Keeping up with housework, especially cleaning when you work full time is hard for moms. Without a cleaning schedule, it is impossible to keep your house clean and organized all the time. A cleaning schedule helps you save time on cleaning, focus on quality cleaning and have a work-life balance.
You can keep you home always neat and clean by hiring a professional cleaner, cleaning only on specific days, spot cleaning, delegating cleaning duties and using cleaning appliances.
Why Working Moms Need a Cleaning Schedule
1. Reduce Time Spent on Cleaning
When you have no schedule or routine for cleaning, you will find yourself cleaning anything anytime on any day. As such you will use too much time on cleaning your home. A cleaning routine will help you save the time you use on cleaning and subsequently use it on other things.
2. Helps you Focus on Quality Cleaning
Most working moms manage to keep their house always clean by focusing on quality cleaning. Cleaning only matters when it is quality cleaning. There is no need to do an emergency impromptu cleaning that does not quite do the job and you may have to repeat the work later.
3. Improves Work-life Balance
Having a cleaning routine will help you avoid using up your personal or family time on cleaning. With a proper cleaning routine, keeping your home clean will not eat up your family time such on weekends. As such you will have a work life balance, which is a major benefit of having a cleaning schedule.
Your cleaning schedule should set your time for cleaning that does not interfere with your family time or self-care plan. You are hence able to have time off housework and spend quality time with the family.
Read: A Decluttering Guide for Working Moms
How Working Moms can Keep Homes Always Clean
1. Hire a Professional Cleaner
While you may be doing some regular cleaning of your house every day, some deep cleaning is needed. However, you may not have the equipment, skills, and time to do it. Also it can take a whole day which you are unlikely to get just to dedicate to cleaning your house.
As such you should hire a professional cleaner for this who will make it easier for you to keep the house clean and organized in-between the cleaning. It keeps your home consistently clean all the time while making your normal cleaning easier and more manageable.
Depending on the size of your house, call out professional cleaners twice or once a month. It may cost you but it is worth the job and will save you time.
Read: Services you Should Outsource as a Working Mom
2. Set Specific Cleaning Days/Times
Cleaning on a whim or when you feel like will be very inconsistent and ineffective for working moms. You will find that you generally don’t have a very organized and clean house on most days. As such it is easier to set a specific day and time of the day for the cleaning.With the set allocated time, it is easier to get work done and also ensure cleaning does not interfere with your work schedule.
It does not have to be done daily. For instance, you can use evenings before bed for tidying up.Also, it does not have to be the whole overhaul cleaning done at the same time. For instance you can do laundry cleaning on Friday, mopping on Tuesday and Thursday, etc.
3. Spot Clean to Keep Home Neat
Spot cleaning is cleaning on the spot which generally keeps the house consistently clean and neat looking .It is the manageable and realistic daily cleaning routine for every working mom. It greatly reduces the amount of time used on cleaning because you clean a mess as soon it is made.
As such spot cleaning is a very important habit to adopt. For instance, you clean a spill or still as soon it appears or when you notice it. It will however require you have cleaning equipment and supplies in all major areas that need cleaning such as all washrooms, living areas, bedrooms, etc.
Read: Organization Hacks and How to Keep your Home Always Clean
4. Delegate Cleaning Duties
A cleaning schedule for working moms should not too overwhelming. If you have no house help and cannot afford a professional cleaner, your other option is allocating cleaning duties to the members of your home.
Delegating cleaning means you do not need to take up the responsibility of cleaning the entire house on your own. It makes it everyone’s duty to keep the house neat and clean at all times.
You can take the task of cleaning the kitchen and the bedroom as your partner takes up the living area and the yard. The kids can also help with cleaning their room and tidying up their toys after playing. Delegating these cleaning duties will keep it simple and easy for everyone while keeping the home always clean.
Read: How to Get your Husband Help with House Chores
5. Invest in Convenient Cleaning Appliances
Therefore appliances are a savior as they make the work of cleaning the home manageable, easier and faster. You just need to set them up and off they go with no much manual operation.The convenience will ensure that you always keep your house tidy and neat.
Important cleaning appliances to have in your house include a washing machine, robot vacuum cleaner, toilet cleaner, automatic cloth folder, and dishwasher among others. Such machines are important in keeping your house neat and the cleaning tasks more manageable and easier.
Read: Organization Hacks and How to Keep your Home Always Clean
Rules for Maintaining a Clean Home
- Create hampers for all items and sort them later when you have adequate time.
- Regular decluttering helps to keep the house always organized and looking clean
- Ensure everything has a spot or where it lives to avoid having a dirty and disorganized home.
- Keep a bin for blocks and toys to keep them out of way and make cleaning easier. It will avoid too much dirt and keep the house clean
- Cook and wash/tidy the kitchen as you do to save time you use on cleaning.
- Adopt a minimalist lifestyle i.e. keep clutter to a minimum to avoid having too much to sort or clean. As a result your home will look neat all the time
- Cut down on the possessions. The less there is in the house, the less there is to clean.
- Have a primary play area for the kids to avoid having the entire house dirty and disorganized
- Train the kids to pick up after themselves to make your cleaning duties easier and faster
- Introduce age-appropriate chores for your kids to make cleaning faster and manageable as working mom
