Make Automatic Cleaning Part of Your Life

I mentioned last week that staying on routines would help me meet my goal to "survive" the year. One of the habits I already have in place is for household cleaning. Life gets busy and it’s easy to get off track and then overwhelmed with the amount of chores it takes to keep a home running smoothly. When we moved in together, my husband and I decided to split the home maintenance tasks. You can read about why and how we divided up the cleaning chores here.

But regardless if you go it alone or you have someone to share the tasks with, you can still divide up your chores into daily chunks or implement a weekly routine to make maintaining a clean home automatic. I also find having a set cleaning schedule helps me get things done even when other areas of my life get busy. Keep reading to see how I came up with my weekly routine and a few tips to help you implement your own routines.

Creating a Plan

A few weeks after we moved into our house, and after we divided up the chores, I thought about what a typical week looks like for us and answered the below questions. Once I had a baseline of events for my week, I took all my tasks and plugged them in on days that made sense.

1. What days are busiest for you at work, school, in your social life?

Mondays are my busiest days at work. I'm usually there a little later than usual, and I know I'll be mentally exhausted and just want to chill out when I get home. So keeping Mondays chore-free are ideal.

2. What events within the week are out of your control?

I can't move my trash pick up day, or the day my favorite yoga instructor teaches the evening class. Those events are out of my control, and I need to plan around them.

3. What tasks make sense to complete on the same day?

For me, It makes sense to clean the bathrooms on the same day I launder our whites. This way, I can wash our towels, bath mats, and cleaning cloths in the cycle following the whites. If there is any residual bleach left in the machine, I'd rather it discolor my towels than our everyday clothing.

Other tasks that I prefer to do on the same day are grocery shopping (or in my case grocery pick-up) and meal prep. When I bring my groceries back to the house, I can wash and cut veggies and fruits before they ever hit the fridge. I can also divide out larger amounts of meat for dinners during the current week and freeze the rest. I make my mason jar salads for lunches and our week's worth of apple cider vinegar drinks.

Sticking to Routines

After you have your plan laid out, how do you stick to it?

• Complete a specific task on the same day each week or follow a cadence: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday , for example.

  In writing out your plan, you most likely already identified certain days for specific tasks based on your responses to the questions above.

• In addition to picking a specific day, you should also complete these tasks at the time each week.

  I choose to complete my daily duties immediately after I get home from work, including cooking dinner. Get it done before you get distracted by the comforts or craziness of home. For weekend chores, choose the same day, and use an event to trigger your task. For example, I wash our bedding on Saturdays. When my husband and I get out of bed for the day, we immediately strip the bed and take everything down to the laundry room and throw in the first load.

• Set alarms or reminders to complete these tasks until you've done so many times it becomes automatic.

A Look at my Week

Monday - That first day back to work from the weekend is brutal, so I keep it easy. My only chore on Monday is to cook dinner. And most times, I make a larger amount of dinner on Sunday, leaving us with leftovers for Monday, giving me time to relax and recharge for the rest of the week.

Tuesday - I clean our bathrooms and wash the whites, bath mats, shower curtains, and towels (bath towels, dish towels, cleaning cloths, etc.). I throw in a load of whites in the morning before heading out for the day. I use the delay start on my washing machine and set it to start an hour before the end of my workday. When I get home from work, the load has recently finished. I can throw the whites into the dryer and toss a load of towels into the washing machine. One load of laundry halfway completed, and I didn't even break a sweat. By the time I finish cleaning the bathroom and starting dinner, I can switch out another load.

Wednesday - I cook dinner and plan meals for the next week or two. I use the meal plans to create a grocery list for pick up on Sunday. I also folder my whites and towels Wednesdays after work. I know this doesn't work for everyone, but with only myself and my husband, I can fold and put away Tuesday's laundry in less than ten minutes.

Thursday - My trash pick up is Friday morning, so we use Thursday to clean out the refrigerator, empty all the trash cans, clean the cat litter boxes, and vacuum the floors. Then my husband takes all the trash from our house out to the curb before dinner. I also use Thursdays to wash blankets the cats lay on throughout the week and their window seat covers. Then I run a cycle to clean the washer before Friday's laundry. Again I try to cook enough on Wednesday to have leftovers for Thursday.

Friday - I use Friday to wash our clothing. Again I throw in a load before work and set the delay start. Change out the loads as soon as I get home and then start dinner. I keep Friday easy as a treat for surviving the week.

Saturday - We wash our bedding and fold and put away clothing from Friday's laundry. Saturdays are usually less routine, so dinner can be anything from take out, going out, or making something quick and easy from the freezer.

Sunday - I lounge in bed until I have to go pick up groceries. Then I come home to unpack, wash fruits and veggies, make a week's worth of jarred salads and ACV drinks, cut up vegetables for meals that week, and portion out any meat. I also cook a larger dinner to have leftovers for Monday. Sunday is a great day for a crockpot meal.

