Conquering Cleaning-Schedule-Phobia, At Least For the Time Being, Anyway

Confession time.

I have cleaning-schedule-phobia.

I like the idea of a cleaning schedule. I've tried a bunch of them. You know what? I usually stick to the schedule for... like... three days. And then I'm over it.

But! I've learned some stuff about myself in the process.

1. I get bored easily.

2. I get overwhelmed and defeated when I feel guilty.

3. If it doesn't apply to me, I don't use it.

4. I have to write down my tasks for the day, or I'll forget. 

Schedules that plan Mondays for the kitchen, Tuesdays for the bathroom and so on don't work for me.
#1 I get bored! I need to mix things up! 
#2 If I miss a Monday, I feel guilty that my kitchen didn't get clean, so I do that on Tuesday. Which means that on Tuesday, my bathroom doesn't get clean and then... eh, forget it.
#3 I have two kitchens- do I clean both of them on Monday? I can't customize the plan easily, so I'm out.
#4 The schedule doesn't change, so I forget what I've gotta do unless I look.

Abandon cleaning schedule!

And then, of course, I feel like I'm flying by the seat of my pants and get all grumpy.


Solution?

The Confident Mom!

I'll be honest, I tried the Confident Mom plan last year, and it didn't go so well. At the time, I was living in a tiny little apartment, and the detailed plans were a bit of overkill. It wasn't too easily customizable, but I did like the fact that while the plan covered everything that needed to get done, it wasn't rigid and I didn't get bored with it. I didn't write things down, though, and checking the plan several times a day wasn't great.

This year, though, The Confident Mom has a plan that's easily customized (!!!) so I can move stuff around more easily. If I know I've got an event on a certain day, I can lighten the load for that particular day by moving tasks around. Now that I'm in a bigger home, the tasks fit my lifestyle better, which is great. The only thing that was missing was #4- I have to write stuff down.

Cue the Household Planning Binder!

Here's what I did. I made a new section in my planning binder and labeled it "Cleaning." Then I edited the Confident Mom schedule as needed, and then printed them off two to a page (one sided). I cut them in half so they fit in my planning binder, and put them in my new "Cleaning" section. I edited and printed 4 weeks at a time.

Then I organize the tasks outlined by the Confident Mom into my Daily Do's page (writing down the things I've gotta do! #4 conquered!) and I get to determine when I'll do each task during the day.



So far, so good. We'll see if this plan helps me conquer my cleaning-schedule-phobia!