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Cleaning Schedule,
Working Mums
5 Advantages Of A Cleaning Schedule For Working Mums And How You Can Make Full Use Of It
As a working mum keeping the home clean can be a complete nightmare! Managing a home, a family, and a full or part time job can take over and leave you feeling stressed and unhappy. How do you cope with this? With a strong cleaning schedule for working mums.
Old fashioned homemaking routines were put in place by stay at home mums or housewives. This meant they had plenty of time to thoroughly clean their homes on a daily basis. The typical 50s housewife might spend an entire day working on the laundry, another day running errands and dedicate another day to clean the home from top to bottom. As a working mum, you will not have that luxury. And you may not even want it!
You’ve probably read a tonne of housekeeping blogs aimed at women trying to keep their homes in order. Many of these are based in the US, but there's a growing number of cleaning blogs in the UK that are also really useful. It’s important to do your research, however, as many of these blogs are aimed at women who stay at home to care for their children. Working mums have different needs.
5 Advantages of a Cleaning Schedule For Working Mums
- You can have people over
Many people find they don’t invite friends or family over because their homes are not up to standard. They feel embarrassed or ashamed of the environment they live in. A good cleaning schedule will help keep on top of the mess and make your home warm and inviting for guests. - Your children will be calmer and better behaved
Children who come from a messy, disorganised home are more likely to misbehave and disrespect others. A good cleaning schedule for working mums will improve the behaviour of your children and keep your house harmonious. - You will have more time
By implementing a routine for your cleaning you will find yourself with more time on your hands. You’ll no longer find yourself frantically washing dishes by hand so you have them ready for dinner because they will have already been washed in the dishwasher. You’ll not lose things and waste time looking for them because everything will be in its correct place. Things will be much simpler to manage. - You will save money
Keeping a clean home will help you save money not only on housekeeping services but also other unexpected items. You’ll have space to cook reducing your food costs (as there’s less need for takeaways), things are less likely to get lost and need replacing, and keeping on top of your laundry will mean you need fewer clothes. - Finally, you’ll feel happier
A clean and tidy home will put your mind at rest and make you feel happier and at peace. Imagine being able to relax once the children are in bed with a nice glass of wine and your favourite TV show. Doesn’t that sound wonderful? It’s possible with a simple cleaning schedule for working mums.
My number one cleaning system for working families is the Flylady system. This system is easy to follow and very straightforward. You follow a basic daily routine to keep on top of the regular chores, followed by weekly cleaning in a zone of your home. That Wise Lady has a great blog giving advice when FlyLady doesn't work for you.
Flylady advocates “baby steps” meaning you start slowly with a couple of simple steps and then build out from that. If your house is really messy it may take a while before you start to see any improvements, but eventually, your home will start to look amazing. You just need to stick to it.
The beauty of the Flylady system is if you have a bad day or week, you can just pick up where you left off and get back into the swing of it. You are never behind. I use the book Sink Reflections as my main point of reference, but there are also a number of websites you can use to build on your Flylady knowledge.
Try not to get overwhelmed at the thought of keeping your home clean as a working mum. It doesn’t need to be perfect, but it should be comfortable and make you feel happy from the second you get home from work. Keep on top of your routine, don’t beat yourself up, and you’ll soon have the perfect cleaning schedule for working mums in the bag.
