If you have followed me for a while, you will know that I am always on some sort of decluttering or cleaning mission.
I don’t love cleaning, but I do love a clean house.
I wrote a post about why having less stuff is good for all mums and why I do it here.
Before Christmas I am always ready for a really good sort out and deep clean before all the new things come into the house and before all the decorations go up. I think a lot us get this urge at different stages throughout the year – like in the spring time, or after the kids go back to school after the summer.
While it’s tempting, and it can be quite satisfying to do a huge entire house declutter in one go, it can be extremely overwhelming, and we can power into it with the best of intentions but all of a sudden the house is completely upside down, we lose our motivation and momentum and it’s hard to get it all finished.
And while I do sometimes do this, I do have a routine in place that helps me keep on top of the decluttering all year around so that it doesn’t turn into a huge overwhelming thing.
You can read all about how Routines are helpful here.
I try and do a bit every week.
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My decluttering routine
As much as I try to be the sort of person that cleans a bit everyday, it just doesn’t work for me.
What works the best for me right now is to block the morning off on a Monday morning to do a ‘home reset’ – I dust, hoover, mop, clean the bathrooms and do the basics.
Then on a second day of the week – usually a Wednesday, depending on how my week is looking, I will do a deeper clean of one room in the house.
Sometimes I will do it all in one go.
Sometimes I will spread it out a bit more over the week, for example I might declutter on the Monday and deep clean a bit everyday over the week. It usually depends on my motivation levels, how my week is looking and when the last time I gave the room a declutter was.
When I am in a season of keeping on top of things and every room is getting done every 8 weeks, I usually do it in one go because it’s not that dirty/cluttered and I would rather just get it done in one go.
How it works
We have 8 rooms in our home – 9 if you count the small bathroom/laundry room but it’s so small I usually just count it as either kitchen or bathroom.
Every week I focus on one of those rooms, so over a period of 8 weeks/2 months every room in our house gets a deep clean.
While it might seem like thats a long time, every room is having a surface clean every week on my home reset every Monday, and the deeper cleaning stuff is done every 8 weeks – so that would be things like cleaning the oven or cleaning the skirting boards, hoovering under furniture and de-cluttering.
I like the routine because it feels like cleaning isn’t taking over my life – it’s only two days where cleaning is centre focus of my day but at the same time our home always feels on the whole clean and tidy.
It’s not perfect – at the end of the day there are five of us living here (and a dog), but it is taken care of.
Done is always better than perfect.
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How do you keep on track of which room is what week?
There is an app called Home Routines, which I used to find amazing because it will work it out for you. I don’t use this anymore, but it might be helpful for you!
I just have it added to my google calendar on repeat for every 8 weeks, so each week I can see what this weeks focus is.
If I don’t get around to a room because it’s extremely busy, I don’t move it to the next week, I will just get around to doing it the next time it comes around (unless it’s something that seriously needs cleaning! then I will just slot just that thing in somewhere).
Done is better than perfect.
I think at some point you have to accept that if you live in your house it is going to be impossible to have a magazine perfect house and that takes SO much pressure off.
My Cleaning/home Routine
I love seeing how other people do things, so I will write out our routine here. This isn’t a do what I do post, but if you are feeling a bit stuck and like you can’t keep on top of your home you might find some inspiration here.
My routine is loosely based on Flylady, mixed in with a bit of CleanMama routine too.
Monday – Home Reset (1.5 – 2 hours ish) This isn’t a deep clean, it’s just the high traffic/surface cleaning
- Dust surfaces
- Clean Mirrors
- Hoover
- Mop
- Clean Bathroom
- Empty Bins
You may find the idea of doing an hour and a half of cleaning absolutely horrendous and you may prefer to break things up into Monday – Bathroom, Tuesday, Dust or Monday – Bathroom, Tuesday – Living room etc – There is no right or wrong, do what suits you.
If you are a bit stuck read this post I wrote about routines that has some different cleaning styles you can do.
Tuesday – Desk Day
Kids come with an insane amount of paperwork, and I have found that having a set day that I sort it out on makes my life a million times easier.
It helps me feel more in control too, I know that I will get to anything that needs doing and nothing will fall through the net.
Things I do on a Tuesday are:
- Sort out my emails – reply/delete/add anything that needs to be done to my todo list
- Sort through mail – file things away/take action/add to my todo list
- Fill in any forms
- Make sure dates from school letters/hospital letters added to the calendar
- Contact anyone that needs contacting
- Make sure my todo list is up to date
- Meal plan for next week
Wednesday
My Zone Day – where I focus on deep cleaning and decluttering one area of our home
Thursday
I don’t really have anything specific on a Thursday.
Friday
Friday is usually my catch up and get things done before the weekend day.
Weekends can be a bit hit and miss on whether I manage to get anything done, so I try and get the most important things done out of the way on a Friday so I can just focus on family time.
- Go to Tesco and get groceries for the weekend (inc packed lunch Monday)
- Hoover and tidy up the house before the weekend
- Get anything done that needs to be done before the weekend/didn’t get round to this week
- Fill in my tesco order for next week
Saturday/Sunday
The only thing that gets done on a weekend is change the bedding on the beds.
Although now the kids are becoming teenagers and sleeping until lunch time, weekends aren’t working as well for us – so this will probably be changed to a week day soon.
And I have a tendency to strip the beds and realise after coming home after a day out that I have to remake them, so it’s time for a switch up I think!
![](http://www.bethanthomaswilliams.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/cleaning-268126_1920-1440x960.jpg)
It’s not perfect but it helps me feel more in control of all the housework and decluttering and I know that at some point everything will get cleaned.
Do you have a routine? Let me know in the comments.
Beth x