MotherShip: Monthly Home Targets

What is it?

MotherShip Monthly Targets take the tasks that require your attention approximately once a month and spread them out over the course of a month so that you’re never attempting to deep clean and declutter your whole house at once.

Don’t confuse these targets with your weekly house cleaning day from the Weekly Routines & Races. The weekly tasks are the quick and dirty tasks like dusting, vacuuming, and basic cleaning. 

The Monthly Home Targets are designed to “target” four dedicated areas of your home with the intention to:

• restock items that need replacing
• purge items you no longer need
• deep clean the areas that don’t require weekly attention (and as such have a tendency to get neglected all together)
• evaluate and organize the spaces to better fit your needs. 

It sounds like a lot because it is, but again, that’s why we divide and conquer!

Why do moms need this?

When we think about decluttering or deep cleaning our homes, it can be daunting. We don’t know where to start and we continually feel like there’s no end in sight. 

During the pandemic, we’ve spent more time than ever inside our houses. It’s time to make it a happy home that makes you grateful rather than resentful.

With Monthly Targets, you’ll be able to divide your home into manageable sections and work on them little by little. You’re right in that we will never finish because there will always be something more to do. However, Monthly Targets allow us to stay ahead of the chaos – while giving ourselves grace – by eliminating the expectation that every space in our home should be maintained on an all or nothing basis.

How to use Monthly Home Targets

Most every home can be divided into these four target areas:

• Kitchen
• Kids’ bedrooms & bathrooms
• Living Spaces & other bathrooms
• Master Suite

Plan to target one area for a full week of each month and then repeat the 4 targets each month, focussing on a different aspect of the space each month. 

In MotherShip, we have supplied you with an itemized (and editable) list to address each area. Pick a few from the list (or add your own) and make those the priority for the week’s target, then next you’ll focus on something else in that same space. You’ll know where to focus because it will be the thing that’s been driving you crazy all month!

In the app, each of the four targets repeats every 28 days which equates to a new set of tasks every 7 days x 4 targets. I promise this will all make sense when you have the app in hand… and that there won’t be any math. 

The grace in this structure is that if you have a particular tough week and the target doesn’t get as much attention as you’d intended, it will pop up again next month! 

Think of your Monthly Targets in terms of a literal target. You have a bucket full of arrows with the intent to shoot them all. Some will hit the bullseye, some will come close but miss and some of them might remain in the bucket because it was just one of those months. No problem! The goal is to keep shooting.

You may opt to incorporate your Monthly Targets into your Weekly Routines, dedicating about 30 minutes one day of the week to that week’s target (we picked Mondays in the MotherShip app but you choose what day works for you). 

Here’s an example:

• Kitchen (week of 2-1-21)
• Kids’ bedrooms & bathrooms (week of 2-8-21)
• Living Spaces & other bathrooms (week of 2-15-21)
• Master Suite (week of 2-22-21)
• Kitchen (week of 3-1-21 and so on…)

Or, you can spread the tasks for the week’s target over several days and work on it when you have a few minutes to spare throughout the week. Or, you could tackle it on the weekend when you might be more likely to solicit some help from your family. We’ve made plenty of space for grace and flexibility in hitting your targets. The beauty is that when the month is done, you will have worked through your whole house!

If you could benefit from a system that gives you peace of mind, get the MotherShip app and get your ship together!