Simple Tips to Manage Household Chores

Household Chores, do you love them or hate them? I’ll be the first to admit, housekeeping hasn’t always been my favorite role. I can keep a home. I can deep clean. But I don’t particularly enjoy the process of household chores. I’ve heard that there are women who do love housekeeping. I’m not really one of them. 

Don’t get me wrong. I like having a clean home. I like looking over a clean kitchen, or an organized closet when the laundry has been folded and put away. I also believe it’s a role to be honored because the Lord has led women/wives to be keepers at home, (Titus 2:4-5). I take great joy in knowing I prepare a home of comfort and warmth for my family. Yet, the process of doing the work is not a fun process. 

Over the years of marriage, I’ve learned how to manage the home through a routine. I’ve learned methods that make the procedure easier, I’ve also learned that it’s o.k. to delegate tasks to other members of the family, and we can work together to support each other.

My role isn’t one of a maid, but rather a keeper. That means, I oversee the management of tasks that happen inside and around the home.

I’m not perfect at the homemaker role. In fact, there are plenty of weeks when I fail to do quite a lot on the routine list. But, I am striving to provide a warm, clean, comfortable home for my family. 

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Tips for Managing Household Chores

Set up a Household Routine

For me, I have a list of things that need to be accomplished each day, on a weekly basis, and still others that need to be taken care of just once a month. Here’s a sample of what works for me. But, remember, it’s my list and what works for me. Your routine may look completely different.

Daily Household Chores Routine:

• Make beds, (my son makes his own)
• Straighten bathroom
• Laundry in baskets
• Wipe down counter tops & stove
• Dishes washed and put away

Weekly Household Chores Routine:

• Laundry on Mondays (washed/dried/folded/put away), this is my goal but different seasons of life might mean this gets moved to different days.
  • I sort and manage most of the laundry, we each put away our own clothes.
  • As my son got older he took on doing his own laundry.
• Bathrooms on Tuesdays
• Take out trash on Tuesdays and it’s my son’s chore.
• Sweep & Mop Hard floors on Wednesday
• Dust & straightened desks tables and surfaces on Thursday
• Pick up Milk from Dairy (This could be your grocery day.)
• Additional Laundry as necessary either Thursday or Friday.
  • My son sorts and washes his own as necessary. I generally do household laundry as well, such as tablecloths, napkins, sheets, etc.
• Vacuum on Friday or Saturday and this is a task that rotates each week to different family members.
• Lawn care, depending on what needs to be done, and/or the weather this is a task generally completed by my husband, but we are training our in the chore, and I help out when needed.
• Water Plants, either Friday or Saturday depending on other schedules.

Monthly Household Chores Routine:

• Meal Plan 
• Grocery shop, 2x a month

Time-Saving (and money saving) Tip:

Order your groceries online, and either have them delivered to your home or schedule for pick-up. Many grocery stores such as; Kroger, Giant Eagle, Wal-Mart,  now offer pick-up services. Others like Hy-Vee will deliver directly to your home. I’ve learned that by ordering online, I save money because I can edit what’s in my cart to stay within budget. 

Also, consider ordering groceries through Amazon’s Prime Pantry. I find great deals and keep my pantry stocked with dry & canned goods. 

• Wash & Vacuum Vehicles
• Clean cabinet doors, outside and inside kitchen appliances
• Clean out fridge
• Run self-cleaning oven
• Run cleaning cycle in washer
• Sanitize drains (I use baking soda & vinegar)

Quarterly Household Chores:

Routine:

• Clean out coffeepot
• Rotate food from deep freeze into refrigerator/freezer
• Clean windowsills
• Clean doors
• Dust ceiling fans
• Clean top of fridge
• Clean out closets, rotate clothes seasonally as necessary. Purge older things (donate, or throw away).

