The house that cleans itself!

[canadian gardener]

HERE ARE THE LIVING ROOM, ENTRY WAY and BEDROOM routines along with tips for the LAUNDRY. (kitchen will be last of all in a thread of it's own)

It's ALL ABOUT MAINTAINING the clean, not "cleaning it up".

In my bathroom that cleans itself I began introducing the concept of using daily events like using the toilet, washing the hands, or brushing teeth

AS CUES

to tell me what to do next.

I formed habits that responded to the cues.

I didn't have to think about it, I just did it.

My habits take less than a minute each to perform, they don't significantly add to the time spent on things like using the washroom because I don't do all of them in the same visit.

Brushing my teeth in the morning is my cue to clean the sink after, using the old hand towel to wipe it the mirror first, then the tap and tap handles, and counter and finally the sink bowl before launching the hand towel into the laundry basket.

These little habits that take less than a minute shave hours of cleaning off each day, leave the house company ready most of the time, and MAINTAIN reasonable cleanliness and order without a lot of catch up cleaning.

It's ALL ABOUT MAINTAINING the clean, not "cleaning it up".

SO with that in mind here goes:

In these spaces it's less about cleaning, and more about reducing clutter, and keeping it orderly and neat.

Decluttering:

1--Develop a mental habit that says "LEAVE A ROOM BETTER THAN YOU FOUND IT!" Take out some trash or clutter or put something away every time you go in or out of a space.

2-- Put a wastebasket in all bedrooms, next to the kleenex box preferably. If it's there, family will use it. (later in the kitchen thread, I'll discuss the trash can version of "a load a day" in which I run round the house on the way out to the trash, emptying these.)

3-- Have an open box on each floor of the house designated for giveaways and encourage the family to use it. When you come across toys or things that family leave out for you to put away, YOU get to decide it's fate. Toss it in the giveaway box for now. If they rescue it in time before you call for a pickup, then they can keep it, IF they put it away. If you keep finding it out and putting it in the giveaway box, it will eventually leave on a charity pick up call.

A few go rounds with this system and you won't be doing nearly as much picking up, the family will be doing their fair share!

Next by doing decluttering slowly, every day a few bits, you will find the house becoming neater and easier to keep clean without really spending any BIG energy draining time dejunking the spaces in the house. You will be doing it almost without thinking.

Keep one box near the laundry for clothes that need to leave.

[canadian gardener]

Laundry and clothing:

1--put an OPEN laundry box or hamper with a divider in each bedroom where the kids or dh takes their clothes off. Mark the sides if you have to, dark and light. If kids or dh have to open a lid, chances are the laundry will pile up on the floor for you know who to collect it each day. eliminate that task. Make it easy.

2--put hooks behind the doors of the bedrooms at KID HEIGHT! That way you do half the laundry!!!! At LEAST!!!! (you can have them at adult height for dh and you) Train the kids and dh to get at least 2 hopefully 3 wearings of clothing before it hits the wash (except underwear and socks of course). Use the hooks to let stuff air out overnight.

A related habit is play clothes and aprons. If the kids change out of their school clothes and into play clothes, it helps keep things nicer longer. Ditto mum and dad's work suits which change to "play" clothes at home that can stand up to cleaning and cooking in. USING APRONS FOR MESSY play for the kids, or for cooking and cleaning for adults FURTHER protects clothing from wear and tear and extra washing.

Extra laundry is not a good thing when you are reducing work around the house. AVOID IT by using hooks, play clothes and aprons, and personal bath towels.

LAUNDRY AND TOWELS (I mentioned hand towels in the bathroom thread) It takes a lot of handtowels to fill up a load, and I prefer to change them, face cloths and dishcloths and tea towels every day.

But assign family their own colour of bath towel, and a rail to dry them on, and you can go for most of the week with the family re using a bath towel by drying it well in between. Hopefully they scrub themselves well in the shower or tub, it's drying their own clean body, so it should be ok as long as there is no illness running it's course thru the family.

