ok, So just to start off here, I have to be honest, my house is NOT as clean as I’d like it to be. My mom grew me up appreciating a spotless home, and so I know what it SHOULD look like. Making that happen has been a little allusive the past many years with Fibromyalgia kicking my butt.
My hubby REALLY appreciates a spotless house, something I feel huge guilt over not being able to do for him. In an effort to make our home as comfortable for him as possible, I asked for a vacuum cleaner for Christmas. Check it out: I have a Roomba remote Vacuum cleaner who cleans my floors every day and I LOVE him! Yep, he’s a HIM. You should see him, you’d name him too! He’s kinda cute for a robot 😛
THEN I started to PAY someone to come in once a month and clean my bathroom and mop my floors. Which seriously worked perfectly for me! There’s just 2 of us, and we really don’t make THAT big a mess. 😉
Lately we’ve been talking about getting out of debt and clamping down on our spending. Which I support completely! So, to make this happen, is going to take some more intentional choices. Like making lunch for friends here instead of going out- PHEW! That was pretty exhausting yesterday, so I am thinking maybe of making it COFFEE dates here instead of meal dates.
The other thing I am doing is tackling my house cleaning without help. THIS scares me. My ATP is shockingly low, my energy has been sucked out of me slowly by inactivity. In my defense, each time I would begin to clean my house, I would FEEL fine and thus do wayyyyy too much, making me stuck to the couch for a couple days, and hubby fending for himself. Hmm, that kinda defeats the purpose.
Those of you with a chronic illness and/or fatigue know exactly what I’m talking about here. That fine line between doing too much and not doing enough… it’s a VERY fine line. When we don’t do enough, our bodies slowly lose the ability to do what we CAN actually do. But overdoing it, is a terrible option to.
SO, without further yacking, here is my new plan!
Every day, do ONE thing. And write it down in a planner or calender. It will take you about a month to get through everything this way. Take Sundays off. It’s good to take a break. Please note, I have a 1000 square foot house, so it’s possible to do this in one month.
So, for me the kitchen needs mopping the most, and the bathroom is in need of a good cleaning, and the dust is starting to make bunnies, so that is where I started.
Day 1: Clean Toilet and bathroom sink
Day 2: Mop kitchen Floor (About mopping: DO NOT put out a huge bucket etc when you mop, this requires more energy than you likely have. Just use your tub or kitchen sink to wet your mop (We use swiffer mop thingy. You can make your own ones by simply using a rag cloth, wet with a little vinegar. easy peasy!) Once you have the built-up mess under control, a spot mop is really all you need, unless you are someone who tromps around the house in wet or muddy shoes 🙂
For spot-mop, after I clean up the kitchen in the evening, I take my wet wash cloth to a corner of the house and spot-clean one floor. Usually the kitchen is the worst, so I just get on my hands and knees and wipe up those spots, then toss that wash cloth in the laundry every day. Keeps your wash cloth from getting smelly too 🙂 As you can tell, I am not the type to have a different cloth for each area of the house LOL 😀 The bathroom is the only place that has it’s own cleaning cloths 🙂
Day 3: Dust house. Again- use a swiffer duster, the ones that have a re-tractable handle, so you don’t have to bend over a ton or reach too much.
Day 4-10: mop one or 2 floors a day. Using my technique I explained in Day 2, you should be able to do this without too much exhaustion after. If cleaning a very large space, make sure to divide between 2 days.
Day 11- 14 Wash 2 windows. It’s Spring after all, and if you’re anything like me, this has been left for too long and I want to see the sun shining in my windows though sparkling glass 🙂 Check out this link to a streak-free recipe that I tried from One Good Thing by Jillee. Personally it didn’t work for my windows. Check out my Outside Window Cleaner that gets the sap from the trees off here: Window and Shower cleaner! Get a squeegee for this. You know, those things that easily wipe all the stuff from the windows without needing you to WIPE it? See pictures. For the inside I just use a regular window cleaner and paper towel, easy peasy!! 🙂
Day 15: it’s time to clean the Bath room sink and Toilet again 🙂
Day 16: Clean tub and shower walls. Get a squeegee for this. You know, those things that easily squeeze all the stuff from the windows without needing you to WIPE it? See pictures. Use this recipe, if your tub is anything like mine, it gets kinda grungy. ok, so I did try this recipe and it’s AWESOME!!! Cleans it off easier than CLR and it’s super easy to make! Click here for recipe
Day 17: Mop Kitchen floor again (probably needs it by this point)
Day 18-24: wash more windows. This may take a few more days depending on how many windows you have.
You get the idea here? This is DO-able! A little at a time. Everyday. With as little elbow grease as possible.
Don’t have a Roomba Remote Vacuum? Add another week to your rotation: sweep or vacuum one room each day, just like the mopping.
You won’t have to clean the windows every week either, so your rotation can include things like the Stove and fridge and freezer. Organize one room each day. Put everything in it’s proper place. Clean out ONE cupboard that has needed it. Wash down a couple cupboards each day. The idea here is to tackle MANAGEABLE amounts, everyday, so you neither over do it, nor under-do it. We need to hang on to the little ATP energy we have by keeping as active as possible!
Fatigue is a REAL thing, so if you have a friend or family member who struggles with it, be gracious, offer to help, and oooh and aaaah when they’ve worked hard to make it clean! <3
~Originally Published on Christines Cozy Corner March 2013
Want to save a little MORE cash? Use Vinegar instead of Fabric Softener and try your hand at an EASY Laundry detergent recipe (1 cent per load)
What are some of your tricks and tips for making cleaning more possible for you?
Linked up at: House Wife How To / House of Hepworths / The Shabby Creek Cottage / The Gingerbread Blog / Domestic Bliss Diaries / Moms the Word /Time Warp Wife / Covered in Grace / Our Simple Country Life / Sew Many Ways / Your Green Resource with Sorta Crunchy