How To Stick To Your Cleaning Schedule Without Feeling Overwhelmed

Traditional cleaning schedules are built for robots, who can clean all day and everyday. That isn’t realistic in the modern world. Whilst, we can get robots to actually do some of the cleaning now they can’t sort the laundry, meal prep all whilst looking after a toddler!

How can you stick to a cleaning schedule without feeling overwhelmed?

With all the social media that seems to portray all homes must be Pinterest or Instagram worthy, and this isn’t reality. How to stick to your cleaning schedule is about accepting reality, your home might not be perfect but it can easily become a managed one.

There are so many different types of cleaning schedules all claiming to work, and in truth many of them do. It’s about finding one that’s going to work for you. I teach the T.I.D.Y Method, it stands for, one task at a time, integrate into your day, develop systems, and celebrate the wins.

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The T.I.D.Y Method

I don’t have the time or the energy to clean for hours at a time and that’s why I came up with the T.I.D.Y Method.

I can’t be the only one who has spent the day doing tasks but not actually finishing one. How many times I have put the laundry on to find that I forgot to press start, or a drink part made as I got distracted into doing something else. It had to stop.

I now do one task at a time, until it’s finished or the timer has run out of time. I integrate tasks into my day by building habits and putting systems in place and I celebrate what I do achieve.

Understanding why cleaning is so hard, or at least it seems that way will take you on a journey, discovering how you see cleaning and how you can change your mind.

Shrinking The Target

When creating a cleaning schedule, often lofty goals are placed front and center and then they don’t get completed because they are more than just one task.

Let’s look at one potential task on a cleaning schedule:

Clean the kitchen:

This isn’t one task, let’s break it down into what this could actually mean:

• Do the dishes
• Clean the dishwasher, check out these dishwasher cleaning tablets!
• Clean the oven, have you tried this oven cleaner?
• Wipe the counters, use Ecloth’s, they are amazing
• Clean the microwave
• Empty the trash, do you need some trash bags? Try these ones!
• Clean the fronts of all cupboards
• Dust baseboards, I use Ecloth’s for simple tasks like this.
• Clean inside the cupboards
• Kitchen sink, clean it

The list could go on, so when you look at a list of what to do today and you see clean the kitchen, that’s going to take all day. I haven’t got time for that.

So, how do you stop doing this? You break the big tasks down into more manageable tasks and are clearly labelled, not vague references to a desired outcome but actual chores.

The Anchor Habit Method

To get cleaning into your day you need it to fit with the flow of your day, you can’t expect things to get done if it’s your time to sit and relax after a hard day. You need to make those cleaning tasks fit into habits that you already do.

When you start your morning coffee now is a great time to unload the dishwasher. Have you tried using an electric kettle for this yet? You really should, check this kettle out! While brushing your teeth, (check out this electric toothbrush), before bed, wipe down the sink and toilet before you leave the room.

It’s about finding the habits that you already do and adding on a cleaning task. You already have the anchor habit set in place, it’s now about adding those tasks to the habit and building something great.

This type of system looks like you have a clean home without doing loads of tasks, but you are doing them as part of your day and not when you schedule a cleaning session. These simple daily cleaning routines help create a habit you can build from.

Emergency Level System

There are times that we know things aren’t going to get done. No matter, how much you want to there are things in life that stop you. At this point, you need to turn to a survival mode. The aim here, is to get the minimum done to keep the home functioning.

Have a list of about 3 things max that you need to get done even on the most hectic days.

• Doing the dishes
• Laundry, a load a day is always good
• Meal time, even if it’s take-out!

This isn’t about anything but surviving the moment and that’s OK. You haven’t failed. It’s fine to feel overwhelmed at home, but knowing you have systems in place will help.

In actual fact, you have succeeded. You have understood your capabilities and are adjusting what you physically need to do to survive this time period and to keep some structure in your life.

This allows you to pivot from full schedule to survival mode without feeling overwhelmed.

Redefining What Is A Win When It Comes To Cleaning

It’s not about doing all of the cleaning and, nothing less is failing you and your family.

You have to retrain your thought process and understand that your home doesn’t have to be perfect. You have permission to not do everything on your cleaning list.

If you miss something then you haven’t failed, you prioritized what was important and what could be left for another day.

I know this is hard, I have struggled with this a lot, but the perfectly clean home doesn’t exist, you have to live in your home.

The unrealistic pressure of social media and to have the perfect home is so damaging. The stress it puts on people who are struggling to get the a show-home standard is insane. What most people don’t realise is that most social media posts are staged, it’s not how they live day to day.

Recognise that a 10-minute tidy is acceptable, call it a win and celebrate. You don’t need a spotless home, to have a clean home.

The Managed Home

Consistency is the element you are looking for when it comes to cleaning your home without overwhelm.

You are never behind with housework and home chores you are just living your life and prioritizing what needs doing now and what can wait.

Creating a plan that works for you and your family is what is important, accepting things are never going to be perfect, but that’s OK.

But you can manage your home, you can keep on top of all the tasks that need doing, you just need to find the systems that work for you.

Join me in my membership, where we follow the principles of the Tidy Method and you get the support from other women in similar situations like yourself.