Although it can be a chore, there’s something special about decorating for the holidays. No matter what your family does for the holidays, you can intentionally reinforce the family traditions you grew up with or create some of your own.

Here are some ways to create special memories for the Christmas holiday:

• Decorate the whole house with one theme.
• Buy special ornaments one year with each person’s name or the year.
• Make homemade ornaments.
• Make homemade gifts for each other one year.
• Bake together.
• Work through an Advent Calendar.
• Work at a food shelter in the days leading up to Christmas.
• Use your strings of lights in a completely new way this year.
• Drape string along a wall and hang your Christmas cards on the string for all to see.
• Design a special combination of spices and nature items to create a signature holiday potpourri.

There are so many more things you can do to decorate and create memories. Let your imagination soar. The important thing is to do things with each other and for others.

Day 11 – Dusting

Dust all surfaces. Use a cloth rather than a duster. A duster can throw the dust up in the air, only to resettle on the surfaces you just cleaned.

For dust bunnies or pet dander on the floor, don’t use a broom to sweep. Use one of the sweepers that has a pad that collects dirt or use a vacuum device. Sweeping with a traditional broom throws a lot of it back into the air. Then it resettles, leaving a fine layer of dust over everything.

Day 10 – Rugs, Carpets and Floors

Remember, this is just a holiday touch up, not a deep cleaning.

• Spot clean the worst areas of rugs and carpets. If you have stairs and the carpet is dirty on the leading edges, spot clean those, too. It will make a big difference.

• Sweep and mop floors.
• Shine wooden floors with a cleaner. I prefer Armstrong floor cleaner because it doesn’t leave a sticky residue.

Day 9 – Appliances and Trash Cans

The list is short, but this can be a lot of work depending on the last time you tackled these projects.

Appliances. Wipe down the outside of the kitchen appliances. Think both big and small. Take a good look at your small appliances you have out or will be using and give them a good cleaning, too.
Trashcans. Believe it or not, cleaning the trashcan makes the room feel cleaner. Wipe off the outsides with a diaper wipe or other cleaning cloth.

Day 8 – Decorative Items and Cabinets

Clean decorative items gently to remove dust and grime. If you have something in a frame, don’t use cleaners that can seep under the glass. Plastic items can be run through a dishwasher. Take your time and clean things well. This will add a nice sparkle to your rooms.

Wipe down the outside of any cabinets. In the kitchen, use water with a little dish washing soap or my favorite—diaper wipes. They have just a little bit of soap in them and are not too wet. Some of the cleaning wipes have too strong of a smell or too much liquid.

Day 7 – Windows, Light Fixtures, and Ceiling Fans

Today, think “light” and “air.” Here are things to examine to see if they need cleaning:

• Windows and glass doors: Clean inside and out.
• Mini blinds. You can use a sock on your hand, a specialized tool, or even spray them down in the shower. The method you use should be determined by the amount and type of build-up on the blinds.
• Clean curtains and drapes. You may be able to machine-wash some of your window treatments. If you use the dryer, be sure to hang them up as soon as they are dry so they don’t wrinkle.
• Look at your light fixtures. They may be dusty or even have bugs in them. Remove the cover and clean thoroughly.
• Wipe down lamps and clean the shades. You can vacuum the shades, or use a sock to dust it.
• Dust the ceiling fans. Ceiling fan blades collect dust over time. Dust them with a dust cloth to keep from spreading the dirt everywhere.
• Clean any other fixture or item related to light and air.

Day 6 – The Walls

Now it’s time to start cleaning. Today, just work on the walls. Believe it or not, the cleaning tasks I will assign the rest of our 12 days will make your house look wonderful. So far, you’ve only gotten stuff out of the way. Even if you haven’t done any of that, work through the cleaning projects. It will make a world of difference.

The eraser-type products (Magic Eraser) work well on painted walls–except for flat paint. Tips and steps I use:

• The dirt tends to smear easily so start by wiping the wall with a rag dipped in the equivalent of dishwater. This will get the top layer of dirt off.
• Do small areas at a time.
• Keep a second towel wet with clean water to wipe off the wall once you have used the eraser on it. Otherwise, the dirt smears and it looks worse than when you started.
• One other thing about these products. They work so well because they are stripping a light layer of paint off the top. If you scrub too hard in one area, it will rub off all the paint.

You can always paint over the wall if the cleaning doesn’t work. Just be sure to clean it first. Using primer is a good idea, too.

While you are working on the walls, clean the  electrical switch plates. They can get really dirty over time. Use a cleaning wipe, diaper wipe, or cleaning cloth to wipe these down. They typically clean easily since most are made of plastic.

Day 5 – The Bathrooms

The biggest organizational challenges in the bathroom tend to be no place for towels and too many bottles of cleaning supplies and body cleansers. For the first prone cheap solution is to get an over-the-door rack for the towels to keep them off the floor. We have one like the one pictured here with five hooks. During the summer we use it to hang up wet swimsuits and for bath towels.

Check to see what you have in all those bottles. For any products that you no longer use, get rid of them. If they are more than half empty, toss them. If they are over half full, find someone who can use them. Try to find a place (like a club or church meeting) where you can set them out with a sign that says FREE and share the wealth with others.

Day 4 – The Kitchen

The kitchen can be a big deal. Counter space is hard to come by in most kitchens so finding more space, especially for entertaining, can be a real challenge.

Here are some suggestions:

• Consider boxing some of the large appliances that you won’t need–at least for the holidays.
• Instead of using a dish rack on the counter, empty the dishwasher and use the empty racks as you would the dish rack. Once the dishes are dry, put them away so you can use the dishwasher again.
•  If part of your kitchen is used as an office, put lose items and papers in baskets for a neater appearance. Or box the items until after the holidays.

Remember. Don’t worry about cleaning right now. That will be done in stages beginning on Saturday. For now, just look at clearing the counters.

Day 3 – The Dining Room

Use the same routine here to get rid of items that don’t belong. Either put them away or box them.

The dining room may be very quick and easy if it is a single-purpose room in your home. Clear all surfaces and leave out only decorative items. If not, here are some problems areas you might need to address:

• Office Area: Clear the desktop. If you have papers that need to be sorted, create a high-level file system and sort them before putting them away. For example, you can segment them according to household, work, school, financial, and so on. Use boxes, manila folders, or an accordion file to keep them organized.
• Craft Area: Box the supplies that you won’t need during the holidays. Bring them out again in January. After not seeing them for a month, it will almost be like you just went shopping!
• Homeschool Area: Do a holiday themed project that can be displayed as decorations. If you use those tabletop display boards, they can be used to hide books and supplies piled on surfaces.

Don’t forget to decorate in the dining room for the holidays. If you have a chandelier, one easy thing to do is tie those little red velvet bows on the curved metal or around the base of the light bulb holders. You can also tie your favorite ornament from the bottom so you can enjoy it every day.

Day 2 – The Living Areas

So, how did you do? Is your first room done? By the way, major cleaning will begin on Saturday. These first few days are simply to clear the room and organize it. Don’t bother cleaning them now. There will time for that later. On to the living areas.

