Tomorrow is Christmas Eve, so today it’s time to get our homes in shape for company or so that we can enjoy our family and not have to worry about stepping over dirty laundry piles or tripping on spilled milk. If you’re feeling overwhelmed by all you have to do, I’m here to help!
I’ve got a two-hour step-by-step plan to help you get all the major cleaning done so that your home looks presentable for your guests tomorrow:
Two-Hour House-Cleaning Plan
1. Start a load of laundry (3 minutes).
2. Set the timer for 15 minutes and take a laundry basket and a trash bag and go through each room in your home. Quickly straighten, pick up, and put away everything that’s out of place. Put all trash in the trash bag and put everything that doesn’t go in that room in the laundry basket (15 minutes).
3. Put away all contents in the laundry basket and throw out the trash (5 minutes).
4. Head to the kitchen and load the dishwasher or hand wash the dishes (15 minutes).
5. Switch the laundry from the washer to the dryer and start another load in the washer (2 minutes).
6. Sweep or vacuum your kitchen floor and wipe down your countertops (10 minutes).
7. Take some toilet cleaner and go squirt it in all your toilets (2 minutes).
8. Take some window cleaner and spot clean the main glass windows/doors/mirrors (3 minutes).
9. Take a dust rag and quickly dust in the main rooms of your home (10 minutes).
10. Vacuum all the major traffic areas in your home (20 minutes).
11. Head back to the bathrooms wipe down the toilet, sinks, floor, and bathtub/shower. Change the towels (20 minutes).
12. Switch the laundry from the washer to the dryer and fold the clean laundry (15 minutes).
13. Light a candle or simmer some potpourri on the stove and enjoy your freshly-cleaned home!
Free Downloadable Checklist
Like to cross off lists? Download the free 2-Hour House-Cleaning Checklist to keep you on track and remind you of what you’re supposed to be doing next. Now you have no excuse for getting distracted. 🙂
3 Tips for House-Cleaning Success
1. Set the Timer
A timer works wonders in helping me stay focused and work quickly. Plus, it makes it seem more like a game to see if I can finish my project before the timer goes off!
2. Turn on Some Music
It’s much more fun to work when you’re accompanied by cheerful, upbeat music.
3. Stay Focused
Don’t worry about the next thing on the list or your overwhelming to-do list. Just focus on the project at hand until the timer goes off. Then, move on to the next project.
If your house is a complete disaster, it might need more than two hours. However, remember not to get too hung up on making it perfect.
Just work quickly and efficiently and do the best you can do in the time you have. Even if your house isn’t pristine after two hours of work, I’m sure it will at least look quite a bit better than it did when you started. 🙂
I have a question. Am I just the strange one or does anyone else like to clean alone? I hate to be cleaning when other people are home. I’m not sure why. I just like to work alone. Also, if family etc are home when you are cleaning and you really don’t want them to help because it’s faster if you do it, any suggestions on to how to work around them?
Great list! I did it today. Now I’m going to print and laminate so I can use it on the regular. 🙂
I use the timer when doing dishes. While they are soaking I go do other things. When the timer goes off I go back to the dishes. If I don’t do that I get distracted and the dishes pile up.
Thank you SO much for posting this! I just used it to tackle my house- it looks a TON better now, and I actually got it all done! I printed out the list and put it in a plastic sleeve so that I can use a dry erase marker to check things off. Most of the times were pretty close- I even had extra time in a few areas.
This cleaning plan may just change my life- I get so easily distracted when trying to clean bit by bit. Setting the timer and knowing that it would only take me 2 hours to be done for the week was so helpful! Thank you again!
I think I finally found a cleaning plan that will work for me! I’ve tried fly lady, but it was just too intense for my world right now although I did like the timer part. I love that this is a set plan that can get a bunch done in just a couple (okay, a few including kid distractions and “helpers”) hours. Thanks, Crystal! I can’t tell you how much we appreciate your website.
This is awesome, Crystal!! Thanks so much for the printable!! I love that you included the number of minutes on there dso I have a goal and can set my timer!! I’m going to try using this as a guide for my weekly home blessing! Thanks!!
