HOW TO ORGANIZE YOUR CLEANING ROUTINES

Spring is around the corner and so we begin my spring cleaning series!  I will be showing you the best way to purge by season, how to set up a garage sale to maximize sales of the items you purge, how to organize your tool shed in preparation to use your tools for those home projects you are excited for since your house is getting organized, and, today, in the video below, I am showing you how I organize my cleaning caddy and how to set up a cleaning routine that work for you and your busy schedule.  Click here for my FREE cleaning routines chart!

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First, check me out!  I purchased the Maker’s Clean microfiber cleaning cloths as soon as Chad and Melissa posted a video on one of my favorite YouTube channels, Clean My Space, that they were back in stock.  This is the small space kit which comes with 2 general purpose cleaning cloths: 1 in plum and 1 in sky, 1 glass and electronics cloth, 1 ultra-plush cloth, and 1 waffle weave towel.  They also have a large space kit which has 2 times the number of these cloths.  And they have these cloths sold separately in packs of 2.  They can all be found here: https://www.makersclean.com/pages/our-products. See how I organize them in 2020 here.

They are high-quality cleaning cloths. I am impressed at how much dirt they really GRAB (I say that with gusto … just imagine Beyonce doing her runs) on to dirt. I seriously thought the counter wasn’t dirty and was surprised to find so much brown … whatever it was … how long has that dirt been there?! I don’t know! I’m confident now that the Maker’s cleaning cloths were a very wise purchase.

Here, I have them rolled up in this caddy which you can find anywhere.  They are always stocked at Walmart.  And I have my DIY spray cleaners here: an all-purpose cleaner, granite cleaner, and furniture polish.  Recipes are below.  The Dollar Tree handled sponge holds DIY soap scum remover which is made as needed by heating vinegar and adding an equal amount of dish soap.  Then, I have a Dollar Tree scrub brush, sponge, and Magic Eraser.  In a small divided section, I have two denture brushes (purchased from the 99 Cents Only Store years ago) which are great for getting into those nooks and crannies,  Lastly, I have furniture markers which can be found at the Dollar Tree and 99 Cents Only Store (I remember purchasing the Martha Stewart brand more than a decade ago for 10 bucks) to touch up any nicks and scratches.  I highly recommend keeping these in your caddy because you typically will pay more attention to touching up your furniture when you are cleaning.

All-Purpose Cleaner Recipe:

Distilled water, 1 cup

Vinegar, 3/4 cup

Rubbing alcohol, 1/2 cup

Dish soap, 3 drops

Orange essential oil, 10-20 drops

Granite Cleaner Recipe:

Rubbing alcohol, 1/4 cup

Dish soap, 3 drops

Distilled water, 1 cup

Orange essential oil, 10-20 drops

Furniture Polish Recipe:

Olive oil, 3 parts

Vinegar, 1 part

Lemon essential oil, 15 drops

I get all my essential oils here: https://www.letsgetessential.com/ (Lori is the best at answering all your questions!)

Now, let’s get into some cleaning routines.  If you haven’t seen my digital planning video yet, be sure to check that out because I show you how to plan your schedule in time blocks.  Before that video, I showed you how to set up a whiteboard for planning your schedule as well.  What you will want to do is list out all of your cleaning tasks and fit them into your time blocks.  You will list out your daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annual cleaning tasks.  My freebie includes a cleaning routine that breaks down all of these tasks for you.  You can do all of your weekly tasks on one day of the week or you can choose to distribute 1 or 2 of your weekly tasks throughout each day of the week.  That’s why planning your schedule with time blocks can be so helpful because you can see where these truly fit in.