Living areas can be the living room, family room, den, recreation room, or basement. If you are pressed for time, only work on the areas you need ready for the holidays. The rest can wait until the new year. Go through the same process as you did with the entryway. Remove anything that does not belong in the room. Box it by sorting and labeling or making a list and pasting it to the outside of each box. Here are some things to work on:

• Clean out from under furniture. Raised furniture serves to collect both dust and stuff. This time around, deal with the stuff.
• Lift cushions and remove whatever has collected there.
• Organize CDs, DVDs, video games and other media. One way to make it easy is to remove all disks from their cases and put them in paper sleeves. You can buy them in boxes of 100 at places that sell electronics. When it’s time to play a new DVD or CD, the one coming out of the machine goes into the sleeve just vacated. No more disks lying around without cases. Since the sleeves are plain, there is no need to try and find a match. This also means less storage space.
• Straighten books and display shelves.
• If toys or other items tend to stay out in plain sight where they shouldn’t be, put a basket or two out so you can toss the items in for quick and easy clean up. Once a week, go through the baskets and put things away. Great job for kids–or whoever else is leaving things out

Dealing with the Boxes

So, what should you do with the boxes? The ideal solution is to store them in another part of the house until you have time to go through them. If you have no room in other parts of the house, stack them neatly in a corner of the room and camouflage them with a cover. You can toss a Christmas tablecloth over the stack. Or you can throw a sheet over the stack and hang ornaments on it. Sheets are cheap at thrift stores if you don’t have one to spare. I’ll try to post a picture of an example tomorrow.

Let’s start with the entryway to your home. This is the first thing that people see. If people come in from a side door or through a garage, that is your main entryway.

Walk in through your main entry and take a good look around. Put yourself in the shoes of your visitors. What jumps out at you? Are there smudge prints on the walls? Fur balls under the fish tank? Skid marks on the wall from shoes carelessly tossed toward the basket? Mail piled on the side table? Those are the unsightly things you want to eliminate. Clear the entry of anything that doesn’t belong there. For now, toss it into another room in the main area and we’ll deal with it  in the next few days. Organize what’s left. Here are some ideas for what you might find there and how to organize:

• Shoes. Put away in a closet, toss them in a basket, put them on a shoe rack.
• Mail. Go through it and throw away all junk mail. Put the rest in a basket large enough to hold your usual accumulation.
• Toys. Remove them to areas of the house where they belong.
• Coats and jackets. Tuck them away in closets or on hooks.
• Bookbags or briefcases. Find a temporary home for them away from the front door for the holidays.
• Stuff spilling out of closets. Sort it into boxes that will stack neatly and put the boxes in the closet. Label the boxes so you can find what you are looking for. If you have seasonal items that are currently in use, don’t box those. Put them where they can be easily reached. Use over-the-door hanging storage for scarves, gloves, shoes, hats, or other small items. If your closet is too small for the number of coats you have or you don’t have room for guests’ coats, mount a board with hooks on it and put frequently used coats there. Tip: If you can mount the hooks directly over or under a vent, it helps to dry damp clothing.

If you want to sign up for the daily assignments through email, click here. Leave me a comment below and let me know how you do. See you tomorrow!

“I’ve done everything I’ve ever put my mind to. I’ve prepared for everything that has happened in my life” -Michael Phelps

Do you think the same thing would work for housekeeping? That if you put your mind to getting your home in order, you could finally get it done? Do you think having a coach and support from fans helps/is necessary? Leave your thoughts below.

Because they are so far above eye level, light fixtures often get ignored. Hopefully you don’t have to clean any that look like this:

Make it a habit to clean them thoroughly once a year. Remove covers or shades and clean those, too. The rest of the year, dust or wipe down as needed. Kitchen fixtures tend to get greasy as well as dusty so they may require extra scrubbing or a cleaner designed to cut grease

Have you ever wondered what it takes to keep your counters clear of stuff? I can answer in one word: dedication. Okay, maybe I should answer in four words: dedication to certain habits.

 Here are my observations about clean kitchen counters:

1.  Appliances are not stored out in the open. This means two things: First, you have to find a place to store them out of sight but convenient to the area where you use them, and second, you have to be willing to drag them out every time you need them and put them away when you are done.
2. Dirty dishes are one of two places: in the dishwasher or in the sink. You have to be willing to stay on top of the dirty dishes as they occur.
3. If you peek inside the kitchen cabinets, they are well organized and not overloaded with stuff. In other words, extraneous dishes have been removed.
4. The decor often functions as storage (see photo above). For example, a spice rack frees up space in the pantry. Pots and pans can hang over a counter or cooking area, freeing up space in the cabinets. Open shelves can hold dishes alongside cookbooks or appliances. The microwave can be on a cart that provides additional storage.

Did you know that the top of your stove can be lifted for cleaning? (One exception is those smooth topped stoves.) You lift the whole top piece just like you would the hood of a car. You will should find a metal rod that you can pull up and fit into the top to secure it.

If you’ve never cleaned under there before, you may have quite project waiting for you. Here is what I use to clean up the mess:

• Use a spatula to scrape up anything chunky.
• Wipe off the surfaces using Dawn dish washing detergent. It cuts the grease fairly well.
• Use an SOS pad to remove baked on grease.

If you don’t get it all the first time, don’t worry. Clean out what you can and try again next time.

It’s a good idea to clear out your pantry twice year. A great time to do this is just before the holidays, and again six months later.

Remove the items you know your family won’t eat (why is there always something in there like that?) and donate it to a local food pantry. Don’t forget to add things from the pantry’s needed items list, too.

Once you’ve emptied the pantry, wipe everything down and restock. If you find you have a lot of food that tends to sit there, find menu items that will use up your stock. You can use websites like >>>> that let you enter the ingredients you have on hand, then will find recipes for you.

This one is simple but easy to forget. Periodically, wipe down the inside of the refrigerator. It’s much easier to do this when it’s empty, so maybe the end of the month, just before a paycheck arrives is a good time.

Don’t you just love windy days? You know, the kind where your open doors on both sides of the van and the wind whips everything out into the parking lot? I’ve been there. It’s quite embarrassing.

This habit can take a while to form, especially if your vehicle tends to fill up with trash and other items. The first thing to do is set up a weekly cleaning chore for someone in the household. What we do is take 2 plastic grocery bags and the handheld vacuum. One bag is for trash and the other is for things that don’t belong in the car. Once those things are bagged, we run the vacuum.

The second thing to do is try to clear out the car each time you use it. This is what can take some time to learn. Tip: Clean out the trash before you carry in everything else. If you carry everything in first, you kind of lose the motivation to finish the job.

There are four habits you can keep in the bathroom that will make cleaning the bathroom much easier. If you can train your children in these habits, it will make their chores easier, too.

• Wipe the vanity/counter top with a towel after each use to keep it clean. This means keeping a small towel such as a hand towel within reach of the sink to make it easy.
• Rinse out the sink after each use so everything rinses down the drain.
• Spray the walls of the shower after each use with the shower cleaners designed for that. They come in a hand-held spray bottle or a dispenser that hangs on the shower head. This really wards off the mildew and makes it so much easier to clean.
• Swish the toilet periodically—with or without cleaner. This helps clean the walls of the toilet and prevents buildup of a ring around the water line.