Sounds like a good plan but I wonder about the schedule. Most people I know it would take twice as long.
Since my husband’s passing, I’ve let everything (including myself) slide. I’ve done a little cleaning here and there, but have not kept up with it. I work nights now from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. and come home and crash … stay worn out and tired. This list is a lifesaver. Even though I couldn’t get everything done in two hours (maybe two days!), it has given me a guideline that has alrady begun to show results … I feel like I can actually get on a schedule and get everything under control. Thanks so much!
So sorry for your husband’s passing, Sara. It’s easy to let go of everything when you have such a difficult loss in life. I bet your husband would want for you to be kind to yourself and to give yourself the care you need. Take gentle care of yourself and may God be with you.
This list totally works as long as I’m the one whose doing the chores. But with the kids helping me, it slows me down tremendously.
Oh, and I just realized that I don’t have windows to clean. I never thought about before now as I’ve lived oversees for two years and forgotten. We have windows with bars on them, and screens, but no glass.
Great tips and plan. With 5 little kids I’m thinking I better add on another 20 mins for the times they intercept and help me as they are a bit slower in the cleaning department 🙂
Thank you for posting this! This was the motivation I needed to get the house cleaned up for tomorrow rather than take a nap with my twins!
I love this!!! This is perfect for me b/c I have a hard time staying focused and I try to do too many things at once. Also my husband folds the laundry for me and my children and I put it up so that gives me extra time. During the laundry time, I can wipe down the walls in the places that company will see like living room, hallway and dining room. We have 3 children that are 3 and under so wiping down the walls is a must!! And I like the finishing touch: I light all the scented candles all over my house and turn all the fans on. I also use the Air Wick plug ins and they keep the house smelling great!!
This will be so helpful. My house is in the disaster category. I’ve been sick with morning sickness and cleaning has fallen to the bottom of my priorities. God has been good to make me feel good enough to take some time to clean tonight and I will take full advantage.
This is perfect! It fit my needs perfectly and I was able to get it all done while my kids (7,5,2, & 3 mos) had rest time. THANK YOU!!
So awesome – thanks!
I find that it helps me to feel more ambitious if I put on tennis shoes before I tackle the cleaning. Sounds kind of silly, but it works for me!
I thought that was just me! I definitely feel more ‘gung ho’ with my shoes on!:)
I do something similar to this daily. Im a 5am waker and I work, prepare homeschool materials and have quiet time while my family sleeps. I think the morning is the best for getting things done!
Merry Christmas! Grandma is watching baby boy while I’m cleaning and packing :).
And then repeat 1x/per kid that trails along behind you… smearing their faces on the windows, rubbing their slimy hands on the mirrors, flushing other things down the toilet, unfolding the laundry, pottying on the clean floors… :p Or maybe that’s just my kids.
😉
I’ve got four year old twins. Sooooo, not just you. Merry Christmas! And they’re really hurting my feelings right now. To the point of, I just want to cancel everything. Although I know I won’t. Just feeling upset I guess. But everything is ready. Take care all.
Stephanie – My twins are 7. They are boys. (I also have two older girls – 13 & 10). I feel for you. My boys are still a handful, but they are somewhat easier to deal with than a few years ago. Please hang in there, and know that at least someone understands that twins are a different animal altogether. 😉
Thanks. Yes, no one really gets how resourceful they are when there’s too of them. I guess it’s more that I’m worried that they feel entitled and ungrateful for what they have, which is an abundance. Again, thanks.
This is in response to your comment that your twins feel entitled and ungrateful. I think that personality plays a huge part in this. I have a son that I call the never enough kid. Whatever he has it is just never enough. It doesn’t matter what I do or say. My 2 daughters don’t really feel the same way. I just throw my hands up and just consider it part of his personality and try not let it bother me. We still do try to show him he should be happy with what he has or what he gets but most times it doesn’t make much difference. Just keep trying but don’t beat yourself up over it.
