Creating a Weekly Scheduleby Susan LottA weekly schedule of housekeeping tasks will provide the framework for your daily housekeeping activities. It will help you establish a habit of consistent order and cleanliness in your home. I'm home all day every day, so I have the luxury of spreading my housekeeping out over the week, rather than having to cram it all into Saturday as a necessity. Do what works for your lifestyle. Begin to design your own schedule by evaluating your strengths and weaknesses of your housekeeping style. Evaluate strengths and weaknessesDesign a schedule that plays to your strengths and is forgiving of your weaknesses. For example, I am really fast when I clean. My accompanying weakness is that I burn out very quickly. I don't mind doing the laundry, but I hate to put it away. I am more motivated in the morning, but my son needs more attention in the evening. Therefore, I must design a schedule that prevents burnout, maintains motivation to accomplish tasks I dread, and keeps a reasonable pace to conserve energy.Take 5 minutes to: Write down some of your greatest strengths and weaknesses. Keep them handy for the next step. Establish a General Weekly ScheduleThere was wisdom in the old ways, 'wash on Monday' and all that. My system is similarly based on a weekly cycle of chores. First, identify large task groups that you wish to accomplish in a single week – things like laundry, bathroom chores, kitchen chores (like cleaning the stove, microwave, etc.), vacuuming. Then, assign two tasks for each day. Avoid pairing two large tasks together on a single day. Also, plan for busy days to alternate with easy days.As you can see from my weekly schedule below, I alternated my busy housekeeping days with days where I do next to nothing. I have the motivation to work harder and longer on Monday when I know that I can take it easy on Tuesday.
Tailor your weekly schedule to your family's living pattern. Being a small family of three, I can get away with vacuuming only once each week. My personal weakness is being untidy (Monday clutter accumulation forecast is 6 inches on the benches and 4 inches on the valley floor), so I needed to include general tidying days three timesa week. It's a safety net for when I inevitably fail at picking up after myself. The schedule is very flexible. I don't do freezer meals every week, so many Saturdays end up as an extra day off to spend time with family. Likewise, if something comes up to interrupt my Wednesday tasks, I know I'll have time to catch up on Thursdaywithout overwhelming myself with chores. Take 5 minutes to: Construct your own weekly schedule. Refer to your goals and make sure that your schedule supports them. Make sure it works around your strengths and weaknesses, likes and dislikes.
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