Household Cleaning Chores & Lists - Start by Making a List of the Rooms in Your Home

So, it's 2007, and that means some new cleaning techniques and tips for all of us Happy Slob Housecleaners. (Still curious about why we're called Happy Slobs? You'll understand after you read this: The Happy Slob's Guide to Housecleaning)

So, today I had a day off of work and decided to re-organize the way I've been cleaning. I needed to create a fresh cleaning schedule that works with my new work schedule, which is different than it was last year. :) So, if you need a boost of motivation to start off the year right with your cleaning routine, then join me in this easy little cleaning exercise. It'll help you feel great about starting some fresh new habits.

1. Create a list of every room in your home. For people like myself, it's not all that long or time-consuming! Include different types of storage rooms and areas, such as the attic, etc.
2. Give each of these rooms a ranking- 1, 2, or 3 - depending on how often it's seen or used. Let's take some examples from my apartment: Living Room 1, Storage Area 3. If it's a 1, it's used more often, and seen more often - and therefore needs priority when you're cleaning. Get it?
3. Work on a new cleaning schedule, keeping your Happy Slob techniques in mind. Incorporate cleaning each area or room, keeping the #1 rooms tidied up far more often than the #3's. Here's what my cleaning schedule looks like for Sundays, a day when I don't work outside the home...

• Cleaning Burst AM (A quick burst of cleaning in the morning)
• Kitty Litter Cleaned (Self-explanatory, I should hope...)
• Laundry
• Focus Room: Bathroom & Bedroom 1 (Areas I spend a bit more time and energy cleaning, but nothing crazy. Remember that regular cleaning means it'll never get as mucked up as it used to...)
• Cleaning Burst PM (A quick burst of cleaning in the evening anytime that works - just so that things are nicer to face when you wake up early the next morning)

Does that sound overwhelming? :) Remember that some days you aren't going to do as much cleaning. For me, I don't work on Sundays, so I can devote a little more time to cleaning. But, sometimes the cleaning bursts are literally 5 minutes each - so it still doesn't sound as time consuming as you first thought.

Remember too - starting off with one Cleaning Burst every day is the best way to get started and NOT to get overwhelmed. Armed with that, and your list of rooms, you can work on a customized cleaning plan that will work best for you & your family!

Ready? Set? CLEAN! :) Have a great day, slobbos.