Today I am bringing you a two-part post! I’ve made a vow to only create posts that are of value and so the first part will be on how I keep our home clean and if you keep up with my goals, my October goals will be at the bottom of this post :) Happy reading!
Our home has been referred to as “The cleanest house you’ll ever see” and that has made me laugh on occasion because truth be told – I can be quite messy! The only thing that’s keeping my house clean is a little bit of discipline and the pressure of having people over regularly!
At the same time, I’ve discovered that having a clean home is extremely important for my sanity and for my overall mood. Having a clean home makes me happy, it makes me feel like I have my life together. It’s kind of the same concept as going outside in public and looking “100” it boosts your confidence doesn’t it?! In the same way, having a clean home boosts my mood, my productivity, and so many other areas of my life that it has become necessary.
I thought I’d offer an insight into our home (and was inspired by Emily’s “How We Do It” series) and our cleaning schedules and some tricks I keep up my sleeve to make sure our home is in tip-top shape! I’m writing this from the perspective of being a medical school wife (aka taking into account that my husband is studying 24/7).
I have another post where I talk about my cleaning habits, here, that you can also read!
OUR CLEANING SCHEDULE
Daily
- Make our bed
- Load dishwasher (we unload every 2-3 days)
- Wipe down kitchen counters – this is usually done right after I’m finished putting our dinner and the dishes away. I know the kitchen likely won’t be touched for the rest of the night so I wipe everything down!
- Pick up clothes and place in the laundry (my husband has this habit of just taking his clothes off when he gets home and leaving them around the house! He is getting better at putting it in the hamper though haha)
- Tidy up living room – this is as simple as folding our throw blankets and rearranging the pillows, literally takes 30 seconds!
When Needed
- Laundry – I do the laundry when the hamper is full so you can see me really doing laundry at any day of the week!
- Take out recycling – our recycling fills up pretty quickly. I don’t like seeing trash overflow EVER so when it’s full, I immediately take it out when I’m about to use the car and just make a stop by the recycling bins
- Wipe bathroom counters – I leave Clorox wipes in the cabinets of each bathroom so that it’s easy to wipe the counters when needed. If I see any kind of toothpaste or watermarks, I’ll wipe the counters.
- Wipe kitchen and bathroom floors – if I can see my hair on the floor I usually pick it up ASAP
- Car wash / Vacuum
- Wipe dining room table/coffee table
Every Week
- Take out the trash (in all bathrooms/rooms/kitchen) – Joe usually has more time on the weekends to help with chores, so this is when the trash is taken out :)
- Vacuum – this is usually done Wednesday right before we meet for Bible study in our home! Sometimes, if we’ve had guests in our home I’ll vacuum the day after they’ve left just to keep the home clean for the rest of the week.
- Wash sheets
- Clean mirrors (sometimes I see toothpaste on the mirrors and just clean them if they’re dirty so this can technically file under “when needed”)
- Wipe toilet seats and toilet bowl
- If applicable, air changes. We open the windows and let some fresh air into the apartment.
Every New Season
- Wipe baseboards
- Deep clean fridge / pantry
- Organize closet / purge
Wow, now that I’ve written it out it seems like a lot. But mostly, we are able to keep our home clean by taking care of any messes when we see them immediately. I don’t tolerate any clutter sitting out or anything on the floor that isn’t supposed to be there!
MY CLEANING TRICKS
Some of the cleaning tricks that I have up my sleeve to make cleaning easier are the following:
- Each major space has Clorox wipes tucked away. – all of our bathrooms, the living room, and the kitchen have their own Clorox wipes tucked away. Even my car has a stash of wipes. This way, I can easily access it and wipe a space clean in 10 seconds.
- Each bathroom has mirror cleaner and paper towels in the drawer – this way it’s easy for me to keep my mirrors clean
- Air filter changes are scheduled in my calendar – We change our air filters every 3 months. It’s scheduled in my calendar and since we live at an apartment complex, I can just schedule a maintenance request for it to be changed when it’s time!
- I keep a stash of trash bags at the bottom of each trash bin – this is most applicable in our bathroom. We use the plastic bags from Walmart or Food Lion and use them as trash bags for our bathrooms. Keeping 4-5 bags at the bottom of the bin make it easy for me to change out the trash and very quickly replace it with a new trash bag!
- All cooking utensils are immediately washed – I don’t even start cooking until the kitchen is clean so it’s a rule that dishes are never left in the sink. I also organize my cooking so that I can periodically clean the pots and pans as they are used, this way the only thing to take care of after I eat is putting my dish away in the dishwasher. Sometimes, this doesn’t happen when friends are over or when we’re both too hungry.