Borax is a bathroom’s best friend. I have found it to be very effective in cleaning mildew, sticky buildup from hairspray on the counters and floors, disinfecting the toilet (not that I actually test that or anything), and general cleaning. I used to use a variety of cleaners for the bathroom. Now it’s just Borax and something to clean the mirrors.

Vacuuming does more than clean the carpets. It also picks up dust and other allergens that run rampant in your house. Even if your home does not appear to need vacuuming, it’s a good idea to do it anyway at least weekly. When emptying the collected dirt, it’s a good idea to do that in an outdoor area so you don’t reapply a layer of dust to the room you just finished cleaning.

This is one area that often gets overlooked unless, of course, you switch out your window treatments seasonally. I have a hard enough time keeping up with seasonal clothing so I’ll pass on the seasonal curtains.

First up are curtains. Check to see if they are machine washable. If you take them out of the dryer immediately after washing you may be able to skip ironing. Check to make sure they won’t shrink in the dryer. There’s nothing worse than hanging your newly washed curtains, only to find out they are now two inches shorter.

Next are drapes. FAQ: What is the difference between curtains and drapes? Curtains are usually lightweight, unlined, and suspended by hanging on a rod or by loops around a rod. Drapes (draperies, technically)are usually floor length, lined, pleated, and hung on a traverse rod. A traverse rod is one that uses cords to open and close the drapes. Because drapes tend to be made of higher quality fabrics, you will need to read the cleaning instructions found on them. Options may be dry cleaning or steam cleaning.

Last are blinds. Blinds can be cleaned using a duster, light vacuum cleaner, a sock on your hand, or by giving them a shower. Depending on how much dust and dirt sticks to the blinds, you can probably get away with just dusting them. If they are near a kitchen or in a room where you run humidifiers, you will have to do a lot more work to get them clean.

I have to admit, our family was slow to jump on the electronics bandwagon. But technology has finally caught up with us, and so has the proliferation of cables and chargers from various devices. The biggest problem is finding the right item when you need it. They get moved around, they disappear and then reappear, they travel the world and get left behind, and they get mixed in with a bunch of other miscellaneous electronic paraphernalia.

I finally started tagging the cords right out of the box. It has saved me so much time and energy. I take a piece of masking tape about two inches long. I put the cord in the middle and fold it in half. Then I write the name of the device on the tape. I usually put the tape a few inches up from the plug so it doesn’t get in the way.

I store those that are not in use in a couple of places. For anything related to the TV, all spare cords go into a drawer in a cabinet next to the TV. All other cords go into a cabinet in the office.

Here’s another habit with a big payoff. When you sweep, you automatically have to pick up what’s on the floor. Forcing yourself to sweep main areas like the kitchen daily will help you keep the floors picked up. Sweeping also makes the room feel cleaner in general. Mopping once a week is a good habit to keep, too.

For older kids, the routine is a little different. They can be assigned a room to keep picked up all week. If you give your child a little freedom on what time of day he does the job, it is a great opportunity to learn a little about him.

Is he the type that likes to do everything at the end of the day so he can play? Does he prefer to get it done first thing so he can play right up to the last minute? Will he only pick up when he’s told? All of these are clues about your child that can really help in parenting and character training.

If you have lots of kids or lots of toys—or both—this one habit can make a huge difference in your home. Little kids like to play next to mom, wherever she may be. This means toys migrate all over the house.

To keep it simple, add a toy basket wherever you tend to spend a lot of time. When you move to another spot, simply toss all the toys into the basket. Be sure to have your little ones help so they learn the habit right from the start. The basket approach is easy for little ones because they don’t have to analyze and sort. They can simple put things away. Once a week, go through all the baskets and return toys to where they really belong. This is when you teach your child how to sort and to be a helper.

If you’ve been with me any length of time, you’ll know what I’m about to say. Keeping your walls clean makes a big difference on how clean your home feels. It may have spots on the floors and stuff piled up on every surface, but if the walls look clean, the place feels clean. Think of the opposite: if you walk into a house with dirty walls, the whole place feels dirty—even if the rest of the home is orderly and relatively clean. This also applies to appliances, like the refrigerator, oven and dishwasher. See the difference in the photos below? It is subtle, but it really changes how the room feels.

Before

Tip: Add this task to someone’s weekly chores list. Not every wall will get dirty every week, so you only have to clean as the dirt becomes noticeable.

After

Some areas of the house need occasional spot cleaning. Areas that come to mind are carpets and upholstery. It is keeping up with cleaning these small things that can make a big difference in how clean your house feels.

For example, spots on the stairs carpet can be a real eye sore for visitors. It automatically screams “unclean” and is a turn off. Compare it to wearing stained clothing. Even if you just washed the item and you know it’s clean, a casual observer would think it’s dirty.

Dusting is a simple task with a big payoff. It makes your home look better, clears allergens and dust from the air making it easier to breathe, and prolongs the life of your electronics. How often should you dust? That depends on how visible the dust is and if anyone’s health is affected by it. Places that you know will show dust easily should be dusted weekly (great job for a kid). If someone has health issues, then you may need to dust even more frequently.

Always dust from top to bottom so you don’t have to re-dust anything. For a cheap dusting rag, use static cling sheets you buy for the dryer. Use those cans of compressed air you get from places like Office Depot or Best Buy to clean dust out of your electronics. The compressed air also works great to clean intricately detailed items.

By the way, how would you like to keep this room clean and dusted?

I have a secret. I love learning. I love reading, researching, and sharing my new knowledge. I love thinking about what I’m learning, and playing around with it in my mind.I love seeing how it connects to the world around me.

There are many things I want to learn about, so I collect reading material for those times when I have time. And then it sits, and sits, and sits. The reading material can take the form of books, magazines, things I get in the mail and ebooks. (For this post, I’ll stick to physical materials. Electronic books will be covered in the future.) You might have newspapers on your list, or textbooks, or something else.

Where do you like to read? Do you read on the go or sitting in a special place enjoying a beverage? Or do you read in bed as you wind down for the day? Wherever you read, that’s where you need to collect your reading material. And then read it. If you read on the go, have a bag with reading material in it that you can grab as you leave the house. If you read at night before bed, have a stack of books or magazines there. If it’s in a chair in the family room, have a basket or side table set up to accommodate your stash of reading materials. The key is to make it convenient so you will actually go through the stack of material regularly. If you take notes or journal as you write, have pen and paper handy to jot down your thoughts.

Once you have finished with a book, you can pass it on to someone else, resell it to a used book store or online, or shelve it for future reference. There are probably very few books you will read again, so don’t feel like you have to keep every book you buy. Same with magazines. If there are articles you want to keep, tear out the article and staple the magazine cover to it so you can reference the date and publication information if needed. If your reading pile gets too big, realize that you will probably never get to it and get rid of the stuff or at least move it somewhere out of sight so it doesn’t get in the way. Keep the stack(s) short and manageable.

