The Intention of My Blog


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In case you're wondering, it's not a typo up there for you see the definition of goodly is:

used as an adjective to describe something
1. of ample or good size, ex: a goodly amount.
2. of a fine appearance, ex: a goodly young man.
3. Archaic. of good quality, ex: a goodly gift.

I am a mother who home educates her children; I would be pleased if you'd look around. You never know if I might have something to your liking. I've blogged about different topics. I hope you enjoy your stay here. May God bless you with peace, a renewing of your mind, and rest as you read my posts.

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Thanks to all for your patience as I have been on the mend. I had double heart bypass surgery in February of 2013, and I needed to focus on my recovery, which has been in steady progress. Thanks for your kind consideration.


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Friday, June 10, 2011

Cleaning Challenge Update Sixth Week--Home Office & Utility Room




Homemakers Challenge - 31 Days to Clean


Update on the 31 Days to Clean Challenge: Days 26-31

Day 26

The utility room was my favorite room to clean!  

The utility room needed the most improvement.  
I now like walking in there.
 

Before I worked in laundry room-right side
Before picture of laundry room-left side

The black shelving system was overbearing.  The cloth hampers were constantly slipping off.  Couldn't tell how much dirty clothes we had.   We used this system for too long for dirty clothes.  Now, we know what needs to be done because the baskets are transparent.


Round, white baskets and green hampers hold dirty clothes
Dirty clothes hampers kept slipping

Cloth hampers often overflowed

Basket labeled for dirty pastels

Baskets allow us to see if we have a big pile to wash

We can stack these baskets when not in use

Baskets labeled with sticky notes and scotch tape

Yes, walls need painting, but I am happy that hubby placed a door leading to utility room from the inside of the house.  Also, he moved my washer from the kitchen to the utility room.  Hubby worked hard to bring washer and dryer together.  That's why I don't sweat that the room is not painted yet.  We'll get to it, soon.


Tried this out for kid's clean clothes

White furniture piece hubby rescued functions better for kids' baskets-right side
Often had to use classroom next door to sort

Simple index card to label daughter's basket

After picture, big bag is important(see below)-left side
White shelf removed from laundry room

Before-cluttered shelf in laundry room
After-decluttered shelf with detergent relocated

Bags in laundry room cluttered

Bags squeezed into bigger bag to reduce clutter

I think laundry doesn't bother me as much now that the kids are older.  When the kids were younger, I had to do everything.  Now, the kids pitch in because I expect that of them.  I have set up the method of baskets for clean clothes.  Then, there are other baskets for the dirty clothes.

I do think that having too many clothes is difficult to handle.  I try to get the kids to wash one load a day during the week.  The weekends are off.  

Here is the breakdown of our laundry routine:

Gabriel (oldest)
--gathers dirty clothes
--fills the washer with dirty clothes

Iris (second)
--fills in the detergent
--starts the wash settings

Gabriel 
--moves clean clothes into dryer

Rafael
--sorts clothes from dryer

All four kids, including Kaelyn (6 year-old)
--fold and hang their own clothes

Mom
--fold and hang clothes for hubby and self


Over time, the system has evolved.  Gabriel has started to fold the towels.  I still fold the linen.

Had to clean computers and electronics.  Only Gabriel cleaned his computer.  I swiped at the dust on my laptop.  I keep my laptop closed at night to reduce dust.  Iris has a piece of cloth to clean her Net book.  Need to clean other two desktop computers.

Day 27

Had already worked in the utility room.  I have the baskets set up.  Hubby "dumpster dived" at a neighbor's bulk trash.  He found a white piece of furniture.  He dismantled it and down-sized it to fit in the utility room.  

I have no windows (wish I did) in the utility room so I am using this time to weed out emails that I don't even have time to read.  

As far as packing things off for goodwill, I can't do it just yet.  I have a full storage shed of stuff I decluttered from inside the house.  I need to tackle that next.  I need to figure out what I can sell to make a little bit of money to buy home school material and/or to have on hand for vacation funds.

Day 28

In the utility room, we have no sink so I won't worry about cleaning a non-existent sink.  Instead, I continued to get rid of emails that have clogged my email accounts.  

Yes, there are areas in our home that I feel guilty about.  I wish I had the energy and good health to help the kids socialize.  I also feel bad about not cooking.  If I had more energy to cook, then we could save more money.  Hopefully, I will keep losing weight and get healthier.

Day 29

There is no official closet in the utility room, but hubby has his uniforms there.  I need to ask him which uniforms are new and which are old.

Basically, I can't afford to hire anyone to help me clean, due to finances.  I will try to clean whatever I can.  I will enlist family to help whenever I can.  I am very grateful for all that I have.  It doesn't bother me that I can't hire someone.  My kids help me out a lot.  I am grateful for them.

Day 30


Ten things I'm grateful for are:


 1.  Family--siblings and in-laws and their children
 2.  Friends--near and far, old and new; Facebook, too
 3.  Kids--all four with their talents and contributions to the family
 4.  Hubby--16 years of patience
 5.  House--all it's conveniences
 6.  Cars--to get to work and vacations
 7.  Education/Wisdom--God has provided me
 8.  Life/Breath--appreciate life/death cycle
 9.  Modern appliances--cut cooking and cleaning time and efforts
10. Utilities--electricity, water, modes of communication


Expired detergents and extra bottles were thrown away.


Day 31

This is for tomorrow, Saturday.  I plan to rest and spend time with my family.


Well, thanks for reading this update. 
I appreciate the support through this cleaning challenge.

I hope this entry has inspired you to organize your home office and utility room.

How about you, my readers?  Have you deep cleaned your utility/laundry room?  Have you swept and mopped the floor in that room?  Have you worked in your home office, dusting electronics and computers?  Are you wanting to deep clean, but you don't know where to get started?  

The link above leads to an ebook which can be helpful in prioritizing and breaking down the cleaning.  I encourage you to click on the link if you need more help.

May God bless you all with His wisdom and peace.

This entry has been part of the Family Fun Fridays series.

2 comments:

  1. You did amazing! That looks great and I love that you have the laundry tasks divided up so every gets involved. I've gotten my girls to help here and there, but this summer I intend to help them master the sorting, washing, and drying on their own. (we'll start with the folding, but I think shirts will still be my domain for a while!)

    ReplyDelete
  2. LaughingLady,

    Thanks for commenting. I appreciate it.

    I think my oldest, Gabriel, has taken on more of an active role in the upkeep of the home. He's a good son. I am very proud of him. I have made sure that the boys know how to clean, too. I think they should know how to clean just as much as the girls.

    I think that as the kids learn how to read, we are able to label the baskets. Then, there is no doubt where clean clothes go and where the dirty clothes go. That's why I took the time to show the pictures of the white, round baskets that were labeled. I saw that on someone ele's blog and ran with that idea. I used the different colors of sticky notes also as visual cues.

    Maybe you could try something like that.

    As for ironing, I don't do that unless it is a fancy event that we need good clothes for. I can't do everything all of the time, and that is one of them. ;)

    Rebecca G.

    ReplyDelete

I welcome all comments. Please leave one, and I will respond. Thanks so much!

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