House Cleaning Secrets Revealed

I use the system that http://www.flylady.com has set up. it is an easy way to stay on top of the house work before it gets out of hand, or if it already is, she gives you simple steps to get it cleaned quickly and efficently. I personally live in a small house (2 bedroom) and i end up only doing a major cleaning about once a month because i can keep it tidy with a small amount of work everyday! Flylady seperates your house into zones and you really only concentrate on cleaning zone per week while doing general tidying on the other zones. She has helpful tips to keep clutter at bay as well such as the 27 fling boogie and the 15 minute hot spot. good luck!
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My schedule is a little complicated, but it works for me. My situation is that I'm a full-time mom with 3 kids (9, 5 and 2) and I have a 4-bedroom, 2 bath home.

Although this looks like a lot of work, the morning schedule takes less than an hour once you've been doing it for about a week (since you are maintaining and not starting anything new) and the evening one about 35 minutes. I do tend to fall behind on weekly or monthly chores but I find it doesn't bother me so much if I'm keeping up every day.

I found the framework for this on a website I haven't been able to find again, so I can't take credit for it.

Morning:
(my goal is to do this every day; if it doesn't work out I do half one morning, half the next)
Make beds
Straighten bedrooms
Wipe down kitchen counters
Load/unload dishwasher
Straighten and vacuum living room
Straighten and vacuum family room
Check bathroom supplies and change/replenish as needed
Clean off dining room table
Groceries? Check on what's for dinner

Afternoon:
Make phone calls
Work on weekly/monthly chore (see below)
Start dinner

Evening:
Empty backpacks; sign and replace anything that needs it
Put out kids' clothes for morning
Pack lunches
(mostly these are during the school year but it helps to do it during summer to stay in the habit)
Load/unload dishes
Wipe kitchen counters
Wash pans
Sweep kitchen floor
Put out clean kitchen towels
Clear off dining room table
Empty wastebaskets
Take out trash
Update calendar, handle day's mail and papers

Weekly:
Monday: Laundry, clean bedrooms, groceries
Tuesday: Thoroughly clean kitchen and bathrooms
Wednesday: Living room and family room, Clean Sheet Day, clean out fridge (this is because trash pick-up is Thursday)
Thursday: Meal planning, annual or monthly chore
Friday: Grocery shopping, pay bills and straighten desk, water plants, clean sunroom. 4th week, clean oven
Saturday: Out-of-town errands, catch up!
Sunday: To-do lists, menu planning, filing

Monthly:
Week 1, wash woodwork; organize drawers, cabinets and closets; dust blinds, windowsills, and tops of doors
Week 2, Clean lampshades, light shades, globes, lightbulbs; wash mirrors; wash windows
Week 3, Wash underbedding, turn mattresses, wash pillows, clean ceiling fans
Week 4, annual chore (when it's a room, just clean everything; closet, walls, ceiling, drawers, rotate cushions, etc.):

Annually:
January, Living room
February, go through files and discard as needed
March, Kitchen
April, Master bedroom, apply weed & feed
May, DS's room
June, DD's room
July, bathrooms
August, shed
September, Laundry room, apply weed & feed, shampoo carpets
October, Seasonal clothing change, clean bedroom closets, clean out workshop/storage area
November, Vacuum under furniture, clean cupboards in kitchen
December, Christmas prep
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Yes, it is just me & my husband & I have grown son that usually viists on weekends. He has a room in my basement but it is loaded with stuff for his business so I never clean that it is up to him.
OK, here is a look at my schedule
WEEKLY:
M- Bills, papers, mail, phone calls are done
Tues- living room, dining room, all dusting
Wed-Kitchen but I mop later & I do all windex surfaces
Thurs-Bedrooms
Fri- clean out fridge & get food ready for weekend
Sat, morn. wash down bathroom & I mop the kitchen, foyer, bathrooms floors….My husband vacuums

Monthy: The numbers mean the day it is on the calender
1 porch
7 bedroom
8 go through coupons
9 living room, dining rooms
10 exercise- this is just a day where I focus on seeing how I am doing & if I need to change anything
12attic
13 bathroom
14library
15 diet
16 utility
21 family room in basement
23 yard
24 living room coat closet
28 kitchen
I shampoo my carpets in house & my car while it is still warm out which is April 1 & Oct 1
My husband gets up early so he throws the dirty clothes in washer & actully takes care of them as needed.
I believe in getting rid of anything unless it is beautiful or usefull. Less is better.
You can just make a calender or put numbers down a peice of paper & walk around to see what would need attention. This is how I came up with this list. Then I just filled the area next to a number. I focus on those areas if it is that day & it really doesn't take that much time.
We are so laid back so we keep this organized to make it easy.,,,to keep things tidy I started doing this when I was pregnant many years ago.
I call it 3,6,9,12. I used to get alot of unexpected company when before I moved to the country. If I knew someone was coming I was motivated to straighted up. I wanted my house to be straight if I went into labor but didn't want to focus on it every minute. So I would think what if I went at whatever the next time would be say it is 1:00 I would act like I was getting company at 3 so it was a goal to have the house tidy by that time but I would do this around the clock during waking hours.
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Thats some good fundamentals there, already know some of that, but you can always learn more. I doubt a “kid” could put together such information as dolphin278 suggested. Maybe he’s just trying to be “controversial? lol