Reading may seem like luxury, but it really is a great time to renew your mind and get some down time. Read, read, read!

Do you have disks of all kinds that get left out constantly? There may be an easy way to get them in order.

Most people start out by trying to get the disks back in the right cases. An easier solution is to remove them from their cases and store them in a generic case or individual sleeves in a box. This makes it easier to keep them protected without having to take the time to find each case. This is especially helpful if you have kids trying to maintain the system. A shoe box with lots of empty sleeves can help them put away computer disks, game disks, DVDs and CDs without much thought or effort. It’s up to you whether to keep the plastic cases or toss them. If you keep them, store them somewhere out of sight until you need them again. This will keep the room tidy and protect the disks.

Keeping clothes organized is particularly important if you live in an area that requires a seasonal change of clothing. In Texas where I grew up, there was no such thing. You had summer clothes, maybe some lightweight long-sleeved outfits, jackets, and a heavy coat. If you owned boots, they were either cowboy boots or fashion accessories. They had no relation to the weather. I had to learn to deal with seasonal clothes when I got to the East Coast.

First, sort your clothes according to season. This is a great time to weed through your clothes and pull out things that you don’t wear and probably never will. Do this even if you’ve hung on to it for years, thinking that day will come. This is an easier choice to make if the clothing has gone out of style, you are no longer that size, or it no longer fits your lifestyle or age. It may be more difficult if the item represents a good memory or an ideal that you have clung to. If that’s the case, take a photo of it, paste it into a program where you can enlarge it. Then add a caption or paragraphs of text saying what it represents to you. Then pass the item along. Think of it this way: what you have been storing for years can bless someone every day.

Second, put the clothes away by season. If you have a small closet, store the seasonal clothes not in use. You might want to use a tub stored in the closet or other storage area, under bed storage containers, or an unused portion of a kid’s closet.

With seven people in our family, I decided that I did not have the energy to pack away clothes each season so everyone has all their clothes in their closets. I fold jeans and sweatshirts and put them on shelves in the closet, then put underclothing and shirts in a bureau or dresser drawer.  The only things hanging in their closet are suits, slacks, jackets, and snow gear. For my daughter, it’s her dresses, jackets, and snow gear.

The shelves are made out of 12″ wire squares that snap together. You can also use those clothing storage cubes that hang from the rod. I find the snap-together shelves more versatile because I can make them two, three, or four shelves high, and make a double column of shelves if needed.

Did you know that your makeup shouldn’t be used indefinitely? After a time of use, it should be tossed. Below are some general guidelines. Note that mascara has the shortest life span. That is because it has the highest risk of infection. If your makeup every changes color or smells bad, toss it without a second thought.

• Mascara – 3 months.
• Concealer – 12 months (6 months for a wand applicator).
• Pressed powders (including blush and eye shadow) – 1-2 years.
• Lip products – 1-4 years.
• Foundation – water, 12 months; oil, 18 months.
• Eye pencils – 1 year.
• All natural makeup – 6 months (due to no preservatives).
• Nail polish – 2 years.

In addition, you should wash out your brushes every 2-3 months, and wash sponges every week, then toss monthly.

How are your laundry routines coming along? Do you still find that clothes pile up in various spots around your room? If so, one of two things is probably happening. Your clothes storage is not convenient or you simply need to bite the bullet and make your current system work. Ideally, clothes should only be one of two places: in a hamper or put away. This habit is related to laundry, so look at those posts for inspiration for your clothes routine.

This week’s habit is simple. Before you leave your bedroom in the morning, make up your bed. For a perfectionist, this may seem like a big deal. But for those of us who do Kamikaze Cleaning to get by in life, making a bed is not a big deal. Straighten the covers, fluff the pillows, and call it done. Do this every morning and see how it improves the look and feel of your room.

Now that you’ve figured out what to do with your dirty clothes, it’s time to look at the tail end of the process. For some, it’s the clean clothes that tend to pile up.

One of the most time-consuming parts of dealing with clean laundry is the sorting process. If there are a lot of people in your home, that can take a while. One solution is to presort by person or by bedroom. If everyone’s clothes are not mixed together, there is little to no sorting. (see Laundry–Part 1) In addition, the clothes can go right back into the room where they belong instead of piling up in a central folding area.

In our home, each person is responsible for putting away his own laundry except for my husband (I do it) and my youngest child. Everyone else puts his own clothes away. And one of the kids is assigned to fold the linens and put them away. This keeps it very simple.

Ironing clothes is another matter. If the ironing task gets backed up, look at where you keep the ironing supplies. Are the board and iron easy to get to? Can you multitask where you set it up? For example, can you watch a movie you’ve been wanting to watch or a webinar on your computer? Can you listen to music or watch the kids at play? Integrating ironing into another task may make it easier to get done.

Have other problems not addressed here? Let’s talk about them in the comments section.

Are you one of the people who struggles with laundry? If so, take heart. You are about to learn how you can start to get it all under control.

There are two parts to doing the laundry: collecting dirty laundry and dealing with clean laundry. This week’s habit deals with the first part of the process.

When I was a young girl, in a family with 10 girls, my mom made sure we all learned how to do laundry. I believe her purpose was twofold: 1) free labor and 2) to increase our marriage prospects. (She was adamant about not having a bunch of old maids living at home during her sunset years.) Everyone would throw their clothes in one of two hampers and on laundry day, the dedicated laundry mistress would separate the clothes into piles by color and fabric weight. We averaged six to eight loads every other day. We had four clotheslines out back so after they were washed in the washing machine, they would be hung out to dry.

As my own family started to grow, I realized I was spending a lot more time on laundry than I needed by trying to follow my mother’s method. I cut down on the process by doing the following things:

• Put a laundry hamper in each bedroom closet. Once the clothes amounted to a load, I washed it. With two kids in each room, this was about once a week.
• Stopped buying white clothes for the kids’ everyday wear. That way, I did not have to sort clothes any more. Everything goes in together, in the same temperature water, and the same setting on the washer.
• Set up a 3 slot sorter in the laundry room for 1) linens (towels, dish clothes, sheets, etc.), 2) whites, and 3) darks. My clothes and my husband’s go there, as well as any white clothing the kids might wear for more formal events.

Not having to sort by color or by person was a huge time saver. I ended up being able to wash about one load a day. I would throw it in the washer in the morning, then toss it in the dryer at some point later in the day. Dealing with one load a day made it much more manageable–especially when the kids got old enough to deal with their own incoming laundry.

I recommend you look at your system for dealing with dirty clothes and make it convenient for you. What are your problem areas? Do others leave their clothes lying around? Maybe you need to put hampers in a more convenient spot. Have a lot of clothing that needs special treatment? Stop buying that type of clothing or set aside one day a week to deal with those types of garments.

I know some of you may be very particular about your clothing and I respect that. This type of laundry system would probably not work for you. But think through the specific points in the process giving you trouble and see if you can change something to make your life easier.

Tell me about your problem areas and let’s brainstorm in the comments section.

