WEEK ONE-STAY ON TASK!

Week one:

Update on progress on my cleaning and organizing journey.

Last week to get mentally prepared I did a quick read through on some well respected bloggers concerning my cleaning and organizing conundrum. After finding a great variety of writers dealing with the issues of cleaning and organizing on (Vintagecashcow.co.uk/blog/dandy-declutter/best-declutter-blogs ), I simply started by contemplating my current practices and making a list of ways I conquer this house using suggestions that I studied and identified with from Flylady.com.

From Flylady.com I applied 4 preliminary principles…

#1 Flying lesson “Getting Dressed to Shoes”. http://www.flylady.net/d/getting-started/flying-lessons/dressed-to-shoes/

(Funny thing, I had already started this habit a few weeks ago when I got tired of leaving the house wearing “the wrong shoes”!) So getting my shoes on helps me get cleaning and stay fashionable!

#2 Tackle one hotspot every week until they are gone and a new routine is formed by all family members. ( http://www.flylady.net/d/getting-started/fly-faq/#hotspot )

#3 Organize and/or rearrange one cluttered furniture area or floor space per week. Until I have the ability to manage daily... (I took before photos of the areas i’d like conquer.) (http://www.flylady.net/d/getting-started/fly-faq/#challenge)

#4 add some small cleaning duties with a big impact to my daily routine to include the some of stuff that goes neglected for 1-2 weeks at a time. (http://www.flylady.net/d/getting-started/flying-lessons/

The fact is, I already have a morning routine. And most of the time I have a before bed routine. This is my current morning routine:

-I usually get up between 6-7am (although I’m trying to get up earlier as the sun rises earlier Spring is coming! Ya!)

-I go into kitchen and start to boil water for tea or french press coffee…It’s cold in here!!

-We only have wood heat… seriously sometimes it 40* in the house… So I get the wood stove going.

-Move laundry from last night’s wash to dryer and throw in another load!

-Then I start breakfast (which my hubby and son take with them instead of lunch)

-Empty dishwasher

-Get myself ready (sometimes I don’t really get to this part… I’m working on it…)

- Sweep & vacuum and often mop

Take our daughter to school ( Tues/Thurs ) or ballet class ( Mon/Wed/Fri )- Yes, she dances first thing in the morning 3x per week- Her ballet school is nearly and hour away with traffic! Every evening each day of the week we return and Saturday she has ballet class too… so ya… driving is my life!

I had to dive deep within to decide what I can manage that will make the biggest impact. For example reading through flylady schedules, I cannot save vacuuming for one day per week. That is a daily chore, sometimes twice or more per day! (Especially when I’m working on a sewing or design project.) Also sweeping the kitchen for us is mandatory every other day at minimum.

So I decided to experiment by adding these “chores” to my morning routine#

-making my bed after hubby leaves for work

-wipe down the bathroom sink and mirror when all family members have finished

-clean all the spills off the range top every morning before I start driving.

Last week to get going on my new practices, I went around the house photographing our “hotspots”. There is a severe lack of storage in this whole house! My husband and I have have 2 separate pieces of furniture in our master bedroom to accommodate most the families toiletries, first aid supplies, back up shampoo, hair dryers,curling irons, razors etc etc. (Eventually I’d like to eliminate the need for bathroom supplies in our bedroom. Who wants people going in and out of their bedroom to gather the items they need to get ready each morning? To say the least, I’ve gotten accustomed to not “sleeping in” )

Our bathroom has a pedestal sink and NO COUNTERS or under-sink cabinets. There is just one closet with one shelf for towels and toilet paper under the shelves is a laundry shoot. As a result, The bathroom window sill was constantly cluttered with hair brushes, all sorts of sprays, and usually my daughters eyeglasses and retainer box. The back of the toilet ended up stacked with more toiletries and toilet paper. So to rectify these hotspots, I purchased a basket at a second hand store for $4.99 and made a quick fabric cover for it. I set it on back of the toilet to catch all the items that were scattered about. I think the before and after photos speak for themselves. And so far everyone is utilizing the change! Yay! One area down 14 to go? *sigh*