Spring Clean Up—Get a Plan

This is how I know it is time to dust—my girls start writing their names and other things on the piano. This is about the only way that I know it is time to dust because I have completely fallen off the housekeeping wagon. And it isn’t good for anyone…especially me.

I like the way Martha Stewart refers to housekeeping as “homekeeping” because that really is what it is…taking care of the things in our house in order to make it a home. I had forgotten that. Well, maybe not forgotten, but pushed it aside or really back…way, way back where I hardly even notice it until it rears its very ugly and dirty head.

It is so past time for me to get down and dirty, so this entire week I’m going to blog about Homekeeping. Really! I’ll throw in a few regular features as well, but the focus will be on what I’m doing to clean up my life, my act, my home.

Make a Plan
I know how important it is to make a plan, but I have spent so much time making plans and feeling guilty for not completing them, perfectly, that a few years ago I just decided to throw out the plans and go with the flow. So I have flowed…and flowed…and flowed right into a big disorganized mess of incomplete projects, time crunches, missed deadlines, and…well…dirt. Apparently, when I flow everything flows downhill and ends up in a big pile of yuck. YUCK!

So time for some new plans that combine organization and flexibility and a heaping amount of realism. I am using these resources…

and some of my old planning tools and lists to schedule some time for homekeeping. Here is my plan:

1. Fill out my beloved half-hour chart every week with things that are already scheduled. I like this chart because my mom days are broken into so many little pieces that this makes it easier for me to recognize where I have chunks of time. The chart I use begins at 6:00 a.m. and ends at 11:00 p.m.

2. Block out time for cleaning with a green pencil…green because it makes me think of fresh and clean.



3. Use my weekly chore check list to choose what I will do each day and mark it off with a letter for what day of the week I completed that task. Next week I will know how long it has been since I last cleaned that particular thing.

I made this list a while ago by going through each room in the house and writing down everything that I would like to be cleaned weekly.



4. Enlist my girls’ help by using the oh-so-easy index card method: write down each day what needs to be done…this makes it easy to add to or change, and accommodates any big things they have going on. For example, Lainey is performing in the school musical the next three days so I will ease up a bit on her chores.

This is the easiest kid’s chores method I have used as it does not require a lot of time or supplies…I just need a few minutes and a black Sharpie…and I remember what each girl has been assigned so I know who gets in big trouble when it isn’t finished (just kidding… kind of).



5. On Saturday, I will refer back to my weekly chores check list and assign everyone chores based on what is still on the list. I have printed some small carry-around cards for each room that we can use to make sure everything is complete.  Hopefully, by the end of our cleaning time on Saturday, everything will be checked off.

I’m happy that I have a plan and I will just see how it works for the next few weeks. I have blocked out 15 hours of cleaning time this week and hopefully I will be able to get a bit more on top of things.

I think I might pretty-up my schedules, too. I like to keep schedules where I can see them throughout the day and I like the way that these charts look.


Handmade by Hannah

Read more about Hannah’s homekeeping plan at martawrites.com. and find a link to buy these charts.

Happy Homekeeping!

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