Organizing your household chores

I am the worst ever when it comes to consistently cleaning my house. I really stink at it. I recognize that this is a deficiency and I am really trying to overcome it.

In the past, I've polled my friends asking them how often they do certain chores like scrub the tub, clean the toilets, wipe the baseboards, wash the hardwood, scrub the linoleum, wash their bath towels, etc. If there's a chore for it, I've asked about it! I've tried writing a schedule and taping it to the back of my bedroom door so I can see it every day. I've tried assigning one day to do all the cleaning. I've tried pop-up reminders on my computer. I've tried FlyLady. Are you sensing a trend? Nothing seems to work for me!

A friend of mine said it's because I'm a perfectionist. I think it's laziness and no real plan of action that works for me. I look at the work that needs to be done and feel so overwhelmed by it all that I end up opting for a bowl of ice cream and some America's Next Top Model instead.

Realizing that I need "bite size" goals that keep me working daily, don't overwhelm me, an easy system and still gets the house clean, I think I have found the solution!

Motivated Moms is a daily chore list, already written out for the entire year. One day's list of chores might be: Change all the kitchen towels and wash them, clean out the 3rd shelf of the refrigerator, change linens in room #2, make all the beds, dust room #1. That's really not a lot of work! But, it builds on other chores you have already done - like cleaning out the fridge. One week, you clean the first self then another week the second shelf. Instead of spending an hour pulling out all your food and tossing the bad stuff, then washing down the insides of the fridge, you spread it out so it's not such an overwhelming task.

With the New Year well underway, I plan on getting started on this year's Motivated Moms chore list asap!

Good luck!