design finch

The past few weeks have been especially hectic around our house with Jason starting law school and me beginning a new full-time job. Thank goodness we only have a dog and a cat to keep alive; several of hubby’s classmates have young kiddos and I can’t even begin to imagine how difficult it must be to juggle work, law school, and a family at the same time. That is just crazy talk!

Anyway, perhaps it has more to do with being lazy than with being organized, but I’m always looking for ways to make life a little bit easier. I have a few sneaky tricks up my sleeve for keeping our household humming along even during the busiest of times. These are really simple things I’ve gotten into the habit of doing weekly that actually save time and energy in the long run. I thought it would be fun to share some of these strategies with you in a blog series I’m calling “Sanity Savers”. Are you intrigued?

My first sanity-saving strategy is keeping a weekly cleaning calendar. I borrowed this concept from FlyLady. The basic idea is that rather than saving all your cleaning chores for Saturday, you spread them throughout the week so you don’t have to spend your weekend scrubbing toilets. By doing a little bit each day, it’s easier to stay on top of the mess before it gets beyond the point of no return. My schedule is pretty simple:

Sunday: yardwork
Monday: dust (alternate upstairs one week, downstairs the next)
Tuesday: vacuum & mop downstairs
Wednesday: vacuum upstairs
Thursday: laundry, take out trash
Friday: clean bathrooms
Saturday: change sheets, do laundry
Every Day: wash dishes, tidy up cluttered areas, shred junk mail

(Download my free Cleaning Calendar template to personalize with your own schedule and keep on your fridge.)

Of course, on busy evenings when I get home late, my chore for the day may not get done. And that’s ok! The key is just keeping up with things as much as possible during the week so there is more time for fun on the weekends.

This strategy works pretty well for me and is a lot cheaper than hiring a maid. (Although, if all our extra money didn’t go towards this little thing called tuition, then I would not even hesitate about paying someone else to srub the toilets!)

Like the idea of simplifying your life? Come back next week for another easy, sanity-saving tip and free download.