LOL. I will try. It’s hard for me because I’d rather do for others. I call my son the gimme kid. Actually, the Caillou Christmas movie has helped a little with this. I will try to remember some folks are just like that, although I don’t understand it.
It’s amazing what can be accomplished in a short amount of time. I have a smaller home, but have several health challenges, so things take me much longer than someone who is healthy or young or both. 🙂 I need to rest as I work, but I am still able to get things done as I can. My home won’t be perfectly clean for Christmas but it will be “reasonably enough clean” and that is good enough. If I worried about every thing I cannot do or accomplish, I’d be a wreck 24/7. 🙂
The whole point of Flylady is to do what you can when you can – don’t get your panties in a bunch about trying to get it all right, and get off that perfection wagon. Every little bit helps, no matter what you do in your home. I think a lot of women spend more time thinking about “cleaning” than actually just doing it. When you get overwhelmed, start with one little thing, and go from there. Even an hour or half hour can make a difference (don’t forget to take a break or two), and if you have a family and children, they should be helping out too!
With crisis cleaning, it’s about doing the basics and maintaining the things that are most important. It’s not worth jeopardizing one’s mental or physical health by being stressed out for the holidays!
I would also agree that getting off the computer is something a lot of folks need to do. You can’t accomplish things in your home and with family, etc. if you spend too much time online. But you don’t have to be a slave to your home either. I find a timer to be a real help too.
Thanks for the list, Crystal.
I love this! I’m going to print it out for all the time, not just Christmas Eve :). Let’s just say this might be my new Sunday ritual for streamlining cleaning for the week, hehe.
Did this today and loved it! Thanks MSM!
You go girl!
My two girls, 14 and 12, just finished this! We did it in 90 minutes and then used our “rollover” minutes to attack a few other areas. We had fun and the younger children even managed to keep themselves busy the whole time.
Way to go!!
I rolled the trash can in and started tossing stuff from the floor into it. If it’s on the floor it is trash. The kids seemed to move quickly enough to pick up their toys and I got a clean living room 🙂
Love the tips. Merry Christmas to your family!
ok, and now to get to work! So needed run into this! Thank you Thank you Thank you, And like everyone said- bye bye computer….( at least for now)
Thank you, this is just what i needed this morning. Listened to 2 cd’s and got just about everything done! Now to start folding and putting away the mountain of laundry I have been avoiding 🙂
This post makes me jealous! I wish I could do 2 hours worth of work in 2 hours. But with 4 kids, including one newborn, I feel like 2 hours worth of works takes 2 days!!!! And by the 2nd day, all the 1st day’s work is undone. Fuuuuun.
Ah, Carrie. You have a newborn. Keeping everyone fed and alive counts as a good day. 🙂 Forget about the house work being all done at once. That will come later…..for now, enjoy your little one.
Yup, Jillbert is right. Anyone who is pregnant (and sick), keeping a newborn alive (nursing), or not sleeping through the night (young babies, sick kids, whatever) is exempt. A new mom’s job is surviving. Period. No chores on top of that. It’s too much!
Those of us in easier stages should help our fellow moms with cleaning/cooking/chores. Now THAT’s a good Christmas gift idea, eh?!?
Merry Christmas to everyone!
Amen! 🙂
Ohhhh, this makes me so jealous! My house isn’t terrible right now, but it needs just this kind of light cleaning! I am sick and on a month’s bedrest – doctor’s orders – so no cleaning for me. I would love to be able to get around and do just a few of these. Oh well, only a few more weeks. I’m blessed with a wonderful husband who does his best to keep the house presentable. I’ll save this list for when I’m well. Thanks and Merry Christmas!
Thanks so much for this! I’ve been sick for the last few days and have been trying to figure out how I’m going to make this place presentable without overdoing it. I bet this is exactly the way.
I can’t wait until I get a house so I can have laundry inside! Moving the laundry from the sorter to a portable basket, gathering up detergent and quarters, and walking to the laundry room takes more than three minutes. And then if all machine’s are in use, it’s all for naught.
The plus side of that is I can do three loads at once!
