Making a Routine That Works

I meant to post this yesterday, but here it is today. Let's talk about actually creating and implementing your cleaning routine.


I recommend the Flylady because she tackles what the major issue is first. CLUTTER. Without addressing the clutter issues in your home you will have a hard time maintaining any semblance of order and it makes every task take 30 minutes longer.

Now I'll admit her website is REALLY overwhelming so let's just break it down a bit. I recommend taking some "Mommy Time" at your local coffee shop or happy place to sit down and figure all this out.


As overwheming as it may be print out the following from the Flylady website:

Zone Cleaning Lists 
Weekly Checklist
Before Bed/Morning Routines


With these things, start a Housekeeping Binder. I actually keep mine in my coupon binder. You can put your grocery list or to do list in it and any other useful household information. It sounds a tad ridiculous, but if you have these in a special place that you can get to easily, you will check it often, I keep mine on top of the microwave, or by my wall calendar in the kitchen.


Start asking yourself:


"What areas give me the most trouble?"
"What do I hate/love cleaning?"
"What doesn't apply to me?"
"What do I need to add?"
"What can I get rid of?"


Go through each list and modify as needed. Reprint with your changes and make sure you are being REALISTIC! Then get started!

What I love about the Flylady is that you can jump in wherever you are. We are in Zone 4 right now, the master bedroom. You can start today by just doing your 15 minute decluttering sessions a few days this week. Learn to declutter here.

Once you get a few rooms decluttered (this will take a few weeks) you will start to notice that rooms stay cleaner longer and it's easier to get the rooms in order.
 
There are definitely weeks where I fall behind, but it almost always ends in a Crisis Cleaning session to get me back on track. My life is SO MUCH easier, when I just stick to my plan. I have more time with my children and more time to do the things I enjoy.

I hope these past two days haven't been too boring, and I hope that everyone can get on board with this :)

Travel Like a Flylady

We are taking a road trip to Kansas City today so before I checked out for a few days I wanted to share the Flylady tips for traveling. When you have kids (and even if you don't) packing and preparing for a trip can be a stressful experience. It doesn't have to be, so let's find out how. The Flylady Travel Guide can be found here. 

I'm just going to talk about a few of the things that have really helped me, plus a few that are specific to kids.

First of all, this is so much easier if you are already using the Flylady Method for your household cleaning. 

Because I am packing for everyone, I start a couple days ahead of time by setting aside clothing that will be worn on the trip. I also like to have a "staging area" for my packing things. This can be a spare room or a spot in your bedroom, just wherever the kids won't get into.

 Make sure your laundry is clean (duh) and make sure the house is tidy. It's so much easier to pack when the house is neat and tidy. Don't try to pack in chaos. It means your stuff will be chaos. It was alot easier to gather things when they were where they were supposed to be.

 I printed out the Flylady list and sat down a few days ago and prepared my packing list. I will put it in my suitcase and use it when I leave too :) This TOTALLY helps!


It's almost 9:30 the day we leave (we are leaving at night) and we are basically done packing aside from checking the list and finishing packing the snack bag.

 So here is the snack bag. It's a good size bag but it's not huge like a cooler. You can put ice packs in it and it has separate dry and cold sections. I bought plenty of healthy snacks to minimize drive thru stops and gas station candy bar stops ;) Plenty of water and juice too. Got it at Walmart for $9, not bad :)

Here's a big one. The fridge. We will be gone for a week, so I made sure that I didn't get tons of refrigerated items at the grocery store this week. I also did my fridge cleaning last week so it was nice and clean to begin with. Since the fridge is totally bare (eek!) I put our leftover ziti in the freezer (hubby suggested!) so we have dinner when we get back :) Any remaining produce will go in the compost this afternoon. Make sure there aren't any science projects in the back.

Here's a cool Flylady tip. Put some Mr. Clean or Pinesol down the toilet and all your sink drains. It's supposed to help with that weird stale smell. We'll see how it works when I get back.

I cloth diaper my daughter, but will be using sposies on this trip. Right after I finish this I will be washing her remaining diapers so there are no stinkies in the diaper bin. Also make sure to take out ALL YOUR TRASH before you leave. 

Make sure your house is nice and clean before you leave so you come home to a nice clean house. This will make it easier to unpack, get reorganized and skip the post vacation chaos that tends to linger for a week after. 

The Flylady suggests that as soon as you get home, start a load of laundry before you crash, good idea! 

A lot of the "before you leave" stuff will only be easy to do if you get the majority of your packing done ahead of time. Preparation is everything, I printed the list a week ago and did everything spread out over a few days, so today I just have some minor tasks to complete. Not stressed out! No sense in getting completely flipped out before having to spend 19 hours in the car with a 3 yr old and almost 2 yr old :)

So if you have a vacation coming up, start planning now! Print out the list, modify as needed and make the start of your vacation as stress free as possible, so you can enjoy the rest! It totally works. I promise :)

Good Habits to Change Your Life

When I first became a stay-at-home mom I was thrilled for the simple fact that I would be home enough to keep my house as orderly as I would like to.  I had visions of spending naptimes happily scrubbing grout with a toothbrush and every surface being free of dust and grime. Well, that dream went quickly out the window as it became apparent very quickly that two kids can WRECK a house in 5 seconds flat. This made for a very frustrated and upset mommy.

