Welcome to Part 2 of the series How to Easily Manage Your Home!
If you haven’t yet had a chance to read part one, you may want to check that out first.
Each post in this series will be building on what we did in the last, so I’ll be waiting right here while you catch up if you missed the last one!
Tackling the Two Biggest Time-Suckers
In this post, we will be tackling the two biggest time suckers for moms.
And I think it is pretty safe to say that these are the two biggest time suckers for every mom because they are never done.
Of course, I am talking about Dishes and Laundry.
These two chores keep coming up day after day, multiple times a day and seem to continually need our attention.
It can be really easy to get fed up and just think “Forget it! I’m not doing dishes or laundry today!”
But then of course the dishes and the laundry continue to pile up without our consent, and eventually, we have to take care of them again… only now it takes even longer than before.
So I wanted to share this post about how I went from being very overwhelmed by my kitchen and laundry to realizing they really aren’t that bad… as long as you do them correctly!
Before we get started, grab your Block Schedule that we created last time, your pen, and a notebook (or binder, or the Autopilot Workbook)!
And as always, if you prefer to watch, you can check out the YouTube video that goes along with this post:
And remember if you want to keep track of which routines you have set up and which ones you still need to do, grab the Easy Home Management Checklist!
Step 1: Doing the Laundry
So let’s go ahead and tackle the laundry routine first.
This post will just be an overview of getting your laundry under control.
But if you want every laundry tip I have, be sure to read How to Solve the Laundry Problem or watch My Minimalist Laundry Routine.
1) The Only Rule You Have to Follow
When it comes to laundry, there is one major rule you have to follow if you want to simplify your routine:
Do ONE load of laundry EVERY DAY, from START to FINISH.
And by finished I mean folded and completely put away in your drawers, or your closet, or wherever you put your clean clothes.
Having piles of folded clothes on the floor isn’t that much better than having piles of dirty clothes on the floor.
So be sure to finish your task every single day.
2) Put It In Your Block Schedule
Now that we know we need to do laundry every day we are going to build our laundry routine into our daily schedule.
(That is we are going to do laundry every day except for our Mom’s Day Off of course… more on that later.)
So grab that Daily Block Schedule that we created together in the last post.
Now we are going to decide which blocks of the day we are going to be doing our washing, drying, and folding, and putting it away.
Keep in mind that these can all be in different blocks or all in the same block depending on what your day is like.
Options for Work Outside the Home Moms
If you work outside the home all day, here are a couple of options that may work well for you:
Option 1: When you get home from work, start the washer. After you cook dinner and before you eat, switch the laundry to the dryer. And as you watch your favorite show in the evening, fold the laundry.
Option 2: Another option would be to start the washer when you get home. Then switch the laundry to the dryer before you go to bed. Then in the morning before you go to work, fold the laundry.
With the second option, you will still be doing one complete load every day, the order will just be reversed.
Options for Work at Home Moms
If you are home during the day, I recommend that you get your laundry done during the day.
In my Daily Block Schedule, I start my washing machine before I even go down to breakfast.
I switch it into the dryer near the end of my Morning Block.
Then at the beginning of my Evening Block, I fold and put away the clothes.
But like I said before, you can do all three in the same block if that works best for you.
I just like to put the different steps in my laundry routine where it naturally flows in my day.
So write down “wash laundry, switch laundry, and fold and put away laundry” in whichever blocks work best for your daily routine.
3) Put it on Your Cleaning Routine Sheet
Now that you know which blocks of the day you are going to do your laundry in, I want you to put it onto your Cleaning Routine sheet as well.
If you are creating your own template, just write down every day of the week with 6 lines underneath it.
On my Cleaning Routine template, the bottom three lines have the words “wash, dry, fold” on them.
Next to “wash” I will write “Morning Block.”
Next to “dry” I will write “Morning Block.”
And next to “fold” I will write “Evening Block.”
So go ahead and fill in which blocks you will be doing each activity in.
Step 2: Cleaning the Kitchen
Now that the laundry routine is built into our daily routine, let’s start working on the kitchen.
Again, this will just be an overview, but if you would like a detailed breakdown with even more ideas about how to streamline cleaning your kitchen, you can read The Busy Mom’s Guide to Cleaning Your Kitchen the Easy Way or watch How to Clean Your Kitchen Fast.
1) The Only Rule You Have to Follow
In this next step, I’m going to be showing you the most efficient way to clean your kitchen. But obviously, if you don’t like my way, you can clean your kitchen however you’d like!
There is one rule though, that you have to follow if you want to have a clean kitchen all the time: You need to clean your kitchen immediately after every meal.
I can attest to this rule from experience.
I used to think that it was way more efficient to save the dishes until the end of the day and do the dishes just once.
But the problem with this is that dishes get harder to do the longer they sit there… and the more dishes there are, the harder it is to motivate yourself to actually do them.
I would always tell myself that I would do the dishes after supper.
But what would usually end up happening is after supper I would tell myself that I was too tired and I would do them in the morning.
Well, let me tell you, it’s really a bummer to wake up to dirty dishes every. single. day.
So do your dishes right away, and don’t delay!
2) Put it In Your Block Schedule
Now that we know we need to do our dishes after every meal, I want you to grab your Daily Block Schedule again and write down “Clean up Breakfast” in the correct block, “Clean up Lunch” in the correct block, and “Clean up Dinner” in the correct block.
This will serve as a reminder that this needs to happen before you can do anything else after the meal.
3) Write Down The New System
If you are creating your own templates, I want you to write down how you are going to clean your kitchen in a new, more efficient way on a piece of paper.
If you are using the Autopilot Workbook, you can just grab the sheet called “The Easy Way to Clean Your Kitchen” because I already did this step for you (just because I like you! 😉
Here is the easiest way to clean your kitchen:
- Clean as you Cook
- Clean Right After the Meal is Over
- Put the Leftovers and Condiments Away First
- Tackle the Table
- Clean the Counters, Working Toward the Sink
- Do the Dishes
- Sweep the Flool
- Get Everyone Involved
If you struggle to get your family involved, don’t worry about that step for now, we will be covering how to get your family involved in a later post in this series!
4) Put it Where You Can See It
As you (and your family) learns this new system, it’s important to have everyone on the same page.
I suggest placing the sheet of paper that you just wrote the list on (or The Easy Way to Clean Your Kitchen sheet from your workbook) on your refrigerator for easy reference.
Once you have your kitchen and your laundry systems in place, your house will immediately feel and look cleaner all the time!
Leave me a comment down below to let me know how it goes!
Be sure you grab your free Easy Home Management Checklist to see every routine that will help simplify your life.
Ready to Start Easily Managing Your Home?
If you are ready to get organized and make a plan that will help you run your home without stress, check out my course Put Your Home on Autopilot!
This course walks you through the steps to get your home practically running itself!
In Put Your Home on Autopilot, you will learn how to set up effective cleaning systems, set up your day for success, and start making time for the things that matter most.
In just one month you will go from feeling overwhelmed to in control. And if you have any questions along the way, I’m only an email away!
I hope to see you inside the course!
(Or if you are more of a do-it-yourself kind of gal, you can just grab the Autopilot Workbook and work through it yourself. 🙂
