There is a new cleaning lady in town {Bi-Weekly Cleaning Checklist}

In an effort to keep up with my money saving tactics I have reluctantly let go of my cleaning service and turned to myself to complete these daily tasks.  If you've read this post you know that I originally hired someone else to clean my two bedroom apartment 6 months after having my first child.  At that time I was simply trying to keep up with working full-time and being a full-time mom and my husband was still figuring out how to care for anyone else but himself.  Things have since changed a little and I am receiving more support around the house and so thought I might as well save the couple hundred dollars I spent a month and do the work myself.  Only problem is, I have somewhat forgot how to clean...

Growing up I was always cleaning.  Not for enjoyment but for MONEY!  This was my first paying job.  I can't recall exactly when I began cleaning my parents house but I know it was probably around middle school age if not earlier.  I always had a goal in mind as to what I was going to save up for and so doing odd jobs was the only way to make that cash.  {This is a total side story but when I was a lot younger I wanted to buy a horse so I went around the neighborhood asking anyone that would let me to pull the weeds out of their garden for a price.  Obviously this was a few dollars here and there but I was determined to save up for that horse!  Needless to say, after a summer of pulling weeds I ended up going out and spending my money on something smaller and more immediate but I think it taught me a good lesson on working}

Flash forward a few years and I still had my eyes set on having the money to buy things when I wanted them and not having to wait until my birthday or Christmas.  This is where cleaning my parents house and others comes into play.  Every time I needed some extra cash my mom would put together a list of individual cleaning duties and then would price each one out as to how much she would pay me to do them.  I would then spend the day crossing off the ones that #1 were the easiest and #2 paid the most.  This then turned into a weekly job for me.  My mom would put together each weeks duties and I would cross them off as I went.  (Fellow mom's, keep this in mind for your kids).  My mom must have talked me up at work as one summer I even scored a weekly cleaning job for one of her coworkers!  Again, she would leave me a list on the kitchen table of what all she wanted completed that day.  I would spend 4 hours each week completing the list and checking them off.

You would think after all of these years of practice that I would be pretty talented at cleaning.  Well, I'm sorry to say I'm not.  I'm one of those people that enjoy having a clean home, it makes things feel more peaceful, however, I also can live with a small amount of clutter and dirt.  This is where the problem lies.  I'm ok with leaving the dishes dirty in the sink overnight if it means that I can spend more time with my son.  I don't make the bed every morning because I find it pointless and annoying.  I do make the bed at night though because I can't stand to sleep in a messy bed. (backwards I know)  When I made the decision to take over the cleaning I said to my husband, Luke, "I'm not even sure where to start when it comes to cleaning this place, and I'm not very good a cleaning." He agreed that I wasn't very good at cleaning, which made me upset a little but I asked for it I guess.

It's been a few months of Margaret the cleaning lady and I still can't seem to figure out what to do next.  I'm good at dishes, laundry and picking up because those are things that you can see need to be done and I do them as needed but when it comes to scrubbing showers, mopping floors and dusting I feel like I need a better system in place.  Sometimes I stand in the middle of my apartment thinking... "I know I should be cleaning something but I'm not really sure where to start???" Then I give up and drop the cleaning idea all together.

This is where my newest organizational tool comes in.  The cleaning checklist!  I'm really good at making lists and when I can visualize what needs to be done I don't waist time standing around trying to figure out what to do next.  My only problem with this is again, with my lack of cleaning knowledge, I didn't know what all to have on my list.  In comes Martha Stewart.  A little googling and up pops a weekly cleaning checklist  provided by Martha to helps out others who may need to be told to do such things like... wipe mirrors, flush the kitchen drain with boiling water and vacuum vents.  Considering my 2 bedroom apartment doesn't feature a Home Office, Library or Stairway I will be modifying this list to better fit my needs.  Also to better work with my schedule I'm going to break it up into daily tasks that I can fit into a 10-20 minute time period.  That way, after work I can spend 10-20 minutes cleaning SOMETHING and at the end of the week feel as though I accomplished a lot more!

