Clean a Room a Day Challenge

[HappyMomof3]

If there is already a thread like this, I apologize for missing it. My new goal is to clean a room each day. I have 13 rooms in my house including bathrooms so I want to clean 1 each day with 1 day off in a 14 day (2 week) cycle. There was a time when I would be appalled that I am only cleaning each room once every 2 weeks, but believe me, this will now be a vast improvement over what is happening now in my house. I hope you guys will hold me accountable. I will post weekly.

[frugalwarrior2]

Not even possible here. Too much clutter. So don't feel bad about 1 a day. I am targeting super cleaning 1 per week and just doing all the reg. junk at the same time. Pets,teens,DH. Dreaming of an empty house?

[Palooka]

13 rooms! I'm with you in spirit.

I'm cleaning daily because I have a toddler and a dh. Not sure who is the worst. heh.

Good luck and crank some music to make it fun.

[mauimagic]

I am working on our home - have five days to make it cleaner and less cluttered for a visitor. Have eight rooms to work on because I am choosing to totally ignore two!! Shall just be doing it a bit at a time. Oh good grief!! I forgot about the two entryways and two staircases - no matter - still a little at a time.

Megan, look what you've created - a following of wannabes!! Mahalo plenty and good luck - shall be looking forward to your and everyone elses' posts!!

[pollypurebred39]

Maui, if all else fails-wash baskets to gather, then just put each basket to an assigned room to put away later/get rid of later. Do not push yourself, remember you need to focus on healing before cleaning.

I've done the wash basket thing in a pinch, you know, the phone call that says, "I'm on my way over and will be there in ten minutes" It works, and everything still gets done, just not immediately.

[HandyMom]

No way can I clean one room a day unless it's the bathroom. I have to focus instead on one area at a time for about 15 minutes or a half hour. There's too much clutter and even though I desperately want to clean everything up, I can't just decide not to cook or do dishes or laundry that day just so I can work on one room.

My friend has the same problem. For her it's overwhelming and I told her she needs help. I can't help her with my bad back and she's an hour away too, or we could trade helping each other. She also has an entire garage to clean out and I've got the basement. UGH!

[mamamia]

Well HappyMom, welcome to the FV! What a great way to jump in and get acquainted. Along with everybody else, I wish you the best with your goal. I had a GF who did that routine, but had less house. She came home from work, cleaned one room a night from top to bottom, but took off on weekends. Her house was ALWAYS spotless, even with 5 kids.

Now I have the same size house as you, but I finally found a plan that works, at least for me. Mondays and Tuesdays are my ONLY, "commit" days to deep cleaning. That's when I do the kitchen and 3 baths. I used to do it on just Mondays, but I think my age is finally catching up to me, and now need 2 days. (LOL>>>not!) But anyways, in the kitchen I do things like take apart the stove top, wipe everything down, and get in the corners on the floor. In the bathrooms, I get EVERYTHING scrubbed, and keep it decluttered. Same with the kitchen.

As far as the rest of the house goes, if you think about it, it's really all just dust as far as what needs cleaning. So I have no set ~cleaning~ routine for it, except of course making the beds and picking up. So I just sorta clean as needed. If the windows are smudged, I wipe them. If the floor gets sticky, I wash it. I'm sure you get the picture. But believe me, my life is so much easier this way, and my house is finally staying decent enough. I mean true, I still gotta work it everyday, but believe me, it used to feel like I never did ANYTHING else but housework.

Oh, and I can't forget my one other commitment that I learned from flylady. And that of course is an empty, shiny, kitchen sink EVERY night.

Looking forward to hearing more from you!

Theresa

One other thing...if you have kids, get them into a routine that I call "two minute pick-up". Before bed, tell them to get in there rooms and pick up non-stop for 2 minutes. You'd be surprised what can get done in that time. I mean, it's not something we ALWAYS do, but what a difference when we do. After all, once a room is "straight", it's alot easier to clean. If your kids are little, this makes for a fun game for them. Mine are teens....teens find no joy in ANY kind of cleaning, unless it involves cash...lol!

[gapeach]

I may try my own variation on this, we will put our house on the market in a few weeks and I need to get it in "show mode". It's fairly clean but the blinds needs cleaning as well as all the molding. Thanks for the challenge

[Labontet]

My kitchen is the first room that you come to after coming into my front door of my home. I have really neglected cleaning it other than just what I call the top layer. I have spent this morning deep cleaning my kitchen. Under cabinets, outside of cabinets, refrigerator, everything. I am beat. There should be NO reason that one should spend that much time cleaning the kitchen.
But there is hope on the horizon. It really smells good in my kitchen. Now I just need to bake an apple pie and I will be set.

[mauimagic]

Am trying to think what I can do sitting on the couch. Love your idea Polly and will definitely be following your advice.

Paperwork is our nemesis and it does seem to grow on its own - one little thing at a time is all I'm heading to do.

[HappyMomof3]

Polly, love your idea about the baskets. I have actually done that before and left a basket in my closet for months thinking it had stuff in it that I didn't care about. During that time, my daughter, then 13, couldn't find many socks. They were in the basket.

I know I said I would post weekly but I cleaned the Kitchen today. The family room is scheduled for tomorrow.

Mamamia--It sounds like you have really worked out a system that works for you. I am sure I will be tweaking mine as I go. Thanks for the insight.

Thanks for the support everyone.

[mauimagic]

well I have managed to take everrything out of the right side of the entertainment center and cleaned all the glass. Works for me - I'm done!!

Megan - congrats - and I really wish you would post when you get a room or an area done!! Please!!

[HappyMomof3]

Well, It is 11:11pm in Illinois and I just finished my work that pays the bills. I did not get a room cleaned today so the goal is to do 2 rooms tomorrow to catch up. I allowed myself to agree to volunteer at my youngest's school for 2.5 hours this morning, got asked by my former employer to help get things caught up at her office so I did that for 3 hours. A friend who is not computer savvy asked for some help this afternoon that took 2 hours. Son had swim lessons and I had to do my required 4 hours of work after I got him home, the family fed and youngest to bed. I really want to make this challenge work for me. I will post tomorrow to let you know what I get done.

[pollypurebred39]

HappyMomof3, I'm exhausted just reading what you have done today!

I decided that as a reward for decluttering the dining room and living room top to bottom I will be buying myself the dirt dog. I have a savings envelope with no name on it, well now it's got a name. Let's see how long it takes me to do this now that I have a Real Reward

I figure this will be a pretty good motivator, and will help me with my goal of finding ways to keep a neat and tidy house 99% of the time.

iRobot Home Cleaning Robots: Vacuuming, Floor Washing, Pool Cleaning, Shop Sweeping, Gutter Cleaning

[Labontet]

My kitchen is now deep cleaned and organized once again.
Now, on to my sewing room.

I am dreading the closets in the bedrooms though.