I had big plans for April.
It was supposed to be my get-some-major-writing-projects-done-so-I’ll-be-ready-for-the-loosi-goosiness-of-summer month.
I planned to hole up in my house and accomplish big things.
But then, my daughter decided she wanted to have a birthday party.
Let me explain.
I was well aware her birthday was approaching.
I knew it was her year to have a party. (We only do friend parties every other year.)
However . . . she had been saying she wanted to hold off until summer so she could have a swimming party at our local pool.
Then she changed her mind. As almost-7-year-old girls tend to do. It was just too exciting to NOT have her party with all of her friends on her actual birthday, especially since her birthday falls on a SATURDAY this year.
So . . . I’m doing Project Home Recovery this week.
Since I’ve spent the past two weeks successfully ignoring my home in the name of blog-conference-attending and Easter-drama-directing, it’s probably definitely a good thing that I have a Doorbell Deadline this Saturday.
The whole house looks like something exploded, and I also have to deal with some spaces I sometimes don’t worry about.
Like my daughter’s room. And our playroom. And the backyard.
Yep. I have a lot to do. But I’m a little less overwhelmed than I was in these situations pre-blog. First of all, I’m not dealing with Clutter Overload like I was before.
And I have a plan. I’m going to do my Daily Checklist every day and my Weekly House Cleaning Tasks on their assigned days.
Each day, I’ll also work on one of the extra spaces.
Make sense?
Here’s how Day One went:
Around 9 a.m. I set the timer on my oven for two hours. My goal was to finish my daily/weekly tasks in those two hours and then spend another chunk of time working on a project.
Two hours is longer than those tasks would take on a non-disaster-recovery week.
The kitchen:
Just so you know, I emptied the dishwasher from the before picture, refilled it, ran it, and still had the overflowing sink-full of dishes.
I questioned the point of wiping down counters when the sink was that full, but determined that I needed to do each task as thoroughly as possible to gain momentum for the week.
Then, I swept the kitchen. It seemed like a pointless task in the face of the overall state of our home, but it achieved its purpose in my routine. Because I swept, I also gathered up Sunday’s newspapers, Hubby’s workout clothes, and multiple pairs of shoes and moved them to their proper homes.
Next, I needed to clear the dining room table. Should have been a simple task, but it wasn’t:
Again, not perfect, but I’m setting myself up for progress this week. I’m peeling back those layers. (And that pink shirt wasn’t done drying yet!)
I did dishes and swept and cleared(ish) the dining room table. Those are daily tasks.
But then there are weekly tasks, which are also important for taking/keeping a home out of Disaster Status.
And today was Monday.
Monday is Laundry Day.
In addition to staying on top of laundry today . . . I had to make up for pretending Laundry Day didn’t exist last week. (And maybe the week before.)
Hubby had been keeping us in clean undies and socks and I am incredibly grateful for his help, but he hasn’t yet adopted my world-rocking new method of folding and putting clothes away immediately.
So the last 30 minutes of my morning was spent doing what needed to be done to completely finish Laundry Day so I can move on with the rest of my week without that hanging over my head.
I unearthed the loveseat:
My two hour timer went off before I was finished, but I was determined to fold and put away every last sock!
And then, though it seemed futile, I set the timer for another five minutes and did a Five Minute Pick-Up in the living room.
The picture doesn’t show much difference, but it really did look significantly better after only five minutes:
It’s now 8:36 and the last load of laundry is in the washing machine. The dishwasher is running for the third time today, and my daughter and I spent 40 minutes working on/excavating her room.
In weeks like this, I need focus. Daily Checklists and Weekly Tasks give me that focus.
Stay tuned this week as I report each day on my Project Home Recovery progress!
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Have you read my new book, Decluttering at the Speed of Life? If yes, would you be so kind as to write a review on Amazon?
It looks so much better! Isn’t it amazing how quickly these little things can get away from us?
Wow! You made some serious progress today! There is hope for Saturday!
That’s where I am too this week after a week of a stomach bug last week! Spent most of yesterday disinfecting things (yes, I ran the Legos through the dishwasher!). Today is strip the bedding day…K
Go You!!!! Don’t you just love how impending visitors gets you cleaning?
For a 7 year old birthday party, you’ll need to be committed to this kind of clean up DURING the party and AFTER the guests leave. That is the part that is usually the hardest for me – managing the party while at the same time trying to do quick clean ups during the party (like go ahead and wash platters or load the diswasher even though people are there), and the full tidy up after everyone leaves.
THANK YOU! ThAnk you for your blog, thank you for being so honest, and thank you for the pictures! It all helps. Helps me to not feel like I’m alone, it helps me feel there is hope! My friend and I have been struggling with our homes for a few years now and always say “we are in our 40s!! isn’t it time we get this under control for our kids sake at least??!” So thanks for putting yourself out there and for teaching us all!
Charlotte
I can’t even begin to tell you how much I love your blog! I grew up with a mother who always had a perfect home, laundry done, dishes done, etc. I have never been a “neat freak” but I think there is one in me trying to come out. haha!! Our home gets so cluttered between kids, dogs, a mommy who is exhausted after working all day outside the home and has to come home to my other full-time job. Thank you for showing me that there is hope for me 🙂 It helps to know that I’m not the only one with this struggle.
Wow! Not perfect is perfectly OK! Love the “doorbell deadline!”
This week (and month) I am digging out, decluttering, and trying to whip this house into shape after some serious neglect (I say as I comment on blogs). LOL Thankfully, since I started dedicated months of decluttering in April and December, I don’t really have that much to deal with! Not like I did about 4 years ago when I started. Yesterday we took care of the laundry room and my big hall linen/stuff closet. Today is the basement family room (aka where all homeschool stuff goes to die.) It looks like you’re making good progress! I’m working my way through your book again. 🙂
Can I just say thank you for sharing the discouragement that runs through your head. I have this idea that it’s just me that says theses things to myself, “why bother, the kids will just come right behind me and trash the joint” “what’s the point, it’s still gonna look messy, even after I’ve put in a bunch of work”. But you pushed through/away those thoughts and did it anyway! And your home looks wonderful for it!!! Thank you, for showing me that if I can just push away those negative thoughts, there will be progress, and that can be satisfying and motivating.
I second Charlottes thanks for the honesty in pictures. Many other housekeeping bloggers will tell you they are messy but only show you their after picturs. I love seeing that your mess looks a lot like my mess. WE ARE NOT ALONE! And you did a great job cleaning up! Good for you.
You did fantastic! I needed this inspiration for some progress myself. I am trying to go through all of the stuff have accumulated and saved over the years and have the house more ‘presentable’. It seems sometimes the struggle is to make the progress while also keeping up with the everyday things that need to be done.
You’re soooo motivating!! I’m in disaster for pretty similar reasons. Looks fabulous! And I LOVE that I can see some Blissdom swag in that first kitchen photo!! AWESOME! 🙂
I loved the post Nony. It is good when we know what to do to get the house ready for a birthday party and we know we can do it. On Saturday night don’t forget your night time tasks and you can enjoy your clean house again on Sunday.
Thank you so much for this Party series! It is so helpful to see both a) a lot of progress and b) when you’re done I can still believe someone lives there. The magazine pics leave such an unrealistic “after” pic that I distrust the whole thing.
Loving the stopwatch additions to the posts – yes you can really make a big kitchen difference in 13 minutes!!
Yep! No magazine pics here! I’m glad you like the series!