3-- beside your bedroom sorting hamper (I have one on wheels from walmart) KEEP A STAIN STICK for pretreating any stains. Train yourself and dh to treat stains then and there. Turn socks, pants, sleeves if they've gotten rolled up. Empty pockets. Turn tshirts, sweaters and good pants inside out so the fabric doesn't pill or wear funny.

When a section gets full, wash it.

Which brings me to my final laundry note.

A load a day, keeps the dr away, the psychiatrist at bay and mum at play!!!!


By doing a simple load a day you never have a laundry mountain.

Getting into the routine of starting ONE load of laundry EVERY morning is a cue that keeps you in the routine habit of keeping up to it without thinking.

Whatever there is a load of.

if there isn't (and with just dh and me home now, I do a lot less laundry) then check it the next day.

The habit is check and see if you have a load to do, then start it.

[canadian gardener]

Ok the laundry fairy has some words of wisdom on how you arrange your closets and drawers for easier sorting and putting away.

I NEVER spend more than 2 minutes sorting and putting away even with two kids at home. Here is how it goes.

I have old shoe boxes in my drawers (and when the kids were at home they did too).

I have boxes in my linen closet too.

Most things are just toss in the boxes. FOLDING WASTES TIME, if you don't need to do it, DON'T WASTE TIME doing it.

So I dump the basket of clean laundry on my bed, and pull open the drawers and start firing socks, bras, panties, vests and underpants into the appropriate drawers and boxes within the drawers NO FOLDING ALLOWED, it wastes TONS of time.

I have a pile on the bed for each kid, plus piles for kitchen linen (dishcloths, tea towels) and linen closet stuff (bath, hand towels, and face cloths and cleaning cloths) which I put in appropriate separated piles.

"hang ups" go to one side, and I come back later to hang them up in our closet. Right now, I am still sorting.

When I'm done less than 2 minutes later, our chest of drawers is full again and I have these piles for other spaces.

I go to the linen closet and fire the facecloths without folding right into a pretty basket that they belong in. Folding wastes a lot of time. Ditto handtowels altho now the kids are grown and gone, I waste a little time folding when I'm energetic. When I'm not they get thrown in their own pile, ditto the bath towels.

I make drop offs in the kids rooms, leaving the stuff on their pillows to be put away by them. DON"T DO YOUR KIDS CHORES FOR THEM, it's bad for their character and they won't grow up able to pick up after themselves.

KEEP THINGS UNCLUTTERED, if drawers and closets are stuffed you won't be able to get away with tossing things in fast

So keep the drawers never more than 3/4 full. (that way tossing in won't cause wrinkles)

and keep the closets the same way (no wrinkled clothes, no shoehorning hanging clothes into space that can't quite take the pressure, and needs a 2 handed operation to hang things.

TO REITERATE

If you need 2 hands to hang stuff up, your closet is too full.

[canadian gardener]

When you design your home to stay clean, margins are important.

I mentioned margin space in closets and drawers but you need it everywhere.

I hate magazine articles with all the socks rolled into little cubicles, all the closets just so, fitted like a puzzle tray. All the shelves just so, packed so full but so neatly.

IT DOESN"T WORK.

Looks organized, but IS TOTALLY UNWORKABLE!!!!

For any organization system to work, there has to be some free space.

Partly for fast moves in and out, getting something, putting it away preferably one handed.

Partly for supply changes in future (hit a sale on socks??? where to put them without totally destroying the perfection of that "system".

If you dejunk a space and the family comes along and clutters it right back up, you can start to feel like the labours of Sisyphus.

(greek legend, guy's work was undone immediately every day, so every day he had to start from scratch)

KEEP YOUR SHELVES FROM THE FAMILY NOTICING BY USING PLACE MARKERS.

Things that use up fast like toilet paper etc. it will "hold onto" that space long enough for you to figure out what you the lady who did all that serious dejunking want to use that new space for!!!!

[canadian gardener]

I don't spend tons of time on these either.

