spring clean

I added a “to-do” gadget to my google page, making a list of the top dozen or so things I’m regularly trying to keep up with around the house.

It’s helpful, and I’ve been keeping up with things lately, but I’m wanting to get back to polishing them all off and still having enough energy left over to do some non-routine cleaning & decluttering.

I think next month I’ll merge my cleaning & decluttering goals.

Did battle with half a dozen things that were stacking up… dishes, laundry, toys, books, recycling (we picked up new bags – someone stole the old ones), counters… the place isn’t perfect but it looks better. Good enough to invite someone in for tea if they drop by unexpectedly.

• edit: Ha! I loaded the wrong picture… I’m leaving it. I’ll pretend it’s the wicked witch that messes up my house every time I turn my back.

Today I cleaned and cleaned and cleaned in that “oh jeez people are coming over for dinner tonight” sort of way where all of a sudden you look up exhausted to find the place pretty damn clean. I’m too pooped to list it all. There was a list somewhere, but it’s all scratched out.

Maintaining this with an extra push. Hitting the short list for every room then going a little bit further. I’m wondering if I should get more creative, maybe soap up an army of trained angora bunnies and chase them through the house. It wouldn’t work if they got too nervous though, so maybe I’ll just stick with the mop.

(Seriously though, progress is being made daily, I just thought I’d skip the redundant photos of made beds and folded clothes and dusty feathers.)

I feel as though I’ve honed my housecleaning/decluttering skills greatly in the last few months, but sometimes it’s just so damn tedious doing all those things that will just need doing again tomorrow, or next week (especially if I’m low energy or have a lengthy to-do list). At least I’m keeping my head above water and have a pretty thorough auto-pilot system down now.

I think we should get an extra hour in the day for housework and things like taxes. Sort of a grown-up time warp allowance. Who can I speak with about that?

So after about 40 minutes of auto pilot cleaning this morning (same old, same old, but takes less time now)
I focused on the floors.

• I swept.

• I vacuumed.

• I washed with hot pink grapefruit suds.

• I mopped with pine-sol.

All the floors look great!!

Anything I can do above and beyond the everyday (preferably auto-pilot) stab at dishes, counters, laundry, toys away, garbage out, broom slip, vacuum slide, dusty shuffle… feels great.

Yesterday I managed to re-arrange Isak’s book shelves. Once I had everything out on the floor it was a bigger job that I’d anticipated, but it looks much better now, and now there isn’t a waterfall of toddler literature every time he pulls out a story to read, which makes it more appealing for everyone.

After my 80-day flylady stint, I took nearly a week off, so I’m a bit behind on housework and threw myself back into the chaos, which is smaller, but still in need of help.

Since I need some sort of cleaning/decluttering goal combo to stay on track, I thought I’d continue here…

What I did today:

Kitchen: Washed/put away dishes, wiped counters, fridge side & stove top, swept, took out garbage & recycling.

Bedroom: Put away clothes, tidied up, made bed, swept, dusted.

Hall: Swept, tidied shoe & coat rack.

Isak’s room/office: Picked up clothes, toys, made bed, papers, tidied desk.

Bathroom: Tidied shelves, cleaned sink, emptied trash, cleaned floor.

Living Room: Picked up toys, books, movies & cd’s, decluttered table, dusted, vacuumed.

• Bonus of the day: Finding nearly $40 in change, which I put in the loonie-toonie road trip fund. A sweet bounty!