It seems that each week my husband and I dirty the house, and then Saturday and Sunday comes along and I am left with a mess. That mess is very overwhelming, and many times I am left scrambling to clean. It’s not so bad in the winter weather when I am stuck inside anyway, but now that the weather is getting warmer and my neighborhood pool calls to me…I was looking for a way to make it all seem like less of a BIG job. So here is what I came up with. A chore list. Basically the idea around it is, that if I do one or two houshold chores a day during the week, the house will remain clean, and by the time Saturday rolls around I can just straighten up the areas that guests may see and be on my way!

I don’t have a very large house. We have a townhouse. The downstairs consists of a living room (which really isn’t one), a 1/2 bathroom, a family area, a small kitchen and small dining area. The upstairs has 2 bedrooms and a full bath. The idea of the order of this list, will be that by the time Friday comes around, I could easily have people come to our house and not have to scramble around like an idiot to clean it…or to have surprise guests come only to wonder how my husband has such an awful wife who keeps the house so messy!

So where’s what I came up with:

• Monday: Clean Kitchen, Straighten and Vacuum the Downstairs: Here, I am figuring the weekend has probably left me with some clutter. This allows me to get it all cleared up without taking too much time.
• Tuesday: Clean Upstairs Bathroom and the bedrooms
• Wednesday: Steam Mop the floors: All of my floors are carpeted except for a small tiled entry way, the 2 bathrooms and the kitchen. The bathrooms and kitchen are linoleum, so the steam mop is perfect.
• Thursday: Dust Downstairs
• Friday: Run Rosie (our Roomba), clean Downstairs bathroom, Straighten downstairs

At this point we are working with trial and error with the schedule, but I figure each day will take about 30-45 minutes to get the job done. Plus this leaves my Saturday’s and Sunday’s to relax and enjoy myself! Doesn’t sound so overwhelming now does it?

So for those of you that wait all week to do a top to bottom houseclean…why not give this idea a try? It might make your week go a little smoother, and not make you cringe at the idea of cleaning the ENTIRE house! It’s time to rock the old school CHORE LIST!

Family Help Traditions

Growing up my grandma would always visit and help my mom around the house doing the jobs that she herself never wanted to do. Now, my mom feels that she should pay it forward and do the same for me. These jobs include, washing the windows, mopping the floors, dusting everything very thoroughly, wiping my baseboards…the list could go on and on. This visit she did all that and more. It is so helpful to have someone else do those jobs. Those are the things that no one really sees unless you look up close. Those jobs always get put to the way side, and in my case don’t ever get done.

Other Family Visit Benefits

With her visits come other fun activities. I am lucky enough to have a flexible job and a great boss. (Thanks dad!) Therefore, when my mom visits we are able to do other things which mostly include shopping. My husband someday will have to ban her visits due to the amount of money I spend when she’s here! This time actually wasn’t bad since we both are slowing down our spending and did not buy much, but we still did a lot of errands! It’s fun doing my errands with someone else.

Another thing we do when she visits is EAT! Wow, am I fat after this visit.  She loves trying new and different food (unlike me) and we always end up eating out at different restaurants. This time we did Greek food, Tai food, and greasy baseball stadium food (courtesy of the new Met’s Citi Field). All were very wonderful, but my waistline is not very pleased with me. But hey, all in the name of family, right?

So there ya have it. The sergeant has come and gone, and I wish she could come more often. But I am thankful that both of our schedules are flexible enough to have her come as much as she does. Now it’s back to my normal routine…that is until Thursday when my brother flies in from Europe! Lots of family house guests this weeks!

My House

I have friends that no matter when you walk into their homes, surprise or not, it looks immaculate. What happens if you surprise me at my home during the week?? You enter a zone that is un-vacuumed, magazines and glasses are on the coffee table, and the bathrooms aren’t clean. It doesn’t help that my husband is pretty much a tornado every time he walks in the door…shoes in front of the door, tie around the kitchen chair, and keys on the coffee table. I guess I feel that if I make a mess I know I will clean it, but when I see his mess I just know who’s the one that will be picking it all up…me!

It’s not that I don’t enjoy a clean house. I am so happy when I actually finish the task and do a good clean. The house looks great and I say to myself…..this time you are going to keep it this way…but it’s never the case. I have even tried a technique of one room a day. The technique being that if I just focused on one room a day, every day of the week, it wouldn’t be overwhelming to clean. But every day after work what do I do? I sit back on the couch and watch some TV, and then I make dinner and another day is done.

On the weekends if I am acting as hostess (which is often) I clean the downstairs so the guests can see how neat and tidy I am (ya right!), and the unfortunate part is when I wake up the next morning it’s all a mess again! I hate to be that hostess who cleans around others while they are enjoying themselves, so I try my best no to be “that guy”. So when I wake up I am bummed about the time I spent cleaning yesterday, and start all over.

Maybe a Maid in my Future

Someday, when I have some extra cash I’d really love a person to come and clean my house at least once every other week. This would make sure all the floors get mopped, the bathrooms get clean and the furniture gets dusted. It would be a lifesaver. My new goal is to every day at least make sure the place looks tidy. At least if a surprise guest comes over it will look neat to the naked eye, and I guess this is all I can ask of myself for now. Because let’s face it…I will never be a neat freak. My home will always be “lived in” and when I have children it will just be even harder to maintain…so with that I will just accept to be mediocre when it comes to cleanliness!

So how do you do it? Is your house spic and span? What is your technique? Please share, because I just shouldn’t accept mediocrity when it comes to my home!