Missed the first few days’ assignments? You can see all the posts in the 4 Weeks to a More Organized Home series here.
Day 9 Assignment
::Get dressed in something that makes you feel great {there’s something about dressing in clothes that make you feel great that just gives you more energy and zest for life! Get your free copy of SarahMae’s ebook, Frumps to Pumps, if you need more motivation in this.}
::Sit down with a cup of coffee or tea, refer to your list of weekly goals, and make a list of no more than 5-7 specific things you want to accomplish today.
::Complete your morning routine {if you don’t have a morning routine, take some time to create one today! Read my How to Develop a Routine That Works–And Stick With It series for step-by-step help.}
::Set the timer for 15 minutes and do a quick-clean of your bathroom. Need specific directions? Read this article on How to Clean Your Bathroom in 15 Minutes.
::Clean your light switch plates. You can use a damp rag with a little disinfectant on it or a cleaning wipe. If you have younger children, they’d probably enjoy joining you in tackling this project!
::Find 7 items to get rid of today. Throw them out, stick them in a donate or garage sale box, give them to a friend who can use them, or list them on Craigslist or eBay.
Note: If you work outside the home or have a really busy week with little time for extra projects, just do the bolded project above.
At 9 p.m. ET tonight, I’ll be posting my progress and pictures, along with a link-up for you to share your progress and pictures, too. Here’s to our productivity today!
I cleaned some and replaced some. Basic ones are less than a dollar each so when they crack or stained I just replace them. I bought a box (cheaper in a bulk box of 10) so always have some on hand. My house had all cream switches and plates and I have been replacing the plates but not the actual switches. I really need to have someone handy come over and replace the switches too so they all match in white. I could probably learn how to do it myself but electricity scares me.
Ok, so we just bought this house and I have to say YUCK! It was a rental for several years. The light switches have dirt way in them and stuck inside the words “ON” and “OFF”. I’ve been afraid of spraying cleaner inside since there is electrical current. I have taken an old toothbrush and scrubbed and it’s better but still not clean. Anyone have any ideas? Should I just go buy new ones?
New ones are fairly cheap. We have replaced them in all our rental homes as well as the home we live in cause it just spruces a place up for little $$.
Thanks for doing this series…I have not followed along with all the daily tasks, but comment from a few days ago about doing a 10 minute cleaning of rooms got me motivated. Yesterday I spent 10-20 minutes in each room of my house…setting the timer for each room. It was AMAZING how much I could get done while trying to beat the timer. With 3 chldren 1.5 year- 5 years and 18 weeks pregnant with my 4th I am determinded to get some stuff cleaned out and organized. Today I cleaned out the van and completed ALL my laundry while implimenting a new system! Thanks for all you do and please keep the organizing ideas coming.
Oh yeah, I have a HUGE bag on its way to Goodwill!!!!!
Today i tackled the baseboards, knobs and switch plates. What a chore!!! Im glad I finally made myself tackle the baseboards which I’ve been avoiding. The bathroom I did this morning, as part of my weekly routine, before I even read todays list. Im all caught up and ready for more.
So I haven’t been doing everything exactly as you have listed it, because some of the cleaning I had just finished up in some of my spring cleaning, but the thing that is the best for me – forcing myselft to get rid of 7+ things a day! We, as humans accumulate so much….stuff! Ugghh. But pulling up your blog everyday motivates me to pitch the junk! Thanks!
Ha! I did the switch plates yesterday with the doorknobs Yahoo! I came up with 7 more items to get rid of too….4 wire hangers(i dont know how they get in my closet…I switched to all plastic hangers years ago but every so often I find a couple!) I also found 2 more old eyglass cases to donate and also some toys to add to the mix….I am excited to be clearing stuff out.
I now have time to vacuum my car. The car got cleaned out and wiped down the other day, but still needs the vacuum.
Seriously, I consider myself to keep a pretty clean house…not perfect, but I try. But this project…GROSS! I didn’t realize how dirty a couple of those switch place covers were! Thanks for drawing them to my attention!
How much time do you spend reading your Bible in the morning? How many times a week do you run? I do both of these, but want to me more “regular” with it!
Anywhere between 10 and 30 minutes, depending upon how much time I have and how long the daily passage is! I also read Jesus Calling, review my memory work, and have my prayer time when I’m on the treadmill — so I suppose you could somewhat add that time in, too. 🙂
I try to run at least 4-5 days per week.
Crystal, I tried to submit a comment for the latest giveaway but I kept getting this error at the bottom of the page:
“Fatal error: Allowed memory size of 50331648 bytes exhausted (tried to allocate 71 bytes) in /home/moneys9/public_html/wp-content/themes/thesis_18/lib/classes/comments.php on line 18”
I would LOVE to enter this contest. Thank you!
I love the part of throwing getting rid of 7 things. Decluttering my life gives my mind a sense of peace!
I’m now days behind but will try to catch up this weekend. My goal is to get rid of 28 items of clothing, go through my refrigertor (cleaned recently but needs to be reorganized) and go through my freezer.
I cleaned my microwave last night and that really needed it! Maybe I can get to the switch plates this weekend too.
I am really getting into the groove of these daily assignments and was thinking to myself in the shower this morning even when this series end I should continue picking an area of the home to concentrate on for 15 min. Monday through Friday, as well as set a goal for daily tossing (or selling or giving) items, say 1 or 2: 5 days a week. If I did so I bet my house would stay caught up, and way more organized than it ever has. Thanks for offering such a great way to kick start good habits! For those of us who never had a parent show us how, this is a transforming series!
