Everyday Tasks

Let’s face it – cleaning is hard. It’s hard especially if you have Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD). It is like the angel and devil on your shoulder. My OCD says, “Clean,” and my ADHD says, “Do Everything But….” That is why I need to have a cleaning checklist.

In my last blog, I talked about my tendency to hoard and how difficult it was to move to a new place. What I didn’t talk about was how cleaning my old place after I moved was a nightmare. I had two years' worth of cobwebs on my ceiling, two years of dust on my blinds, and two years of grime on my baseboards. When I moved to my new place, I vowed to never my place get that dirty again and I resolved to make an effort to keep my house clean, if anything, to be able to invite company over.

Because I struggle so much with consistency, I try to keep a daily checklist of things that I need to do for that day on my fridge. Not all the things on my checklist are cleaning-related. I have the simplest things on there such as “drink water” because I find that I have to constantly remind myself to do things. I’ve tried cleaning my house in a variety of ways over the years but I find it best if I complete one task every day and I do that task immediately after I get home from work or I will sit down and all will be lost.

• Sunday: Laundry and Vacuum Day. I do this simultaneously between laundry loads.
• Monday: Kitchen Day. I typically run the dishwasher, clean my counters, and stove, and clean out my fridge on this day.
• Tuesday: Bathroom Day. I typically clean most of my bathroom this day. I clean my shower daily as I shower. This is a hack I picked up from TikTok (featured on ThisYouNeed).
• Wednesday: Miscellaneous Dusting/Clutter Day. I typically try to lightly dust my bookshelves, window sills, and blinds for cobwebs if needed. I also try and go through any clutter that is amassed during the week and get my trash ready to be taken out.
• Thursday: Date Night/Rest Day. Jason is off on Thursdays so we typically have our date night on Thursday.
• Friday/Saturday: Deep Sweeping Day/Deep Cat Box cleaning. Caring for cats is almost a daily task but I typically wash out their cat box at least once a week. Over the week they also tend to get litter on the floor in the area of their cat box or track it across the house.

My cleaning checklist isn’t perfect and I don’t follow it 100% every week but I have lived a much cleaner existence since I have implemented it. I want to hear from our readers. Do you have a cleaning checklist? What do you do to make your life easier when cleaning? Continue the conversation on our Facebook Group: MMC Chat.