No time for a long post. I’m exhausted.
Big things are going on here at Nony’s house this week. I can’t share exact details yet, but I will soon.
Basically, I needed to clean. And I needed to stay focused. So I printed out my own How to Clean a Messy House checklist, and got to work.
Step One: Take a deep breath, get out your calendar and some paper, sit down at your table . . . and be realistic about how much you have to do in the amount of time you have.
I did this last Thursday, because that was when I found out Paula was coming. I had four days to be ready to let her in the front door. I had a lot to do, but nothing compared to what it would have been like pre-blog. In fact, pre-blog, I probably would have had to tell her she couldn’t come.
As long as I could declare the master bedroom (and the boys’ room) off limits, I felt like I had plenty of time to get the house ready.
Stay tuned this week as I share details about working through the rest of my Steps to Clean a Messy House (and Get It Ready for Guests) checklist. You can see the full post and printables here.
Clue #1: It’s not Paula Deen.
--Nony
Kristy K. James says
Very good tips. I’ll be using some of them this month. 🙂 I’m going to assume that your Paula is someone in the writing industry. That or Paula Abdul…the only other famous Paula I can think of at the moment. 🙂
Kate says
I think Paula is your mom or sister?
Dana White says
Nope!
Naomi says
Mother in law.
Or bestie from high school.
Kim says
Great post. I find I get stuck when the next thing on my list is something I really don’t have the energy or desire to do (like mop the vast kitchen/entry/mudroom floor). I stall and everything below it on the list gets stalled as well. I’ve learned to skip whatever that item is until I suddenly have that burst of energy that makes us able to conquer anything. Then I drop whatever I’m doing and mop that #!%* floor!
Dana D says
awesome advice! I too can get stuck on my list one on thing that seems unmanageable, but then can’t move to the next thing because that one isn’t done. I need to work on the “skipping” part.
Janet Larck says
Buy a vacuum mop. It will change your life. So much faster and I mop waaayyy more often because it isn’t awful!
Hadley says
Are we allowed to guess? Is it Paula Jhung? You guys sound like peas in a pod.
Dana White says
I’d never heard of Paula Jhung, but I looked her up and I can see why you would think that!
Paula O'Connor says
It’s not me it is?!? I wasn’t planning on any trips… and we’ve never met… ha ha actually when I first saw the post “cleaning for Paula” I thought you may have thoughtfully prepared a cleaning checklist just for me! As it seems that is not in fact the case maybe its a niece?
Paula O'Connor says
Seeing now that this is a past thing.. ha ha oh well
Dana White says
Ha! Love it!