1-- GET AN OSTRICH DOWN duster. NOT a feather duster, a DOWN duster, OSTRICH DOWN to be specific. It behaves VERY differently from feathers or wool. Like wool it holds a charge, unlike wool, it gets into smaller spaces, and won't knock over little knick knacks. It looks like feathers but unlike feathers which merely move dust around, it hangs onto dust with a static charge, but releases it easily when you knock the handle against your ankle.

I learnt how to dust with one when I got mine about 18 plus years back from the Clean Team. Flylady sells them now too.

I can whip thru and dust my entire upstairs in less than 3 minutes, downstairs in about the same time.

Dust first, releasing the dust on the floor for the vacuum to pick up.

2--Get a HEPA filter vacuum OR one of those built ins that exhausts to the outside so you aren't recirculating the dust.

When I vacuum I do what I feel like then leave it and pick up where I left off later. I go around the house that way over the week.

3--Get door mats for inside and outside all entry points to the house. They trap a tremendous amount of dirt and keep it from being tracked in. Nylon is great at pulling dirt off shoes thru static and I have commercial walk off mats inside for that reason. I like those fake grass plastic bristly mats for outside as they scrape mud and dirt off as people wipe their feet before coming in.

4--Change your shoes as you enter. Have indoor shoes or slippers so you aren't tracking the dirt from outside all round the house.

5-- Let your furnace DO SOME WORK FOR YOU!!!!!
CHANGE or WASH your furnace filter monthly. I have to due to allergies, but it's a great way to scrub and dust the air. I have an electrostatic charge filter that I can wash out monthly and it's amazing how much that picks up and keeps from re settling all round the house.

[baxjul]

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!!!! I printed this out for future reference!

[staceyy]

Great tips!

[guest7]

Great tips!! Thank you!

[hollyhill]

You did it again Margery!
Thank-you!

[canadian gardener]

Find a weekday rhythm that works with you.

Right now the kids have left home, it's dh and me, and this is what my week looks like:

Monday: Strip sheets, launder. Once a month launder duvet cover, mattress pad, pillow protector and hang duvet and pillows out to air in the freezing cold. (kills dust mites)

Tuesday: Teach ladies Bible Study, car day (take George to work and schedule any car stuff like dr appt or visiting friends or mall shopping etc in the afternoon). This is my only car day as we share the car. This saves my time and energy not to mention a ton of gasoline and money in general by not running 2 cars. This is a good crockpot day because I'm gone most of the day.

Wednesday: Rest. If I'm up for it, I dust for 5 minutes thru the house (see above, it doesn't take long). Vacuum in little bursts. Or not. I toss a load of whatever I have most of, lights or darks or delicates into the laundry.

Thursday: Prepare for teaching Home fellowship in the evening. Putz around cleaning the fridge out-- it's payday tomorrow every other week so it's leftover surprise, and fridge soup tonight. A little burst or two of vacuuming. Maybe I'll do a bigger project, like painting or deep cleaning something or dejunking a specific area. But if I'm not up for it, no big deal.

sitting in the comfy chair watching TV and planning the menu for 2 weeks happens every other Thursday afternoon. I love it. I surround myself with my cookbooks and peek up only for the best and juiciest moments on my soap opera. It's my time and I love it.

because this is a clean out the fridge night, I'm not wasting my valuable energy cooking, I'm freed up to actually plan 2 weeks worth of meals and snacks and it's a great routine that works for me.

Friday: Floors and Fish go with the F in Friday. It's an effin good day it is

The dr says George needs to eat fish at least once a week for his cholesterol so I remember it by trying to do fish and I'm not even Catholic.

And Floors. I like to finish up any floor type projects like if I need to finish vacuuming for the week, it's today. If a floor needs waxing, or stripping and sealing followed by waxing (that occurs about every 2 years now) this is D day it happens in.

and either today or tomorrow I do a final load of laundry, whatever is built up the most. My system frees me up.

Saturday dh and I enjoy toodling around, doing house projects, grocery shopping or just relaxing together.

