House Always Messy? It’s Not Your Fault!

What do most of us do when we realize our house is just always messy and out of control?  If you're like me, you turn to Google.  When I would feel overwhelmed, I'd google a cleaning schedule, get all excited for a couple of weeks, and then it wouldn't work for me.  I'd get frustrated, give up, and then the cycle would start all over again at some point!

If this happens to you, and you think, “Is it me?!?,” I'm here to tell you that it's probably NOT you.  I have some thoughts on why cleaning schedules do not work for most people.  And then I also have a solution!  If you want to find out more, keep reading, or watch the video here.

First, here are the biggest problems I see with most printable cleaning schedules:

1.  They have you cleaning too much.

We all want clean homes.  But it's unrealistic to go from very-much-not-clean to perfectly spotless just because you now have a cleaning schedule.  Plus, my house doesn't really need to be white glove clean all the time.  It's okay if there's a little dust here and there.  I want my house to be hygienic and feel nice, but it doesn't need to be perfect.  Chasing perfect is a recipe for failure.

I also don't want to spend that much time cleaning.  I would rather do other things with my time.  For me, cleaning is necessary, but definitely not something I love to do, so I want it to take as little time and effort as possible.  Every baseboard in my house doesn't need dusted weekly!

Even if the schedule doesn't have you cleaning too much, it often overcomplicates things.  Some divide the home into zones.  Some have you doing dusting one day, vacuuming the next.  But what happens if life interferes, and you don't get to that chore on the exact day?  Having too much detail or too many rules makes everything more difficult than it has to be!

2.  Not decluttering first.

Most of us have a room or an area of our house where we tend to just stick “stuff” that we don't know what to do with.  If we're really doing well, we have a junk drawer, LOL, but for most of us the problem is bigger than that.

It's soooo important to declutter before you clean.  It's just impossible to clean when you have piles of things everywhere.  It takes far more work to clean around the clutter than to just clean a room without so much stuff crowding it.

Keep in mind, this takes time!  It's not like you can take a super messy room, declutter, and clean it all in one afternoon.  So you have to make a plan and understand it won't happen overnight.  But it will be so much easier to clean your home (and keep it that way!) if you put effort into decluttering it first.

3.  Not tidying up first.

Maybe all the clutter is gone, and you're only left with things you use, need, and love.  Most of our homes still aren't tidy all the time, even if they're decluttered.  Cleaning goes a lot faster if you take a few minutes to put things away before you launch into cleaning.

I try to tidy often.  As I'm walking around the house, I'll pick up something and put it back as I walk past the right room.  If you can make it more routine, you'll have to think less about it.  When it comes time to clean, you'll also have less to do before you can start!

4.  They're missing a few key items.

Everyone is different.  We all have different homes with different things.  A printable cleaning schedule that's adapted to fit everyone will never be a perfect fit for YOU.  They probably won't cover everything you need.

If you have pets, you might have cat box chores.  You might have a garage that needs extra attention.  Or there may be a pool or hot tub you have to maintain.  If your cleaning schedule doesn't cover these things, you'll need a separate system.  Having more than one system creates a bit of a mental burden for me because now I have more to remember.  I really want everything in one place so I don't have to worry about forgetting!

5.  Things don't apply to you.

Maybe it's the opposite.  Maybe the schedule covers pets, a garage, or vehicle maintenance…and you don't have any of these things.  You could always cross it out, but having more items on the list just gets annoying to me.  I want to see what I need to do and nothing else.  Having a long list makes the job seem more difficult than it is!

6.  The plan doesn't match your personality.

There are two types of people when it comes to a cleaning schedule:

• Those who want to create it themselves and have full control.
• Those who just want someone to give them a list so they don't have to think about it.

You probably know which type of person you are, LOL!  But the only plan that works is one you will use.

7.  You can't see the plan in the format you want.

Maybe you just want a list.  Maybe you want it on a calendar.  Most plans don't allow you to customize the format or see it in a different view.  Do you want it organized by week?  By month?  Quarterly or yearly?  Most printable schedules aren't flexible in that way.

8.  Everything isn't in one place.

This is my personal pet peeve.  I really want ONE system so I don't have to keep track of so many different things.  I don't want a separate plan for vehicles or our hot tub.  I want one system that covers all cleaning and home maintenance.  I have less mental clutter that way!  I don't want to always be worried that I'm forgetting something because things are spread out in different places.

Where is this system?

Glad you asked.  I could never find exactly what I needed, so I created it!  It's the Ultimate Cleaning Command Center!

In my system, I can view it as a list or in other formats.  Best part?  It's fully customizable!!!  We give you a detailed list of things so you don't forget anything.  But you can also use the blank version and create your chore lists entirely on your own.

It's digital and editable, so you can add things or take them away.  And you only have to do that edit ONCE!   Even if you change the view/format, it will still keep your edits!  It solves all the problems I've just talked about, and I finally have a plan that gives me everything I need and nothing that I don't!

Click here to check out the Cleaning Command Center!  Hopefully it can solve your cleaning problems as well!

Organization that actually sticks for busy, happy lives