Can you really clean 2 bathrooms in 20 minutes?! 🙂 Well, I guess you can, since you can mix up banana bread in 4 minutes while talking on the phone! (From a freezer cooking post in October) 🙂 I am just amazed!! 🙂 I’m guessing Jesse must not have a bunch of things sitting on the bathroom counter for you to move/clean. 😉
If I’m quick-cleaning the bathroom (i.e. quickly wiping everything down), I can do it in 10 minutes or less. Deep cleaning (scrubbing the floor/bath tub, etc.) definitely takes longer.
We have labeled drawers and containers for organizing everything in our bathroom and this helps encourage us to put stuff away. Truth be told, if anything’s left out, it’s usually my fault. 🙂
Jesse has a small duffel bag for all his bathroom stuff and he just tosses it in there when he’s done, zips it up, and throws it in the his bathroom drawer. It’s worked well for us.
The list is great, but you must move a lot faster than I do and have a much smaller house! What you’ve listed here would take me 4 to 5 hours or more.
It takes 15 minutes just to sort laundry into loads and over an hour to vacuum the high traffic areas.
I’m glad I’m not alone. This list seems ambitious to me, and I live in an apartment!
Love this post! Thanks for the practical list.
I streamlined my household tasks and somehow got the kids to be just as efficient in the plan, thanks to finding Miss Crystals blog this year!! They secretly love their little cleaning schedules, especially my 14 year old, ha! These are great tips for a quick whip up, I am sharing this with some friends and printing for myself. Merry Christmas!
Sounds like my daily routine! Now the challenge is to keep the 1 and 2 year olds occupied while I manage the 6, 8, 13, 15, and 17 year old workers!
Laundry is never caught up for more than a few hours around here since we use cloth napkins and handwash a lot of dishes as we cook everything from scratch. Just getting everyone through the shower creates 4 loads of dirty laundry and towels. It is a good busy. ;O)
Totally understand, Julie! Mine are 16, 14, 12, 10, 8, 3, and 9 months. Throw in homeschooling (which is a full-time job around here!) and I’m certainly not bored. 🙂
The great thing is that the older ones are becoming such a help! Families are wonderful, even in the midst of all the laundry! 🙂
Yes, all the years training the older ones when they were little paid off but I’m feeling out numbered by little ones some days. We homeschool, too, and wouldn’t trade it for the world.
Haha! You apparently dont have any small children around while going through this checklist!
Great planning! I actually still clean a few houses on the side (have for years) and even though it isn’t written down, I have a system very similar to this! I have made it very efficient! Thanks for sharing.
I think this plan would come in handy on the 26th too when it’s time to clean up the aftermath of parties, presents, and a day of relaxing:)
Yes!
Oh CP – this is so great!
We were on the same thinking track today, except yours is for cleaning, and mine is how to quick spruce up for some last minute holiday party ideas. They definitely need yours first. 🙂
http://beautyandbedlam.com/last-minute-holiday-party-ideas/
I just found your site, and I love it! Thank you for a great cleaning plan.
And to make it go even quicker — have the whole family pitch in. With my husband and 3 kids, we can whip the main floor of our house in shape in 15 mins. We all do a quick pick up then I hit the kitchen (dishes, sweeping, sink shining, mop if I have time, spot clean if I don’t….), 1 kid does the bathroom, another dusts, while the third vacuums. Hubby does whatever else needs to be done like take out trash or recycling or pitch in on any room that needs more help. The key is to focus on getting it done and getting it done quickly as a team. Then, we can play. 🙂
Excellent, this was definitely the goal for today, and it’ll be nice to have a plan to follow. I may add in 6 or 7 lines for “take care of children”…that way each “interruption” lets me cross something off the list 🙂
Hahhaha I was gonna say something like this. With 3 kids 4 and under, I’ve GOT to allot time for all the interruptions, and extra time for re-cleaning the things that I JUST cleaned because they messed them up already…hehee but hey, that’s life with little kids. 🙂
Great list! I had several of these things already done (namely cleaning the bathrooms) so I was able to get it all finished in about an hour (partly because I didn’t vacuum/straighten upstairs or do anything with the windows!)
