How to Create a Daily Cleaning Routine for a Tidy House
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Have you ever thought about the essential trick to having a tidy house while homeschooling? It’s a daily cleaning routine! A good routine will effortlessly help you stay on top of all the daily chores that make a difference between a filthy house and a tidy one.
Create a daily cleaning routine for a tidy house.
Create a List
Writing down everything you need to do in order to have a clean house. This includes making beds and tidying the bathroom. Kids can quickly make a big mess when you’re not looking! Wash dishes, start laundry, and clean the counters. Chances are you’ll also need to run through the house doing a quick tidy in the evening.
Write down everything you can think of. It’s a brainstorming session to get everything down on paper. If it helps, set the buzzer for 15 minutes and just write.
Divide the List
Most houses do best with a divided routine. After all, there are some jobs which need to be done in the morning, but not in the evening and vice versa. As an example, making beds is a morning activity while doing a quick tidy of the house is an evening activity. My kids usually leave quite a mess by the end of a hard day’s play.
Divide the routine between morning, afternoon, and evening. Morning chores tend to be tasks that need to be done to get the day off to a good start. Afternoon chores quickly return the house to a state of order. Evening chores wind down the day and prepare you for tomorrow.
When to Do the Daily Cleaning Routine
You’ll need to make a decision about when your daily cleaning routines will be done. For instance, will you do the morning routine when you wake up in the morning or around breakfast? You can send the kids running off for morning tasks while you clean the kitchen after breakfast or spend 30 minutes after dinner cleaning up the house as a family.
Morning and evening routines also work marvelously as a wake-up routine and a routine to close up the house. Either works. You must choose one though.
Start Small When Creating a Daily Cleaning routine
Don’t try to begin with a two-hour routine right off the bat. You’ll burn yourself out! Instead pick up just the essentials, perhaps 3 or 4 tasks that need to be done in the morning, in the afternoon, and in the evening. Just worry about getting these chores done every day for a week or two before you begin to add more tasks to your list.
If you’re using my daily planner, that’s what the morning, afternoon, and evening routine lists are for in the front. Write down your critical 3-4 tasks on those pages.
The Morning Routine
A typical morning routine includes waking up and all the steps involved in getting dressed. I always start coffee right off the bat and review my plans for the day which includes checking the calendar. This is also a great time to start your load of laundry for the day.
Also consider adding wiping down the bathroom sink, making beds, and tidying the bedrooms to start the day. Change your list as needed to create a working morning routine for your family.
The Afternoon Routine
In my house, the afternoon routine is short and sweet. Ideally, the kitchen gets cleaned after lunch. Laundry is folded and put away, and the house has a quick tidy before we begin the afternoon activities.
To be perfectly honest, this is the routine most likely to be skipped. But it makes such a difference at dinner time when I walk into a tidy house after running children around town all afternoon.
The Evening Routine
The evening routine includes making certain the kitchen is tidy and the counters wiped. I have the children run through the house picking up toys. The calendar is checked for tomorrow’s activities. Hopefully, laundry is folded and put away, but this is the time to do so if it hasn’t been dealt with.
If all goes well, the evening routine sets the tone for tomorrow. It’s rather like doing a few minutes of prep as you’re putting today’s school supplies away. Those few minutes create a peaceful house in the morning.
To begin your household routines, concentrate on slowly building the habit. You want it ingrained so you no longer have to think about it. A good daily cleaning routine simply flows as you live your life and homeschool your children.
Create a daily cleaning routine today!
Read more in the 31 Days to a Well-Run Homeschool series!
