There are certain tasks which will need to be done in my home every day if I want to stay on top of the mess. For example, there's no way to vacuum in a livingroom with toys all over the floor. And if I have to start from a giant disaster cleaning up toys, I won't get to the actual vacuuming part. So if the daily routine keeps the house tolerably clean and tidy, I'll be able to get the more involved cleaning tasks done more often.
As I cook almost every day and I definitly feed my family at home every day, I need to wash dishes daily. I also cloth diaper and clothe 2 messy kiddos, so our family produces a bare minimum of 7 loads of laundry a week. The munchkin is a messy eater (big surprise), so I have to sweep up bread crumbs and Cheerios every day. And of course, the toys, coats, books, and general accumulated personal items that say "There are people living here!" all need to be dealt with. I think everyone should be responsible for their own personals, though. So the munchkin can pick up his own toys, and everyone can hang up their own coats, and whoever used that blanket can fold it and put it away, and it should all be done before bedtime.
Our general clutter collectors are the kitchen counter, the dining room table, and Hubby's desk, so those need to be cleaned off constantly. As clutter tends to breed, one envelope left on the counter soon has 5 baby reciepts, and those reciepts produce a dish full of screws and 15 coupons within a day, and then the coupons have a litter of pop cans, and it just spirals out of control. So I need to clean off the table, counter, and desk both morning and evening.
As the desk is mostly Hubby's stuff, and I don't feel comfortable just dealing with it, I have created a "Things to Do" file in the filing cabinet. Hubby's papers that I don't know exactly where to put them will be filed for his perusal. Hopefully that don't result in major problems. We'll see.
So with that too much information!!!
The morning routine (while preparing and immediately after breakfast):
Empty the dishwasher and dish drainer.
Sort dirty laundry. Wash and dry one load before noon.
Clean off the kitchen counters, dining room table, and desk.
The evening routine (beginning immediately after dinner):
Sweep and spot clean the kitchen and dining room floors.
Load dishwasher and wash dishes.
Fold and put away laundry.
Enter reciepts into our budget program.
Clean off the kitchen counters, dining room table, and desk.
Pick up personals.
This is much better thought out than my "I'll make a list of the periodic cleaning projects. That way I can make sure that I don't always the ones that I like better and leave the toilets dirty indefinately."
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