As a reminder, the 30 Be Intentional baby steps are designed to get you on the right foot, the right track and give you energy, efficiency and organization which will propel you into a life that is able to develop an overall financially smart, happy and frugal home. We encourage couples and families to do these challenges together so the whole house can function well!
As the 30 steps go along, we will be focusing on 5 areas for the Be Intentional Month:
Self
Home
Budget
Schedule
Frugality
Baby Steps for Self
Set and Keep a Consistent Bedtime Every Night
Try To Wake Up At The Same Time Everyday
Feel Amazing with Daily 5 Minute Stretching (includes Free Downloads and Tutorials)
Drink Your Daily Recommendation of Water
Take a Daily Dose of Healthful Vitamins
Baby Steps for Home
Why It’s Important To Make Your Bed Everyday
Clean Off and Scrub the Bathroom Counters and Then Do A Daily Wipe Down
Why It’s Important to Develop a Nighttime Routine
Why It’s Important To Have a 20-Minute Quick Clean Everyday
Develop a Chore System with Tips to Make It Fun and Useful
Baby Steps for Budget
Why It’s Important To Create Annual Family Financial Goals (With FREE 3-Page Download to Complete)
Create Your Debt Overview with Free Downloads and Tools
Why It’s Important To Complete the Debt Payoff and Goal Planner (with Free Downloads and Payoff Tools)
Why It’s Important to Find Your First 2 Percent Cut From Your Budget
Write Down Extra Income Goals Based on 2 Percent Rule (Free Download Too)
Brainstorm Extra Income Ideas with Free Download Helper and 130+ Ideas to Get the Ball Rolling
Baby Steps for Schedule
Why It’s Important To Write Out a Daily Schedule
Create Weekly To-Do List with Free Planner Download To Manage All Areas of Life
Now it’s time to introduce our next Baby Step, which is part of the Schedule category!
Baby Step #19
Utilize the Weekly Cleaning Schedule Download
Are you ready for a nice versatile and useful tool to help you in your daily household tasks planning? It is your “cleaning wheel!”
This is a very helpful download that you can print to create tasks that you will focus on for each day of the week. These are your “chores.”
We have a few different versions for you to download, print and utilize based on the needs of your home.
I have one that I printed and laminated to create my list with a dry erase marker each week. I use the first download where it shows the daily tasks and then I customize each day of the week for my “focus” areas that work for me.
For example, I struggle with laundry. I have tried the laundry day and it doesn’t work for me. But it could work for you! Perhaps you want Monday’s to be your laundry day! Well, then that would be your focus area. For me, I try to focus on one part of the house and then also complete one load of laundry to completion (wash, dry, fold, put away). One load a day is manageable for me. I usually have about 2 extra tasks each day along with the daily cleaning items, but there are several lines in case you do more.
The way that I have made this work best for myself is to laminate it in case I want to change the M-S tasks each week. But you can print one and fill it out and print another in several weeks too. Just use it how it works best for you!
We all owe a big THANKS Alex for creating these cleaning wheels! There are 3 versions: Totally blank, blank with lines, and then blank on the days of the week, but a checklist for the common daily tasks that nearly every household does.
The daily tasks listed are: (please note, the ones that we have talked about before include a link to the original article)
Make Bed (with article HERE on Why It’s Important To Make Bed Everyday)
Sweep and/or Vacuum
20 Minute Quick Clean (with article HERE on Why It’s Important to Have 20-Minute Quick Clean Everyday)
Wash dishes (including loading and unloading dishwasher and hand washing) (this is also part of the Nighttime Routine we talk about HERE)
Clean and Wipe Kitchen Counters
Clean and Wipe Bathroom Counters (with article HERE on Clean Off and Scrub the Bathroom Counters and Then Do A Daily Wipe Down)
So now it’s time to print one off and customize it for your schedule. Alex designed it to where it requires very little ink and in fact you can print it in fast draft/grayscale to use even less ink. But any of them uses a minuscule amount of ink!
Download and print the totally blank option HERE.
Download and print the blank with lines option HERE.
Download and print the blank with lines for the days and the Daily Tasks already written out with a check box HERE.
Please note, if you are reading this email in our rss feed or our email newsletter, you may have to click to the post HERE to print this download.
One final thing….. we also have a Facebook Group where you can engage in discussions, receive encouragement and talk to others that are participating in the challenges too for more ideas! Head to the Be Intentional with The Thrifty Couple Facebook Page HERE and ask to join us there! You can also invite friends and spouses too!