Time to clean the bathroom...

It is Thursday and I am in my second week of housekeeping posts. The first week was all about getting the laundry done (see HERE). This week is all about using a schedule to keep the bathrooms clean. It sounds a little weird, but if you know me, I have a sign in each bathroom which guests find really funny the first time they use the bathroom. This one is from my downstairs and most public bathroom. It reads: "Downstairs Bath Check List" and it divides the chores between the Monday and Wednesday tidy and the full clean on Fridays.

Here is the break down of chores:

Mondays and Wednesdays

• Wipe down the sink and counter
• Wipe down the toilet, handle and seat
• Wipe the floor in front of the toilet
• Wipe down the potty seat (it is part of the regular toilet seat but will be ignored if not specifically mentioned)
• Wipe down the doorknobs and the light switch
• Wash the mirror

Friday

• All of the above plus...
• Scrub the sink with a brush
• Sweep and mop
• Scrub the toilet with a brush
• Spot cleans walls
• Wipe down baseboards

There is also a special note in large bold letters:

Important: Use a NEW sani-wipe for each step listed above! NEVER reuse a sani-wipe on another step!

Then there is a schedule:

• Mon: Raymie
• Weds: Maria
• 1st Fri: Joey
• 2nd Fri: Raymie
• 3rd Fri: Maria
• 4th and 5th Fri: Mom or a delegate

Why have a schedule at all? Because I want the bathroom clean and I don't want to have to remember it. Here's the thing, Raymie also has the daily job of taking out the trash and checking the toilet paper, hand towel and soap status in that bathroom every day before school and Mondays he needs to give it a quick clean. Every other day it is either tidied up or cleaned and I know that the trash it taken out. Guests can come use it without embarrassing requests for toilet paper. The kids bathroom upstairs is less used and it has a similar schedule but on Tuesdays gets a light clean and Thursdays a deep clean and Eli takes out trash and checks supplies daily there. My bathroom is cleaned on Saturdays and I do that. Only one bathroom gets attention each day and the bathrooms all stay clean without one day of scrubbing all of them. Notice I make the kids do it, it just needs to be done and it doesn't have to be me who does it. Every day it is a different kid working and no kid has more than one day of bathroom duty a except once a week.

I used to make sani-wipes but I decided it was a hassle. If you are game, HERE is a recipe from another awesome blog, Kitchen Stewardship. By the way, she is dead on with her paper towel recommendation. Take it from the pros. Her son is required to bring a container of sanitizing wipes to school as a part of his supplies and she brings this, obviously not labeled "baby wipes". I have gotten to the point where we just use rags and a spray bottle with very diluted castille soap and a splash of vodka to kill germs. I have my cleaning recipes HERE. They are stupid easy, I promise. No complicated methods for me.

I think that the biggest trouble people have in keeping their homes clean is that try to do it all, all of the time. You might decide your kitchen is a wreck and you go in there and tear it all apart and then try to get breakfast started in the mess and make more dishes and then start putting things away and no laundry gets folded and the kids destroy a bathroom with permanent marker and tub of shea butter while you're distracted. You might have your kitchen clean by the end of the day but the rest of the house is a war zone. You try to tackle another room and ignore the rest of the house and the whole thing seems overwhelming as you watch things fall apart as you clean. It is demoralizing. Small acts which take less than a few minutes all neatly spaced is what keeps things clean without you have to do it all, all at once. That is why next week I am talking about zones and scheduling house cleaning. I am also adding one more week to series and it will be all about handling dishes. I have written about this a lot but the information is all over. Now it will be in one place.

See you tomorrow for an Irish Soda Bread recipe and instruction for cooking the corned beef you started curing on Monday (see HERE)!

Linking up to Pennywise Platter and Simple Lives!