Cleaning Calendar

Of all the things I do every day, housework is the least important, at least in my book. Of course I like to have a clean house, and chores need to be done, but really, in the grand scheme of the universe, housework is pretty lame. In order to keep housework to a minimum, and keep a house that I'm not ashamed of if someone drops by, I use the Motivated Moms cleaning calendar. These clever ladies came up with an annual calendar which includes daily chores as well as all those once-in-a-while cleaning tasks that we all forget until the Spring Cleaning bug bites. Not only do they break down all your household chores, but they include menu planning forms and daily planning forms to keep you on top of your organization priorities. They update the calendar each year, and offer it for a very reasonable $ 8 a year. My cleaning chores are sadly immortal, so I simply downloaded the old 2002 calendar they offer for free at the bottom of their product page. ***Update 1/4/10 New for 2010, the free calendar has been removed :/ However, the price of their regular 2010 calendar remains at $8 and samples of the current calendars are available for you to at least review before you buy.

Once a month or so, I update my planner with the cleaning schedule for the next month. I also keep the daily list of cleaning chores on the back of my Franklin Covey Compass Card. I've added a few things to the daily list (and omitted a few, too). A dry erase marker can be used on the plastic card sleeve to cross off my list every day and easily wiped clean for the next day. The Motivated Moms say that if you stick to their cleaning calendar, you'll have a clean home in less than 2 hours a day, and a life beyond housework. I've never timed myself, but I suspect that prediction is just about right. I've been using this cleaning calendar for over a year and I really find it useful. They have numerous updates and versions available, so check out their site and see if there's a Motivated Moms cleaning calendar for you. Right now, their 2009 calendars are on sale for half-price! Such a deal!