Welcome back to day 14 in the 15 days to an organized Christmas! Thank you for joining us today. If you have been following along this entire 15 day series, you are awesome! You are going to be ready for the busy Christmas season to start. For those of you who are just now joining us, here is a quick summery of everything we've talked about so far.
On day 1, you downloaded a Christmas planner and put together a binder to keep all of your lists and receipts in. Then you filled out your calendar for the month of December and made a master to-do list. Next, you wrote out your Christmas budget and made a list of all the people you were buying gifts for. Then, you brainstormed gift ideas for those on your gift lists. You made a plan for your Christmas cards and started compiling a list of address. Next, you planned out the different Christmas traditions and activities that you are partaking in this holiday season. You made a list of crafts that you are making this year and decided on your Christmas baking. You planned out your Christmas dinner and if you were shopping on Black Friday & Cyber Monday. You then made a plan of how you were going to decorate your house for Christmas. On day 12, you set up a gift wrapping station and then you picked an area that you organized and got ready for Christmas.
Today, we are going to talk about the importance of having a simple, easy to use cleaning plan. Having a cleaning plan is important throughout the entire year. During a normal week, one can usually get all the cleaning and laundry done. But what about cleaning the house when it is an especially busy time? Say during the holidays for example? What about finding the time to clean during those times?
The holidays are so fun because of the shopping. gift-giving, social events, seeing friends, baking, and everything else! It's so easy to put off cleaning your bathroom and mopping the kitchen. So here is what I want you to do. Write down the cleaning that needs to happen during the week. Then, make another list. This time only listing the things that have to get done when you are at your busiest. Next, give each chore a time frame that you can accomplish it in.
Here's what mine looks like:
- Clean bathrooms - 15-20 mins each for full and 8 mins for 1/2 bath
- Mop kitchen and hallways - 20 mins
- Laundry - load, 2 mins, fold & put away - 10 mins
- Wash sheets and towels - load, 2 mins, make beds - 8 mins
- Vacuum floors - 20 mins
- Dust entire house - 20 mins
- Wipe down kitchen appliances - 5 mins
- Wipe down kitchen counters - 5 mins
- Sweep kitchen and hallway floors - 8 mins
You can see that I can get everything done in about 2.5 hours of time all at once. If I only took 20-30 minuets each day to clean than I could still get everything done in 5 days time. By having the time it takes me to accomplish each task, if I had a few spare minuets than I can also see what task I can easily accomplish in that time frame.
If I had a really busy week, than I would only wipe down the bathrooms with lysol wipes and clean the mirrors (5 mins each), sweep, mop, and vacuum the floors (40 mins), and stay on top of the laundry (12 mins for each load). Doing this would only take me 1 hour and I would enlist my husband to help me clean, cutting my cleaning time down even farther. I've written about the 5 things that I do to clean my house quickly that you may find useful to read if you are thinking about what items you can cut out during the busy holidays.
Now, I can get away with this minimal cleaning list because I do things everyday that are already built in my daily routine. I always make the bed, do the dishes, clean up the kitchen, and pick up after myself & family members. I recommend that you keep on doing those routine things each day.
Today's Assignment
Take a few minuets to write out a simple, cleaning plan and mark which items are essential to get clean each week for the holiday season. Then gather up all your cleaning supplies that you will use in a central place or a cleaning caddy. Make a note of what cleaning supplies you need to buy.
Did you write out your lists? Did anything surprise you? What are the things that you have to clean each week no matter how busy you get?
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