Cleaning in this craziness, one calls a house

We love having people over at our house.  Between my party planner of a daughter and my large family to our friends, our house is normally filled 3 days of the week.  One rule I gave to myself was that I would not clean before guests come over.  Now when I say clean, I mean like a deep clean.  I just don't see the value of vacuuming the carpets just so people can track their dirty feet and shoes through the house.

I do clean, I promise!

I came up with this "Daily Cleaning Schedule" that works really well.  Now I'm the type of person that needs to have a list.  I can check off things off of this "list" when its finished.  So for me, this type of organization works.  For some, they would find this stupid or tedious.  But for my household with 6 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms, this keeps it clean and "presentable" so we can have our family and friends over without thinking I've got mold growing in my toilet and ashamed of its appearance.

So this is what I do:

Daily Cleaning Schedule

Morning

Make beds

Wipe bathroom sink and counters

Empty dishwasher

Laundry into washer

Mid-Day

Chore of the day

Change laundry/fold/put away

Evening

Load dishwasher/run

Wipe down Kitchen counters

Sweep floors

Take care of stair baskets

Chores of the day

Monday:  Kitchen counters and Laundry room

Tuesday:  Clean mirrors and windows

Wednesday:  Toilets and tubs

Thursday:  Mop floors

Friday:  Swing Day

Swing Day Chores

1st - Wipe down cabinets and furniture

2nd - Oven, microwave, and fridge

3rd - Wipe down walls, baseboards, and doors

4th - Spot clean carpets and furniture

Some of these chores are dispersed to my little one as she's three years old going on 15!  Example is the "stair baskets".  These are baskets that I got for FREE when I hosted a Thirty One party with a friend close by.

 

The system that works in our house is that these baskets sit on my stairs.  Throughout the day if I'm cleaning or picking up clutter that has been left on the main level I put it in the person's basket that it belongs to.  At the end of the day, on our way up to bed, it is one of our chores that we take this basket to our room and take care of the items properly (instead of making a pile to just collect throughout the week).  Then in the morning, we bring our basket down and place it back on the step for that day.  It works for us, and avoids numerous trips up the steps to take care of small items left behind in our main living areas.

So that is how we keep our place looking "decent".  What do you do in your space?