Mondays and cleaning

If you are family or a close friend from elementary/middle/high school you may have an idea on what this post is about.

Monday is cleaning day. It always has been and always will be. My mother is a VIGILANT Monday cleaning woman. From my earliest memories to this very Monday my mother has stopped her life and deep cleaned her whole house. When I went off to collage I kept this tradition alive and into my first few months of marriage. Then I realized that our little apartment did not need to be deep cleaned every week, especially since we were hardly ever home. So I stopped... got out of the habit... but swore up and down I would do it as soon as I became a mom. Three and a half years later, on Monday mornings you could find me anywhere, but cleaning my house. This story is the same for my older sister (hope you don't mind me speaking for you) both of us are plagued with the constant guilt every Monday that we should be cleaning. But we never did.

Well, I am now officially a Monday cleaner... and I am thrilled. It took me three years of not doing it, six months of thinking about doing it, and two months of actually doing it, to say that I will now and forever clean on Mondays.

I started "thinking" about how I wanted to keep my house clean with three young kids back in July after reading my friends post about her cleaning schedule. So for those of you wondering... here is how I do it.

First: I found someone to trade kids with. This has actually turned into a couple women - because I always need someone. They take my kids for about 2 1/2 to 3 hours on Mondays and I take theirs on another day. This has been the turning point to allow me to do it.

Next: I do a LITTLE prep on Sunday night. Not enough to ruin the Sabbath - just enough to make Monday mornings run smoother. I have everything put away from church (church shoes, church bags, scriptures, lesson material etc) and have dinner cleaned up. I run my dishwasher and unload it. I make sure I go to bed with the house all put away.

Then: I do a simple easy breakfast before I send the boys off to their play date, Megan down for a nap, and me to my cleaning.

The schedule:
I discovered I can't deep clean my house in two and a half hours each week (I have to also feed Megan in that time). So I have to split up what I do between weeks.

Every week I do: Counters, tables, sweeping, mopping, scour sink, stove, vacuuming, stairs, dusting, Windex french doors, bathrooms and quick sanitation of most often played with toys. (these all take about an hour and a half)

Every other week I alternate: Deep cleaning bathrooms (tile on showers, bathtubs), blinds, microwave, get on my hands and knees and give my floor a good scrubbing, de-grub railings walls and doors, and vacuuming really good (ie - get out the attachments and move furniture). (These jobs take me about 45 min. to an hour)

Then once a week I do something extra, these have included: Clean fridge, freezer or pantry, oven, baseboards, ceiling fans, windows, sanitation of all toys - just to name a few. (This takes me about 30 to 45 minutes)

This system of cleaning has made me so happy. Every Monday I feel like a whole new woman. The first few weeks I actually hated it though - I felt like a crazy person when my kids came home trying to keep it clean - I almost gave up on it altogether. But after a few weeks I learned to ease up, I think because I KNOW it WILL be clean again, where as before I didn't really know if it would. I finally blogged about it because I realized it became habit when I didn't have anyone to take my kids last Monday, so I woke up at 6 to start cleaning so I could get it done. Awesome!

However I wanted to take you through my "cleaning cycle of discouragement" as I call it.

I start my Mondays thinking,
"I don't have much to do, I think I will get done quick so I can shower before I get my boys"
then about 30 minutes into it:
"How did things get so messy in one week? This is going to take forever"
Then about an hour into it (this is where the despair sets in):
"This is too hard. I will never be able to actually have a clean home, there is just too much to do. Why do I even try, I am only scratching the surface. I spend time every week just maintaining, when will I ever get it REALLY clean if I just spend my Mondays doing surface cleaning."
About thirty minutes before I am done:
"I am too tired to finish - should I finish or just go jump in the shower? I still have about an hour left to get it looking good. It looks ok now, I should just stop and be satisifed and I will clean really good when all my kids go to school"
When I am done:
"My house is so clean, I love it! That was easy and SO worth it. I am so happy!" (I honestly can't stop smiling)

During the week I sweep about 4 or 5 more times and vacuum 2 or 3 - and of course pick up the house and do the dishes about 20 to 30 more times. But the house stays generally clean until Friday afternoon or evening and then I am just counting down the hours until Monday cleaning again. Jason has a standing order to tell me that the house looks amazing every Monday (and I didn't even have to tell him that).

I hope this helped inspire someone out there. There is nothing better than a clean house. Oh - and the best part is that my boys get home from their play date just before naps. So then they nap, and I just get to hang out in my quite, perfectly clean home for about 3 hours. That is for sure the best part.