Now we are getting into an area of serious challenge. Mail is one of those things that comes into the house whether you want it or not. It is so easy to simply toss it into a pile somewhere and let it sit.

Before it hits the countertop, pull out anything this is obviously trash. If you are not a couponer, then don’t save the coupons. Or if you use them occasionally, develop a place and a system for collecting them. You should also have a place and a system for actionable items, such as bills, medical/insurance mail, and appointments/invitations.

With that being said (the idea of dealing with mail immediately), I will say that the perspective of time can really help you decide what to keep and what to toss. I had tubs of old mail sitting around and I can guarantee that once the postmark is two years old, it is rarely worth opening. :-)

If you have old mail sitting around, look closely at what you do not open. You can try to reduce some of it by taking these steps:

• For catalogs and mail from individuals or organizations, go to their websites and ask to be removed from their lists.
• For credit card solicitations, you can opt out of receiving those for 5 years by calling 1-888-5 OPT OUT (1-888-567-8688) and following the recording. It’s the same idea as the “do not call” list for phone solicitations.
• Don’t give your address freely for drawings and give aways.
• Do not send in product warranty cards if the product is covered without it.
• Any time you give your address, add a note asking that your name not be added to any mailing lists

Photo Credit:Image: digitalart / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

This is a small habit that can reap big rewards. Common places to keep keys are a hanger on the wall or a drawer in a convenient area.

If keeping them in one place is not practical, create two designated key spots so at least you only have to look in those two spots to find them. More than two spots and you risk spending more time looking for them than it is worth. One of the places may be a purse, but since your purse is mobile, you may spend just as much time looking for the purse as you would a set of lost keys.

The first habit to change is a fairly easy one. Go through the house every day and pick up any trash you find in any of the rooms. If you have children, get them to help. This is something any of them can do. And I’ll tell you a secret. If you start by picking up the trash alongside them, you can eventually just assign it to them and let them do it. Having someone come alongside for a time seems to cut out a lot of the arguing/battles that can ensue when you start something new.

I have to tell a story here. I have a friend with an out of control house, too. I did a comparison of the stuff that was lying around our houses. For me, it was stuff that I wanted to hang on to but needed to give away (read that: lots of mental energy for decision making). For her, it was mostly stuff that could be tossed out (read that: very little emotional energy or decision making). If your house is like my friend’s then you will be well on the way to getting your house in order with just this one habit.

A few weeks ago, we had an influx of little gray moths in the pantry. It was weird, but since they tend to gravitate toward the ceiling, they were easy to kill and get rid of. About a week later, my kids started finding little worms on the cereal boxes. It turns out we were observing the life cycle of the pantry moth. Of course, I did not know that at the time. I had to go to the trusty internet to find out what kind of worms were common in pantries: pantry moth larvae.  Now came the serious clean out of the pantry. The good news is that I got rid of some really old food. I think the oldest item was about 3 years old. I guess I had neglected that part of my wifely duties for some time. In the end, the pantry moth infestation was a blessing in disguise. I’m a better housekeeper (at least for now) for having fought the battle in my pantry.

Do you have several sets of mix and match bedsheets because you can never find a whole set at the same time? I had that problem for years. I finally found the answer. As they come out of the laundry, fold them as usual but store them inside one of the pillow cases. I did that last year with all our flannel sheets and this year, they are all waiting and accounted for. Bring on the cold! (Not really. I prefer the warmth of summer but at least I can laugh at the days to come.)

Due to unforeseen circumstances, I have to end the challenge at 8 weeks instead of the 12 weeks I originally planned. I hope you have enjoyed it and have gotten a lot of work done. I know I have been able to maintain everything I cleaned all summer so that is a huge accomplishment in our household of 7!

I have thoroughly enjoyed interacting with you all through your comments. It’s nice to know we’re not alone. Cheers!

Since it looks like things have died down the last couple of weeks, we’ll take the rest of this week off from the challenge. Save up your energy for next week to prepare for a special two-week challenge. I’ll announce it on Monday of next week.

[Kamikaze Cleaning Challenge - Week 8, Day 2]

What would it take for you to rekindle the fire you had in the beginning? What motivated you then? Chances are that it was the dream of a clean house, or maybe just a single clean room. Dream that dream again and renew your efforts on your home for these last five weeks.

[Kamikaze Cleaning Challenge - Week 8, Day 1]

that as you’ve been working on your house, you’ve been developing habits? If you’ve been able to maintain even a small area that you’ve cleaned, then you have mastered maintenance of that area.

[Kamikaze Cleaning Challenge - Week 7, Day 7]

Don’t let the heat keep you from accomplishing your dream of a clean house. Work on things that won’t tire you out like going through papers or sorting through pictures. This is a great time to focus on desk work.

[Kamikaze Cleaning Challenge - Week 7, Day 6]

Today, check the tops of the door frames for dust. Another hot spot for dust is the refrigerator–behind, below, and across the front grid. I’ve already covered a couple of other places such as ceiling fans and computer equipment, so check on those if you didn’t get to it the first time around.

[Kamikaze Cleaning Challenge – Week 7, Day 5

We are just starting into the second half of the challenge. It started out strong, and now it has dwindled. I’d love to know what’s going on with you right about now. Are you doing it but not posting? (Some people told me that was the case on the weeks they did not want the prize.) Are you reading it but not motivated? Are you still struggling with something else that is keeping you from jumping in? I’d love to hear from you. And with the Disqus commenting system I installed, you can use one of your existing social media profiles to log in, or create one just for Disqus to remain anonymous. (FYI – If you create an ID for this site, it can be used on any site that uses Disqus.) So…honk(or comment)  if you’re out there!

[Kamikaze Cleaning Challenge - Week 7, Day 4]

Go outside, then re-enter your house as if you were a guest. What do you see when you walk in the front door? What feeling do you get when you walk into the house? If you don’t like the answers to those questions, do something different in that area. Make your first impression count.

[Kamikaze Cleaning Challenge - Week 7, Day 3]

Believe it or not, a lot of air comes into your house through your electrical outlets. You can really tell it in the winter, but it happens all year round. To save a little money on your heating and cooling bills, buy some of those child safety plugs and stop the air leaks. If you don’t have kids in the house, try to find ones that are fairly easy to remove. Believe me, some of them require herculean effort to remove.

[Kamikaze Cleaning Challenge - Week 7, Day 2]

I have a math problem for you today. Go through each room in the house and figure out what percentage of stuff in the room you never use. That’s how much space you could gain in your house if you are willing to let go of that stuff. What is the worst thing that would happen if you did that? Think about it, and count the cost.

[Kamikaze Cleaning Challenge - Week 7, Day 1]

Can you believe it? We are half way done with the Kamikaze Cleaning Challenge!! If you’ve been doing even a little bit each week, you should begin seeing a permanent change in the condition of your home. The nice thing about this process is that success begets success. So…dive into cleaning!

This might be a good time to go through your pantry and get rid of things you know you won’t eat. Food pantries tend to have lower donation levels when there are no holidays with traditional meals, so consider dropping your things off at your local food pantry. It’s not a bad idea to add some groceries you buy just for the needy, too.

