We've been spring cleaning all week. In the past, I do it all on my own and kill myself for a couple of days. This year, I decided Tera and Daniel were old enough to help. I approached it quite differently this time around.
First, I broke up the house into rooms...hall, living room, dining room, kitchen, laundry room, bathroom. So, we covered one room a day downstairs (I left off the office/junk room...that's a week in and of itself). I listed out the jobs for each room. We moved furniture, wiped baseboards, cleaned windows, dusted, vacuumed, cleaned out clutter, and any other room specific jobs.
Next, each day the kids had ONE area in their room to clean up...closet, floors, toy bins, under bed, desk/under desk, and bookshelves.
Finally, the kids had ONE assigned job in our upstairs middle area....top of game shelf, game shelves, straighten book shelves, clutter, vacuum, string basket.
We spent way less than 2 hours a day...relaxing hours, getting our house clean.
JP worked outside everyday doing jobs he's been wanting to get around to...we inspired him.
Tera mentioned that we should do this on a more regular basis. I thought about that this week and decided that was a great idea. I always feel the need to do major cleaning at certain times of the year. So this will fit right into our lives. Now, I have at least two helpers and I'm training them how to deep clean a house. I think the week before school starts and the week before Thanksgiving, in addition to an annual spring clean will work nicely for us.
It feels so nice in here...the windows are open, a cool breeze is blowing and there are no dust bunnies floating around...well, maybe a couple. There's only so much you can do when you have a cat, a dog and 2 long haired women in the house.
