My Summer Loop Schedules

I asked you if you wanted to see my deep cleaning loop schedule, and a handful of you said yes, so if you really didn’t want to see it, now you know who to blame.

Ha!

I realized that I actually have two loop schedules going on this summer. I also have a daily schedule you might be interested in. I decided to share all three, just for fun and blog fodder and all that.

Cooking Helper Loop Schedule

My children do help with dinner preparation on and off throughout the school year, but not consistently. In the summer, I have a helper almost every single night that I’m preparing a meal, no matter how simple the meal.

This is the easiest schedule for me to remember: youngest to oldest and then back again. O-Age-Five, Q-Age-Seven, A-Age-Nine, and then E-Age-Twelve.

Over and over.

It’s works great.

They usually want to help, but in the summer, they have to help even when they don’t want to. I consider this good preparation for life. Sometimes, I don’t want to make dinner, either.

Weekday Vacuum Loop Schedule

This is our vacuuming schedule that runs year-round. We’ve had various children responsible for the vacuuming over the years. Right now, this falls into Q-Age-Seven’s daily chores.

 

Monday	dining room, kitchen, living, back door
Tuesday	dining room, library, entry, halls, back door
Wednesday	kitchen, boys’ room, girls’ room, play nook, back door
Thursday	dining room, office, hall bathroom, back door
Friday	kitchen, master bedroom, master bathroom, back door

 

 

When we deep clean a room, it is vacuumed again, more carefully (unless it was done that very day before we started). This is when the tube attachment is used to get into hard-to-reach spots and window sills. The daily vacuuming is traffic-areas, mainly, and done rather quickly.

To make a schedule like this that works for you, divide your house up into zones and then decide how often the various zones need to be vacuumed.

Deep Cleaning Loop Schedule

We deep clean for about a half-hour per day, from start to finish. This means we usually only get one room done; maybe two if the first room is small, such as the laundry room (but, then, I usually have small or quick rooms grouped with other rooms on the list anyhow). Each child has assigned tasks for each room. So, for example, when we get to the living room, I clean the ceiling fan and dust all the furniture (includes a piano) while E-Age-Twelve vacuums thoroughly. This means he vacuums the couches (cushions, pillows, and all), moves them, and vacuums underneath them. A-Age-Nine cleans the sliding glass doors inside and out and also the glass fireplace. The two littlest ones have to clean up all the clutter, putting everything away that they can possibly put away, and then clean the baseboards.

We have all the jobs divvied up for every single part of the house, and I have a list we can refer to in case we forget. I am not naturally a good cleaner, so this is imperative for me. I am always adding to my list when I realize I’ve been forgetting something.

Like today, when I suddenly realized no one has been cleaning the dining room light fixture for who knows how long.

But I digress.

If I walk into a room and have to make decisions about delegation, I’ll end up not cleaning. Hence all the lists and schedules.

This loop schedule covers about three or four weeks because it is my attempt to hit high traffic areas much more often (weekly) than low traffic areas (every 2 or 3 weeks).

 

Deep Cleaning Loop Schedule

 

I print this list out, and when we’ve x’d our way down all three columns, I print out a new copy, making adjustments if I think they’re necessary.

Today, one of my daughters told me that this cleaning schedule thing is not so bad, after all. This is the same child who threw a fit when I announced the new schedule. (Resistance is futile, as I’m sure you understand.) We clean throughout the year, but it is much less organized and much less thorough because our lessons and other school activities take the front seat.

(Cleaning isn’t in the back seat; it’s in the trunk.)

(Mystie would be ashamed of me.)

Have any of you developed schedules to keep your summer running smoothly?