Now we know that we can make things fabulous 15 minutes at a time, but what about the rest of the time?  Are our bad habits continually creating the chaos we live in?  

One of my favorite things about the Flylady method is her Babysteps.  Adding one good habit everyday for 31 days.  Two of these habits completely changed my house and they seem insignificant, but I promise...they work!

Make your bed!  Seriously, your mother was right, you need to make your bed every morning.  Now I purposely moved the camera a bit to the right so you can see the clothes and stuff on the floor.  My room isn't perfect this morning, but the bed is made and the orderliness of the bed sort of overpowers the stuff on the floor.  This way, when I go to straighten my room later, it is much less overwhelming.  Does that make sense?

 

 SHINE your sink and keep it clear!  Your sink is not the dish collector.  I used to (on lazy nights) put all my dishes in the sink nicely stacked, intending to put them in the dishwasher the next morning.  The next morning I wake up to a cluttered sink that I can't use and an all around mess.  Plus, you are making a lovely breeding ground for bacteria (ew).  It takes 3 more seconds to put items in the dishwasher and if you have to put things in the kitchen quickly, put it on the counter.  I am much more likely to put away my dishes if they are on my counter staring at me.  You would be AMAZED at how clean your kitchen will stay if you do this.  TRY IT!

 

Now here is a little praise report (haha).  A few weeks ago I organized my tupperware.  I thought this was a futile effort and that it would be trashed again in a week.  Well over a month later and its still tidy!  Taking an extra 5 seconds to properly put my tupperware aware instead of opening the door, throwing stuff in without looking and moving on, has made a real difference.  Taking a couple extra seconds to do thing properly means LOTS of extra minutes for Jesus time, hubby time, or time to watch all those Tivo'd episodes of the Real Housewives :)

Now don't wait! Start TODAY.  Check out the baby steps link above, you start by shining your sink :)  Make it an awesome Wednesday everyone!

Crisis Cleaning

So yes, another post on cleaning.  So why do I post a lot about cleaning and organization and post photos of my messy house?  Well,  I have TWO toddlers and toddlers are messy.  But, I have found things that help me keep my house under control and I want to help and empower other mommies, wives and people in general to take charge of the clutter and mess.  This isn't about a perfect home.  It's about enjoying the space you live in and being ABLE to do that.

I had the perfect opportunity yesterday to try out the Flylady's Crisis Cleaning Routine.  Between my son being sick and being cooped up in the house more than usual...the house was definitely a bit limbed in.  It usually only gets this bad on the weekends when no one does what they are supposed to do.

Yes, there are two pieces of drywall in my living room.  Will someone please send us a shed or garage?

So let's talk about crisis cleaning.  This is perfect for when you have guests coming or you just have gotten a little behind and got a major mess brewing (or already brewed).  Follow the Flylady's instructions TO THE LETTER.  I have a hard time with getting side tracked and trying to deep clean everything (never leave me alone with bleach and a toothbrush).  It is very important to follow the instructions.  I'll talk you through what I did.

GET DRESSED TO SHOES!

Seriously!  This is important.  You aren't going to get revved up for the day hanging in your jammies.  

Starting in the kitchen, set your timer for 15 minutes and start by shining the sink and work your way out from there.  Unloading dishwasher, clearing counters, etc.  Stop at the timer and go to the living room.

Start your timer again.  Clear things that don't belong, remove trash.  Carry a little trash bag with you and a basket for items that go in other rooms.  You can put those away in a little bit.

If you need to, go back to the kitchen for another 15 minutes.  I actually didn't need to so I used the extra time to go back in the LR and DR and sweep.  If you need the time in the kitchen, don't sweep.

STOP!  Take a break!

Take a 15 minute break and marvel at what you have accomplished!

Move into the bathroom next, wiping counters, swish the potty, pick up laundry (DONT get sidetracked and start a load,, you can do that later).

If need be go back to the LR and continue straightening.  You can do the intervals every 15 minutes, taking a break every 45 minutes as long as you need to get the job done.  BUT, I promise if you have already been following the Flylady, it won't take that long.  It took me 45 minutes to get things in line.

Look!  All clean!  You can do it too!

And look! It's a mess again! Haha! I'm using my spare time to tackle the laundry I was lazy and didn't fold...we all have our days, but at least we can hop right back on board and make it a good one!

Tackle a mess at your house today :)  De-clutter a corner, clear off a desk.  ANYTHING can be done 15 minutes at a time :)