- Fragrance Warmers – It’s on my “to-do” list to change all our fragrance warmers into diffusers. But for the time being, we have fragrance warmers placed in various parts of our home. When it’s time for a refresh or we are getting ready to entertain, I change all of the wax in these to keep our home smelling good!
- Minimalistic approach – The best way to keep your home clean is to simplify your spaces. For this reason, unless I am entertaining seriously my dining room table is bare and does not have any accessories or a tablescape on it. My coffee table is also completely bare (except for the occasional flowers!) There are no extra pillows on our bed, etc. We keep spaces simple, and it’s easy to clean them! The same concept goes for our kitchen – only the items we use daily are left on the counters such as our coffee press, the toaster, etc. Everything else has a set place to be stored in!
- NO trash is left in the car EVER – Joe will attest to this, I don’t care how tired we are but if there is trash in the car, it will be out by the end of the day. Either we will bring it in and place in our trash can or I will even drive to the trash bin before the end of the night to take all the trash out.
Being the wife of a medical student requires me to understand the importance of valuing my husband’s time and utilizing it when absolutely necessary. Personally, I take joy in doing the household chores because I know that this is my way of serving my husband. I’m also that weird person that actually enjoys doing the dishes and vacuuming the apartment. My top love language is also quality time so I’d much rather he use his free time to hang out with me or take me on a date than to do the laundry (do you get what I’m saying?) When we first got married, we had an agreement that he would be responsible for two major things. 1) Taking out the trash 2) Taking me on dates.
There have been times when I’ve had to take out the trash because my husband has been slammed with school work and other responsibilities, but I know that his time is better devoted to those tasks than to chores in the home. I don’t mind as much because when he does have free time he pitches in by helping me fold laundry, cooking meals, etc. Marriage is about sacrifice and always being willing to do something for your spouse so that they can be at their best! This is my personal take on it, I’m sure this will change when children come into the picture but for now this is how we keep our home clean.
I’d love to know your thoughts on our process of keeping our home clean. Do you have any tricks to share that I can benefit from? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!
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OCTOBER GOALS
How is it already October?! The evenings are starting to feel cooler, I’m getting settled into a routine with work and it seems like time is going by so quickly!!!
EVENTS THIS MONTH:
— Joe’s 26th Birthday
— Day Trip to Chapel Hill for UNC vs. VT game
— Weekend Trip to Boone, NC to see Fall Foliage
I’VE GOT MY EYES ON:
— With Fall weather quickly approaching, I’ve got my eyes on this pumpkin patch
— I did an Instagram Story on how my kitchen is organized and you guys LOVED this Lazy Susan, under cabinet storage , and the bakeware organizer.
WHAT I READ IN SEPTEMBER:
— The Horse Dancer – I’m still reading this. After reading Me Before You by Jojo, I knew I had to read her other books and I am hooked!
SEPTEMBER GOALS RECAP:
— Get our home Fall ready! (see last year’s Fall Tablescape here) – I’ve got my Fall tables cape up!
— Start new job with a plan and goals set in place! – the new job has started and I am trying to conquer the learning curve that comes with what I’m doing. It’s going GREAT!
— Bake something pumpkin themed – this will have to happen this month!
— Go apple picking – probably will do this in October
— Have dinner with a new couple – Haven’t had a chance to do this yet!
— Get a new phone! – I got the iPhone XS, can’t wait for the upgrade!
— Finish Mastery Business System – Finished!
— Read two books – Sadly did not do this.
— Work out at least 3x a week – Work + evening commitments has made this hard!! I’m going to start working out during lunch.
— Get back into Powersheets – Completed my power sheets and Goal Refresh for October, I am so excited about it!
— Clean out my closet and start putting in Fall clothes (Pick out clothes to donate!) – all of my Fall clothes are up and I donated several items that I didn’t love. It felt great :)
— Set up an office space (for me!) – It is set-up but not completed!
OCTOBER GOALS:
- Get plans together for my hubby’s birthday!
- Read two books
- Make eye appointment
- Complete decorating my office space at work
- Reorganize linen closet
- Visit a pumpkin patch
- Bake something pumpkin themed
- Work out 3-5x a week
On Saturday, Gronkowski will make his third U.S. begin Breeders Cup 2018 Live Stream switch running in the nine-furlong Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup, second decision at 4-1 on the morning line, coming back to the track for which he showed a partiality back in June.