Thanks for the help!
I just posted a similar list a couple days ago!
http://theabundantwife.com/get-your-home-guest-ready-in-30-minutes-or-less/
I like your ideas of setting a timer and playing music though. Thanks!
Thank you so much for this. I woke up knowing I needed to work on the house today. I always check through my blog list first thing in the morning. Finding this actually got me excited to clean house!!
This list is great for me all year long. I home school and find “Friday Cleaning Day” is working for us right now so this is a good jumping off point for our cleaning day.
I pinned it too!!
oohhh, I love a checklist! Thanks!
Thank you – this is EXACTLY what I needed! I am ready for tonight with this list and some nice Christmas carols on the CD player as I go along!!!! Thank you for making it printable!
Thanks Crystal… I just hopped online to distract myself from everything I should be doing! Just printed the list and I’m off!! Merry Christmas 🙂
I’ve always wanted my teenage children to bring their friends to our home more often, but I’m the one who is reluctant. Now I have a 2012 plan, Operation Bring Friends Over. It won’t take me 2 hours every day-I’ll rotate the vacuuming, dusting, and bathroom deep clean. Thanks MSM!
Thanks. This will be great. I love the printable!!
This is great, but I think you must move quicker than I do! 🙂 I know some of these things will take me longer, but this will certainly help me focus–thanks!
This is fantastic!! Even if you can’t do everything in 3 minutes..ie…cleaning the windows, doing even just a few is better than nothing at all;) Don’t let yourself get into the negative thought process of finding flaws and just do it!
THANKS and Merry Christmas, Crystal!!!
Exactly! Try not to nit pick just because your list will not look exactly the same. I think the point is that if you hustle you can get a lot done in just 2 hours! Thank you Crystal. This post was what I needed to motivate me to clean today. Now tomorrow night all I will need to do is sweep the floors again and we should be ready for people on Sun. 🙂
Woohoo! I’m proud of you!
Love this – thank you!
Thanks… this is great.
This is brilliant! I don’t have 2 hours today but I don’t have to do some of the stuff on this list so it’s ok. I’m printing this and saving it cause it will come in handy later
3 minutes to wash the windows?
5 minutes to put away a whole laundry basket of stuff?
I am going to try this but I think each of those tasks would take me at least an hour.
Not if you shove the basket in a closet, like I do! Except I use a plastic tub with a lid. If someone is missing something, they know where to look! It’s full of all of those annoying little pieces of games and toys that “missed” getting picked up the first time.
My house has a lot of windows for its size, but I still can do it in 3 minutes — if I just do the 4 main rooms, and only the obvious sticky handprints. I do this about once a week, and it keeps things looking decent – good enough for company, at any rate!
I think she is referring to just a few windows/doors/mirrors. At our house, this would be just the bathroom mirror, utility sink mirror, and front door glass. In my book, there is no need for full house window washing this time of year.
Just spot clean the main windows with some window cleaner. Don’t get out the squeegee and clean the screens or anything. 😉
I’ve started timing myself and have found many tasks take much less time than I would have thought. Especially when I focus. 🙂 If my big basket is full of folded laundry (3 loads worth) it takes me 10 minutes. But only one load in my house does only take 5. It could also depend how your house is set up.
So true. Sometimes things feel like they take longer than they actually do. Like emptying the dishwasher — something I often do twice/day. It takes me 3 minutes to empty the dishwasher. It’s a task I hate to do but I remind myself that it really takes no time and then just dive in and get it over with. Sometimes the procrastinating takes longer than the actual job.
Fly lady sets a timer for a weekly home blessing. Only do as much as you can do in the alloted time–makes you work faster–suprised at home much you can do!
I don’t have a washer and dryer so doing one load of laundry requires going to the laundry mat.
Washing dishes (again I do not have a dish washer and it takes longer than 15 minutes to do our families dishes)
We share a vacuum with the neighbor and I have a schedule set with her and I do hers when I do mine.
