Just a spoonful of sugar

Chart from Tips & Pix

Along with my laziness this summer for meal planning and grocery shopping, I have kind of been slacking on the home cleaning and organizing front. It is just so difficult on hot days to feel motivated to clean the house. I'd rather be at the beach! But I do feel so much better about life in general when my house is not a disaster zone! 

A friend of mine posted this "Cleaning Schedule" on Pinterest the other day and I thought I'd give it a try. The basic idea is that you do just a few things every day. Simple things like make the bed, wipe down the bathroom sink, and unload the clean dishes from the dishwasher (I always procrastinate this one!). 

Then there is a "chore of the day" for things that need to be done on a weekly basis like scrubbing bathrooms and mopping floors (this second one might end up being bi-weekly for me). 

At the end of the day, you do just a few more daily things like load and run the dishwasher and quick sweep/wipe down the kitchen. 

I also love the pickup basket idea for de-cluttering. Simply place a basket in each area of the house. In the evening, throw everything that is out of place into the basket, then go around the house and put those things back where they belong. I found some great baskets with lids at Michaels so if I can't take the 10 minutes to put things back away one night, no problem. The house still looks somewhat presentable if an unexpected guest stops in! 

Week 1 and it is actually going pretty well. Hopefully I can keep it up at least thought the summer so I never get stuck cleaning all day!