Week 2: Organizing my Cleaning Schedule

Some time ago I called my mom and greeted her in my usual way, “Hey Mom, whatcha doing?”

“Vacuuming my coils,” she replied nonchalantly.

“What?!” I exclaimed. “What is that? Why are you doing it?”

Turns out, refrigerators have something called a condenser coil which needs to be vacuumed or dusted every 6 to 12 months or energy production goes down and the thing could burst into flames.  This is a very handy thing to know as I certainly don’t want my neglected refrigerator to burn my house down.

This exchange got me thinking. What else am I unknowingly failing to maintain in my house that may cause harm to us or the aforementioned neglected item(s)? When we moved into our first home nobody handed me a manual entitled, “Maintaining Your Home and Appliances in Order to Prevent Fire and Other Certain Disasters.”  And let’s be honest, I probably wouldn’t have read it anyway.  What I needed was a list; something simple to tell me what and how often I need to take care of things. I did some research (translation: Googled it).  This definitive cleaning schedule is the best source I have found to concisely tell me what I need to do and when.

That brings me to this weeks goal:  organizing my cleaning schedule.  I took the list found in the link above and modified it suit my needs.  I created a check-list of things I need to do weekly, monthly, every 6 months, and yearly, in order to properly clean and maintain my home.  I condensed it to a single sheet of paper which I will print off, laminate (as per the suggestion by Christina in her comment on my “Ta-da” post), and hang in a place of honor on my now combustion-proof refrigerator.

I have included a printable PDF of this schedule if anyone should feel so led to use it.

 

Cleaning Schedule PDF

I know that a house should be cleaned weekly, but I will confess that it often doesn’t happen for me.  Carving out the 2 to 3 hour block of time it takes to thoroughly clean a house can be difficult, especially with young children.  With my new schedule leering at me from my refrigerator door, my plan is to assign myself smaller tasks throughout the week (ie: Monday – dusting {ugh – do I have to?}, Tuesday – floors, etc.).  This way I get it all done in a week, but in small, manageable chunks.  As for the rest of the list (the non-weekly tasks), I am assigning each a specific month in which it must completed. If I don’t give myself a date, it won’t get done . . . and my refrigerator will suddenly burst into flames one day.  Happy cleaning!