SALT LAKE CITY — Systemizing housecleaning is one of the best improvements a home manager can make to get his or her housework done in a timely manner. Approach this project by dividing all household chores into three levels: daily jobs, weekly jobs, and deep-cleaning jobs, and then develop a written plan before putting it into practice.

Begin by purchasing your supplies. You will need about 100 lined 3” x 5” index cards, 20 blank 3” x 5” index card dividers, and one 3” x 5” index card box.

Then, start by setting up a daily housecleaning plan by gathering about 10- 20 lined 3" x 5" cards.

Decide what household tasks need doing each morning.

For example, make the bed, exercise, shower and get dressed, fix and clean up from breakfast, straighten the front room, get a batch of laundry started, sweep the kitchen floor, and scrub out the bathroom sink are all chores that could be written on the cards.

Daily Jobs List each job essential to your morning routine on a separate 3" x 5" card in the upper left-hand corner. Put the word “daily” in the upper-right hand corner of the index card. This will act as a reminder as to where to file the card.

If you are in a complete mess and have had little success with daily housecleaning, limit the number of jobs to 10. As you practice and gain confidence, you will be able to do more and more jobs each morning with greater ease.

With your housecleaning plan in place, adding a job is simply preparing a card and putting in your box. The following day when you will increase your focus for a bit longer the house will become neater and cleaner. Pretty soon you will be just like that "super" family down the street who always seem to have an immaculate house.

The goal for the first week is to complete all the daily jobs each morning. This is how: Get up in the morning and spread the cards out on the kitchen counter (yes, you may have to move some things from the counter to clear a space for your housecleaning cards). Choose one job to tackle, do it, and then turn that job card over.

It is sort of a private game with yourself, but is a wonderful game for two reasons:

1. Many times a home manager will get distracted with the needs of his or her spouse and children. When he or she wants to return to the chores, it takes a lot of effort to overcome moodiness, possible weariness, and new distractions. Having the morning chores listed on index cards keeps you on track.

After being distracted, return to the kitchen counter, pick a new job, and set off again to finish that job. Then return to turn the card over, and pick out a new job. On and on you go until you have finished your jobs for the morning.

2. The second advantage of having a written housecleaning plan on cards is that you don’t have to think. Somehow, when you have previously decided what to do each morning and have listed those jobs on cards, the decision-making has already been done. Just finish those morning job cards and you will be done with all the daily housekeeping you want to do each morning. You don't have to decide each and every day what needs to be done, you can just get going, and get the jobs done.

Weekly jobs

Once you have successfully completed your daily jobs for one week, it is time to set up a weekly housecleaning system. This is a bit more complicated to set up, but you will enjoy the freedom it brings. Each and every week, if you do your weekly housecleaning jobs according to your housecleaning plan, you housework will be kept up.

Here's how! Find the 3" x 5" recipe card box and the index card dividers you recently purchased. Label the blank card dividers with the following titles: Daily, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

(When you set up your deep-cleaning job system, the third step in this process, you will need another 12 3" x 5" card dividers which will be labeled January – December, so you might want to label them now. Remember, you will need a total of 20 card dividers.)

Then take about 25 lined 3" x 5" cards and go to work listing jobs which need your attention on the various days of the week.

For example, label one card "laundry" (in the top left-hand corner) and write in the upper right-hand corner how often you plan to do your regular laundry, i.e. Monday, Wednesday, Friday. Store this card behind the Monday divider for now.

Label a second card in the upper left-hand corner "vacuum" and write in the upper right-hand corner how often you plan to do the vacuuming, i.e. Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday. Store this card behind the Tuesday divider.

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Label a third card in the upper left-hand corner "dust" and write in the upper right-hand corner on which you plan to do the dusting, i.e. Friday. Store this card behind the Friday divider.

Continue with all the jobs you desire to do each week to maintain your home. Once you have set up your weekly housekeeping system, you are ready to go again.

Each morning, pull out your daily index cards. Place them on your kitchen counter. Complete these daily housecleaning cards first, flipping each card over as the job is done. Then put these cards away behind the Daily divider in your index box.

Get out the weekly housecleaning cards for that particular day. Spread your weekly cards and go to work again. Complete the weekly cards and replace them in the index card box behind the next day they need to be done. For example, the “laundry” card moves from behind the Monday index card dividers to behind the Wednesday divider and then finally to the Friday dividers as the week progresses.

Remember, the daily cards are always completed first, and then the weekly cards second. Finally, one of the deep-cleaning cards is pulled out and that job tackled, if there still time.

Deep-cleaning jobs

Just as you have prepared cards for your daily and weekly jobs, prepare cards for your jobs which will be less frequently, say monthly, quarterly, semi-annually and annually.

Again, list the job in the upper left-hand corner of the index card and the timing in the upper right-hand corner of the index card. List all the big jobs you need to get to once in a while. Remember, list the job in the upper-left hand corner of the index card. List the timing in the upper-right corner of the index card.

For example, a card for vacuuming the baseboards might be prepared for September and then filed behind the September divider. As time and energy allows (meaning your daily and weekly jobs are done), pull out a deep-cleaning job card behind the appropriate month index card divider and go to work.

With practice, you will routinely be cleaning your home and it will consistently be neat and orderly. Remember, it is a lot of work to be organized, but it is a lot more work to be disorganized.

Marie is a professional organizer who loves to conquer clutter. She is a nationally recognized author, motivational speaker, & TV/radio guest. A hour with her can give you 10% more time every day of your life! See houseoforder.com for more info.

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