I gave up on my Sunday resets and I have never felt so free – here’s the alternative tidying routine I swear by for my busy schedule

Sunday resets were a staple in my house for several years. The bedding was stripped and washed, the kitchen and bathroom were deep cleaned, and the house got an overall tidy up – until I started to feel burnt out.

Sunday resets quickly went from the refresh my house and mind needed to the most dreaded part of my week.

That’s why I gave up on them and found a schedule and some smart cleaning tips that work better for my busy, ever-changing routine – and here’s why you should, too.

Why Sunday resets are not for everyone

Don’t get me wrong, I used to love my end-of-week resets – I even wrote about how to perfect your Sunday reset a few years ago. While I certainly think that they can work for a lot of people, I have now switched to daily things to keep mess at bay instead.

The result? I am far less stressed and have found the right cleaning balance in my home.

The problem with the Sunday reset was it was completely eating away at hours of my free time. Not only that, I let chores pile up until I was left cleaning when I felt overwhelmed.

Plus, working five days a week means by the weekend, I want to use it to its fullest, whether that means going out on hikes or adventures or completely vegging out and letting my body rest, especially as my weekdays grew busier with work, family responsibilities, and extra-curricular such as clubs and a more structured exercise routine.

Long story short, I was desperate to enjoy a chore-free weekend.

However, that didn’t stop my guilt. Sunday resets were ‘the thing’ to do – all the best cleaning influencers kept their house immaculate through these deep cleaning days. Cleaning expert Chris Willatt, owner of Alpine Maids, de-influenced these cleaning beliefs for me, however, explaining that, ‘Sunday reset cleaning can work for some folks. It allows them to focus on something other than work and family and just get a bit done around the house. For others, it is an easy way to get back into the work week.

'However, it isn’t necessary. When you set regimes or schedules for yourself like making sure you clean on Sundays it can be a bit detrimental. You are just putting one more task on yourself that seems like a work task that you really don’t want to do but you will end up doing it because it is on your list of stuff to get taken care of.

‘Allow yourself to relax over the weekend,’ he recommends. ‘The trash will get taken out; the countertops will get wiped down. Understand it isn’t a bad thing if your kid forgets to take the trash can out to the road in time. Everything will work out.’

What I now do instead of a Sunday reset

That is why I turned to creating an achievable cleaning routine and tacking chores on to the end of my work days instead. Rather than deep cleaning the kitchen and bathrooms together on a Sunday, I started cleaning the kitchen after dinner, breaking tasks down into individual tasks and doing them as needed.

For example, I clean the kitchen sink when it starts to look dirty, and I quickly clean and declutter countertops every night, wiping down cabinets too if they have a spill on them. The same goes for cleaning the bathroom, vacuuming, and dusting my house.

As it turns out, this is the way that cleaning expert Chris suggests tackling chores. He says, ‘Take care of cleaning issues throughout the week as they arise. Prepare throughout the week to take care of certain tasks so you don’t have to deal with them come Sunday.

'If you notice meat in the fridge is going bad on a Wednesday, get rid of it. If the toilet is getting dirty by Thursday, or if the stove top is crusty come Monday night, clean it. If you notice something needs to be cleaned, take care of it once you notice it so you can get the job done and over with. It only takes a few minutes to clean something. That way you can save your Sundays for family fun or just fun by yourself.’

Meet the expert

Chris Willatt

Chris Willatt is the owner of Alpine Maids, a cleaning service in the Denver Metro Area. He started his business after realizing how difficult it was to find high quality cleaning services and decided to create a service in which transparency and staff training are key. They believe in providing excellent working conditions to their cleaners to ensure they treat your home with the respect it deserves.

FAQs

Should you do chores every day?

Chores do not need to be done every day. In fact, having a day or two free from chores per week can help stop you from feeling exhausted or burnt out, preventing chores from piling up in the long run and keeping your home manageable.

Is it normal to hate doing chores?

It is pretty normal to hate doing chores, especially if they add time to an already busy week when you want to relax. Luckily, there are some smart ways to hack your brain to make chores easier, including listening to music or a TV show to make it feel like you are losing less time to tasks, or working with a friend to make it more sociable.

It turns out, for me at least, these micro-resets are key to a tidy home, finally helping to motivate me to clean as a serial procrastinator, and now my Sundays finally feel like Sundays again.