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

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.

Cleaning Challenge Update Fifth Week--Bathrooms & Home Office

Update on the 31 Days to Clean Challenge: Days 21-25

Day 21

Planning is easy for me.  It's the follow up that is difficult.  I have been sick so often throughout the years that I just can't get to everything that I would like to do.  I want my house to be more organized.  Yes, it looks clean, but the dust is often not seen to, and the floors do not get mopped as they should.  Luckily, my kids don't get sick.

I figured out that I might need to detail how my kids should do some of the chores:


Dusting - TVs, computers, books, shelves, walls, ceiling fans (broken down by days)

Sweeping - Every room and the baseboards (broken down by days)

Clothing - sorted, washed, folded, and hung (daily)

Dishes - clean pots, pans, big bowls by hand; dishwasher in and out (daily)

Mopping - almost every room (broken down by days)

Vacuuming - classroom (weekly)

Trash collection - (every other day)

Cooking - biggest challenge; hubby, morning; Iris, afternoon; Gabriel & me, evening (daily)

I need to enforce the chores, but the time always slips.  I can't reward my kids because they already have all they want.  There doesn't seem to be any extra currency I can give them.  The best I can do is to pray to God to help me enforce and carry out the chores.

Today, I cleaned both toilets.  I mopped my own bathroom.  Also, I mopped my bedroom, which also houses my office.  (Everyone has their own "office.")  Need to clean both tubs.  Need to sweep and mop the other bathroom.  Might ask daughter to do that for me.

Day 22

I've written schedules, but I get sick.  Need to see a doctor to figure out what's wrong with me.  I am working on getting up early.  Didn't work on the chores today because I was sick from a diet I attempted.

Day 23

I wish I could steam clean the carpet in the room occupied by my teenage son.  It is not realistic to rent the machine because it would only be for one room.  I would like to someday pull out that carpet.  The room would look so much bigger if I could do that.

Anyway, I've been praying about my health.  He's the only one who can help when I feel like I'm dying.  That's what holds me back from having the ultimate home--my illness.  

I want to spend more time with my kids.  For now, I go to their rooms and visit with them for a few minutes.  We talk about the weather, politics, school, plans, etc. at night time, when hubby is asleep.

Since I was feeling sick, I asked the little one to spend some time with me.  

I quizzed her, verbally, on her alphabet, the numbers 1 to 100, and her vowels.  Her brother came along and soon all Kaelyn's pandas and seals were on my bed.  We played together until their father arrived.

Time management situation:

I must turn the TV off.  

Perhaps, I can use a timer.

I must limit how much time I spend online.  

I could use the Firefox reminder.  

I could try the Yahoo or Google calendars.

Day 24

Computer desk holds hubby's stuff and computer.

Hubby's household include bills and pay stubs.

Box holds hubby's calculator and reading glasses.

Hubby's drawer holds his calendar and check register.

Picked hubby's workspace to declutter.  He told me that the drawer at his computer desk would be better for his papers.  He balances the checkbook and the family budget at that desk.  It did make sense for his stuff to be relocated to that area.  He had already taken his files over there.

I removed all the paper and office supplies so his paperwork could be in the one drawer.  Then, I designated a simple box for his supplies, which include his writing instruments, calculator, and reading glasses.

Then, I came over to my desk (in my room) and spread out my own supplies within the drawers.  I don't know how to get rid of my paper clutter.  I don't like to throw away things, in case I need them later.  I will have to work on the files to weed out old stuff, like out of date utility bills.  I could teach my hubby how to weed them out, too.

Day 25

When do I have more energy?  I should look for a pattern within each month for about 3 months.  I need to see if there is a rhythm to my energy levels.  I would definitely like to figure that out.  I know that I can live without coffee because it makes my stomach ache.  I can drink some tea but not too much.  

I can try fruit smoothies, but I would have to make them ahead of time.  My blender is too loud for the morning.

As for working on the shelves in the office, I looked at those for the homeschooling material and need to reorganize the workbooks by grade once again.  I'm constantly shifting things around.  I am working on getting rid of some of the pre-k and kindergarten material that Kaelyn has outgrown.  It is a bit sad to think that I won't be needing them anymore, but I need to make room for the new stuff.

Well, thanks for reading this update. 

I appreciate the support through this journey.

I hope this entry has inspired you to organize your homes.

How about you, my readers?  Have you deep cleaned your bathrooms?  Have you mopped your bathrooms?  Have you worked in your home office, weeding out papers and decluttering your shelves?  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.