Reduce + Simplify Your Household Chores

Whether it's a house, an apartment, or even just a single room, one thing we all have in common is that we have chores.  For context, I call them household chores but it doesn't mean you have to have a house.  Either way, these chores tend to be a burden.  Some people are organized with them and have a routine for daily, weekly, monthly, and annual chores while others just handle them as they recognize it needs done. No matter how you handle household chores, everyone can benefit from reducing and simplifying the chores we have to do and today I'll talk about how to do that. 
Now before we get into this, I will be the first to admit I'm a sucker for those to do lists and free printable household binders that go into such detail that it ends up being exhausting to think of designating a specific day for a task that you do as needed like changing the trash (like when it's full...duh?).  Also, I feel like I should mention I have a pretty practical free printable household management binder that won't overwhelm you.  Still, there's nothing wrong with this type of routine if that's your thing. I personally like cleaning because it feels so productive and rewarding but even then, I try to reduce the amount of things I do in a routine so that it's not a bigger effort than it needs to be.   The point of this post is that we want to reduce and simplifying your household chores so they aren't such a burden and are much easier to incorporate into your regular life routine. 

 

Make a List of Everything

The first step in reducing and simplifying your household chores is to make a full list of every single one of them.  For some people this may be easy but for others it make take some time.  Writing them down is helpful so you can actually see them all and when it's time to organize when they get done, you have them all documented.  If you struggle to think of every chore break it down by day then week then month then year.  Mentally go through the tasks you do on this type of basis.  You can also physically or mentally walk through your living space (including the outside of your home) to come up with those things you do that you almost forget about like the semi annual deep clean of behind the fridge and washing the baseboards.  

Add Missing Tasks

Going through the first step may have helped you recognize things you should be doing on a regular basis, even if it's just once a year. These could be household maintenance things like scheduling an annual servicing of your HVAC system or deep cleaning your patio furniture cushions. For simplicity's sake, not everything needs to be done on a standard basis.  It's perfectly fine to keep certain things on an as needed basis when they make themselves obvious.  For instance as someone who has about 75 houseplants in their home, as much as I'd love to add the task of pruning dead leaves to a regular schedule, I don't really need to because I spend enough time cooing over my plants that I notice those things and immediately snipping off the yellow leaves.  I also have a task that I do weekly which is checking the water level of my plants and watering the ones that need it.  To simplify my routine, that's the only task I need because while I do that task I'm also inspecting my plants for dead leaves and pests.  If you are someone who isn't regularly keeping an eye on all your plants, you may want to add this task in.

 

Eliminate What You Can

Now you want to go through and see how you can reduce the amount of chores on your list.  Some common ways to do that are: 

• Combining tasks into one chore that is done on a regular basis. Like I said with checking my plants, I don't need to add multiple things to my overall chore list.  In fact, with houseplants, I do a once a year repotting check where I lift every plant's nursery pot out of the decorative pot to see if the roots are sticking out which means I need to repot it.  I do this in the Spring and all at once.   , like checking on my plants which I mentioned above.
  
• Eliminating tasks that are done automatically. This is what I meant with some of those cleaning blogger checklists (which I love) where they designate a specific day of the week to changing all the trash bags in your home.  For me, that's not practical as not every trash bin in each room is full at the same time.  I don't need that task cluttering my head or my to do list and since we take our trash bags to our main trashcan as soon as they're full, it's pointless to make that an item on my list. 
• Eliminate tasks that are done too often. While I would love to be dedicated to wiping my kitchen counters down every single evening so it's nice and clean for the next day, it's not necessary especially on days we don't cook and make almost no mess.  Keeping it on my to do list or even in my head as a daily task can feel overwhelming to me.  So I don't even include it on my task list. It's something I do automatically on a day when I've heavily use the kitchen. This kind of goes with the automatic tasks that you can eliminate. Remember - we want to simplify our household chores.  If you can be in a regular habit of doing something automatically - you don't need make a big ordeal about "scheduling" it.    
  