I did do the quick hustle just yesterday while everyone else was out running around doing last minute Christmas stuff but, will have to run laundry today and get help from daughters to get all the dishes caught up.
The hustle does work but some have to adjust to the home they are in.
I don’t have a dishwasher either and it’s a struggle. What works for me is washing them in small batches. Even if the kitchen is strewn with dirty dishes I prefer to wash just as many as my rack holds (about 5 minutes) and walk away until they’re dry. Or until I feel like drying them with a towel. Maybe I’m a nut but it stresses me out to have the rack stacked halfway to the ceiling with dishes waiting to be put away. 🙂 Other people are probably more bothered by walking away with only half the dishes washed.
I’m like this too (though we have a dishwasher, not everything fits in it). I also put some things in the oven (when it is off) to dry, but you have to check the oven first before you turn it on! I’ve seen others put a towel on the counter for extra dish drying space so that might help (if you have the counter space, growing up we used our dining room table). That way maybe you could get a bit more done then wait for those to dry before tackling the rest. I don’t seem to be bothered by dirty dishes. 🙂
My husband and MIL do the towel thing and it makes me crazy! 🙂 Too much clutter. Weird, I know, since dirty dishes are clutter too. Anyway, I try to keep up with dishes so I don’t have to wash in shifts more than once a week or so.
Yes it is clutter but this is what I do if I have more dishes than fit in the dishwasher. Load and run. I have a double sink. Rinse in side with disposal and stack up in other side. Hand wash knives, pots, etc. at same time. Rinse and stack everything for dishwasher. Then before I go to bed, I can empty the dishwasher, quickly put the dishes from the sink in it (because they are already rinsed) and “Shine my sink” – fly lady reference. Of course fly lady wouldn’t leave the dishes in the sink for 2-3 hours, but at least it is shined when I go to bed!
Thanks so much! This is exactly what I need to stay on track and be focused on the task at hand. Time to turn off the computer. Thanks again!
I hope you and your family have a very Merry Christmas!!!
Wish I could clean my house this quickly! We are temporarily living in a large house, for ministry purposes. I have decided large houses are overrated (unless they are full of people). It takes me an hour just to sweep one the floors on one (of three) level! And somehow I have a feeling it would take longer than 20 mins to clean six bathrooms. Especially with baby in tow. And this would be why…I am always behind on house work lol
Well, you don’t need to use six bathrooms, clean ’em and close the door. LOL. Just kidding, I hear you. Sounds exhausting. Merry Christmas all!
Totally agree with Stephanie! Don’t use all the rooms and they will stay relatively clean. When we were first engaged, we house and dogsat for a family who was in Europe for 6 mos. 4 bedrooms, 3 full baths, 2 half baths, office, living room, den, media room, huge kitchen, etc. and just the 2 of us. We regularly cleaned the kitchen/den area/half bathroom and the bedroom we stayed in and the attached bathroom. We didn’t mess with the rest of the house except for a quick dusting/vacuuming once a month. If friends or family came for out of town visit, their bathroom and bedroom just needed a quick dusting and vacuuming and then clean up after they left of course (then close the doors and leave alone again).
I can totally understand that since I come from a huge family and we always had big houses. But now that I am married and have a 5 and 2 year old and the economy the way it is….we are in a tiny house and it seems that I need to whip my house into shape EVERY day because EVERY part of the house in lived in (except our bedroom) all day! Lol ! Well one thing I can say is this post gave me the motivation to just get started right away without procrastination. I got started right away and the rest of the day way that much easier knowing the big chunk of work was behind me. (And of course a mini clean up at kids’ bedtime was that much easier!)
I hear you! Its a nice plan idea…but not realistic for us…I have 18 windows…not including the mirrors on just the first floor. Did I mention they are floor to ceiling? 3 min won’t cut it! And I have 5 bathrooms…and telling 4 kids to use one bathroom so the rest stay clean is not happening…lol! My dishwashers out of commission so I handwash all dishes and dry and put away…sorry but 15 min won’t cut that either! Fortunatly no one drops by without days in advance notice, so I have plenty of time to get ready for guests:)
I love this! I’m 44 years old…so I’ve seen a few checklists in my day, but this is really awesome. Thanks for it!
