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I love sharing my life with dogs.
There is something so satisfying and joyful about a house full of sassy little monster dogs. I wouldn’t want it any other way. Sharing your home with pets does have it’s challenges though. Pets are messy, yo! And I don’t know about yours, but my two are lazy little brats! They drool and shed and leave toys everywhere and never lift a single paw to help.
I am a huge believer in living a pet friendly life that doesn’t feel like it’s gone to the dogs, so keeping my home clean and well maintained is a huge priority for me.
That said, it would be SO EASY to spend all day, every day cleaning. SO EASY. Especially if, like me, you aren’t a natural born house cleaner. Chores are, well…a chore. I am not one of those people loves the challenge of keeping a clean house, but I also don’t relish the idea of living in a glorified dog kennel, so over the years, I’ve developed a plan. It all starts in the Spring when I put just a little more effort in to set myself up right for the year. I reorganize and purge. I deep clean absolutely everything and once that’s done? It’s so easy to keep up with little daily, weekly or monthly tasks.
I absolutely refuse to start Spring Cleaning until it feels like Spring out and that just started happening. Flowers are budding, people are cutting grass, it was sunny today – yeah. Spring has sprung and it is totally time for me to HOP to it and start my Spring Cleaning.
It kind of felt like the PERFECT project for the pet friendly planner that Maggie from OMD and I have been working on. #BestLifePets isn’t just about capturing fun memories, it’s about helping you live your BEST LIFE with your pets and that means the dreary stuff as well as the fun stuff. My free printable ULTIMATE Spring Cleaning check list for pet lovers is the perfect size to print out and put in a BIG Happy Planner or it can be printed at 85% and it will fit into the Classic Happy Planner – easy peasy!
Spring Cleaning Doesn’t HAVE TO be a long, exhaustive process. I swear!
I am a huge advocate of doing bits and pieces and never giving up a full day to do anything boring. I break my Spring cleaning up into small blocks – no more than 20 or 30 minutes at a time. I set the kitchen timer and I get as many things done as I can. Then I walk away. Is my always flawless? Well…no. Life happens and I let myself and my pets live in our apartment. There’s fur. There are toys. There is mess. I don’t obsess over this list, it’s just a good tool to help me know what to tackle, as I have the time.
Click on the image below to download your copy of the ultimate pet friendly Spring Cleaning List
The real key to flawless pet friendly house keeping success: ABC – Always be cleaning.
A great Spring process is a good start, but once it’s clean, it’s a million times easier to keep it that way than to do a marathon effort a few times a year.
Maggie at OMD! Has the scoop on her day to day routines and you can check them out here. There’s a great set of printable dashboard that will pop right into your planner. (Again, print at 100% for BIG Happy Planners and 85% for OG Happy Planners). I’ve laminated my set and punched them, so that I can use them week after week.
What is your pet friendly cleaning style like?
Are you a marathoner cleaner a few times a year? Do you do a little every day or have a specific cleaning day each week?
Will you share YOUR best tip for keeping a beautiful pet friendly home?
Jodi Stone
Thursday 4th of May 2017
I love a clean house, but I hate cleaning. I am trying to get into a routine where I do a little bit at night, so the weekends are free. Most of the time though, my cleaning is done on the weekends. I make a list of tasks that need to be accomplished and I start with one, after it's done, I reward myself by playing a game or reading a chapter of a book. Then I keep attacking that list, and sometimes I find that I do more than one thing, mostly because I'm on a roll. :-)