Friday evening or Saturday morning is my grocery shopping day since I have access to the car and every second week money appears like magic in the grocery account.

I grab the running list of pantry and cleaning/paper/medicines/cards/gifts/household needs that I keep on the side of the fridge

and the menu I planned using the flyers that I stash under the couch cushions (where they are handy and out of sight) and trundle off to the stores on my little circle route.

On shopping day if it's Saturday I usually count on buying something fresh for dinner.

When I get home I process the meats that need to go for the freezer. Cutting or boiling. Marinating, bagging and freezing.

Sunday is church. Rest. Enjoy dh and a nap in the afternoon for sure.

YOUR ROUTINE MAY BE VERY DIFFERENT, and IT SHOULD BE!!!!!

you are you and I am me. Our lives are different.

What works IS FINDING A ROUTINE so you can go on autopilot thru the week. A no brainer, lowest energy maximum gain kind of routine.

Know what you can toss overboard as the going gets busy. FIND YOUR OWN bare minimum.

[canadian gardener]

Some organization systems make you turn over and refile card files every day (Sidetracked sisters original system). Or flip index flippers (messie's manual) or delete a lot of email reminders (flylady).

This works ok for some (I personally enjoy deleting flylady's email reminders, it shows me just how much I do, without thinking and it's fun to see how much I remember to do ahead of time)

Some like Franklin Day planners or similar executive day planner systems force you to rewrite the rolled over tasks that didn't get done yesterday.

AND they are so tempting to fill in all those time slots. If you leave them blank it looks like nothing got done or that you are lazy and inefficient. JUST REMEMBER YOU NEED MARGINS OF TIME FOR travel to and from, if it's a car thing, or a bus thing, and you need set up and clean up time, and for every thing you schedule there are a million little interruptions!


All these systems have 2 major flaws. Can you spot them?


YUP, #1: no margins for interruptions, rescheduling, set up, clean up or transportation to and from if that is part of a task

and #2: you have to take some kind of action whether or not the task needed doing.

Closer look. What do I mean? margins are dealt with in another post above but how about the amount of TIME that a system EATS UP JUST MAINTAINING THE SYSTEM

example:
Floors on Friday. I pay attention to them on Friday, even if it's just a glance to say, OK good for another weekend, no problem, clean enough. Not PERFECT, but CLEAN ENOUGH!

The to do list for friday on my day planner might read floors. I have to re write for the next friday so I don't miss looking at the floors. The re write takes a minute or two.

Card files, email moments deciding what to read, what to delete, flippers, they all take TIME to DEAL with the SYSTEM even when the task doesn't need doing.

I might actually wash that floor well doing the spritz and swiffer facecloth routine once every 2 months, taking less than 4 minutes but did you notice, if I roll it over on the to do list for fridays, it continues to eat up as much or MORE time as actually doing the floor.

I maintain the clean floor by dropping a damp dishcloth or used paper towel on the floor and using an S motion, picking up the crumbs and fuzz in the corners as I get rid of the dishcloth to the laundry or the paper towel to the garbage. Maintenance keeps it clean.

Maintaining the SYSTEM just eats up time without a payback.

Just maintaining the FLOORS took LESS time-- BIG PAYBACK!

Get it?

When you are spending more time maintaining your system, than actually doing the work then the system is all wrong for you.

In business, or at home.

THE CURE? Don't do a task even if it's "scheduled" if it doesn't need doing.

Pay attention to it yes! That is where having a list is helpful.

But give yourself permission to ignore stuff that doesn't need doing.


THIS IS WHERE I DIFFER FROM FLYLADY! Her idea of maintaining the clean and mine are different. She has people doing the routine whether it needs doing or not. Cleaning before it needs doing as part of the maintaining of clean.

I maintain my clean house by NOT doing it till it needs doing but making little mini habits happen that MAINTAIN the clean WITHOUT DOING THE WHOLE JOB.

So I grab the almost dead dishrag or paper towel, and wipe the corners and coffee spills. Floor is clean again. When in the area with the vacuum, I do that floor in a second or two. Once in a while I put a wet bounty onto my dry swiffer and wet wipe the dust. Floor stays clean.

