How to Clean

Have you noticed that all of these fifties housewives look especially cheerful? I usually don’t approach cleaning with this same level of giddiness, but using this index card system has made maintaining the home manageable.

Today we’re discussing how to put the index cards to work with the activity lists. You can find last week’s posts on developing activity lists here and here. If you’re new to the series, start here.

Sidetracked Home Executives suggests having different colored indexed cards. Each color denotes the frequency of each activity.

The Color Coded Organizational Scheme

Yellow – daily tasks

Blue – weekly tasks

White – monthly, every other month, quarterly, seasonal, yearly, twice yearly tasks

Pink – personal tasks (This is the only card which isn’t assigned to a time frame.)

Organizing Your Index Cards

1. Transfer all jobs from your activity lists onto the cards. Write only one job per card. Cleaning tasks are assigned by frequency. All personal tasks are written on pink cards, regardless of frequency.
2. In the upper left hand corner of the card, write the frequency of the activity. In the upper right hand corner of the card, write how long it will take to complete. If the job takes ten minutes or less write ‘Mini’ on the top line in the center of the card.
3. Continue until each task from your activity lists is transferred to a card.

This part of setting up the system takes a while. Depending on your circumstances, it can be done in short bursts or you can set aside some time to complete the project in one long stretch (about an hour).

On Wednesday, we’ll talk about the ‘Mini’ jobs and how mini-jobbing (I made that word up) can keep a house in order more than you may think.

Other Posts in this Series

Sidetracked Home Executives, Part 1

Sidetracked Home Executives, Part 2

Sidetracked Home Executives, Part 3

This post is linked at

We’re learning how to clean! After you’ve gathered the supplies which I talked about last week, you’ll need to create your own index card tickler system. This the the foundation of your cleaning system. you’ll need to develop activity lists for every room in your house. Sidetracked Home Executives has detailed activity lists at the end of their book. But each home, and home manager, has different needs and methods for working. So you can easily develop these activity lists on your own if you want. Other options include doing a search on the internet for sample lists of cleaning tasks. You can also print out my free weekly cleaning checklist which will help you develop your cleaning lists for every room of the house, visit their website and do a search for ‘cleaning lists.’

Determine the Frequency of Each Activity

After you go through your house and create these lists (or use my pre-created cleaning list), determine the frequency of each activity. I try to hit the areas of my home listed on the printable weekly. For example, washing dishes is a daily task (hopefully!) but wiping down the baseboards in the kitchen may be a monthly, every other month or quarterly activity. Here are the frequency categories that the S.H.E. program outlines in their book:

D – Daily

EOD – Every Other Day

2/W – Twice a Week

EOW – Every Other Week

M – Monthly

EOM – Every Other Month

S – Seasonally

2/Y – Twice a Year

Y – Yearly

Any others you can think of, such as Q – Quarterly OR you may label your jobs with specific days of the week

Also, you don’t have to use all these categories, customize them to fit the needs of your home.

One more thing: put down how often you WANT to do each task, not how often you are doing them now.

On Friday, we’ll talk about activity lists for the personal areas of your life.

Read Part 1 of the How to Clean Series