Here is what a daily weekday cleaning routine schedule can look like where you leave weekends completely open especially if you have to travel a lot on the weekends for your kids’ sports.  You can also leave your weekends open in order to accomplish monthly, quarterly, and annual deep-cleaning tasks.  Here I removed all of the tasks from my digital planner and am only showing the cleaning tasks:

07:00 AM
[  ]🍴 Put away clean dishes
[  ]👕 Put load in washer
-Monday: Delicates
-Tuesday: Whites
-Wednesday: Brights
-Thursday: Darks
-Friday: Bedding
03:00 PM
[  ]👕 Put load in dryer
-Monday: Hang clothes to dry
[  ]🏡 Organizing task

[  ]- (list specific task here)

[  ]- (list specific task here)

[  ]- (list specific task here)
[  ]👣 Cleaning task
-Monday: Dust
-Tuesday: Floors
-Wednesday: Kitchen
-Thursday: Bathroom
-Friday: Outside
[  ]👕 Fold & put away laundry
-Tuesday:
•put away hang-dry clothes
-Friday:
•put bedding on bed
•file paperwork
06:00 PM
[  ]💧 Clean kitchen
[  ]👀 Room inspection (check your kiddos rooms to confirm that they did their chores)

Here is what a weekly cleaning routine schedule can look like if your weekday schedules are too jam-packed to fit weekly cleaning tasks in.  You will obviously have to take care of the kitchen daily, especially if you cook but the rest of your tasks can fit into a Saturday morning or Sunday evening.  I note these days and times because this is the typical time you will be home if you work weekdays and/or if you have kids in school.  Of course, you will put these tasks in time blocks that work for your individual schedule.  Again, here I removed all of the tasks from my digital planner and am only showing the cleaning tasks:

EVERYDAY:
07:00 AM
[  ]🍴 Put away clean dishes
06:00 PM
[  ]💧 Clean kitchen
[  ]👀 Room inspection
SATURDAY:
08:00 AM
[  ]👕 Put load in washer: Whites
[  ]👣 Cleaning task: Dust
[  ]👕 Put load in washer: Brights
[  ]👣 Cleaning task: Floors
[  ]👕 Put load in dryer: Whites &  Brights
09:00 AM
[  ]👕 Put load in washer: Delicates
[  ]👣 Cleaning task: Kitchen
[  ]👕 Hang clothes to dry
10:00 AM
[  ]👕 Put load in washer: Darks
[  ]👣 Cleaning task: Bathrooms
[  ]👕 Put load in dryer: Darks
[  ]👕 Put load in washer: Bedding
11:00 AM
[  ]👣 Cleaning task: Outside
[  ]👕 Put load in dryer: Bedding
[  ]👕 Fold & put away laundry
•put bedding on bed
•file paperwork
12:00 PM
[  ]🏡 Organizing task
[  ]-
[  ]-
[  ]-

Once you’ve gotten your daily and weekly cleaning routines down, you can get into the groove of accomplishing your monthly, quarterly, and annual tasks which are focused more on deep-cleaning.  You can either distribute your monthly tasks to be accomplished once a week or one day in a month in your cleaning routine schedule.

SATURDAY:
08:00 AM
[  ]💦 Deep cleaning task:
-1st Saturday: Refrigerator
-2nd Saturday: Range-hood filter
-3rd Saturday: Tile grout
-4th Saturday: Baseboards
-5th Saturday: Quarterly task
•cabinetry & built-in shelving units
•kitchen appliances: oven, toaster, dishwasher
•launder pillows & deep clean mattresses
•launder toss pillows & throws
•coat & small storage closets
[  ]🔨 Home project:
-1st Saturday:
-2nd Saturday:
-3rd Saturday:
-4th Saturday:

You can decide, instead, to accomplish your monthly and quarterly tasks in one day a month.  In that case, your schedule would look similar to this:

1^st SATURDAY OF THE MONTH:
12:00 PM
[  ]💦 Monthly deep cleaning tasks:
[  ]-Refrigerator
[  ]-Range-hood filter
[  ]-Tile grout
[  ]-Baseboards
[  ]-Quarterly task (choose one or two)
•cabinetry & built-in shelving units
•kitchen appliances: oven, toaster, dishwasher
•launder pillows & deep clean mattresses
•launder toss pillows & throws
•coat & small storage closets

In my next video, which will cover seasonal de-cluttering, I will include annual cleaning routines that you can fit into your schedule.  Don’t forget to download my FREE cleaning routine chart where you can get a sneak peek at the annual cleaning tasks before my next video is up.  Are you already preparing for spring cleaning?  What do you do to prepare?  Let me know in the comments down below and let me know what you want to see next.  Don’t forget to subscribe and click the notification bell so you never miss another organizing video.

Happy Organizing!