When I can stick to my routines it’s much easier to maintain a clean house and eat healthier. My routines work for me, and I've been doing them since we moved into our house four years ago, so they are automatic at this point. But my schedule may not work for you and your life. Your routines should make sense for your life. The good news is if you try something out and realize it doesn't work, no big deal, take another look at your typical week and move around your tasks until you find something that does work.

Do you have any tips for making cleaning easier in your life? What are some of your tried and true routines?

You Run the Vacuum and I’ll Clean the Bathroom: A Must-Have Conversation Before Living Together

**Disclaimer: I am not a relationship or marriage expert. This is just my opinion and what worked for my relationship.

Doug and I made the decision to move in together two years after we started dating and three years before we tied the knot. It was important for us to see how our relationship would evolve by living together. As the big day got closer, we had the typical conversations a couple should have before living together. We discussed our finances and budgeting. And living in a single bathroom home, we hashed out our morning and nighttime routines. But the most important conversation we had in those weeks leading up to our cohabitation was about the division of household responsibilities and our expectations for cleanliness.

Thankfully, we agreed the household responsibilities should be equally divided, and we were on the same page as far as cleanliness was concerned. So one afternoon (or maybe it was evening, that was four years ago at this point) we sat down and listed out all the household duties. We included everything from cleaning the bathrooms and cooking dinners to yard work, routine maintenance, and even making the bed. After our list was completed, we went chore by chore and moved it to either Doug’s section or mine.

Dividing the Chores

Doug has allergies, so a home free of dust was a must for him. Unfortunately, I grew up tortured by my weekly chores of dusting and vacuuming and still dislike them to this day. It seemed only logical for Doug to dust the house and clean the floors. I enjoyed cooking and was comfortable in a grocery store, so I took on the role of house chef. Doug liked yard work and took pride in a well-kept property. And while I enjoy the outdoors, the idea of gardening, mowing the lawn and shoveling snow makes me cringe. So he became yardmaster and bought himself a sweet riding mower/tractor.

And on it went. Auto maintenance and general handyman tasks went to Doug. I took on cleaning the bathrooms and laundry. I gather all the trash and Doug takes it out to the curb. We decided loading/emptying the dishwasher, and after dinner, clean-up would be a joint effort as much as possible. For the most part, the list was relatively simple to divide, but once we got down to the end, we debated and negotiated. Once all chores were spoken for it was a no-brainer come moving day.

I didn’t realize how vital this conversation was until I mentioned it to my best friend and then again a while later to my co-worker. During both discussions, they expressed their amazement on how logical and practical the conversation seemed. And yet, neither of them had this conversation with their partners. In the last few years, I had similar conversations with friends and family and received similar responses.

A Piece of Advice

At the time, we didn’t think it was an eye-opening conversation. We just knew that a well-kept home was essential to both of us, only in different ways and in different areas. And we knew neither of us wanted to be bogged down doing everything ourselves. Now he has his routines, and I have mine, and everything gets done. That’s not to say sometimes we don’t ask each other for help or a chore doesn’t get completed for a week or two. But we don’t give each other a hard time or nag. We know it will get done eventually and it’s the other person’s responsibility so why worry about it.

I think it’s important to mention if there is a chore that will absolutely drive you bonkers if it doesn’t get completed daily, weekly, whatever your preferred cadence, then that chore should be on your list. The point of this conversation is to remove the stress from an area that could be very stressful for couples living together. It’s not to worry about the tasks your partner did or didn’t do from their list. So if dust building up on your bookshelf will put you in a tizzy, just do it yourself!

What You Appreciate, Appreciates

I can’t tell you how grateful I am for Doug knowing I don’t have to vacuum or mop or dust (I really might have PTSD from moving every little knick-knack and picture frame off the bookcases in my childhood home only to dust the shelf and then put each figurine back in its correct location. Ugh, the worst!).

Not only has this one small conversation saved our relationship from the frustration of chore overwhelm, but the amount of respect and thankfulness we have for each other has grown.

So do yourself a favor and have this conversation. And if you can’t agree or neither of you want to do the chores, then my next piece of advice is budget for a cleaning person. It’s not worth the arguments and stress.

Let’s Review

How do you do decide which chores are yours, and which are your partners?

Step 1: Sit down with a bottle of wine.

Step 2: You and your partner each make two lists: one of the chores you don’t mind taking on and another of the tasks you can’t stand.

Step 3: Compare your lists and make two new lists. One list for the chores you will take on and one for the tasks your partner complete. Example: You don’t mind doing laundry, but your partner has never used a washing machine then add laundry to your chore list.

Step 4: Review the unclaimed chores.

Step 5: Now, you negotiate. “I’ll take unloading the dishwasher if you take grocery shopping.” Continue bartering until all chores have an owner.

You did it! You now have clear expectations, a division of responsibilities, and hopefully, one less thing to stress about as you merge all the things.

What other essential conversations should we be having before combining all the things? I’d love to hear your thoughts.