I am not the world’s best housekeeper. I’m just not. I don’t enjoy cleaning (though like anyone else, I enjoy the result), and it’s really hard to stay on top of the dirt generated by a toddler and three pets. Our house is rarely very cluttered, but on any given day there’s probably a layer of dust on the bookshelves and more than a few crumbs on the floor. Last December, after a few months of feeling generally aimless as well as overwhelmed by my house, I read something that has revolutionized my days at home: Money Saving Mom’s post about her homemaking binder.
I went to Target that very afternoon and purchased a plain white 1/2-inch binder. I knew that if I filled my binder with a bunch of fancy pages and information, it would be too much and I wouldn’t use it. So I put together a very simple daily to-do list template in Excel (no more scribbling on index cards!) and printed Money Saving Mom’s blank cleaning schedules.
My cleaning schedules look like this (click to zoom in):
I don’t always follow the schedules exactly, but I know when chores need to be completed and try to stay reasonably up-to-date on them. Every night before bed, I write out my to-do list for the next day while those nagging tasks are still in my head.
I still prefer the “clean the whole house in a couple hours and don’t worry about it the rest of the week” method, but that just isn’t feasible with a toddler around. So in this season, I’ve adopted the “do a little bit every day” method, and it’s working for me.
Do you have a homemaking binder? How do you organize your chores and to-do list?
{ 17 comments… read them below or add one }
I’ve been using the Motivated Moms chore planner since the first of the year. I’m terrible about keeping up with it, but when I do, I’m so pleased by the way the house turns out at the end of the week. It’s so hard to stay on top of things when you live alone and work full time, but if I devote 30 minutes right when I get home in the afternoons to cleaning/organizing, I can usually knock out whatever needs to be done for the day. And if I don’t…then I’m stuck doing it on the weekends which I hate!
I’m sometimes pretty terrible about keeping up with things, too. I have a bad habit of getting behind on chores early in the week and then scrambling to catch up around Thursday or Friday…but the binder has helped me SO much. Before I started using one, I could never remember what needed to be done when.
Cate, thanks for posting this. I am guilty of having a complete lack of organization for chores, which basically keeps us in a constant mess.
I can also see this being useful in our family, since we share the chores and need some sort of way to divide them up… definitely food for thought. 
I was very guilty of that same thing until I started using a binder! I still can’t believe how much it helps. We share a lot of the chores in our family, too (though not as much now that I’m at home), and it’s much easier to keep track of them this way than just trying to remember who did what when. You could maybe color-code each person’s chores?
I’m horrible at housekeeping. My fiance is great in the kitchen but hates cleaning. So I try for the once a week clean..and if I’m lucky, a second sweep/mop of the floors at some point. But there’s only the two of us in a tiny apartment! I can’t imagine throwing animals and kids into the mix.
I am totally the type that would have grand plans of starting this, then I’d use it for about a week and quit.
At our house we just wing it. Before the kids can watch a show or get out a special game from our game closet we make sure all the random toys are in their bin and that there are no shoes, socks, etc laying around.
I try to clean up the kitchen as much as possible while dinner cooks, and always put things away as soon as I am done to keep on top of things. Other than that, I just wash clothes when I need them, sweep every other day, and do toilets, bathrooms, etc, when I think it’s time. I like things clean so it gets done fairly often.
I try to dress the family in like colors for the week so there will be enough for a full load sooner. Like one week we’ll wear all our black clothes, the next week as much whites as we can, etc. I know it sounds strange, but having a set laundry day just didn’t work because I would sometimes not have a full load of something but just wanted that one item from that category. Also I hang dry almost everything and if I did multiple loads in one day there probably wouldn’t be room for everything to hang up.
I only use a to do list for other household duties like phone calls that need to be made during business hours, account balances or other things to check on line, that sort of thing.
I used to just clean whenever the house needed it, but I find cleaning very difficult with Simone around. What used to happen is that I would realize the house was dirty but put off cleaning because I knew it would be a pain…and then before I knew it the house would be filthy. When our kids are older I’ll probably go back to just cleaning whenever things need it, but chances are good that I’ll keep the Monthly cleaning list around. It’s pretty handy for remembering all those less-frequent household tasks.
I love this! I used to follow FlyLady back when I lived with roommates and couldn’t stand having a messy home but I’ve sort of dropped off the “managed cleanliness” radar – Peanut and I just try to keep things picked up and do a deep clean when we’re having company. But it would be nice to have it done on such a regular basis. And your binder is much less kitschy than hers!
