If your TiKTok for you page is anything like mine, then you probably see a lot of “that girl” videos. Now I’m not going to tell you to get up super early, drink a smoothie, and go run twelve miles, but these are the things I do to make sure I have my shit together. Just over here trying to be the best “that girl” I can be (plus Alex helps too).
Daily
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Clean as I cook: This is huge for me if I want to keep my kitchen in any state of organized. If not, I’m left with a huge mess I don’t want to clean up after dinner so I leave it for future me.
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Put clothes in hampers: The urge to leave socks in the living room and my clothes by the side of my bed is real.
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Clean up basement of dishes: We often spend our evenings down in our basement watching TV or playing video games. For a while I got into the bad habit of leaving dishes downstairs. Now I try to take up everything I brought down with me.
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Put away cans: This goes along with the basement mess. Alex drinks a lot of bubble waters and cans tend to multiply quickly. We’ve put our can bin right next to the door in the garage so we can easily put them away.
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Throw away junk mail and counter clutter: Running a business gives you even MORE junk mail than just regular life, so I take the time every day to go through it all and deal with what I need to keep and recycle the rest.
Weekly
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Wipe down stove: Now if I’m really on my game I’m doing this while I’m cleaning as I cook, but sometimes the burners are still hot and I dropped some food near the flame. At least once a week I make sure to clean up any bits left over.
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Clean surfaces in kitchen: Another thing I’m doing daily, but weekly I do a good clean down with sprays and more elbow grease.
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Vacuum floors: Now that we have hardwoods through most of the house I vacuum way more, but at the very least I do this weekly.
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Empty litter box drawer: Our cats have an automatic litter box (that only one of them uses but I digress) that I make sure to clean the drawer out and replace with a new compostable bag once a week.
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Wash sliding doors: Definitely in the warmer months these bad boys get diiirrrttyyyy.
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Wash and fold laundry: If I’m being completely honest, this happens more like every other week. Or I’ll wash everything then wait a week to actually fold it. Laundry is three distinct steps to me and they very rarely get done all at the same time. Wash, fold, put away does not happen in a day in this house.
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Mow the lawn: In the dead of summer this is more like twice a week, but I actually really enjoy mowing our grass. It’s a good time to listen to some music and get some fresh air.
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Plan meals for the week: Now this definitely doesn’t happen every week, but I try to at least make a game plan of what we want to eat so I can do the next step.
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Get groceries based on meal plan: We are a once a week type of grocery shopping family. Any longer and we won’t eat what we bought or will just have fast food.
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Clean water dish for cats: The boys have an automatic water fountain that gives them moving water, but we like to wipe it down regularly.
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Clean cats’ teeth: They hate this. We do it anyway.
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Water plants: I’m very strict with my plant watering schedule and sometimes I’ll go longer than a week depending on what my plants are telling me to do.
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Go through Monday bin of bills and paperwork: I keep a bin I’ve labeled “Monday Bin” filled with all of the paperwork and bills I need to take care of. Monday morning I’ll go through the bin, write checks, mail payments, and deal with everything I’ve added to it over the week. This is usually when I’ll write birthday cards or send wedding gifts, etc.
Monthly
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Replace kitchen sponge: Depending on how dirty it is I may do it sooner, but I always switch it after a month.
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Clean toilets: Spot cleans happen on the regular, but a deep clean once a month is good for us.
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Clean showers: Sammeee.
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Rotate mattress: I often try to do this every time we change the sheets (so every week and a half or so)
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Wash mirrors: If we’ve had guests over they tend to be more smudgy than usual
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Rotate houseplants: They gravitate towards the sun so I rotate them every month to keep them looking straight.
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Weed whack: In the summer we take care of growing weeds around our edges once a month. I’m sure our neighbors wish we did it more often, but that’s just not going to happen.
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Prune houseplants: Once they’re rotated it becomes obvious if things need to be snipped off.
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Cut cats’ nails: Or whenever they really start to hurt when we’re playing.
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Empty basement trash: We keep a large trash bin in the basement for movie nights and guests, so it takes a bit longer to fill up. If it doesn’t start getting a smell, we do it about once a month.
Seasonally
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Dust houseplants: It’s alarming how dusty these guys can get.
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Clean out pantry: I try to do this at least twice a year because things can get pushed to the side and won’t get used.
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Clean out fridge/freezer: Nobody wants random things growing in a forgotten Tupperware dish in the back behind the milk.
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Clean interior of garbage can: A good rinse down always does the trick.
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Change HVAC filter: We are religious about changing our air filters. Our Maincoon cat has crazy long hair and really dirties up the works.
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Wash bath mats: Honestly I probably only do this once a year if I’m being honest. That’s probably gross.
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Weed flower beds: I honestly hate weeding. I love indoor plants but outdoor plants with weeds are the worst.
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Take care of plants based on season: Outdoor ones I kind of just let do their thing.
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Fertilize houseplants: Indoor plants get special VIP treatment.
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Clean out utility drawers in kitchen: We don’t really have a “junk” drawer, but I make sure to clean out our kitchen drawers of any unnecessary things and reorganize them.
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Wash cat beds and blankets: More frequently if they start to show piles of Gallifrey’s dark hair.
Yearly
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Wash windows: Definitely an Alex task. I hate it.
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Mulch: Every year I try to black out the last time we mulched because it is awful.
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Repot houseplants: These girlies like their breathing room!
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Clean gutters: Alex on a ladder.
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Power wash house: Alex never lets me do this…I don’t think he trusts me…
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Repair caulking on windows and counters: We don’t do this every year, just touch ups where needed.
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Winterize sprinklers: We call a guy.
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Organize coat closets and clean: Our coat closets get messy and somehow accumulate random things we immediately forget we had.
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Organize front door closet and clean: This closet is the weirdest closet we have that often gets random things put inside of it to store. Like there’s a random bin of kid’s toys in here. We don’t have kids.
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Clean out and sweep garage: Usually this happens when spring starts to get rid of all the salt and gross dirt from the winter.
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Schedule vet appointments: You know it.
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Schedule yearly appointments: Get these on the calendar early so you aren’t waiting ages to get in.
Did any of these tasks stand out to you as weird or unusual? Is there anything I’m missing that is glaringly obvious to you? Let me know in the comments!
