Testimony from Victoria of Snail Pace Transformations:
Back in April, I decided to join Crystal in her 4 weeks to a More Organized Home series. To be honest, I did not start the program with a great attitude. I knew my home needed help but I had so much else on my plate.
Looking back however, I know the series helped me manage that plate more effectively. Plus, I discovered my cleaning groove that I had been trying to find for 17 years of housekeeping!
After the 4 Week Challenge was finished, I used what I had learned from it to create my own customized cleaning routine.
My New Cleaning Routine
(Those that followed Crystal’s daily assignments will see many similarities.)
- Get dressed.
- Follow my Morning Routine — For me that is starting the kettle for tea. Cleaning off the kitchen counters. Getting the laundry going and having my time of morning prayer and bible reading.
- Write a list of 7 to 10 things to do for the day — This list includes my 15-Minute Daily Cleaning Assignment and the 15-Minute Room of the Week Assignment.
- Write a list of chores for the children to do.
- Do the 15-minute Daily Cleaning Assignment.
15-Minute Daily Cleaning Assignments
Cleaning doesn’t really take long. Often I was spending more time dreading a chore than it took to do the chore. Now I set the time for 15 minutes each weekday and work on the following:
Monday: Master Bedroom
Tuesday: Upstairs Bathroom
Wednesday: Wild Card Day (I pick an area that is the most cluttered.)
Thursday: Downstairs Bathroom
Friday: Master Bedroom
15-Minute Room of the Week Assignment
In addition to the Daily Room Assignment, I also spend 15 minutes each weekday focusing on cleaning a specific area of my home.
Saturday Assignment
Every Saturday, I pick one area of the home and attack it for 30 minutes. I save Saturdays for bigger projects, such as reorganizing a closet or book case.
Additional Weekly Assignments
- Designate 5 items to sell or toss — less stuff really does equal less mess to clean up. This can happen any time during the week or on Saturdays, depending upon that week’s schedule.
- Spend one hour listing things to sell — I have a lot of stuff in piles that I have been saying I will sell, but the project just seemed too overwhelming. Now I set the timer for 60 minutes, and start posting my items (on Craigslist or eBay) or start pricing them (for consignment sales or stores). When the timer goes off, I pack up the unlisted or untagged items and put them away until next week.
The benefits of this new schedule have been numerous:
- I no longer fear someone just dropping by because I know my bathrooms can be quickly cleaned up with just a few wipes.
- I am adding to my family’s income — I made $190 off of my first one-hour selling session!
- Our master bedroom is now truly the oasis I always wanted it to be.
Victoria is a wife and homeschooling mom of three. She loves running marathons and training for an annual sprint triathlon. Victoria considers herself a snail pacer in life. She grows in inches not in leaps hence the name of her blog Snail Pace Transformations.
Note from Crystal: Looking for some motivation and ideas for creating your own cleaning routine? Be sure to check out my post on How to Stay Motivated to Get the Housework Done.
For years, I have set timers while cleaning. For example, after a big dinner, I will look at the kitchen and say, “I am giving myself 20 minutes to clean this up and not a minute more.” Then I set the microwave timer and am off! It is a game I play with myself to see how much I can get accomplished during that time. Most of the time, I completely finish whatever it was I started. I am not rushing around like a crazy person, but it helps me keep my pace up whereas I might have gotten distracted before.
A friend of mine and I also clean our houses “together” via text. She will send me something like, “I am headed into my girls’ room. It is a disaster. I am giving myself two hours…and go!” She will then text me with updates as to how she is doing, and I will text back encouragement. It’s free, it’s easy, and it’s cheaper than therapy! 🙂
Thank you, so much for this. While I was ecouraged by the Four weeks to a more organized home, I did not participate. I just paid for Crystal’s book on my kindle and breezed over a section that talked about setting aside a chunck of time and just going for it cleaning and organizing. I started today 🙂 It feels good! After I am done with the large overhual I can see adopting a schedule similar to this!
Thanks for sharing and motivating me! 🙂
I really like that you used the 4 weeks to a more organized home to develop your own routine that works for you. Thanks to your great post I will spend some time this week making up a routine that will work for me this summer. I have a few big projects to get done and I want to maintain what impovements I made during the 4 weeks to a more organized home too.
