From the Floors Up

Easy To Follow Schedule: How To Keep Your Home Clean

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Cleaning the house is a daunting and endless task. It seems like no matter how much you try to stay on top of it, one day not paying attention and the whole thing falls apart. It’s also a challenge to manage a schedule. No one has time to deep clean their home every weekend, and some chores only require your attention a few times each year. Others need regular attention, and some daily. Here is a simple, straight forward guide for emerging triumphant from the game of ‘you versus the house!’

DAILY

  • Wipe down countertops and high traffic surfaces (tables, kitchen, bathroom, microwave)
  • Wipe clean sinks and mirrors
  • Sort things and send them to their home room (toys to the nursery, bills to the desk, etc.)
  • Take out trash

WEEKLY

  • Deep clean bathroom (tub, toilet, floor)
  • Clean and sanitize kitchen (countertops, floors, appliances)
  • Vacuum all of the carpet
  • Do laundry
  • Sweep floors

BIWEEKLY

  • Dust
  • Change bed linens
  • Sweep and mop hard surface floors
  • Open windows, turn on fans, spray house with air sanitizer

MONTHLY

  • Clean baseboards, window sills, door jambs
  • Remove items from cabinets and drawers and clean inside
  • Remove items from refrigerator and clean inside
  • Clean oven
  • Clean rugs
  • Replace fragrance plug ins

SEASONALLY

  • Wash the windows
  • Organize the garage
  • Go through everything and get rid of stuff no longer needed or used
  • Redecorate for the approaching holiday or season
  • Clean throw pillows
  • Wax floors

An easy way to manage this is to purchase a calendar that you can hang in a main area in your home and use it strictly for marking up the cleaning schedule. This way, everyone will see it on a regular basis, and it won’t be cluttered with all of the other information that consumes calendars. Assign tasks each week, and you’ll be amazed at how a simple plan can turn into a space you can be proud of at any time!

Fitness House Chores: How to Work Out While You Clean the House

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Part 3 – BATHROOMS & FLOORS

In this final segment of our series we share how to use your favorite music while cleaning the house in order to accomplish your exercise goals. Here we tackle two of the least favorite chores. Bathrooms are dreaded by all and windows are a lot of extra work. But with a great playlist and a few tricks up your sleeve you can make the most of it!

“Bathrooms Hustle”   This one might leave you winded, but your bathrooms and body will be better for it! Rather than cleaning bathrooms one at a time, approach each fixture in the bathroom one at a time. For instance, start with the toilets. Go to each room and clean the toilet. Waste no time between them. Next, scrub the tubs, one right after another. Then, clean all the countertops, followed by all of the floors. Use up-tempo music to keep you moving and don’t stop until you legitimately need to rest. By doing one fixture at a time and having to travel between the rooms multiple times, you’ll burn loads of calories. You could even set a timer and see how fast you can get the whole job done!

“Wax On Wax Off Windows”   This workout is very effective for your arms and upper back. Windows have a lot of surface area and many of them are beyond arm’s reach. Use it to your advantage. The step-stool or ladder aspect of the workout is obvious: the more trips up and down, the better, and you’ll enjoy a nice supplemental leg workout. But the true work is accomplished by cleaning the glass in circular motions. Rather than just wiping in a back and forth motion, which leaves streaks, swirl the towel and the cleaner in repetitive circles. Start at one side of the window and continue to the other. Then, go back but switch the circles from clockwise to counter-clockwise so that both sides of your muscles are exercised. Be sure to stand straight and engage your core so that your upper body has a strong base for all this movement. Put on some 80’s music, get the job done, and your windows will be cleaner than ever before!

Don’t forget to go back and read:

Part 1: How to work out while you clean the house – DISHES

Part 2: How to work out while you clean the house – FLOORS

Fitness House Chores: How to Workout While You Clean the House, Continued

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Part 2 – FLOORS

In Part 1 – Dishes, we discussed ways to work out to music you love while putting away the dishes. Here are several ways to do the same while cleaning the floors. The ‘dishes exercises’ were mainly strength based. Floors are your opportunity to achieve you cardio goals. Trust us, you’ll make it happen because you’ll be having so much fun doing this while listening to your favorite songs!  

