I Kept Up with the “Little House” Cleaning Schedule

Whenever I get behind on cleaning and organizing, I revert to making things as simple as possible to avoid becoming overwhelmed. In trying to reclaim some type of order after the holidays, I wanted to ease myself into the new year by doing a little bit of tidying every day, rather than lump it all into one exhausting time frame. 

I have tried to minimize the stress of cleaning the entire house at once by working on one room a day with great results. But I wanted to try something a bit different this time. In one of my favorite childhood books, Little House in the Big Woods, Ma mentions her housekeeping schedule — one task for every day except Sunday, a day of rest. Here it is:

Many productivity experts tout task batching as a way to get more work done faster. I agree, but Ma’s tasks were woefully outdated. I didn’t need any part of a Thursday to churn butter. My work-from-home wear does not need any ironing, and although I’m handy with a needle, I haven’t had to mend anything since reattaching a button on my husband’s coat last winter. 

Still, I wanted to try breaking down the major tasks as Ma did, and I knew I could certainly get on board with resting on a Sunday. Here’s how my version of the “Little House” housekeeping schedule went:

Mondays are tough. That’s why starting off with a big task made much easier by modern technology appealed to me. As I added the first of three loads to the washing machine, I imagined what it would be like to hand-wash every item of clothing and then hang them on the clothesline. I wanted to hug my Maytag.

Now, you might be thinking, “Why not take on another task during a wash or dry cycle?” That’s my usual routine, actually, but I was trying to take it leisurely. The payoff? I had time to put away every stitch of clothing and linens rather than let them languish in the laundry hamper, as it usually happens when I multitask. I closed out my first day of tasks feeling rather accomplished, even though the credit really goes to my washer and dryer.

In my neighborhood, we set out recycling and trash on Tuesday night for an early pickup on Wednesday, so it makes sense to get rid of any cardboard that might be lying around. To make things easier, I’ve even set my Amazon Prime delivery days to Tuesday so the boxes don’t have long to linger.

After the boxes were flattened, I went room by room to empty trash bins. In each room, I took a few minutes to tidy up surfaces and shelves, spending a bit more time in my home office. I put a podcast on, and by the end of an episode, I had restored order to my desk and bookshelves. (Pro tip: I bump my listening speed up to 1.5x, and it helps me work faster.)

I queued up another podcast and headed to the kitchen, where I emptied the dishwasher and made sure to put away every item that didn’t need to be on the countertop. Kitchen counters are always a work in progress, but progress was made today.

Remember, this was a cleanup postholiday; I certainly don’t plan to spend every Wednesday needing to reorganize closets and cabinets. But today I did, and I went around to every kitchen cabinet to organize the shelves. I took inventory and added some things to my shopping list.

Next, I organized the linen closet, followed by the “bunker,” the extra living room closet we use as a pantry. I’ve been putting both off for too long, and guess what? It didn’t take as long as I thought it would. Task batching at its finest!

Ma had one day of cleaning, but she also lived in a small cabin with an outhouse. I have two floors and two bathrooms, so I decided to divide the actual cleaning between two days.

I dusted one room with a microfiber cloth and set the Roomba to work as I moved on to the next. I felt like I was cheating because Ma was surely sweeping floors and beating rugs, but I don’t feel sorry for having modern technology at my fingertips.

I know these are dedicated to select rooms, but the tasks are the same: scrubbing and sanitizing surfaces. I deep cleaned the kitchen and bathrooms — including mopping the floors! — in under 90 minutes. I wish my kitchen countertops had stayed more clutter-free since just a few days ago, but such is life.

I can’t take any inspiration from Ma about how she sanitized surfaces because they didn’t discuss the outhouse in the “Little House” series. I’m not envious of their lack of plumbing back in the day, and I’m pretty sure Ma wouldn’t be jealous of having to scrub shower tiles, so I suppose we’re even.

Ma bakes on Saturday. I can only assume that meant bread and perhaps the odd cake. I went food shopping with my husband instead, but in honor of Ma and the family, I baked. However, it was a tray of brownies, not a loaf of bread. 

I also spent time watering my house plants and went back through the house to see if I missed anything. Turns out I did — the ceiling fans. Luckily, I found a way to clean them using a pillowcase so that dust didn’t fly everywhere and mess up the work I did yesterday. 

No explanation is needed here. It was lovely to wake up and enjoy a lazy Sunday with my husband and dog. Having spent many a Sunday cleaning and getting the house in order, I can say it was worth the additional effort the previous six days to have nothing to do but relax today.

I rather enjoyed this whimsical way of getting my house back in order after the holidays. However, these household tasks are infinitely easier to do than they were back in the day, so there’s no need to take an entire day for any of them. I think I’ll reserve this method for whenever I do a deeper cleaning because the task batching lets me concentrate on what I’m doing, so I do it faster.