Step 3: Creating light structure

 

• Day 1: Sit down and create a light structure plan. Once it is made, follow it for one week.
• Understanding the levels of clean
• Weekly cleaning light
• Morning routine light
• Night routine light
• Week 2: Revise your plan, and correct it if you need to. Do this every week until you feel it fits your life. Continue with this plan for several weeks or months, until you feel comfortable in these habits. Do not move on to step 4 before you are ready. Give your brain time to get used to the routine.
• Once these routines feel fairly natural, and you complete them on most days (and fairly easy get back on track if you miss a day), you can move on to step 4.
• If you ever fall back, just maintain at the non negotiables, and work your way back up through the steps. This is normal, and part of the process for a lot of us. But with consistency, you will get there.

Mindset reminder: don’t make it perfect, just make it better than before. Better to do things halfway, than not at all.

Understanding the levels of clean

There is different levels of clean. Many people find it exhausting, because they think of ‘clean’ as the deep cleaning (the very top level). But when it comes to what makes the biggest difference, that is not where you want to focus the bulk of your energy.

• Tidy is the first level. Tidy is the foundation for clean. When everything have a dedicated home, and is in the right spot, it will be much easier to clean, because you don’t have to move around things first.
• Weekly cleaning. This is the tasks that needs to be done regularly, but don’t need to be overly thorough. Such as dusting, vacuuming, cleaning sinks and toilets, changing sheets, and so on. This is more of a quick once over that makes it clean enough, but not perfect.
• Deep cleaning. This is your ‘spring cleaning’ tasks that you do less often, but really goes into detail with.

Step one and two was about tidy. By now, you have had time to reinforce the habit of tidying every night, and you may notice that you are feeling a little less stressed about the house. Step 3 is about the weekly cleaning.

The weekly cleaning routine

Every week, the following tasks should be done. The trick is to set a timer, and spend no more than 10 minutes on each task. When you have spent 10 minutes, you are done, even if you didn’t finish the full house. Don’t do it thoroughly, don’t go deep into the corners, just do it fast. It will not be perfect, but it will be better than before. And it will be good enough. 

Do 1 task every day. This builds consistency, and the task don’t feel as overwhelming because you are finished after 10 minutes, no matter what.

• Dust
• Vacuum
• Clean kitchen counters, sink and stove
• Take out all trash
• Clean toilet and bathroom sink
• Laundry day
• Grocery day

Creating a light morning routine

I have found that giving yourself enough time in the morning is the most important part when creating any routine, but especially the morning routine. First, you pick your tasks, and choose how much time to spend on each task. Again, give yourself a little more time than you actually need. Your morning should be enjoyable and getting you ready for the day, not stressfull. Below is an example.

• Snooze max 10 minutes
• Shower 15 min
• Clothes, hair, makeup 5 minutes
• Make breakfast 5 min (refer to the meal plan)
• Eat breakfast 15 min
• Brush teeth 5 min
• Coat, shoes, out the door 5 min

This routine would mean that I have to set the alarm for 1 hour before I need to get out the door. For me, that time is 7.30, which means I would need the alarm for 6.30.

You can always add more to this routine later if you want. But start with the absolute basics, and get those down first. There is no point in making your perfect morning routine, if it is 2,5 hours long, and you don’t have the time or energy to do it now.

A light evening routine

A good evening routine can help support your morning routine, and get the things done that you don’t have time for in the morning. Based on my schedule, I will usually be home around 17.30 at night. Based on my morning, I like to set my bedtime around 23.00 at night, to make sure to get enough sleep.

• Wind down for 15 minutes (just relax with your phone or something else)
• Cook dinner (refer to the meal plan)
• While dinner is cooking, do your 10 minute cleaning task.
• Eat, do the dishes afterwards.
• Do the quick tidy (refer to basic house rules)
• Pick out an outfit for tomorrow.
• Free play.
• 15 minutes before bed, brush your teeth, pee, change into nightwear.
• At set bedtime: lights out.

The Why

The first two steps was all about getting to a place where you could realistically keep up a routine. If you don’t have the foundations down, you will not be able to keep up with even the simplest routine.

Once you have the foundation, the next step it to implement them most necessary cleaning tasks, to keep the enovirement decent. This is where some form of structure or routine can be helpful in keeping a natural ‘flow’ through the day and week, so it feels like less effort.

You are only adding a few new habits to the routine each day, but it is now at a point where you will need some time before it becomes second nature to you. Hence why you may have to ‘rest’ in step 3 for a while, before going to step 4.