Organize your home...

At this time of year, when the summer has ended and school year begins, it is a good moment to make resolutions, to resume activities that were left during the summer and to do new projects. A goal for this year could be to spend less time on the house while still having it well-kept. In this way, we would not get overwhelmed with wanting to have everything always perfect nor would we end up leaving things for later, such that dirt accumulates and that cleaning them would require greater time.

And how do we do this?

First we must know our house: the number of bedrooms, bathrooms, number of windows, etc. Also we have to keep in mind how many people live in it, if we have a household help or not and if we work outside the home. And finally we need to have (for example, in the kitchen) a calendar with big spaces: columns and rows, to go organizing what we do every day.

Let's take for example: a house that has three bedrooms, a living room, a terrace, a kitchen and two bathrooms.

Mondays can be dedicated for:

- Putting order in the house, especially since this day immediately follows the weekend.

- Cleaning the dust in the living room and bathrooms.

- Vacuuming thoroughly and moping the floor (depending on the type of floor, this can be done weekly or every two weeks).

- Cleaning the bathrooms.

 On Monday we can also do the weekly shopping. It would be good to make the weekly menu the day before (Sundays). From this, we prepare a shopping list which will allow us to spend less time in the actual shopping. More suggestions here  

 For sure, on Mondays, we would have to put some clothes for washing. Weekly or biweekly (depending on each family), we can change the sheets and towels in the bathrooms. It would be good to mark this in the calendar. More suggestions here

On Tuesday we will devote time to:

- The kitchen, organizing meals for the week.

- Clean furniture, stove and kitchen floor. We can clean some appliances or some parts of the kitchen which need periodic cleaning. eg fridge, oven, microwave, extractor, washing area, etc (This should be fixed in the calendar)

- Put order in the rooms and bathrooms, to do beds. We pass the mop on the floor of the hall and rooms, to keep the house clean.

For Wednesdays I suggest:

- Thorough cleaning of some windows or of some rooms. Take advantage of the autumn season for deep cleaning, to prepare the house for the winter: for example to put wax on the floor (for wooden floors) and to place the carpets.  It would be good to put these details for cleaning in the calendar.

- Putting order in the rooms and to do beds. We can mop the floor of the hall and rooms, to keep the house clean.

- Quick cleaning of the bathrooms, since they were thoroughly cleaned on Monday. You can vacuum the floor of the bathrooms using a handheld vacuum cleaner, as this is more convenient and faster.

On Thursdays we can devote time to:

- Iron clothes, and to keep them in the closets.

- Put order in the rooms and bathrooms, and to do beds.

- Vacuum the floor of the living room and bedrooms, to keep the house clean for the weekend.  

It would be good to clean glass surfaces with a glass cleaner, especially those that are frequently used.

Fridays would be good for:

- Cooking for the weekend, cleaning the kitchen, and mopping the floor.

- Sorting the rooms and make the beds. We can pass the mop on the floor of the hallways and the rooms.

- Cleaning bathrooms, leaving it clean for the weekend.

...With this, we can spend more time with the family.