House cleaning day

Well, today is my day off work and time to clean the house. I did manage to get the bathroom mostly done yesterday, so where to start today?

You know, I've always wanted a nice, organized schedule to stick to on this so I would stay on top of things and not feel like I was doing "make-up work" on the house all the time. The problem is, schedules just don't work for me. Believe me, I've tried. The best intentions go to the wayside because there's always something more pressing to do (usually a paying job-that always gets priority). When you live, work, and home school the kids in the same house, cleaning is a low-priority item that turns into putting out fires, at least that's how it ends up working in my home.

However, I do have some things I do that help a little, although I'd never be accused of being organized. The most important thing is I get rid of clutter. If I'm not using something, it's gone, unless it's a heirloom. I even use those. A long time ago, I decided to take the "good silver" out of its box and put it in the silverware drawer for everyday use. I've had two positive results from this. One, the silver is regularly used and stays relatively tarnish-free. Two, every day I get to see it, and it is from my grandma, who is no longer with us. I didn't get any benefit from it sitting away in a box in the closet. I'm the same way with other things, like grandma's doilies.

Now, reducing clutter was a little easier for me than others, because I've moved over an ocean. I had to reduce what I had to only the most important things before I even left. Even so, I seem to have amassed a collection of stuff here already, in one year. So even though I don't have a lot of clutter, I still get piles of things that I have to go through and toss out once in awhile.

My Daily Agenda book has helped a lot, too. It's a notebook-sized book with two days per line and a bunch of blank lines. I write down everything I do for the day in it. If I have a recurring task like reordering medical supplies, I write the phone numbers on a sticky and put it on the date it needs to be done. After I do that, I move it to the same date the next month. I've found my notebook gives me a sense of accomplishment, because I can see what I did for the day, even if there's still a pile of dishes in the sink.

I have a lot of things to tackle today: My closet, the fridge, my files, vacuuming, dusting, and straightening. I'll let you know what I managed to get to on the next post!