Bathroom Cleaning Routine

So I’ve learned that I can do a general daily cleaning in the bathroom to keep it fresh. But, once a week do a deeper clean. I try to straighten bathrooms each evening before heading to bed, or first thing in the morning. And, I put towels and washcloths in laundry baskets (after they’ve had a chance to air dry).  Then, I put away toiletries, brushes, etc. And, pick up and return items that may have been left behind. Sometimes the day gets switched around but I do generally follow the Tuesday/Wednesday routine.

On Tuesday:

• I use a microfiber cloth to clean the mirror using only hot water. 1 wet cloth to wipe down and remove smudges and fingerprints, then go over it with a dry cloth to leave it sparkly clean.
• Do the same with the faucets.
• For the sinks & counter tops I use Mrs. Meyer’s Multi-purpose Spray for all surfaces to get a fresh, clean, that’s non-toxic. My favorite scent is, honeysuckle.
• I spray down the outside of the toilet with multi-purpose spray and add cleaner around the rim and let them soak for a few minutes.
• In the meantime, spray down the bathtub using Grove Shower Spray Then sprinkle with Bon Ami. Let soak for 5 minutes. Then, come back with a scrub brush to scrub away tough soap scum areas, go over with a coconut fiber scrub. Then rinse clean. I LOVE how clean the shower and tub are after this method.

• Then using a wet, hot, microfiber cloth, I clean the outside of the toilet, and the seat and lid, and finish up by brushing down the inside.
• By this point, I’m pretty much ready to be done. Except in the master bath, we have a separate shower with glass doors. So, here’s my biggest tip. I spray down the entire shower. Then, I climb in and clean all the surfaces with the dish scrub wand. Using our hand-held shower head I spray down all the surfaces before I finish up by taking my own hot shower. 

On Wednesday:

• I go back in and roll up the bathmats and I wipe down cabinet doors and scrub the bathroom floors. I do it the next day because honestly, I just get worn out cleaning tubs and showers so doing the floors on another day just makes it easier and since I’m already in kitchen floor cleaning mode it’s best for me to do all the hard surfaced floors on the same day. 

Money Saving Tip: 

I buy my cleaning supplies through Grove Collaborative. I have a subscription where I order my cleaning supplies delivered directly to my home. The products are non-toxic, organic and smell awesome. Top brands such as Mrs. Meyer’s, Method, Seventh Generation and others. I utilize this service to order healthy household and personal care products.  

Set up a System that Works for the Whole Family

We are utilizing a monthly system for the most part. I’ve recently been utilizing Freedcamp – an online project management system. I started using it in a blogging group and quickly fell in love with the functionality of the system. I implemented its use in my blog planning and virtual assistance management.

But, then I realized with its capabilities I could set up a family project management system so we could all keep our tasks, passwords (there is an encrypted system), meal plans, and milestones in one place. It syncs with Google calendar so no matter where we are we have access to each other’s schedules and tasks. 

Monthly – Corporate Family Meeting

My husband and I hold what we call a ‘Corporate Family Meeting’ once per month to discuss any family business. It’s a scheduled meeting for the two of us. We use it to plan, organize, or make decisions about various things, together. It gives us a chance to go over family budgeting and discuss any upcoming events or schedules that we need to address. 

Quarterly – Family Meeting

At this meeting, we include our Young Man. We allow him to share any activities we may need to add to the calendar. He gets to make suggestions for items for us to consider, or share things he needs. We inform him of things he may need to know about. We also go over chore assignments to make sure each person is meeting their responsibilities. 

These are just a few ideas that we’ve implemented over the years to keep our household running smoothly. I used to be much more stressed about whether the household looked “just right” but as I’ve gotten older, I’ve learned not to stress about it. Done is better than perfect, and clean enough is better than, I never have time to do it all. 

What tips & tricks do you have that would help others with their household chores? I’d love for you to share your ideas in the comments below. 

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Be Sure to Read These Posts:

• Meal Planning for Families
• 5 Homemaking Tips for Homeschool Moms
• 8 Homemaking Tips to Organize Your Pantry