Oh, the Daily Checklist!
In the deslobification process I’ve been going through this past year, it’s been my very best friend.
Basically, it’s a list of the habits I’ve been working to develop in an effort to transform my home. It’s a chart of the things that seem effortless to normal people, but somehow baffled me.
It wasn’t that I didn’t know what needed to be done. It just never occurred to me to do it before it got to the point where an entire day of work was needed just to make a dent.
Maintenance is the issue. Decluttering I can do. I can’t count the number of times in my life that I’ve madly cleaned before a party, loved the way my home looked, told myself “I should really keep it this way,” and then looked up three weeks later to suddenly see the huge mess back again.
My daily checklist has kept me on track. If I find that things are slipping, if I start to feel out of control, I can grab my checklist and physically mark it off as I do my tasks. If I get through them all, the house looks better, I feel better, and I have hope to keep working on this process.
So, I’m sharing my checklist in printable form. I’ve been a little hesitant to do this in the past. The reason is that it’s MY daily checklist. I don’t mean this selfishly. I mean that many of the things on it are my own personal issues.
For example, I have “close cabinet doors” on the list. I doubt this is a universal-slob-problem. It’s my problem, so I needed it on the list. I also have “check bathrooms for clutter.” For someone who naturally puts clothes in the hamper and hairbrushes back in the drawer, this probably seems strange. For me, it’s a way to train myself to see clutter before it gets out of hand. Make sense?
I’m linking to two versions of my checklist. Mine that I currently use, and one that has only a few things on it, and mostly blank spaces. Neither are fancy. They are just tables I made in Google Docs. You could easily make a prettier one. But I know that since I’m all about excuses, having one to print out “just for now” would help me, since waiting-until-I-have-the-time-to-do-it-right is often one of my downfalls.
I’m linking to both, but if I were to give advice (if you read regularly you know I try to avoid giving advice), I would tell you to print the one with all the blanks.
When I began this journey, I only focused on one thing . . . keeping dirty dishes under control.
That was it.
The house was a disaster and there were SO MANY things that needed to be done, I had to focus on one to keep from getting overwhelmed. When that one started to feel natural and within my control, I added another. I think it was “sweeping the kitchen everyday.” In the Build Your Own version, I have only included making the bed, running the dishwasher before bed, and emptying the dishwasher first thing in the morning.
For me, those three things were the foundation-habits I needed to begin working toward having an orderly home.
Nony the Slob’s Daily Checklist
Build Your Own Daily Checklist
I’m linking this up to Works for Me Wednesday over at We Are That Family.
I love this! I love how you've listed out the small things that add up. Because you're right. Even though decluttering the bathroom might seem obvious to other, more neat people, to those of use who don't quite have it all together in this area, these are the things that sneak up and add up to major chaos. LOVE. IT.
Also. My husband's family is TERRIBLE about leaving cabinet doors open. To me, it seems crazy. (I have my own issues, believe me.) But even his mom, Homemaker Extraordinaire, struggled with this!
Thanks Mary! About the cabinets, I choose to believe that leaving cabinet doors open is a sign of brilliance. (I'm okay with my delusions!)
I hope so, because this is my own pet peeve about myself lol…
Love it, thanks Nony!!!
i printed out the blank one! thank you so much for sharing!
so true the little things add up to chaos. every little bit helps.
okay i'm going to get off my ass and make my daily checklist and then do it! thanks for the motivation!
Yay! It feels good to know someone actually printed it!
Thank you thank you thank you. you are the light in my tunnel of home doom!
We are currently painting our kitchen (and have been for 4 months but that is a different issue) and we have all our cabinet doors off the hindges. It make it so much simplier to find things for my slob brain. You should try it LOL.
I love the close cabinet doors. I leave mine open all the time and my husband HATES that. It also drives him crazy when I don't clear the microwave and it is flashing 10 seconds. LOL I am printing out your list…it's exactly what I need to be doing!
You know what I like about the "Build Your Own Daily Checklist" by Nony the Slob? You'll never guess. It's dividing the day into morning and evening. It reminds me of a song we sing in church at the Easter Vigil "There was evening and morning the 1st day, 2nd etc.," which is right out of Genesis. In our complicated society we have morning, AFTERNOON, and evening. How unnecessary is that? It complicates our lives, don't you think? This is so simple, it may change how I look at life forever. Thanks, Mary (I'm anonymous for now, 'cause I can't figure this out.)
I loved this idea of a check list. I thought I could keep up with the 'daily-ness' of things but it's hard. Maybe a list will work! I requested permission to edit your google docs version so I can make one of my own. Thank you so much!
Julie
jmanwarren@gmail.com
I am really enjoying your blog. I can relate to just about everything, even the cabinet doors. Thanks for documenting your efforts as it is a good motivator to me:)
I haven't been reading your blog long… but I'm really finding it wonderful. No one ever talks about this stuff… leaving cabinet doors open… having to remind themselves about picking stuff up off the bathroom floor… You just made me feel so much better.
I love that you started with just managing the dishes… that sounds so familiar. I'm finally starting to get a handle on the kitchen (and I even vacuumed today too!). I like the idea of asking the kids if something is clean before they get to watch TV. That one I'm definitely stealing for the summer.
I love the idea of My Daily Checklist. I am going to definitely going to try it. I never thought of all the little things add up.
Wow, I leave the cabinet doors open ALL the time, it drives my friends crazy when I do it at their homes! I totally relate to your plight, for I too struggle with my slobbishness, but am working towards improving. I enjoy reading your blog and am following you on facebook
Welcome, Luci! Yes, the cabinet-door-thing makes my husband bonkers!
This is my second day scouring your site for tricks to help me stay on top of my home. I thought I was the only person out there who can’t remember to close my cabinet doors, or who leaves something out when its home is only a foot away. I love lists and hope this will help. One step at a time!
Is there any way to edit the Daily Chores list on the computer? My handwriting is not pretty!
I thought I was the only person that seriously needed to write down “close cabinet doors”!!! Way to often after doing ANYTHING in my kitchen I sit down in my living room to look up and see at least 3 doors wide open lol. Thanks for making me feel less ditzy and more normal! Everything on your list sounds exactly like my list should be lol.
Thank you for your daily task list. I have only just had the revelation that I am a slob. I’m a couple of steps along the process but only a couple. That is, I do my dishes and sweep my kitchen. That’s it. I always panic when I am about to have friends over, everything seems so huge and so hard. Your blog is helping me so much, YaY! I’m not alone! Yay! There is light at the end of the tunnel (which isn’t my mother with a torch and yelling “where are you amongst this mess?!”)
Today is the start of my new, simpler and cleaner life-style.
Thanks for this list! Is this where I’m supposed to comment to enter for the kit?
No Andrea, Go back to the top post titled, “Week One Progress Report for Our Summer of Clean” and enter there. (It should be the top post for another hour or so!)
Thanks for keeping it real and for being brave enough to share yourself with others. I love these lists!
It all comes down to habits and routines, not a new concept, but I love your presentation of it. This is PERFECT for the people who say that FlyLady doesn’t work for them. (No system works FOR you. You must work the system.) If I dare make comparisons between the 2 of you: both reformed slobs, routines split by times of day, offer your routines and lists as examples but say customize, have kitchen and bathrooms on list daily, and you both are teaching the magic of routines becoming habit. Now, if you 2 can do this, and clearly there is NO short cut, I can get back to it! Am enjoying your blog!