Realistic Cleaning Schedule: That Awkward Moms Routine
Everyone wants a realistic schedule they can follow and use effectively. That Awkward Mom’s cleaning routine is a good one for both working Moms and those at home.
Who Is That Awkward Mom?
Ariel is a married Mom with two small kids in New York. Her YouTube channel has been around since September 2007. She wants cleaning to be easier, faster and tons of fun so you can spend less time cleaning and more time laughing.
Sounds good to me!
She tried multiple other systems first. She found the most effective ones were the hardest to start and the easy ones weren’t as helpful so she created her own cleaning routine.
How Does That Awkward Mom’s Cleaning Routine Work?
This program has daily, weekly and monthly cleaning routines. The time commitment isn’t a large one. Using a timer keeps it from taking too long. The timer is your friend!
You don’t need to spend longer than the times she gives.
What Are The 5 Daily Tasks?
These five things are meant to be simple and quick jobs to get you started. For working moms and dads, this isn’t very demanding and can be completed before leaving the house in the morning. (And the dishwasher is a great task to assign to one of your kids!)
- Wipe down the shower.
She recommends doing this while you are in the shower. You are in there already and it doesn’t take very long. This isn’t meant to be a proper, deep clean. You have a different time for that.
- Empty your dishwasher before breakfast.
Obviously, this is dependent on running your dishwasher at night. This lets you get breakfast dishes into the dishwasher right away or saves you the trouble of handwashing those plates and cutlery. It also lets you stack the habit with breakfast.
- Wash your dishes after every meal.
This has to be a non-negotiable task. This includes snacks and drinks as well. (Yes, I need to dump out that filter full of loose tea from my last hot mug.) It doesn’t allow dirty dishes to stack up and helps you keep your kitchen clean until the next meal.
It is easier to cook proper meals in your kitchen when you don’t have to clean up first. This habit is an investment in your eating habits. You might also find it reduces the temptation to just skip cooking and order in. That gets pricey!
And don’t wait. If your teens and your husband are slow to come to the table, tackle washing a pot in the meantime. Make it a priority to get that room clean again.
- Do a 10-minute kitchen shutdown at night.
This is an evening task you will tackle right after supper dishes. Use a timer for this! Create that sense of urgency and get focused on getting it finished in this small window of time! Moms, you don’t want to spend much of your evening on this!
Think of it as a kitchen reset: wipe your counters, sink, stovetop and any other flat surfaces, sweep the floor and leave it tidy! You can start the dishwasher so it’s ready to empty in the morning.
This is only what you can do in 10 minutes. Don’t stress if you don’t get it all done. Stop at 10 minutes! Tomorrow you might be quicker and have extra minutes to take care of a few more things. (Sneaky paper clutter, I’m looking at you!)
- Do a 10-minute tidy at the end of the day.
This is for the rest of your traffic zones. Fold the blanket on the couch in the living room. Have the kids do a quick pickup of their toys. Put the things away that don’t belong where they are.
Again, you want to use that timer to keep you on task and stop at 10 minutes. If you engage your partner and kids to help, it will be even easier to be ready for tomorrow.
Optional: One load of laundry
This one is optional because she understands all families have their own rhythm. You might choose to do one daily load of laundry or only deal with laundry when it’s the dedicated day of the week for it. Do what works for you!
What Are The 7 Weekly Tasks On The Cleaning Schedule?
Ariel assigns a task to each day of the week, but it is up to you to determine which day is which. You know best what your most demanding days are and when you will have more time to tackle the different tasks on the cleaning schedule.
1. Map It Out
This is your planning day. You can make your cleaning schedule for the week, note any complications or challenges you know about ahead of time and work out your meal plan. Ideally, this planning should be 1-3 days before your grocery day.
With your meal plan, you may find it helpful to include one day for leftovers if your family usually doesn’t eat everything. This makes cleaning out the fridge simpler later.
Wouldn’t it be nice to not have to face that dreaded question from one of your kids: what’s for supper? Whether you are a working Mom or a home Mom, I’m sure we can all agree it’s not our favourite question.
2. Grocery
Pick one day in your week to do all your grocery shopping. Your time is valuable. You don’t need to stop multiple times during the week. This also helps you avoid the hungry trips when you really hadn’t planned to go to the grocery store.
3. Tidy Tango
It’s time to straighten up the main traffic zones of your home. Get out your timer and spend ten minutes on each of the following: tidying, dusting, bathrooms, vacuum and mop. When you finish that 50-minute block, then you can dance for 2 minutes.
Yes, dancing is on the list! She did say to have fun!