Sort by Frequency

Sorting by frequency is a way to streamline and simplify your household chores overall.  You may do these chores at a certain frequency already but for this step, you will be sorting them by the frequency you want to do them moving forward. This also will help reduce the amount of chores for each frequency.  Yes, some suggest you should wash your bed sheets every week. I do it once a month.  I wash pillowcases more frequently but overall we are only in our bedroom for sleeping and we don't watch TV in bed and lounge there.  By the time 4 weeks goes by, I am already thinking "I definitely gotta wash these sheets".  

So get one piece of paper for each of the following frequencies: 

• daily (things done every day)
• weekly (things done once a week)
• monthly (things done once or twice a month)
• quarterly (things done every 3 months)
• semi-annually (things done every 6 months)
• annually (things done once a year or once every few years)

Then go to your main task list and decide which of those pieces of paper each task goes to. When you've added it where it should go, cross it off. Do this for every task until all have been crossed off.  Put each piece of paper in order by frequency, starting with annual tasks.

Set a Date

For this step, go through each piece of paper one by one and decide a date or specific time period to do the tasks on it.  Here's a breakdown by frequency:

• Annual Chores: Whether it's once a year or once every 2-3 years, decide on a month to do these types of tasks.  If you pressure wash the exterior of your home every 2 years, choose a month to do that.  It makes the most sense to do it in Spring so most people would probably put it in April or May depending on the climate of where you live.  If it's something like winterizing your pool once a year, it would make the most sense to do that in September or October, again based on the climate where you live. 
• Semi-Annual Chores: No matter what they are, the most common time of year to do semi-annual chores is usually at the beginning of Spring and beginning of Winter.  If you can streamline all your semi-annual tasks to be done around the same time, that's even better because that means you can probably select one week during that month to do all those things.  
• Quarterly Chores: My favorite time of year to do quarterly chores are December (or January if the holidays overwhelm you), March, June, and September.  This coincides with the changing seasons so it kind of comes naturally for me because I tend to do Spring and Fall cleaning in March and September. 
• Monthly Chores: Things done once or twice a month can be done at certain times of the month like the 1st, 15th, or 30th. I usually settle on that time from for monthly chores because it covers the beginning, middle, and end of the month.
• Weekly Chores:  I like to designate certain days of the week for certain chores and I break it down so I do no more than 1 or 2 a day.  This makes it easier for me to adjust my routine when things come up. For example, I always check my plants on Tuesdays, but once a month I have to go into the office on a Tuesday.  It's not a big deal for me and doesn't throw off my routine because I can easily just move that task to either Monday or Wednesday. 
• Daily Chores:  Ideally, you shouldn't have a large list of daily chores because that just goes against the simplification goal.  If you have a daily routine, most of those things can be done instinctively.  Like I mentioned earlier, wiping down my kitchen isn't even on a task list because I do it automatically as I use my kitchen.  When I cook, I clean as I go. After dinner is served and I wash the pan I cooked it in, I quickly wipe down the stove, counters, and sink.  I actually don't have any daily chores.  The weekly frequency chores replace anything that needs me to make an effort to do it daily. 

Create a Final Household Chore Schedule

This can be done differently depending on your style.  Some people want a written list on paper.  Some people (like me) have notes in their phone for to do lists so it's technically a physical list but it's not on paper and it goes everywhere you go.  Some people are far superior than me and can just keep it all in their head, but it's best to get it all set up on paper or in your phone (or computer) until it becomes second nature. 

 

The key is keeping it very handy so you can refer to it quickly as needed. If someone asks me what day works best for me to get together with them, I look at my Notes app where I keep my To Do List for each day and my mindset is something like "Well, I have to run and wash my hair and vacuum the house and wash the floors all on this day, so perhaps the day before or after will work better".  This is why when people ask me how I always have such a clean house, I simply say that I have integrated it into my daily routine so I never put things off.  I schedule around my chores when possible.  It's just easier for me that way and I am someone that doesn't like my routine interrupted because mentally it makes me feel a bit panicky.  Do what works best for you.  

 

When all is said and done - you should have a much more manageable list of things that need done at certain frequencies and it should be much simpler to do everything on time without it becoming a huge ordeal or undertaking. If you have a spouse and kids, you can even delegate these tasks to them so there's less on YOUR list. 

 

What household chores can you reduce and simplify?  

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