Dan John suggests in most of his books to have a cleaning routine and a cooking menu. The John house routine includes a set day for specific tasks like Monday for white laundry, Tuesday for black laundry etc. to free up headspace for work and thought. If you need scientific studies to prove that having a clean home is good for you, there are many, but as David Allen describes in Getting things done, you should do everything you can to reduce the background noise in your head to focus your attention on the task at hand. Having set days for specific chores does that.
For the last month or so I have used Saturday mornings for a two-hour ride on Zwift and then a quick clean of the house, mainly sweeping and washing the wood floors downstairs and vacuum the stairs and the rooms upstairs. I found a list for how to clean your entire home in 30 minutes on the Art of Manliness website and thought I would use it to add to my Saturday morning cleaning routine.
Saturday morning cleaning routine
- quickly organise each room you visit
- bathroom: spray all surfaces including the toilet leave to soak
- spot clean kitchen
- Wipe and dust all surfaces downstairs
- Vac all carpets
- Sweep, and wash wood floors
- make the bed, put away loose items, put laundry in the basket, and clean bedroom,
- Return to the bathroom and scrub
- Take out bins
It took me 60 minutes to complete the ’30-minute’ routine this morning, and my wife did most of the bathroom. Yes, I did use a stopwatch, and yes, next week I will be quicker.
SamuelJTanner 