~Michelle @ Liturgical Time
I love this! I am often overwhelmed and trying to do too many things at once (like whiping down a counter while carrying a laundry basket full of junk I am puting away…) and this is a perfect plan! Love the timer idea!
Great plan. Sure sounds like flylady! (flylady.net)
Don’t you love FlyLady?! She was such a help to me when I was first married. I love her 15-minute suggestions and using the timer idea; it changed my life!
Yes, yes, and YES! I’ve never done the FlyLady system exactly the way she describes but that timer thing has changed my life too. When I don’t set it I tend to get sidetracked and unfocused. Using it for laundry really, really helps. Especially since the buzzer on our dryer is broken. Ha ha.
In order to simplify I’ve spent the last week doing only very basic chores and 5 minute pickups both upstairs and downstairs every day. It’s been more than enough. I’d like to encourage everyone stuggling to get their house in order to keep at it! Once you get to a certain point you can slide by with only a little bit of maintenance. 🙂
The timer is definitely key. I don’t always use it, but when I’m under a deadline or losing focus it is absolutely amazing how much it helps!
You and FlyLady have both changed my life! Have a fabulous holiday!
This is very similar to my all-the-time routine – it works really well for me! I don’t use the dryer (I hang clothes outside or on drying racks in the basement), but the rest of it is pretty similar to what I do.
I have also developed a habit that keeps our house looking lots better day-to-day. After my daughter is in bed, I do a quick tidy – just putting things back where they belong. It’s fast to do, and makes a huge difference.
Thanks for posting this! My house is a disaster and we have lots of company coming. Thankfully, my girls have a half day of school so they can help out.
Although, what happens if one laundry basket can’t hold all the stuff that needs to go someplace else? LOL!
I’m with you Ann… First I’d need to fill about 10 laundry baskets with stuff that needs to be put away, but that I will never have time to put away- and then I need to find somewhere to stash them 🙂
I definitely understand that!
Yesterday I had to resort to dumping a bunch of clean, unfolded laundry out of a basket so that I would have an empty one to throw junk into. Now I have clean laundry getting mixed up with dirty laundry and several baskets of junk in our computer room, which is slowly but surely becoming a room shaped junk drawer!
But, hey-it’s almost a New Year, and hope springs eternal!
Crystal does have a lot of great tips in her new book, btw. I just have to get off my duff and implement them.
Thank you, Crystal. I printed out SEVERAL copies, because they will come in handy all through the year. Not that MY house ever gets messy! {ahem!} Loved this!
LOVE this! I’m going to try it this afternoon when the kiddos are sleeping and my hubby is home early from work. Happy cleaning everyone!
When I just can’t get motivated or the job seems to overwhelming, I just start by telling myself “I’ll put 5 things away”, by the time I actually put the 5 things away, I’m motivated enough to keep going.
Have I mentioned lately that you ROCK! Thank you! We will not have company for Christmas but I would rather not be tripping over messes or catching dirty laundry in a picture that day! LOL! Merry Christmas! 🙂
Wow…this is just what I needed today as my house is a disaster and I was going to start cleaning soon! Thanks MSM! 🙂
And stay off the computer!!!
Yes! I was just thinking I need to do the same thing!
Yes! Make sure you print it so you dont keep coming to check what is next on the list… or if you got an email… or if there is a sale at Target….
I knew I couldn’t be the only one with this problem!
I wish there was a “like” button for this, lol. It is soooo true – “What’s next on my list, oh a comment on FB, did I enter the Similac drawing today?” and then an hour has gone by… 🙂
I love your website. This is just what I needed today!! Merry Christmas.
Oh Crystal, you do not know how badly I needed this! My parents and brother are coming over tomorrow night for our usual Christmas Eve meal and gift exchange, and with all that has been going on around here, this house is a disaster. Thank you so much for all your encouragement!