Take some time today to work on your vehicle. When we do our vehicles, I take two groceries bags–one for trash and one for stuff that needs to find home. Then I vacuum. Next is the glass. Last is the dashboard.

[Kamikaze Cleaning Challenge - Week 6, Day 5]

When you need to attack a room that is a little out of control, take the first 15 minutes of the project to formulate a plan. This serves several purposes. First, you are productive right away. :-) Second, it gives you a focus. Third, if you get interrupted, it is easier to get back on track and keep going. Try it!

[Kamikaze Cleaning Challenge - Week 6, Day 4]

Did you know that makeup has a shelf life? Now you have something else to worry about tossing besides medicine and pantry items. Here’s the scoop:

• Mascara – about 3 months
• Eyeliner, eye shadow, foundation, concealer – 6 to 8 months
• Lipstick, compact powder, powdered blush – about 2 years

If any of these items irritate your skin or eyes, or look or smell different from when you opened them, you should toss them anyway.

[Kamikaze Cleaning Challenge, Week 6, Day 3]

Do you have a drawer in the kitchen full of sharp utensils? Or is it hard to find what you need when you want it? Try shopping in the office supply area of stores for drawer organizers. Organizing even part of the drawer can make it easier to find the small utensils. The organizer I bought breaks apart into individual trays so I use only some of the trays in the drawer.

[Kamikaze Cleaning Challenge - week 6, Day2]

I had a great insight into this task last week when going through piles of mail in our office: Making a decision on what to do with mail is really easy when the postmark is from 2010.

[Kamikaze Cleaning Challenge - Week 6, Day 1]

“Cleanliness is not next to godliness. It isn’t even in the same neighborhood. No one has ever gotten a religious experience out of removing burned-on cheese from the grill of the toaster oven.”
— Erma Bombeck

When buying your cleaning supplies, don’t overlook the automotive department. You might be surprised what you can find there. They carry things like micro-fiber cloths and heavy-duty grease cutters (not exactly green, but at least they clean).

[Kamikaze Cleaning Challenge - Week 5, Day 6]

Today, look at your walls. When I look at my walls, I think about the time I visited a family with eight kids and even though their home was tidy, the walls were dirty so it gave an uncomfortable feeling. When I notice the hand prints collecting on the walls along the stairs or behind the couch, I grab the cleaners. First, I wipe the walls with a rag dipped in soapy water (made with grease-cutting dish washing detergent). Then I use a cleaning eraser-type product to finish it off. It makes a big difference in how the room looks.

[Kamikaze Cleaning Challenge - Week 5, Day 5]

Today, take a glance at the floors in your house. Does the floor along the baseboards in the kitchen need some attention? What about spot cleaning on the carpet? I know these are things we may not get around to often, but it is those details that makes the difference between a house looking clean and really clean. Try it and see!

[Kamikaze Cleaning Challenge - Week 5, Day 4]

Today’s challenge is to look up in any room you are in and see if you can spot anything that needs to be cleaned. I was inspired by Elizabeth’s comment yesterday so, Thanks! Elizabeth.

[Kamikaze Cleaning Challenge - Week 5, Day 3]

Do you have any of those long fluorescent lights in fixtures? Have you looked at them lately? Where I grew up in Texas, we had scorpions. They liked to bask in the fluorescent lights and would do so for who knows how long. It would eventually become obvious that a poor critter (or more) had died, so someone would have to remove the protective covering to get rid of them. No one wanted that job because one time a live scorpion fell out during the removal process, sending a gaggle of girls screaming from the room. Hopefully, you don’t have to deal with scorpions but if you have those kinds of fixtures, look up and see what’s basking in their glow.

[Kamikaze Cleaning Challenge - Week 5, Day 2]

I know that probably doesn’t mean much to those of you in other countries (especially my British friends), but here a lot of people will be getting together with friends, eating barbecue or having picnics, and watching fireworks. I think we’ll be eating indoors this year, but we do plan to do the rest. Hope your day goes well.

[Kamikaze Cleaning Challenge - Week 5, Day 1]

Congratulations! You are one third of the way through the challenge. If you’re like me, you started off with a bang, then kind of tapered off on the work. That’s not all bad. It means you are pacing yourself. For July, I encourage you to be deliberate about your pacing and add specific tasks to your calendar that you want to see accomplished. Make those unbreakable dates.

[Kamikaze Cleaning Challenge - Week 4, Day 7]

Do you make any of your own cleaning solutions? Did you know that you can? There are really only five basic ingredients you need to clean. They are baking soda, washing soda, borax, white vinegar (or lemon juice), and soap. You can also add essential oils for fragrance. Although I’m not really into the green movement, I am into saving money and using simple ingredients like these saves a lot of money. You can find many variations and ideas for cleaners if you do a search on green cleaning recipes.

[Kamikaze Cleaning Challenge - Week 4, Day 6]

Most home improvement stores have sales on holiday weekends so if you are planning to do anything in the way of paintg or need home improvement supplies, check for sales and discounts. Don’t forget to search for coupons online. A lot of stores will match prices of other brick and mortar stores (as opposed to those online who have no physical presence so no overhead).

[Kamikaze Cleaning Challenge - Week 4, Day 5]

This week has been really crazy for me–I’ve been out of the house a lot and I’m listening to an online conference and a couple of online classes. So I’m taking a break from the Kamikaze Cleaning Challenge. I share this with you because this is often how my life goes. When I was in Stage 1 – Disaster Recovery, I really did get my house cleared out in a week. But then it took me a year to work through the rest of the house. When things like these came up, I skipped it. When the Christmas season rolled around, I tended to the festivities. When the winter blahs rolled around, I took a break until spring.

The key was getting back to it, little by little. If your home is out of control, getting it functional can be quick and easy using Kamikaze Cleaning Stage 1 methods. Reclaiming your home for real takes a lot longer, so don’t sweat it if you have to take breaks. Enjoy them, but don’t take your eye off the prize: a clean home!

I bought some borax the other day to kill some ants. It comes in a big box, so I thought I’d better find some other uses for it. I have a shower mold problem in one of the bathrooms that doesn’t get a lot of air circulation, so I thought I’d use it there. I put it in a dish, then used a brush dipped in water to apply it directly to the grout. I was surprised at how well it worked. It worked better than one of those modern miracle cleaners and didn’t have any fumes!

Other uses for borax:

• Mix with powdered sugar to kill ants and roaches.
• Kills fleas when sprinkled directly into carpet.
• Removes stains, rust, and oxidation.
• Removes urine smell from fabric.
• Unclogs drains.
• Kills weeds (well, kills any plant)
• Laundry booster.
• Skin care product.

Who knew?

[Kamikaze Cleaning Challenge - Week 4, Day 3]

Can you believe this is already week 4? I noted in yesterday’s comments that I have been slipping by 30 minutes each week so I have to really dig in these next few weeks. It is kind of hard to stay motivated over the long haul. What has motivated you to try or to keep going?

