…although, i definitely know it makes me more sane when my house is clean too! i like and wish i could keep up little by little each day, maybe i will try your idea!
you can do it!! A little bit a time!!
Big hugs friends. Love ya! xoxo
Amy, you look like you are doing a pretty fantastic job at keeping a clean house. I struggle with organizing and cleaning and sometimes feel like it is never done, especially now that I work full time. Thanks for sharing Becky’s cleaning schedule. Maybe I should follow a little weekly check system and possibly will not feel so overwhelmed. Hope you have a wonderful weekend Amy!!
Beautiful house. That’s similar to what mine looks like, in my mind LOL! I’m a terrible cleaner and my kids are starting to take after me. I have to do something about it. It got so bad with containers in my living room one time I had a repair man ask me if we just moved in. Um, no we’ve been here for several years. {Embarassing!}
Ahhh yes a cleaning schedule… something my husband has been advising me to do for awhile now…lol! I’m the type of cleaner that jumps from room to room..I just have a hard time staying focused in one room I guess…I tend to get overwhelmed on so much needing to be done (with six kids and a husband, believe me there’s alot to be done). I do laundry every day at least two-three loads a day, livingroom is vacuumed at least twice a day. We have the older three kids doing daily chores(do they always do them? Nooooooo), but they clean their own rooms and bathroom and take turns doing dishes, sweeping kitchen floor and counters after dinner. The two lil boys help me clean their room, which looks like a category 5 tornando ran thru it two days later..ugh! I try to go thru all kids clothes frequently to get rid of clothes that don’t fit anymore, we donate them to a family shelter behind the downtown mall. My bed…uhh never gets made…lol! Or it gets made right before my husband gets home, sometimes. We have scheduled a spring clean up day coming up soon and I’m not looking forward to it at all…but the results will be worth it all.
I’m not necessarily a “neat freak” but I do like my house to be presentable and in order if someone drops by – so I’ve adopted the same method of making it part of my daily routine to make sure the dishes are out of the sink and into the washer (even if its not running), I wipe the counter-tops down (about a dozen times a day – it’s fast and keeps stains from setting) and I try to make the beds daily. I hate to dust and I hate to clean toilets/bath so I have someone come in once or twice a month to give the hard stuff a deep scrub. The rest of the month I manage with scrubbing bubble wands and Tilex daily shower spray. It is THE BEST investment I’ve ever “splurged” on and I highly recommend it. Seriously – cut back a couple of times a month on eating out or mani/pedi time or cappucino/latte’s and get yourself some help! It makes the in-between upkeep SO much easier. Laundry/folding is normally done everyday by both Mitch and I as we talk about our day and catch up and he and I vacuum at least once or twice a week (more if needed/company is coming AND because we have carpet – bleh!).
P.S.
Beautiful home Amy. You and Brandon have got it magazine worthy. =)
I’ve recently become a stay at home mom. Now I feel obligated that my husband come home to a clean house and dinner. But honestly some days the kids destroy the house as I go! I did deep clean the kids room recently and it has stayed clean, and I always do a quick clean of the bathroom during kiddos baths. And the living room stays decent now that the kids rooms have all their toys. My biggest issue is that I do not own a washer/dryer! We have an apt and are on the 3rd floor. I have one child that can’t do stairs yet and one that still needs a hand held. So its nearly impossible to keep up with laundry