I always wanted to follow FlyLady but found her website SO overwhelming whenever I looked at it! And thank you on the binder front, haha.
About a dozen years ago, I started doing the FlyLady thing and made my household notebook. I still use it, a little, but I’ve since adopted printable chore lists (daily, weekly, quarterly, and a menu planner) that I post on my fridge. I live by these lists. Once, when our printer quit working, I couldn’t post new lists and I was SO lost without them.
I first saw a homemaking binder type of deal on FlyLady. I suppose I should say that I loathe all things FlyLady. Her site is too jumbled and overwhelming and way too “happy happy” for my taste. I don’t “become one” with my mop when cleaning. Sorry lady, ain’t’ happenin’. SOOO I was completely turned off of the idea simply because it was on her site.
That said, yours looks easy to follow!
Right now, I email myself daily to-do lists and keep up with it paperlessly (oooh! a made up word!). More paper = more for me to organize/keep clean. I struggle with the opposite side of hoarding (TOO much cleaning, TOO much purging), so I try to not focus totally on those things every day. I’m afraid that I’d get carried away with a full-spread binder!
Although I probably *should* make up some sort of chart for laundry and dishes because those are the 2 area I slack on the most and then scramble to catch up on. And let’s face it, doing a load of laundry a day is a LOT easier than doing 50 at the end of the week.
Perhaps I shall adapt some sort of version of your binder after all…. :-p
Haha, I find FlyLady’s website really overwhelming, too. For someone who despises clutter so much, her website sure is full of it! (And I’ve heard horror stories about the frequent emails if you sign up). But that’s just my two cents.
I also struggle with the opposite of hoarding. I feel like I’m always looking around our house thinking about what we could do without. Which isn’t to say that I’m willing to give away everything–there are many, many things in our home that I use and love–but I’m quite hyper-vigilant about clutter. Which, oddly, doesn’t actually keep me from acquiring new things! My dad is a pretty hardcore minimalist and my mom is a serious pack rat, so I think sometimes I rebel against both of those modes, hehe.
ANYWAY, the worst that can happen is that a binder system doesn’t work for you! I keep mine pretty simple because I know I would get carried away if I let myself.
Thanks for sharing your chore sheets with us–have to admit that I do not wipe my stovetop down every other day, nor do I wipe out my fridge once a week! But there are other areas where I do things more often. Seems like a good system, though. Might have to try the binder!
I must admit that I always forget to wipe out the fridge, and some weeks I glance in there and think “Nah.” But it’s a nice reminder nonetheless. The stovetop gets wiped down every other day simply because I’m a very messy cook and our stovetop is black, which makes dust and crumbs extra visible.
I love this idea. I’ve never seen a homemaking binder before but this is so neat! I’ll have to make a not-yet-a-homemaker binder and create a solid routine like you have done.
thanks for the inspiration!
xo,
Danielle
healthywealthywahm.com
Cate,
We’ve been married for 7 years and I’m *still!* figuring out what works for me in the house-keeping department! For a while I had one system that worked great… then I fell off that wagon for a while. I got back on it before Susannah was born but I’ve been struggling to stay on it since then (13 mo.). I recently found Motivated Mom’s through The Happy Housewife (.com) and I’m giving that a try. This is the first week – and it’s only Tues – so we’ll see 
I think I like it so far. Anyway. I’ve always been a little envious of people who have such neat and tidy binders, but I just haven’t figured out how to make one work for me. I’m sure mine would get hidden under a pile of “stuff”, or I wouldn’t open it to look in it. My Motivated Mom’s sheets I simply printed off and have a couple weeks worth hanging on the frige instead of putting them in a binder like you’re supposed to. I really like your Monthly/Semi-Annual sheet – I’ll have to go check that one out!
I’m just taking some time and scanning through your blog and it looks great!! I need to come visit more often
Thanks, Miriam! Your comment totally made my day.
I’ve always had trouble sticking with homemaking systems, too (though I often have big plans for them!), so I’m a little surprised that the binder is still working for me…but it is! I think it’s because it’s SO simple. If it were any more complicated, I would find it intimidating and never use it. I’ve also considered putting the sheets on a clipboard so that I don’t have to keep opening and closing the binder all day long.