[Kamikaze Cleaning Challenge - Week 4, Day 2]

It is very difficult to go through your stuff and make decisions if you’ve never thought about where you are in life–at least that’s true for a right-brained person. A lot of times, we collect stuff for some vague vision we have of the future. That’s fine, as long as space permits. But if you are running out of space, you may have to keep only what is helpful or needed in your current season of life. So as you work through the Kamikaze Cleaning Challenge, place in each room only what is needed during this season. If you have space to store what you don’t need now, keep it! If not, pass it along to someone who can use it now.

Do you ever feel like you are the only one doing housework? In your house, it may be true, especially if you live alone, have small children, your spouse works a lot, or others in your house are unable or unwilling to do the work. This is a tough place to be. It is easy to begin to resent those around you, but that kind of thinking is a one-way ticket to relational disaster. Or to get down on yourself if you are not taking care of your home, but that is a one-way ticket to depression and self-defeat.

I shared the story yesterday for a reason. I originally started to write this post, then realized it needed an intro. When I came to the realization that some [most] things would never get done if I didn’t take charge, I began to climb up out of the pit of despair I had fallen into. When something bothered me enough to notice, it gave me something to focus on. As I did more and more little things, I began to realize there were things in the house that bothered others, so I did those, too.  As I worked, I began to change inside. I began to take pride in my home again. I began to do things for others, and not just for myself. I also realized that I could not do it alone and eventually got others to help, but simply starting with the small things made all the difference in the world.

If you are struggling with resentment or depression, go slow. When the condition of an area in your home bothers you, take charge. That doesn’t mean you have to do it yourself. You can always assign the upkeep to someone else. But taking charge will change you from the inside out.

(c)2011 Stephanie Buckwalter. All rights reserved.

I’m going to share something with you, but don’t laugh. I’m going to tell you about the day I finally realized exactly what my responsibility is around the house. I was looking at the tiny bars of soap rejects piled up on the soap tray in the shower and was bemoaning the fact that no one ever used them or got rid of them. They just kind of sat there in a growing pile. It finally occurred to me one day that if I didn’t clean them off, no one else was going to do it. A light bulb went off as I thought, “Oh, that must be my responsibility.”

That was my “Helen Keller moment.” For the next few days, I walked around my house with new eyes, seeing all those things that were my responsibility. They were easy to spot. They were the things that would never get done if  I didn’t do them. After many years of marriage, I finally had some details for my job description.

(c)2011 Stephanie Buckwalter. All rights reserved.

[Kamikaze Cleaning Challenge - Week 3, Day 6]

This part gets a little tricky. Life is busier so they may think they don’t have time for chores. But there is so much more to motivate them. Work before play. Work before social life.

Granted some kids have jobs, sports, and heavy school loads. You may need to cut back on the daily stuff if they do a lot out of the house, but try to leave in a once-a-week job like bathrooms, laundry, lawn care, or some deep cleaning. Contributing to family life is important. It keeps them grounded as they begin to sprout their wings.

[Kamikaze Cleaning Challenge - Week 3, Day 5]

As the kids move into elementary and middle school, keep them doing their chores. It is the ideal time to teach them about taking responsibility, but you have to be deliberate about the instructional part. Talk about having a work ethic, team work, being faithful with little, and so on. This is where a large part of their character is forged–right there at home in the hot coals of housework!

[Kamikaze Cleaning Challenge - Week 3, Day 4]

What is the best age to start kids doing chores? Believe it or not, it’s preschool. Why? Because that is when they are in the parrot stage and want to do everything they see mommy, daddy, and siblings doing. For best results, work alongside them (this works for all ages actually). Yes, it will take more time, but it’s fun to see that look of accomplishment on their faces when they are done.

[Kamikaze Cleaning Challenge, Week 3, Day 3]

Since we’re getting others involved, why not create a “honey do” list this week (you know, “Honey, can you please do this for me?”)? Take a piece of paper and a pen and walk through your house jotting down all the things that need repair. With list in hand, put some the approximate time and cost of each item. This will help you budget for them. Remember that holiday weekends over the summer are great for sales at home improvement places.

[Kamikaze Cleaning Challenge - Week 3, Day 2]

This week, the focus will be on getting everyone involved in keeping house.

Now that school is out, the summer schedule starts to kick in. Why not try to add a few chores into the mix? Assign a public area to each member of the household to pick up daily. Then, pay attention to what is picked up or complained about. That will help you identify the source of the problem. It could be a person who needs to learn to pick up after himself or herself, or a system that needs to be put in place to manage the area.

[Kamikaze Cleaning Challenge - Week 3, Day 1]

Can you see a difference in how your house looks? Does a little clean beget more clean? That’s how it’s been working here. Not quite as gung ho as the first week, but week two did see some improvements and maintenance on what has been done. Someone dropped in on Saturday and I didn’t have to do a massive clean up to get ready for once. Yeah!

[Kamikaze Cleaning Challenge - Week 2, Day 7]

Take a few minutes today and review your progress. Some of you have worked on your homes for many hours. Instead of solely focusing on what you still have to do, reflect on what you’ve already accomplished.

[Kamikaze Cleaning Challenge - Week 2, Day 6]

Make a plan for the weekend and gather everything you’ll need for that today. Think of ways you can get others involved such as babysitting younger siblings, moving boxes, prepping a room to be painted, and so on.

[Kamikaze Cleaning Challenge - Week 2, Day 5]

I’ve been thinking about counting the hours it takes to manage a household. I’ve seen several people mention how surprised at how much cleaning can be done in a short period of time. It’s very frustrating when I realize that I just spent 30 minutes cleaning up after my daughter and I can’t even count the hours toward the challenge because I would have had to do that anyway. But even though those hours don’t count toward the challenge, they count in a bigger way–with my family.

[Kamikaze Cleaning Challenge - Week 2, Day 4]

As you begin getting areas under control, get others involved in the maintenance of those areas. They will probably be motivated by seeing it clean and be willing to work to keep it clean. If you wait too long, they are likely to lose interest. In our house, the kids do not get any screen time until after lunch, and only if they have completed any chores on the schedule for that day. You can see one of our chore charts on my homeschooling site to help you see how we work a 3-week rotation.

[Kamikaze Cleaning Challenge - Week 2, Day 3]

If you’ve been with us from the beginning, you know that the initial burst of energy is still there, but may be waning. Try to pace yourself by setting a rhythm to your cleaning days. For example, in the 3-3-3 plan I laid out, there is room for down days, busy days, so-so days, and productive days. Using a plan like that, you can allow for surprises without getting too far off track.

I should be able to send out the winner information this evening. I had to prepare for a meeting and what I thought would take 1 hour took more like 3. Yikes!

[Kamikaze Cleaning Challenge - Week 2, Day 2]

I don’t know about you, but I might actually be starting to develop a regular routine now. I’m also starting to see pockets of clean–I mean really clean. Thank you all for joining in and sharing your progress. I was almost ready to give up by Day 3 but when I saw what everyone else was doing, it was such a motivator. Keep up the good work.

I will try my best to get the weekly update published to announce the winner of this week’s prize and announce next week’s, but it may be Tuesday before I am able to get it out.