 

Sweeping, mopping and vacuuming the floors:

 

“Rock-n-roll Sweep”   While sweeping the floor, channel your favorite guitar player. Recall the way they swing their arm in large, sweeping circles while they play. Set a number of strokes to sweep the floor with before each arm circle. Such as sweeping the floor for 20 strokes, and then doing 10 full air guitar arm circles. Repeat and be sure to work both sides. Be sure to use your upper back in addition to your arms so that it’s full body motion.

 

“Risky Business Slide” This is fun! Sweep the floor in long, narrow sections. Do so normally down the length of the room. Then, hold on tight to the broom, run a few steps and slide the rest of the way back across the strip you just swept. Bonus – your socks will attract lint, making your floors that much cleaner. This works best on hard surface floors.

 

“Mop Slow Dance”  Mopping the floor always requires a lot of repeated ‘rinse & wring.’ Each time you wring out the mop you have an opportunity to use it to work your core. Hold it horizontally, parallel to the floor, with both hands grasping it widely and near each end. Stand with your feet slightly wider than hip-width apart. Twist all the way to one direction, then back to center, and then twist to the other side. Repeat. Put on a slow song and pretend you’re at a school dance!

 

“Vacuum Shimmy”   This method entails long strides and rapid back stepping. Start at the longest end of the room, so you have as much space as possible to walk forward. Do so in long strides. Then, staying in the same ‘lane,’ use fast, small steps to shimmy back to your starting point. You’re heart rate will increase, and your carpet will get vacuumed twice all over.

 

Next read Part 3: How to work out while you clean the house – WINDOWS AND BATHROOMS

 

Go back and read Part 1: How to work out while you clean the house – DISHES


Fitness House Chores: How to Work Out While You Clean the House

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Part 1 – DISHES

At first, the idea of combining house chores with working out might sound like a method of torture. Most people don’t enjoy cleaning, and nearly everyone struggles to find motivation for exercise. Why in the world would any sane person want to do them at the same time? Because it’s a smart way to multi-task.

You could easily gain an extra two hours per day if you didn’t have to go to the gym after you’ve tidied up the house. Not only do you save the hour of exercise, you also recapture the time you would have spent driving to and from your gym. Furthermore, both activities are more likely to get accomplished in the same day.

Imagine, no guilt at bedtime about skipping one or the other! Most importantly, though, doing these two tasks at the same time translates into some serious fun. Just add your favorite music. You must be willing to sing and dance, and enjoy some air guitar on the mop or broom!

So, before you try the suggestions in this three part series load your favorite party playlist and let your hair down. You’ll get the best results if you also mute your phone. You’ll get a fantastic, uninterrupted workout, and the house will get cleaned in record time. 

 

“Dish Squat” – Each time you put away something in a lower cabinet, squat rather than bend. Keep your feet wide apart and use your glutes and hamstrings to raise and lower your body. Engage your core to stabilize your back, and don’t over extend your knees past your ankles. Challenge yourself to do one dish at time, so you can accomplish multiple squats. Dance between sets!

 

“Cabinet Calves” – Each time you put away something that is slightly higher than your natural reach, raise your heels off the floor three times to work out your calves. Do this with feet straight forward, then toes turned slightly in, and then toes turned slightly out. And of course, to the beat of the song!

 

“Balance Cutlery” – Improve your balance and coordination by standing on one foot while you place silverware in its tray. Alternate sides. Start with something simple like lifting your foot an inch off the ground, and then challenge yourself by raising it higher each time. You can also extend it in different directions to increase the difficulty. Engage your core actively if you start to wobble. 

Next read Part 2: How to work out while you clean the house – FLOORS 

From the Floors Up

From the Floors Up blog was created with the goal of providing a destination for consumers, designers and those interested in the flooring, design, and kitchen and bath industries. Here you’ll find, current, accurate and informative information that is always just a click away!

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