Thanks. Summer time is great for big projects. I am hoping to finally make painting some yard sale found furniture a priority. I too wanted so badly to keep up the progress I made during “4 weeks to a more organized home”. I started out grumbling over the assignments, and then during the last week I was like “hey wait a minute, don’t end the series my home is actually starting to look good”. That’s when I decided I would have to come up with my own daily task sheet.
What a great post! I need to type up something similar and put it into action. I used to spend Monday’s cleaning my whole house. This has become difficult in the past year (plus my children have many Monday’s off of school). I think if I use your, Crystal’s and my ideas together I can come up with a great plan! Thanks for sharing!
Your welcome and good luck with adapting your cleaning schedule to suit your life as it is right now. You are on the right track by wanting to combine various schedules to suit your individual needs. It really is what works best.
Wow, I’m impressed! Great job. Crystal’s blog and printable chore charts have inspired me to a be a better keeper of my home as well. One of my biggest problems is something you mentioned you struggle with: Getting rid of those piles of giveaway/sell items. I need to designate some time to take care of that too. Thanks for the ideas, Victoria!
Your welcome. The key for me was breaking the job down. I kept looking at the piles thinking I will take a whole Saturday and do it all in one swing. But, with 3 kids even Saturday has at least 1 event I need to either drive them too or attend. When I faced up to the fact that I wasn’t being realistic, I saw that even a small chunk of time each week could pay off just as much as a large chunk of time spent one time.
What a great idea to adapt for yourself! I participated in the monthly challenge, too, and it was the best thing I could’ve done for my house. I’ve continued cleaning on a regular basis, which is so not typical of me:) I think I’ll work on my own plan over the summer, when I have off from my teaching job. Great idea, thanks!
Your welcome. It didn’t take long to adapt them to my home. I spent one long run and one long shower thinking of how to best break it down. Then it took about 10 minutes to type it all out. I have tweaked a few things since, for instance if I don’t get to the room of the day, for 15 minutes every day I at least make sure I spend 1 hr and 15 minutes on it by the end of Saturday.
April ended up being a busy month so I didn’t really follow along with the 4 Weeks to a More Organized Home posts. Now I am kicking myself! I’ll have to look up the series and work through it on my own. Sounds like the motivation I need to get in touch with my inner housekeeper. 🙂
Victoria, you’ve inspired me. When you said that you spent more time dreading the chore than it took to do it, I see myself today. I need to clean my bathrooms including scrubbing the tub & showers. I’ve been dreading and putting it off for the past 2 hours. I could have already had it done. I’m definitely going to get up now and do it. Thanks!!
LOL…I can totally relate to this. I’ve been thinking since 11am (it’s 2 now) that I should put away the dishes. It’ll probably take all of 15 minutes to actually do. It’s maddening sometimes how I sabotage myself and my day!
Agreed. That was the number one thing I noticed over and over again during the “4 Weeks to a More Organized Home Series” that all the chores I dreaded most took no more than 10 to 20 minutes tops. Now I just set the timer and get them done.
I recently started the Motivated Moms Planner chore chart and it breaks down those dreaded bathrooms into easy, manageable pieces. We have 4 bathrooms and I really don’t want to spend forever cleaning them. The MMP list will give you toilets to clean one day, then mirrors the next, and so on. I have tackled chores with a much better outlook since there isn’t so much to do at once. Love it!
4 bathrooms! Ah! I dread my 2! 🙂
I dread cleaning tubs and showers to, but I accidentally stumbled on an easy way to do it. Take a sponge with one of those nylon wrappers (I like Dobie, but I’m sure another would work well too), wet it and put a little bit of liquid hand soap or shampoo and a sprinkle of baking soda on it. Then you can take it in the tub with you and do some scrubbing while you are bathing or showering and you don’t have to worry about yucky chemicals getting on your skin or making you sick. The baking soda makes it a bit like a soft scrub cleanser, so any any build up comes off pretty easily.
Oops…I meant “I dread cleaning tubs and showers *too*”
Crystal without your motivation, help and knowledge I would be lost. You make a huge difference for everyone!
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