If you've been reading all the way through, you will notice that I went through the entire main floor and didn't talk about the kitchen. I will get there at the end of my house recovery. You see, my DH was awesome enough to take on dishes when I got sick. He was still doing them as I was working on the rest of the house.
I knew if I had taken over the kitchen, he would not have continued doing it, so I wanted to work on the rest of the house before I took that job back over. IF you are doing this with me and do not have a DH doing the dishes, I would recommend using paper products and doing minimal kitchen work until you have recovered the rest of the house-but that's just me!
So, instead of tackling the scary kitchen, I set off for the scary kid places. Not that one is easier then the other, and not that one is going to stay cleaner longer....it's just there's no way on earth that DH was going to help me with the kids' rooms (proof that I was actually choosing the harder of the two jobs!).
This area was broken into MANY pieces, and took about 2 weeks total to get to acceptable status.
The first tackle were the stairs.
I've never lived in a 2 story house before this one, so I have no idea if this is normal behavior, but my children put everything they want to take to their rooms and put them on the stairs. Of course when they go to their rooms, they DO NOT take the item to their rooms. Instead they trip over the stuff.
Thankfully, we have since put a stop to this behavior (seeing as it's kinda dangerous), but when I first started my clean, there was just a TON of stuff there. At least, I got a little help. I made all the kids come and help me. When I unearthed something that belonged to them, they took the item to their room and came back for more.
I was in charge of trash-and filled a bag pretty full. I also found a few things that I have no idea how they got there. Oh, and LOTS of socks and a few random shoes. It was kinda rewarding, actually, because as I *found* some long lost toy (that my children put there) I was deemed the best mom ever for finding said treasure.
15 minutes later my fame ended-since the treasures were all found. I finished up by sweeping the steps and calling it a day.
The next area was the hallway. It was tackled exactly the same way as the stairs, so I won't bore you with the repeats. But, since it is a long hallway, it actually took two days. I am quite embarrassed to say it took that long. I couldn't believe how much was there!
3 days later, you could walk all the way UP the stairs, all the way DOWN the hall....but entering the children's rooms was, ehem, at your own risk.
God Bless,
Lisa
woohoo!! I am still working over here too.. I am down to a few spaces left to de-clutter before our yard sale on the 17th! Good job working through the house!
ReplyDeleteWe haven't had stairs in years, but every home that I have lived in with them, that was a common bad habit.
ReplyDeleteLoving this series! Especially since I'm kind of doing the same thing right now. Off to tackle my bedroom. I think I'd rather do the kids rooms, lol. Ugh...
I do have to say, that when you've never done a daily routine of keeping up the main areas, it is hard to keep doing it (especially on Sundays!) You've completely motivated me, though, to make my routine and TRY to stick with it. I have a loose list, taken much from your example, but edited to fit my own home, and omitting areas you haven't gotten to yet (except the kitchen! LOL) So, I wanted again to thank you for these posts. I know that I enjoy them, use them for motivation, and look forward to them every day! I'm really hoping you finish the series before #5 is born!
ReplyDeleteKrystal