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    son of a motherless goat (it's spring, mfer)Patrick Allan
    7/22/16 7:36pm

    I used to do all my house cleaning on a single day of the week. Or at least that was the plan. Spoiler alert - it didn’t work out.

    My new plan is to split up the house work Monday-Thursday, with Friday reserved for mowing the yard and cleaning the car. I set a timer for 20 minutes and whatever I don’t get done I re-visit next time, but I usually finish with time to spare. If I miss a day it’s not a big deal really.

    Monday: Clean the kitchen. Wipe down countertops, appliances, scrub sink, load dishwasher, etc.

    Tuesday: Dust the whole house. Tables, furniture, window sills, etc.

    Wednesday: Clean bathrooms. Wipe down mirror, countertops, clean toilets, tub, shower, etc.

    Thursday: Laundry and change sheets.

    Friday: Mow lawn, clean car.

    I just finished my first week with this new schedule. So far, I like it a lot. The work seems easier, the house is mostly clean all week long, and I feel less stress.

    Oh and for the floors I use a robo-vacuum that you can pry from my cold, dead hands.

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      nurserson of a motherless goat (it's spring, mfer)
      7/22/16 7:43pm

      As an ICU nurse I work 12 hour shifts so coming home and tackling that every day would not work but I love that you came up with a nice plan and you can finish most before your time is up. I still do it in one morning set aside, but it makes sense to do it in groups rather than rooms so I’ll try it with your list.

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      Jimmy Jam Burnerson of a motherless goat (it's spring, mfer)
      7/22/16 11:29pm

      you only load the dishwasher and wipe down your stove and counters once a week? Do your dishes just pile in the sink the rest of the week? Remind me not to eat at your house

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    empty seaPatrick Allan
    7/22/16 7:08pm

    Yeah, 70 minutes of cleaning is definitely what I want to do when I get home on Friday afternoon.

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      Teddy Bonkersempty sea
      7/23/16 7:04pm

      Haha I’ll stick to kickboxing

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      pygmypossumempty sea
      7/23/16 10:12pm

      Right?! By Friday evening I’m like “wine and sofa”.

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    crazydiamondPatrick Allan
    7/22/16 11:00pm
    Illustration for article titled
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      HoganKnowsBreastscrazydiamond
      7/23/16 2:03am

      That is a good thing. Exponentialy beyond my capacity, but good.

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      botherfree59crazydiamond
      7/23/16 3:09pm

      I really like this list, how it incorporates the monthly and yearly tasks. The only thing I do differently is on the daily every evening task, is go through the day’s mail, before I take out the trash. Sort, shred, file. Takes about 5 - 10 min, if that, and no mail pile up at the end of the week!

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    legowifePatrick Allan
    7/27/16 4:51pm
    10 min: Disinfect and clean: all sinks, tubs, shower stalls: if no time to finish: at least spray them with disinfectant spray.

    This one is the only one that seems totally undoable in 10 minutes even though I only have 1 bathroom, for a couple of reasons:

    • Kitchen sink isn’t really an isolated chore unless the rest of your kitchen is already clean. Got dishes in the sink? Gotta deal with those first, which might mean dealing with the dishwasher or the strainer also. Your kitchen doesn’t have to be neglected or terribly messy/backed up for this chore to take more than half your time.
    • Tubs and showers take FOREVER to clean. If you’re just disinfecting, you’re not really cleaning them. Cleaning a tub is an especially tough chore.
    • Bathroom sink may also need some tidying. Mine is never bad (we don’t have enough counter space to store anything on it), but it’s still extra unaccounted for time in that 10 minutes to tidy the stuff that may be there
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    vdubyajohnPatrick Allan
    7/24/16 9:51am

    I wouldn’t do the dusting last, as it stirs up the dust and it settles all over again. Do it first AND last.
    Also, I recently learned about a thing to do when you just have a few minutes; set your timer for 5 minutes, pick a specific area or corner of your place, do what you can, and be on your way.
    Works really well for me. I can spare 5 minutes at a time more often than I can spare 70, and most times the timer keeps going for a couple extra minutes, because once I start, I have to finish wherever corner I focused on for the initial 5.

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    palehorsevictoriaPatrick Allan
    7/25/16 8:20am

    In my first dorm in college I lived on a floor of overachievers and Type As, and Friday after last class somehow ended up being a time for dancing in the halls to New Radicals and cleaning. I have no idea how it came to be but 17 years later the only thing that’s changed in my routine is that I swapped out the music for Alabama Shakes.

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    FarSunPatrick Allan
    7/23/16 12:57am

    My (almost) chore free weekends are based on paying somebody else to clean my house every other week (with only spot cleaning in between) and paying somebody to mow my lawn during the summer.

    Seems to work pretty well in giving me spare time to work on my hobbies, exercise, read science fiction, occasionally watch porn, and dirnk slightly more than the official guidelines.

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      pygmypossumFarSun
      7/23/16 10:13pm

      This is my damn dream.

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    profmoxiePatrick Allan
    7/23/16 2:54pm

    Pro tip: Always dust and wipe surfaces BEFORE vacuuming. If you wait until after, you’ll be sad.


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    Aargh-a-KnotPatrick Allan
    7/23/16 6:20pm

    Every week?

    To me, that comes off as obsessive compulsive.

    Clean stuff when it gets too nasty for you to handle. There’s no prizes at the end of life for how dust-free your knick-knacks were.

    70 minutes a month is more likely.

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