All In a Day: Cleaning Daily or Weekly

Old Days:

When it was just me, or mostly me, I cleaned weekly.  Some jobs are daily like making beds, cleaning dishes, touching up bathrooms, but the bulk of the cleaning was towards the end of the week.  In the old days, I could do it in an hour.  That did not include tidying up, which multiplied over the years.

Cleaning meant the clean sweep: surface cleaning, dusting, vacuuming, windows, spot cleaning walls, mopping, tubs, sink scrubbing.

Deeper cleaning was on a monthly basis: light fixtures, ceiling fans, deep clean fridge, organize cabinets, drawers, vacuuming funiture.

As the babies came along, I did it during naptime, if I didn't need one myself.

All Littles

I stuck with weekly, but as the children got older and wanted to help, I moved much more slowly, so could work together.  Honestly, at first, I wanted to rush through it, just get it done, but I realized the slow pace of cleaning together was building a strong work ethic. Work was part of our fellowship and we enjoyed it.

Along the way, we added child-sized cleaning tools, not toys, but real tools: child-sized aprons, small spray bottles, sponges. My kids loved new sponges.  We also cut off the handles of brooms, mops, and dustmops just their sizes.  We also invested in small, light weight vaccums so they could help.

When we cleaned the kitchen or bath room, the littles had spray bottles of harmless hot water and sponges to help.  When we mopped, they each had mops.  Yes, it took a l--o--n--g time to help wring out the little mops, and we had the occasional bucket spills, but they thought it was fun.

As they got older, they got to use real cleaner and take on more responsibility themselves. I confess too, when the chidlren first started to help I was too focused on efficiency.  My expectations were too high that they would do a "good" job and really be helping.  During that time, I did not enjoy it and was easily frustrated that they sometimes made more of a mess. Later I realized that it was the training the, the joyful fellowship while we worked that was the higher goal, even if it meant I had to do some jobs over or rewash dishes myself later.  It was their attitude toward work that is most important. As adults, my older children are often complimented, even rewarded for their work ethic.  It makes all those years of taking an hour to clean the bathrooms worth it. :-)

We also tried to call the jobs by different names like Toilet Wranglers or Dust Meisters.  We made the jobs fun like, stick with me here, Potty Soup.  We would put in the cleaner which bubbled as it was stirred around, so it was a game to make the soup, stirring it up and getting the cleaner.  It was all really fun until one of my very concrete-thinking little boys cried and could not tolerate the thought of something as nasty as Potty Soup. So we changed it up and that's were Toilet Wrangler came in. For him, the toilet bowl became an areana of warfare:  boy against germs.  Boy won everytime with a smile on his face and flushed those germs away. :-)


Littles and Olders

During this season, we switched to more daily jobs than weekly.  Not only did I have more efficient helpers by this time, but there were more of us and we were messier.  Bathrooms now needed daily scrubbing. We had a helpful system of apprenticeship.  I did jobs with the olders until they could do it on their own.  As they got older and took on bigger jobs, like laundry, cooking, lawn mowing, etc, then they apprenticed a younger sibling to take over their job.  We paid them in $ or privileges.  I also jumped in to help in the training.  At first, the younger child was a helper and then gradually took on more responsibility.

The olders were glad to train because it meant that next year, they could pass that job along and get a better one; like graduate from bathrooms to baking or using the ATV to take the trash to the road.  I was careful to never put neighbors together. (* I called siblings right next to each "neighbors"---like #1 and #2 or #4 and #5---there always seemed to be a competative edge that complicated matters so I avoided those combinations for the most part.

Mostly Olders

It is still a combination of weekly/daily with more focus on the daily and weekly catch-ups if necessary. The olders have more flexible jobs. Because of their schedules they are home less due to college, co-op classes, or jobs. They help with: cleaning ceiling fans, Sunday KP, cleaning tubs or more occasional deep cleaning jobs, cooking, grocery shopping and taxi service.  The 15 and under crowd carries the weight of daily cleaning.  For a long time, I have done little cleaning, but mostly supervising, but as the olders fly the coop, I am trying to get back into the zone and fill in the gaps. For instance, I am back to mopping more frequently.  For years I had the Very Littles doing a job called Spot Hunting after each meal.  They had sponges and spray bottle of hot water and they would hunt all the obvious dirt or sticky spots which cut down on the need for mopping.  I wondered why my floors were getting dirtier when it dawned on me that there were no spot hunters left.  Guess I will have to wait for grandchildren and see if I can pull off the same con, lol.

We have used a number of systems over the years, from homemade charts to job boards, you name it.  I have never found a combination that worked through each season.  We have just adapted.  When I had the Littles, I made a job chart that I LOVED.  My husband stained a piece of plywood (1/2 sheet) and stapled velcro strips across it.  I used index cards and the Doorposts Opportunity for Service clipart.  I put the picture of the job on the card and a few key directions. and a sticker on the back.  Daily jobs were on green cards, weekly on pink, occasional jobs on purple.  Each person decorated a name card.  The cards had velcro tabs on both sides.  As the children finished their jobs, they tuned the card over to the sticker side.  I could easily see which jobs were done. I could also quickly reassign jobs if a child was sick or gone for the day.  There was a stiff penalty for turning over job cards that weren't done: the guilty party would have to do ALL the jobs the next day.  I don't remember a single time that every happened except with Very Little who might play with them.  Btw, we did position the chart so that the Very Littles could not reach the older ones cards. ;-)

I also used Don Aslett's cleaners during this time. It was especially helpful because I could easily train the children which color cleaner was for which jobs.  I used dots on their cards. So I had green clothes to use with green cleaner, white ones to use with read, and blue microfiber to use with the blue window cleaner.  Recently, I am trying out the Speed Cleaning system with Blue Juice/Red Juice and the cleaning apron.  I really prefer more natural cleaners, but I do LOVE that apron. I use a mix of supplies from these two companies.  Great tools make a big difference. Don Aslett now sells a green line, but I like to make some of my own, with cheap, natural ingredients and essential oils.

Tools I enjoy:

Don Aslett:  Johnny Mop, Wood floor washer, almond stick, squeegees, Scrubbie Doo, grout brush
      Books: Make your house do the housework---we built our house with this in mind.
                  Do I Dust of Vacuum First
                  Clutter's Last Stand

Speed Cleaning:  apron, SH mop, carnauba wax,---on my wish list: window washing bucket.

http://www.cleanreport.com/  (Don Aslett:  resources, supplies, demo videos)

http://www.thecleanteam.com/productdetail.cfm?id=books (Speed Cleaning)

http://www.flylady.com/ (Flylady for time management of cleaning---glean what is useful to you)

http://www.doorposts.com/ (Opportunities for Service and other GREAT helps)