New to Branches? Here's how it works:

Think of your home as a tree and each room is a branch of that tree.

First, break the house up into branches (manageable areas), which can be DEEP cleaned in a week's time.

For each branch, compile a list of all the tasks you'll need to do to get that room to SPARKLE! This includes cleaning, dusting and vacuuming the areas behind and under furniture, washing windows and curtains, etc.

Also, put together a Weekly Cleaning List to keep things looking good. Each week, finish your Weekly Cleaning THEN focus on doing some deep cleaning in this week's branch.

Cycle through the branches, one per week, to maintain a high level of cleanliness throughout the house.

Here's the schedule of Branches we'll be following:

Week 1: Entry/Living Room
Week 2: Dining Room/Laundry Room
Week 3: Bathrooms/Front Porch
Week 4: Kitchen/Back Porch
Week 5: Children’s Room/Guest Room + Closets for those rooms
Week 6: Family Room/Room of choice
Week 7: Master Bedroom/Master Closet
Week 8: All House Cleaning

Some sample "Choice" Rooms:
Office, Pantry, Craft Room, Garage, Attic, etc.

Make your master and individual branch lists work for YOU. The lists we share here are just our own examples; yours should be designed to suit your own home and situation.

If the branch you're working on needs decluttering, focus on that first. It's much easier to clean a room that doesn't have piles and boxes everywhere. Even if the whole house needs decluttering, this is a good way to focus on a room at a time on a regular schedule.

This isn't a competition. Just go at your own pace, as that will be exactly right for you. We are all here to support and encourage one another.

Start with a new branch each week. If you don't finish all the tasks on your branch list for the week, that's OK--you're already ahead of where you were before, and the unfinished tasks will still be there for you when you cycle back to this branch. If you finish early one week, you can go back to work on previous branches.

Don't overload yourself too much every week. The goal is to do a little bit at a time. Spend just 15 – 30 minutes per day in your branch. You should also find that “branch” cleaning gets easier once you've been doing it for a while.

Our newbie “Branchers” have accomplished a lot, and you can too! Start by posting your branch list for the week here, and work along with us.

Sorry I'm so late getting this up, but I had a sick one at home today. She's better now.

We have been keeping our house picked up, so "just" need to clean. This week is also a very busy one with meetings at the preschool, so I will have to stream line my list.

Living Room:
Vacuum
Dust
Clean fan and lights

Entry:
Vacuum
Dust
Clean mirror and front door

Should be able to do that easily, but still will help to keep the house presentable and liveable.

Have a great week.

Living room is tidy. I will only need to dust and vacuum. Maybe this will be a good week to polish the brassware, including the big (5' tall) ceremonial oil lamp!

Living room looks good, pulled the furniture from the walls, dusted, polished tables, lamps, glass shelves and vacuumed. Scrubbed the magazine rack and trashed 90% of the contents, treated furniture with conditioner, necessary in our dry climate. Plan to steam clean carpeting tonight after everyone goes to bed to allow it to dry thoroughly.

Worked on my living room a week or so ago. Entry is fine.

I'm on this train. In my entry/living room, what most needs doing is the windows and light fixtures. Since it's already nearly the week's end, and the room is not too badly off anyway, I'll focus on getting those things done.

Carolyn