Definitely a good Idea we have been sick this week and hopefully the antibiotics have been in us long enough to keep yucky germs away. I have been encouraged with this series! I started small like you said, no way was I going to accomplish every day all the goals you had because I am just starting to try to be more disciplined. So I started with reading the Bible every morning, which then I incorporated Frumps to pumps, and 21 more days to a disciplined life, and my house has stayed cleaner(even though I was sick with strep!) yuck! yesterday I cleaned out the fridge! looks great i know it is days late but it got done! Glad this is a small task today yesterday I over did it and spiked a fever… whoops. Thanks for the encouragement!
I cleaned the bathrooms on Monday so that’s done but the switchplates will get done today. Along with 7 things to get rid of! My favorite part 🙂
I almost did the switchplates yesterday but didn’t. Oh I should have just done them. After the baseboard cleaning I could really see a difference. I vacuum them regularly but getting down there with a wet dust rug really cleans them much better. I may just have to add this to my routine.
Switchplates done and I caught up with the doorknobs. I don’t need to do the bathrooms as my cleaning lady will do those tonight. I am glad to have that one off my list as I can try to do a few I missed with being out of town for Doctors appointments for the my kids.
Already I am seeing a difference with trying to do what I can, when I can. With kids with disabilities it can be tough to keep up and breaking it down into small pieces with a easy routine is just right for me.
I cleaned the garage this morning if that counts. 😉 I can’t wait to see your pictures.
I can’t wait until we are done burning wood for the season. My living room needs a thorough wipe-down as everything has a layer of ash dust. The wood stove tends to spit more smoke when we load in the the warmer weather this time of spring, so I’m waiting to clean the walls and such until the nights are warm and the wood rack is out.
Woohoo! I did the light switch plates yesterday, too. Good news for me as I’m visiting a friend who just had a baby this evening (I’ll be bringing her dinner) and then I have a bunch of other preparations to do before my daughter’s first birthday party tomorrow night. I still need to clean out my chest freezer so maybe I’ll get to that today.
Yay, I did the switchplates with the door knobs yesterday.. along with lots of wall grime.. while I was trying to catch up on the baseboards. I guess I need to work on the “bite sized pieces” thing, huh? 🙂 Good news is that I finally finished the baseboards today, and I actually cleaned the bathrooms when I first woke up! I believe I am completely caught up now, and slightly ahead if scrubbing walls comes up later on. 😉
yay! i did the switchplates yesterday!
I avoided the baseboards like the plague, which turned into not doing the knobs yesterday. So today I did the knobs and switch plates today, plus vacuumed, which needed to be done. And of course, I noticed the dirty baseboards while vacuuming, so now I’ll have to do that. Meanwhile… I skipped the bathroom last week, so I suppose it’s time to step up to the plate on that one.
sadly, I won’t be able to participate to much for the next week. Our kitchen is being torn apart due to a water leak. I am keeping up with my daily routine though. Compositions books work very well for keeping a to do list instead of having single sheets of paper lying around the house. Mine stays in my kitchen. I sit down on Sunday’s and lay out my week with tasks that I know need to get done and then add as needed.
For example, here is typical to do list for me:
Make beds
put dishes away
work on school work (I usually rotate days between my 3 classes)
laundry (folded and put away)
doctor appointments
any calls I need to make (along with the number and why I am calling them)
general pick up
Fridays I usually do a 4hr power clean (friday’s are my husband’s short days for work). I can get our room and bathroom cleaned and swept, Ds’ bathroom cleaned and swept along with his room and the stairs, plus mopping the upstairs and the stairs (steam mops are AWESOME!!!) By this point its almost lunch for us, so I multitask. Clean up the kitchen and making lunch.
Once our house is put back together, I’m wiping everything down (doors, doorknobs switch plates, counters, cabinets, floors and everything in between).
I love this series too. Granted I’m a couple items behind, but I disinfected both bathrooms yesterday so I think I will clean out the car and do the switch plates today. Thank you for doing this series- I just love the little challenge it beings me.
Yeah! I did them yesterday along with the doorknobs which look so nice and clean and are making me happy 🙂 I already had several odd cleaning jobs on my list today–dusting the chandelier and picture frames and ironing so I will have plenty to do!
Yay! I’m so happy with today’s assignments! 🙂
I cleaned the light switch plates last night when I did the doorknobs, plus I wiped down the bathroom sink and counter while I was at it. Cleaning our downstairs half bath was already on my “to do” list today, so I hope by the end of today to be mostly caught up. I’ll be cleaning and vacuuming out our car this afternoon. I’ll still have the van to do, but it’ll have to wait until Saturday. I’m going to be working on decluttering my linen closet, since it’s a bit of a disaster zone right now, and I’m sure I’ll find more than 7 things to get rid of out of there!
I did them yesterday with the door handles! YAY!!! I need to still vacuum out my car, so I’ll do that today. Have I mentioned I love this series?:)
I’m curious as to how you come up with the assignments for each day. Are these the tasks you had already planned to do and you get us involved? HOw do you decide what should be the daily tasks?
I made out a long list at the end of last month of tasks I wanted to complete this month and then just broke them up by days for this month.
Yeah, I did those yesterday when I was doing the knobs. Still need to finish those baseboards! Hoping for a kitchen drawer assignment soon! 🙂
I think we’re going to be doing some kitchen projects next week. 🙂
Oh yes! The junk drawer could definately use some dejunking!
Woohoo! I wiped down the switch plates as I did the door knobs last night. Now I have a day to catch up on a couple of other cleanup projects I haven’t gotten to. 🙂