Below is my first attempt at a bi-weekly cleaning schedule.  This may need to be modified as I go along but will work as a start.  Now every 2 weeks I will know that everything will get cleaned at least once... just like it did when my cleaning service did it... :(

Crockpot Fail

The other day I was super excited to try out one of my Pinterest creations.  A crock pot freezer meal!  How awesome does that sound.  A few weeks ago I put together my sauce and divided it out into 2 separate freezer bags then added pork chops to each bag.  Wrote the date, what it was and the cooking instructions right on the bag and popped it into the freezer.  So Easy!

Then the night before my dinner I stuck it in the fridge to defrost and that morning thew it into the crock pot.  I was a little hesitant as I typically like to put my crock pot together over my lunch break to make sure I don't cook it too long as most recipes call for Low 6-8 hours and I typically am gone for 9+ every day.  This day though I already had lunch plans so that morning in went the pork chops.

All day I dreamt about the tasty sauce on top of some rice and couldn't wait to have a home cooked meal waiting for me with little to no effort at all.  Then I received the phone call from my husband.  It was 10 minutes before the end of my day and he phoned to tell me that I may need to think of an alternative to dinner unless dinner was supposed to be hockey pucks with brown sludge!
 

Whoops!  I guess the 8 hours was just a little too long.  Instead I treated my family to burritos at a local Mexican restaurant and called it a night.  I thought the crock pot was supposed to be fool proof... could have fooled me!

Super Women vs. Super Exhausted

There are days like this past Sunday when I feel like I can take on the world.  Full-time job (no problem), 9 month old son (easy), husband, dishes, laundry, blogging, reading, cooking, grocery shopping, spending time with friends and family, working out... give me more!  I can handle it.  These are the days I feel like Super Women.  There is nothing I can't accomplish.  I feel empowered and ready to take on the world.

Then there are days like yesterday.  I woke at 5:30am and crawled out of bed at 5:42 to squeeze in a quick leg workout before work.  When I got back from the fitness room Max was awake and needed me to go get him.  I then attempted to give him some toys to play with in his crib so I could quickly run and take a shower.  During the shower I heard him start to scream for me so I quickly finished and headed back into his room.  I brought him into the living room to play with some toys on the floor and moved my makeup into their so I could attempt to put my "mask" on while sitting on the living room floor trying to keep him entertained.  He lasted for a little while and I finally gave in and made him his morning bottle.  We sat on the couch and watched the Today show together as we always do and once he was done I raced into the bathroom to finish my hair.  Dressed and ready to go to work I got Max put together and out the door we went.

I arrived at work at 8:00am and the busy day started from there.  A pop-up meeting for Thursday, trying to get my computer backup to work... etc.  At 5:00pm I hurried out of work to pick-up Max from daycare.  After picking him up we headed to Target to get some much needed supplies for home.  We were attempting to get Luke some juice when Max had a total screaming meltdown in the juice isle and I knew it was time to leave.  We arrived home at around 6:30pm and I set him up in his high chair to have some dinner.  I had just changed out of my work clothes when Luke called to inform me that he had locked his keys in the car and needed me to drive to the golf course 15 minutes away to bring them to him.  I fed Max some food, scarfed down something for myself and drove over to the golf course.

Once back home at 7:30pm Max and I spent some time with Luke before he went off to play softball.  A few minutes after Luke left he called to ask if he had left his wallet at home (he's not having a good day either I think) I searched all around and finally found it in some pants of his.  By this time Max was crying in the living room wanting his night time bottle.  By 8:30pm he was all fed, happy and ready for bed.  I put him down in his crib and only had to go in 1 time to flip him over from his tummy to his back.  (He's been doing that lately when trying to go to sleep and still can't figure out how to get back on to his back)

By 8:45pm I was exhausted and needed a glass of wine.  These are the days that I don't want to add anymore to my plate.  I think I'm doing just fine with what I have!

Meltdown

Upset that he couldn't get his food in his mouth, it kept dropping into his lap.

All better, cuddling with his bunny.

Playing with mom.