When I relocated from India to Germany, the first thing I struggled with was managing my house without any domestic help. It was daunting at first and I took a long time to get into a habit of waking up every day knowing I will have to manage my household chores on my own. Now, nearly after a year, I can’t say that I have mastered the technique to manage my household chores but I am comfortably finishing my work every day. Based on my experience, I have come up with some tips that you might find helpful:
- Identify your Cleaning Slot – It will take time but find a slot in a day which is most convenient for you to do the basic cleaning of your house like vacuuming, sweeping, dusting etc. In most of the households, it is the morning hours before or after the breakfast, but I have seen many houses where my friends complete their cleaning activities before the evening tea or after dinner. It totally depends on your and your family’s schedule.
- Identify your Productive Hours – One mistake I was making earlier was to devote my morning time to cleaning. It was a mistake for me because morning time is the most productive time for me and my mind is most active that time brimming with ideas. Spending that productive time on daily and mundane chores like cleaning used to do two harms – I used to kill my productive hours and I was too tired or occupied in the remaining of the day to complete any of my writing work. So, identify your productive hours in a day and schedule your daily cleaning tasks before or after those hours.
- Identify the High-traffic Areas – As I have two young kids, cleaning their play room and toy almirah almost every day is inevitable. Similarly, I have identified the high-traffic areas in my house like the kitchen, dining area, TV area, and bathroom. These are the areas my kids visit the most JI begin my cleaning task by visiting these areas and deciding if these areas simply need some vacuuming or deep cleaning like arranging the items, changing the covers, and dusting, etc. Somedays when you are short of time, you can simply clean these high-traffic areas and your house will be good for another day.
- Schedule one Heavy Cleaning Task Every Other Day – You need not do all the cleaning every day. Except for the high-traffic areas that need your attention every day, rest of the house cleaning could be managed on an alternate day basis. Here is the most common schedule that many people follow: Vacuum every alternate day, mop the non-carpet areas like lobby, balcony, kitchen, etc. every two-three days, dusting on a weekly basis based on how airy your house is.
- Listen to your House – Sometimes a house corner, a side table, a display unit, or a kitchen shelve will itself speak to you and ask you to clean it. It may not be in your schedule but you will have to find a time to attend to the calling 🙂
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