[Kamikaze Cleaning Challenge - Week 2, Day1]

This is day 7. If you have been working really hard, take a break or do something small. I personally am trying to cut back on my Sunday activities. I just started this about a month ago and I have found it truly rejuvenating. Sunday may not be your day of rest, but I encourage you to find a day each week to rejuvenate. Remember, we are in this for the long haul!

If you are behind, log your hours today or tomorrow to get the maximum chance to win the prize of 3 homemaking ebooks from Graham Family Ministries.

By the way, I have been commenting on your comments here and there so I hope you have a chance to go back and read them at some point.

Do something light and fun today (if there is such a thing in housecleaning) in preparation for doing a heavier project over the weekend.

[Kamikaze Cleaning Challenge, Week 1 Day 5]

If the weekend is the best time for you to work on a bigger project, gather the stuff you need today and tomorrow so you can jump right in. If you are doing a Kamikaze Cleaning, be sure you have plenty of boxes.

I’d love to know what approach you’ve decided to take so add that to the comments, along with your project of the day. It will be fun to come back later and see if the plan worked for you or if you had to change to something else.

[Kamikaze Cleaning Challenge, Week 1 Day 4]

One thing you’ll want to do is get rid of stuff. I have found the best way to do that is select worthy people or organizations who will make you feel good about giving your stuff away. I have a hierarchy of organizations that I give to depending on the condition of the stuff. I’ll add mine to my comments today, and ask you to do the same. Let everyone know your favorite places to give.

Plans of Attack!

I finally pulled this together. Yesterday was a day of surprises (good ones) so I didn’t get to do everything I wanted. I plan to do the 3-3-3 plan.

[Kamikaze Cleaning Challenge, Week 1 Day 3]

Welcome to Day 2! Now that you’ve gotten your feet wet, take the time to do a little planning. Print a calendar page from one of those free sites and start filling it in with your intent. Sorry, but planning does not count toward your hours worked–only action counts (it is a housecleaning challenge, after all).

Feel free to comment on each others’ posts. There were some really great stories on Day 1.

Okay, I was going to have a list of approaches ready today but I was out way more than I thought I would be, so I will jump on that on that today and try to have it out some time in the afternoon if you want to check back for it. I’ll add it to tomorrow’s post, too so you don’t miss it.

Plans of Attack!

I finally pulled this together. Tuesday was a day of surprises (good ones) so I didn’t get to do everything I wanted. I plan to do the 3-3-3 plan.

[Kamikaze Cleaning Challenge, Week 1, Day2]

PLEASE NOTE: If you are joining in after Day 1, please post the work you did on the day you did. These posts are not assignments, just ideas to keep you motivated.

This is day 1 of the Kamikaze Cleaning Challenge-Summer 2011 Edition. It may be hard to get started, but try to do at least one 15-minute project today. For a list of 15-minute projects, click here.

Once you have done your work for the day, come back and post it in the comments under the appropriate day’s entry or add it to the Busy Homemaker Facebook page. Look in the comments for my project of the day each day except Sundays. I’m working on using the 3-3-3 plan detailed later this week.

Excited about this? Share it with all your friends.

It’s finally here. That extra motivation you needed to get your house in order. And you have all summer to do it! Join me and others as we plan, clean, organize, do home improvement, and get rid of stuff.

PLEASE NOTE: If you are joining in after Day 1, please post the work you did on the day you did. These posts are not assignments, just ideas to keep you motivated.

Details are available through the newsletter. In a nutshell, as you work on your home, you document the work you did to the appropriate day on the blog, or on the Busy Homemaker Facebook page. For every 30 minutes of work you do, you get one entry for the weekly prize. Added bonus: Seeing what other people are doing will keep you motivated and give you ideas on what you can work on at your house.

Check out the first week’s prize: The winner can choose any 3 of the ebooks on the homemaking page at Graham Family Ministries. (Check out the whole site for lots of great freebies and products. The homemaking ebooks are under Book Shop, Homemaking Booklet Series Ebooks.) Other prizes include a workshop on freezer cooking, a book on raising boys into men, a coffee/seed grinder, and ebooks  on garage sales, chore charts, and more! One prize will be given away each week. For details on how to win, sign up for the newsletter in the upper right side of this page–and get a copy of Kamikaze Cleaning Stage 1: Disaster Recovery for free!

Here’s some food for thought: Having stuff everywhere is emotionally draining. Giving to others makes the heart glad. You can boost your emotional state twice as fast when you give things away.

In light of this, I’d like to get some discussion going on how you get rid of stuff. Do you sell it or give it away? Please share your thoughts on Facebook or here on my blog. I will compile the list and share it with everyone in the next newsletter, along with tips on how to prioritize your giving so it becomes something that is easy instead of emotionally draining. Remember, the more people who share, the more options you’ll have in the giving report.

Believe it or not, you can be happy in each stage of Kamikaze Cleaning™. Granted, while you are in crisis mode, you will experience unhappiness and stress due to what your house has become. But once you reach a point where you can begin to cope with your home, you can experience happiness. The key is to work through each stage and be content with your accomplishments. Then set your sights on the next stage. By breaking the process into distinct stages, you can be content long before you get your house back to normal, keeping you motivated to continue moving forward.

(Excerpt from Kamikaze Cleaning Stage 3: Restoration, “Chapter 19: Your Key to Cleanliness and Happiness”)

Let’s face it. Except for the occasional organizational challenge, housekeeping is pretty much a left-brain activity. As far as an innate desire to clean, it likely doesn’t exist for the right-brained homemaker. You need an external motivator.
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Here are some other things that may be motivating factors for you:
-    A list of pros and cons related to cleaning up
-    Emotional relief from clearing things out of sight
-    A happy spouse, kids, sister, mother, cousin, etc.
-    Having people over again
-    Making room for new stuff in your life
-    Getting rid of the emotional baggage from having so much stuff
-    Going public: telling someone else about your plans
-    Accountability: getting a coach, mentor, or friend involved
-    A special occasion: birthday, guests, holiday, family reunion
-    Listening to favorite music while working
-    Knowing that while you work, everyone else will leave you alone because they don’t like housework, either
-    Jotting accomplishments on a calendar that you can review periodically to see your progress

(Excerpt from Kamikaze Cleaning Stage 3: Restoration, “Chapter 8: Facing Your Giants”)

This is a clean office.

If you are unhappy with how your house looks right now, how clean would it have to be to make you happy? Many times, we fall into the trap of thinking our homes have to look like that one neighbor who has an immaculate house. And when we strive for that and don’t get there, it is frustrating, or even depressing. I found myself in that trap until I actually started cleaning up my house after those years of neglect. I found that just being able to keep the floors picked up and swept was clean enough for me.

This office can also be considered clean.

Once I got that going, I began to focus on the table and counter surfaces. Keeping those clear is still a challenge, but that is my new model of clean—seeing the floors AND seeing the counters. When you are starting over on keeping house, there is nothing wrong with setting your sites low in the beginning. Once you master that level of clean, enjoy it for awhile, then set a new level of clean. Over time, you can regain your vision of a clean home.