A Mommy's View on a Cleaning Schedule

This post is completely from the heart. I've been learning something these past few months and I thought I would share. This isn't a how to post and may not have any pictures, but I hope that you can benefit from what I have to say.

I have always kept my house clean and organized. It's just something that makes me feel better inside and out. I can't stand dust gathering on the piano or seeing foot marks on the wood floors. I know that is my nature and that's how I'll always be. I am fine with that.

However, after my kids were born and up until we moved into our current home (in February of this year), I may have been a little too OCD about cleaning. I had a cleaning schedule. It really wasn't too rigorous. Vacuum and mop on Mondays and Thursdays, dust and clean stainless steel on Tuesday, deep clean the kitchen sink on Wednesday and Saturday. Bathrooms were always cleaned on a Saturday (unless otherwise needed of course). It really set me in panic mode when something would interrupt my cleaning time. I mean serious heart racing anxiety because I just wanted to finish cleaning that one spot before I could do anything else.

In my mind, 15-20 minutes of uninterrupted cleaning time wasn't a big deal. Keep in mind I would do these things during the day while my husband worked. So you know what would happen? One of my kids would need to eat, the other one wanted me to play with the train, or they would both be fighting about a toy. Maybe one would walk on my still wet freshly mopped floors and I freaked out about it. There were many times where I felt like a mean mommy. :( (yes I'm totally getting emotional writing this)

It took me a good two and a half years of being a mommy to really figure out this simple little thing: my kids weren't interrupting me, I was interrupting my time with them. I was the one putting something else first and missing out on precious moments with my babies. I don't have long before they'll be in school and I want my time with them to mean something.

It took me another 6 months to actually throw away my cleaning schedule and just go with the flow (basically when we moved). These past few weeks I've been realizing that I am enjoying my days so much more. Mean mommy hasn't made an appearance in quite some time. My kids are the highlight of my day instead of how much I accomplished when I was cleaning.

I vacuum and mop when the kids are taking a bath with daddy. I dust when I find a free minute but it's definitely not every Tuesday. Sometimes my son will take a rag and help me wipe off the stainless steel appliances. My baseboards probably don't get cleaned as often as they should and you may see tiny finger prints on my glass end table. But it is so freeing to not be tied down to a specific cleaning schedule where I have to clean this or that on certain days.

Don't get me wrong, there's still a part of me that wants to have that schedule up on the refrigerator. I still go back and forth in my head if I feel like I'm a better person with or without a schedule. But one thing I know, I am a better MOMMY because I threw it away. In my heart that makes me happier then any spotless floor ever could.

There are millions of cleaning schedules around the internet. FlyLady is awesome (but very in-depth) and maybe one day when my kids are off to school, I will follow her routine. But for now I will cherish each and every moment with my kids and not worry about how clean my house is (until they go to bed that is!).

Side note: I also started to notice that if I began working on a DIY project, started planning my next project, or even started reading blogs during the day when my kids were around, that mean mommy would come out if I got interrupted. I have pushed those things aside and wait until after they're asleep or times when they go to their grandpa's house or even have my husband play with them for an hour in the evening so I can do this or that. You know what, a project may take me a month longer or it may never get done! But I have memories with my kids that will last forever and I have the peace that my kids truly came first.