keep my apartment tidy, not just when people visit

I’m keeping up on the “tidy” part – but I need to get real about the keeping-it-clean part.

I’m still going thru mail daily (I can’t believe I’m still doing well with that!), taking out the recycling more often, hanging up my clothes daily (I got rid of the chair so I can’t pile it up anymore)and general tidy-ing stuff.

But the cleaning part hasn’t become a habit yet. It’s time it becomes one.

Time to mark this goal as “I’ve done that” and create new one for phase 2 of TIDY.

When I get overwhelmed, my place is a mess. The months when all I do is sleep there because I am out studying somewhere or have a million things to do.

I’m really excited that I actually got a chance to vaccum on the weekend, however I’m still having a problem in the whole ‘do your dishes’ deal. I’m sure I’ll get over it, but its not so bad that I wouldn’t mind having people over – I’d just have to clean up a bit before they arrived. Hopefully, I’ll get better at this as the month goes on!

My brother came over yesterday and oh my goodness was I ever embarrased about the state of my house. Books and crap all over the couch, kitchen not clean, bathroom a mess of products and clothes all over my bed. I obviously have to try harder to keep my apartment as clean as I want it to be if I’m going to make cleanliness a habit…

My mother is coming tomorrow, so I’m cleaning tonight!

...is approximately 43 days from now (please correct me if I’m wrong!), and I’d like to keep my apartment tidy (and company worthy) from today until then. I feel like my main problem is my kitchen. I’ve been getting really good about the bedroom, and not having clothes everywhere, but I rarely do my dishes immediately after using them. This is my biggest task. I have very very similar goals (clean up after myself being one of them), and I’d like to accomplish all of my house-maintance goals before Christmas. We’ll see how this goes..

I’m doing OK keeping tidy eventhough it did get lost in the shuffle a bit. I’ve been getting rid of so much stuff that there’s less to be “untidy” with. But, it’s time to step up the actual cleaning of what’s left.

The kitchen’s in good shape – I’m doing a little in there daily (visitors always end up in the kitchen so it had better be clean!) The other room’s are OK – just dusting needed. Maybe I’ll try to focus on 1 room each weekend? The first contestant? My bathroom.

Well, everything’s pretty much in the right room (it’s just not put away or up yet). This weekend, I cleaned around stuff in the living and dining room and the dining room table is empty (yeah!)so I was able to change the table cloth. The den is clean but still has orphaned stuff on the floor.

The other rooms – my room, kitchen and 2 baths – are hanging in there but not for long. I’ve got to get back into a cleaning routine.

My place is a mess. Not the “old type” of mess like dishes in the sink or mail piled up but from the unpacking after painting, there is stuff all over, boxes to cut up, left over paint to be stored, etc. My bedroom is still the storage place for so much stuff.
My goal this weekend is to get things at least put in the correct room so I can start back on a cleaning schedule. I’m going to check out Flylady since so many 43T’ers have mentioned it.

It’s surprisingly easy to clean, when you keep up on keeping it clean. Who knew? LOL!
Tonight I spent less than 1/2 hour “tidying up”. The biggest was sweeping/vacuuming the dust from the painters (a nightly ritual). Then a quick spray and wipe of the kitchen and bathroom counters, changed the litter box, dumped recycling and changed towels in bath.
I not only found it surprisingly easy to do but dare I say it? I enjoyed it. This goal is starting to pay off-in more ways than one.