Clean/Declutter (maintain the gumption)

I put in another good cleaning stint today.

Kitchen: Dishes/counter/stove, decluttered fridge, recycling/garbage.
Bathroom: thorough toilet/sink/tub, cleaned mirror, shelves (and bathmat).
Bedroom: Picked up clothes, made bed, vacuumed, cleaned mirror, washed bedding.
Living room: Put away toys, vacuumed, put away books & CDs.
Isak’s room / office: Put away clothes/toys, cleaned desktop, vacuumed.
Hall / Laundry room: laundry X 2, vacuumed corners, moved boxes.

A few more days of this should make up for slacking off a bit on the cleaning front.

Just for fun (ha! – right), I went in threes today. It seems logical – do three things to clean or declutter in every room. This way if I’m feeling full of cleaning chutzpah I can kick house ass with big and important things, and if my energy is low the priorities are clearer and still get done.

Today was a mix of both.

Kitchen: Dishes, counter, stove.
Bathroom: Put away dry clothes, toilet swish, sink swipe.
Bedroom: Picked up clothes, made bed, dusted.
Living room: Put away toys, refreshed flowers (the pink & yellow daisies are still perky), dusted.
Isak’s room / office: Put away clothes, tidied books, recycled logged food packages.
Hall / Laundry room: Tidied hall rack, chased down cat fur, put away 3 loads of laundry.

Whew!

I’ve continued to plug away at housecleaning, though I wish I had my previous motivation to go above and beyond daily. I only have so much spare time and lately I’ve been using it for other things – exercise, getting out for walks, general cleaning.

Necessity being the mother of invention (or at least the Aunt of motivation), the issue with the water heater meant we had to clean out that area so the plumber can get in there this afternoon.

It’s a nasty area, packed full of junk on one side (some from when we moved in) and the “Kitty potty” on the other. Since I usually just fly in for a scoop & fill, the area behind that was not pretty. I got up early knowing this was waiting for me.

After moving the rest of our stuff, I cleaned the box, put it outside, then swept the whole space with a broom that’s headed for the garbage, & re-cleaned the floor.

Then I went gangbusters on the rest of the house for a couple of hours. If I had hot water, I’d do more, but that will have to wait.

Funny, now I’m picturing Frank Zappa in a French maid’s uniform.

Due to it being tax tackling day, I had to flail about looking for papers. This turned into getting out all of them, (drawers and folders and towering stacks of them) and spreading them all across the floor. I went into a brief overwhelmed panic, then took a deep breath and sorted, organized, tossed, and filed for a couple of hours. A lot of things went into an accordion file and I’ll be able to actually find them again.

As for the rest of the house, we’ve had friends & family coming by all week, so things have remained pretty clean (little energetic frenzies here & there on top of the regular cleaning).

I feel like I need a fresh start for this. I keep kicking around various cleaning, decluttering, and “make the house nice” goals. Some seem to work better than others, and I really need to maintain my gumption without burning out. I want to kick my butt in this direction daily. Many things can fall under this goal, as long as I keep making progress (or at least don’t fall behind).

I started Friday (but was too pooped to list everything after enjoying my saucy lemonade). I started by power cleaning the kitchen: dishes and rack washed & away, counters wiped, appliances cleaned, cabinet fronts wiped down, the sink shining, the microwave sparkling, floor swept & mopped (twice), garbage and recycling out, fridge weeded, the table tidied, the shelves decluttered.

I continued on with the hall: sweeping, mopping, emptying & wiping down the coat/shoe rack, putting the winter clothes away, replacing what we’re still using.

In our bedroom: picked up clothes, finished all the laundry, put it away, made the bed, dusted & vacuumed.

In Isak’s room: put away his clothes, toys & books.

In the living room: did the usual vacuuming and picking up, dusting and decluttering, and cleaned the tv & computer screens.

Today I went after the bathroom. I stripped and cleaned the shelves, the cabinets, the candleholders (cleaned off the spilled wax), fluffed up fresh towels, washed the sink, tub, and toilet (hardcore down on the knees, inside & out, with a rag cleaning!), behind the doors & toilet, the mirrors, the window nook, the bath toys, the potty seat & stool, the toothpaste spatter on the walls, and cleaned & refilled the soap container.

I’ve been on a bit of a rampage these last few days, but my plan is to get a system down and stick with it. A bit of Flylady for inspiration and whatever else needs doing.

I will polish this place up.