Hands up those that have a cleaning schedule!1

Ive been really busy this week, snowed under by  laundry all thanks to being lazy last week. I still am not done and I wonder if I will ever be caught up on my laundry and ironing. I'm sure one day, some day I wont have to worry. In conjunction with meal planning Ive thought of coming up with a cleaning schedule to help me get through the week and maybe I wont feel as overwhelmed as I do sometimes.

A cleaning schedule is basically a timetable for the week which says what you do on each day in terms of cleaning. In my household Tuesdays is garbage day so I clean my fridge on Monday so that I can throw out anything that has gone off from the previous week. I prefer to go to the supermarket on a Thursday because fruit and vegetables go on sale and I get the weekly local paper then too. Get it?

My cleaning schedule looks like this ( I try as much as possible to stick to it)
MONDAY - Laundry (weekend clothes), Vacuum, Clean fridge

TUESDAY- Laundry ( bed linen, towels, bathroom mat),Change bed linen, vacuum and dust furniture,Ironing, Wash garbage bin

WEDNESDAY- Laundry, Vacuum and mop entire house, Ironing











THURSDAY- Supermarket and rest

FRIDAY- Laundry, vacuum, ironing

WEEKEND- REST!!

This is what works for me, I may skip a day here and there and not stress about it but I have realised thhat doing my laundry everyday helps keep it to a minimum even though my laundry bin is always full.

Something Ive been meaning to do properly

So I have been missing in action for a few days because I have been trying to get organized by doing some menu planning and ermmm being lazy.  I admit that last week was very unproductive just because I really had no drive to do anything and that has left me with tonnes of work to catch up on this week. Lesson learnt!! The lesson being that laziness does NOT pay.

So this month I decided to do some menu planning that is the easiest way I have discovered to getting my grocery list just right and not having to stress about what to make for dinner. Menu planning can be daunting if you've never done it before (Ive done it a couple of times) and once you find the proper way for you to go about it then you're set.

I realized that I have almost 20 recipe books that I have collected rarely used. Instead of throwing them away I decided to pick one and base my dinner menu on just that one for the month. So most of my menu is based on that book and a few easy recipes that I will share with you.My first pick is a very sentimental one for me, the first recipe book I got just after I started living with my husband.

So my grocery list and menu planning began. What I then did is I went through the recipe book and came up with 11 recipes that I will make twice this month and I added 4 more easy recipes to the mix to make a total of 30dinners, 1 dinner missing I know, on the first Friday of the month we have takeaways so I don't need to plan for that night. If you have dinner plans for other nights during the week then you can also put that in your calendar too.

After doing that, take another piece of paper and right down the ingredients and amounts of each recipe then depending on how many times you're making it multiply it by that. For example if a recipe calls for a can of tomato puree and you're making it twice then you need 2 cans. After that you have a complete grocery menu for your dinners Do not forget to add your sides and salads. Also include your snacks, breakfasts and lunches.

I hope that helps you to also make up your monthly grocery list and menu plans and not have to scratch your head on what you are making for supper. Look out for all the recipes that I will share this month from this recipe book and some of my own and I know I will make a few experiments too. Enjoy!