4. Revive 25
This is specifically for deep cleaning. It’s those things that you don’t have the time for in your daily tasks. These are your most ignored tasks, like cleaning the light fixtures or washing the baseboards. No one wants to do these things. This will help you get them done as part of your regular cleaning routines.
She divides the house into six sections:
- kitchen & dining area
- bathrooms
- bedrooms
- living and family room
- entry and laundry room
- extra room. You choose since we all have different rooms. This might be the library, the office, the basement or something else.
She recommends that you assign one day of the week to your deep clean and, if possible, keep it the same day of the week each week. If Revive 25 is a Tuesday task, then it should always be a Tuesday task. You do as much as you can in 25 minutes.
If you are using her printables with the list of room specific tasks, know that you won’t get through everything in the 25 minutes. For example, in the kitchen, you might not be able to finish cleaning the whole fridge, but you can work at it a shelf at a time. Chip away at it. Sign up for her Revive 25 printable here.
How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.
You only have to work on the room for 25 minutes. When you are finished, check off what you did on the list. If you don’t use her tracking sheets, write down somewhere what you did so you can refer back to it the next month and know what you have left to do. You will build on it next time.
The next week, you move to the next section regardless of how much you cleaned that room. Otherwise, it would be too easy to spend 7 weeks in the kitchen and never get to the rest of your home.
The small tasks will add up! Over time, your home will be cleaner.
5. Whip And Cherry
Named after the whipped cream and cherry on the top of a sundae, this is all about completing unfinished tasks. Think of it as a day to stop procrastinating and get some things off your plate.
Those unfinished tasks often take far less time than you think. And you know you will feel so much better with those nagging jobs out of the way!
6. Laundry
This is a good one to add to the cleaning schedule for a day you’ll be home most of the day. Start in the morning and use timers to remind yourself to switch that laundry from the washer to the dryer. Save yourself the frustration of a forgotten load in the washer. I think we’ve all been there.
Remember, your sheets should go into the wash once a week. It’s surprising how many people don’t realize that or maybe just don’t think about it. Get those clean!
7. Rest day
No one can work all the time and you can’t clean all the time either. Schedule yourself a day to rest and not feel guilty that you don’t have to do anything extra.
Have some ice cream. I think Ariel would absolutely approve!
What About The Monthly Tasks On The Cleaning Schedule?
When you focus on keeping up with your cleaning schedule, it’s easy to forget to do the monthly ones. That Awkward Mom suggests maybe this happens because the monthly tasks aren’t connected to anything when we lack a cleaning routine. It’s not like laundry on Fridays or groceries on Sunday. (Or however like to set your days!)
The solution is to simplify the monthly tasks! She limits it to three tasks worked on during the first week of the month.
Tidy Tango: Bedroom Boogie Edition.
Instead of normal tidy tango that focuses on your regular traffic zones, this is a Tidy Tango taking care of your bedroom.
This is your sanctuary. It deserves this time.
99 Knockout
This is the decluttering part of her program. Yes, decluttering is always a consideration.
Look for 99 things that need to leave your house. This could be garbage or paper clutter, like junk mail or receipts. This could be things you want to donate: duplicate items, clothing you don’t wear or toys your kids have outgrown.
If you feel overwhelmed with the idea of finding 99 things to get rid of, then try 9 things per day for the first 11 days of the month. These are 99 things you won’t have to move to clean around and won’t need storage space for.
And if you need help decluttering, check out this other post: 100 Things to Ruthlessly Declutter.
Rotate Toys
There are known benefits to having fewer toys available at any one time.
For your child, it’s less overwhelming to have fewer choices to play with which can lead to more imaginative play. Having a “new” batch of toys each month prevents boredom.
It’s a manageable amount to pick up, something your child can be learning to do for themselves and limits the amount of your home covered with toys.
If your children have grown up and you don’t have toys in your home, then this might be an opportunity to instead rotate any seasonal or special occasion items. The flowers from Valentines Day might still be drooping on your kitchen table. The birthday celebration is long past. Or maybe you want a spring wreath on your door instead of the wintery one.
How Do You Keep Your Cleaning Schedule On Track?
You can use your daily planner to keep track of your progress. You can also get That Awkward Mom’s Cleaning Routine free printables.
Her free printables are available here.
Maintaining Your Home
It’s not going to change in a day or week, but it will start to get better in those first days.
There are three categories in taking care of your home. The tidying and the cleaning are the obvious ones, but the third is just as important. That’s maintaining the home. This routine will help you maintain it.
You are going to get through the list, but it will take time. When you do cleaning tasks more often, then you reduce the amount of work you need to do on your deep cleaning days. It’s a more doable job!
If you miss a step or you skip a day, get back to it the next day. You can do this! This is a realistic cleaning routine that working awkward moms and home Moms can follow without getting overwhelmed.