It isn't till the floor really needs a general wash that haul out the big guns and even then all I do, is grab my spray bottle of red juice and hit the persistent sticky spots and stains and stuck on bits, and let it work a minute or two while I grab a facecloth, wet it down, stick in my swiffer head and then wipe the mess up.

after that if it needs a recoat on the polish, I put a couple of Bounty paper towels in the mop head and spritz a little on, and spread it around, and go off to let it dry, dumping the towels in the garbage.

Floors are maintained, but not because of a time consuming system that forces me to do the floors ahead of time.

[Nath.]

Honestly CG, have you ever tough (taugh (sp?) ) of giving seminar about the subject ->decluttering? Don't laugh ...lot's of buzy peoples would pay good money to have someone like you giving thems tips of how to do more in less time!

[canadian gardener]

heheheh by now you are wondering,

don't do it if it doesn't need doing?

but

she runs the dishwasher every night, need it or not, preaching on developing no brainer auto pilot routines, and says don't do it if it doesn't need doing.

OK here is the difference.

Some tasks in housecleaning act as bottle necks. Holding up the works if they don't get done. CREATING MORE WORK if they aren't done.

Those ones you do on autopilot. (but still not if they don't need doing).

For example that dishwasher. I will run it nightly half full, but 1/4 full will wait till the next night. Garbage cans, sometimes nightly, sometimes every other night.

I have gone from a family of 4 to just dh and me in the last couple of years.

BUT THE BOTTLE NECK IS THIS

when the garbage doesn't go out routinely, whether it is totally full or only half full, the family continues to pile one more, and it falls out of the can and onto the surrounding area, or because the trashcans in the bedrooms are full, they start tossing trash in the nearby area or not bothering to toss trash, just leaving it where it lies. More work, and now the family is developing bad habits and have stopped helping or picking up after themselves.

When the dishwasher doesn't run at the same time, and get unloaded by habit, then the family is constantly wondering if it's clean dishes or dirty, and they leave their plates out just in case. Making more work. When the dishwasher is only run when it is too full to add more, the family puts off unloading it, because it's really hard work to undo that puzzle. Dishes build up on the counter and sink while we all wait for someone to unload it and put it away. MORE WORK, and again the family is developing a bad habit.

ANOTHER BOTTLENECK is cleaning the kitchen countertops daily. Once a day or after each meal, the blobs of cake or pancake batter or drips of gravy don't have time to set like cement. One wipe does it.

But wait a bit. Hey maybe it doesn't NEED doing, and that blob sets like cement. MORE WORK to blast it off. BIGGER BADDER CHEMICAL power is often called into the job while if it's done when the spot is soft and fresh, plain water will do.

If I didn't drop the dead dishcloth on the floor and swish it around with my toes picking up the odd coffee drip or bit of fuzz or toast crumbs, I wouldn't be able to look at the floor once a week and say, HMMM this doesn't need doing. A bottleneck is avoided by doing minimum maintenance.

So some work, PREVENTS work or PREVENTS a bottleneck that causes more work down the road.

The whole key with don't do it unless it needs doing, is to figure out the minimum maintenance level, figure out if NOT doing it will cost you more work down the road

and then answer your own question, Does this task really need doing?

Saves a ton of time.

Hope that helps.

[canadian gardener]

Thanks ladies and Nath thankyou for the compliment, I'm actually very happy just chatting with people here who are interested in this. Maybe someday. I've tossed around writing a book but right now that is on the back burner.

I love looking at systems and analyzing how work flow patterns affect how we do stuff and whether we are working for or against ourselves.

I do it over in OAMC (once a month cooking) and I've done some of this over in homeschooling and it's kind of a fun hobby for me.

[canadian gardener]

quick refresher for anyone considering how to maintain the clean, once you've done some decluttering and spring cleaning.

These habits are like an autopilot setting, once you form them, it's set it and forget it time.