When did you l

Do you remember the last time you cleaned the curtain rails, the top of the book shelves or even the ceiling?

Having a schedule to let you know when it is time to clean out the dust bunnies from under the beds, can make you feel more in control.

For working women, it is often difficult to stay on top on the household chores, or for those with domestic help, being able to ensure that your house is kept to the standard it should be, with someone to clean full time, is an invaluable thing.

This is why creating a cleaning schedule will help everyone. Having chores assigned to children and knowing when there is heavy work to be done will make life easier.

Planning your cleaning schedule is best done by breaking it all down into daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, 6 monthly and annual cleaning.

How do you know when to do this?

Starting at your front door and working your way through each room is part of it. As you enter each room, start at the top left and work your way down each side and then across. Using my eldest daughter’s room as an example would work like this.

Standing in the doorway to my left (same wall the door is in), I start at the ceilings, which should be cleaned every four months. The cupboards are on my left.  Open the cupboards. The shelves need cleaning annually, the clothes are re-packed quarterly, at least, to coincide with the change of seasons and growing.

Then the outside of the cupboard, the doors and handles are cleaned monthly. Next is the wall and bookshelf/wall unit.  Cleaning out the cupboards and shelves on this is also an annual task and the outside of the cupboards should be washed monthly.

The skirting boards should be damp dusted quarterly but can be vacuumed when the carpets are vacuumed.

The next wall contains the window; this means that curtains and curtain rails need to be cleaned. We have machine washable curtains so those go into the wash at least annually, the windows are washed quarterly and the window sills and burglar bars are done monthly and dusted weekly.

The curtain rails are washed at the same time as the curtains are; there is no point in washing the curtains and then putting them back onto dirty, dusty railings. Railings should be dusted when the ceilings are done.

To my right is the last wall. This needs to be washed quarterly as well. If there are pictures or photos on your walls, these should be dusted regularly and damp dusted when the walls are washed.

Daily – make bed

Weekly – change bed linen and vacuum

Quarterly – damp dust skirting boards, wash windows, move and clean under bed

6 months- wash walls, clean light fittings and switches

Annually- deep clean carpets and launder curtains

Lastly the carpets: carpets should be swept daily, vacuumed weekly and washed annually.

I found when drawing up my schedule, it also helped to have someone else with you to look critically at all the spaces in case you miss something.

I hope this helps you feel more in control of your home, remember that trying to do it all at once can be overwhelming and cause you to give up. Doing a little at a time will give you a better chance of success.

Please feel free to download the cleaning schedule I created in Facebook group. We’re getting sorted. If you are not in the group, please feel free to join or download the schedule by following this link. www.kasheringyourlife.co.za/printables/house-cleaning-check-list