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40 day deep clean and organize challenge

11K views 79 replies 8 participants last post by  TDN 
#1 ·
My vacation time hours have been used up (needed to use them up by August 15) and will be back to full time work tomorrow. I do not like housework but it needs to get done. I have husbands family coming September 26 for a family grill out. More importantly I have my first grandchild due September 30 and I want my home to be clean and safe for him. One of my 20 wishes also is to have this done by the end of the year. A jumpstart is needed and I am hoping this challenge works.
I may need to prioritize by task instead of room. Dust , clean windows, etc. I would love to hear your tips on keeping your homes clean and tidy in a efficient manner. Again housework is not a priority for me but I don't want to panic every time someone says they would like to stop in for a visit.

Anybody want to join me??
This could be your home, garage, shed, camper etc.
I hope to be back later this evening to report at least one thing I have accomplished.
The 40 days of my challenge officially starts tomorrow.
 
#3 ·
- emptied all the garbage cans in the house, and deep cleaned them before replacing the bags (with left over plastic grocery bags of course)- got hundreds of them it seems.
-decluttered under the kitchen sink, scrubbed it before replacing the necessary only items
-decluttered top of desk (found items to return to store) and started a donation bag. Had 3 purses with various items in them. Why you ask? I just can't make up my mind as to which one is the most efficient/organizational. I'm giving my least favorite to donation pile. And chose the smallest one with shoulder strap as I don't like a purse that falls off my shoulder. I don't need to carry every "what if it is needed" item with me. I have a tote bag that has various items in the trunk which is good enough.
-sanitized the garbage disposal with a couple cut up oranges that were past the edible point and a tray of ice cubes.
-sanitized the dishwasher with baking soda and vinegar wash after cleaning the drain cover.
-found couple dollars worth of change when cleaning purses and desk top.
- the dishes are all washed the hot water on my hands felt good.
The real challenge will be to keep up with what I already cleaned while tackling other areas.
With less clutter and less things in the house and organizing those items I feel necessary to keep, should simplify my life and save me time.
Avoidance of housework as I have been doing is no longer an acceptable option.
 
#7 ·
I'm in the middle of de-cluttering myself. I've cleaned out my master bedroom closet.
I've already made 2 trips to the local thrift store with donations and the trunk of my car is almost full again. It's embarrassing how many clothes I had that I either couldn't wear or knew that I wouldn't wear. Now my bedroom is full or "organizers" that I don't necessarily need any more.
I have to take a break now and actually clean the rest of the house because my daughter, son-in-law and 2 granddaughters are coming to visit this next weekend.

Next on my list is my sewing room - again embarrassing. I have more fabric that I could ever use and I'm just not really motivated to sew very much anymore. I plan to get rid of at least half of it.

The garage is a disaster. I'm not even sure what's in some of those boxes. But it's entirely too hot to work out there, so that won't happen until probably October.

My daughter and her family will be back for Christmas and the rest of my family comes over then, too.
So my ultimate goal is to complete this project by then.
 
#8 ·
I'm in! My days may not be consecutive but, there will be 40!

Day 1 8/17- get kitchen back in order and cleaned up.
Day 2 8/18- organize Tupperware cupboard, empty fridge, wipe down shelves, organize pantry and stockpile downstairs, etc.

So far I've:

Made dinner in the crockpot
Did 1/2 load of dishes (baby crying)

About to make lunch and finish up dishes.
 
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#9 ·
I would like to join, I need to keep declutter & most importantly to keep up with it.
Day 1: Just so happened that we (me & DH) started to clean out a small closet in our home office. Gosh, can't believe that that small closet hide so much stuff. We filled 3 bags of garbage, then another 2 bags of stuff for donation.
Organized 4 boxes (shoebox size) of electronice plugs, wire, hard drives, etc.
Organized various manuals (blender, mixer, tv, etc.)
Found 3 vegetarian cookbooks, duplicates, (received as free stuff), will give them to a friend whose mom is looking for some ideas for vegetarian dishes.
We have a book shelf in that closet, freed up 3 shelves, now I can start moving some docs/books/folders from the 2 cabinets (total 4 drawers).
Repurpose an emergency food container as dog food container instead of having that 40 lbs bag in the laundry room. Freed up more space in the closet.
Organized my knitting stuff (yarn, needles, unfinished projects) into a box. May take care of the unfinished projects some time later.
Day 2: I shall start on 1 cabinet drawer later today, after I get off work. We already bought (2 months ago) some color coded folders hangers & organize stuff for the file cabinets. I need to get those in use. Now that I can work remote (at home instead of have to be physically in the office), I need the home office to be more organize.

I shall report tomorrow what I have done today.
 
#11 ·
Welcome Jean and Vanilla to the challenge. You both have a great start already! Jean , I have so many clothes as well that need to go. I say to myself, 'they will fit someday when I lose the extra 20# I've put on" . Its not happening anytime soon and if it does I'll reward myself with a couple new outfits :)
Raiquee you really do have a challenge with little ones in the home, they are your priority for sure. I'm getting excited for my first grandchild to be born :)
I was sent home an hour early due to low census in our nursing home. I have no excuses for not getting something accomplished this afternoon. Will update with progress later.
 
#12 ·
Does anyone enjoy housekeeping?
2 hours to organize, declutter, scrub one of 3 bathrooms.
Can I get tips on how to keep it clean with minimal effort? especially toilets and fiberglass shower/tub units? thanks in advance
Kim
 
#13 ·
Work continues to have low census staffing cuts so I am home an hour early again. Need to get up and move before I decide to take a nap on this cloudy, rainy day. Load of laundry in, one load folded from the dryer. Plan is to clean remaining 1.5 baths.
I also made a goal with myself to never go to bed with dirty dishes in the sink as I had a habit of doing. I always rinsed them or left pans to soak. No more, just get it done and over with. Feels so much better when I get home from work with uncluttered kitchen cupboards and sink.
 
#14 ·
Got the 1/2 bath done but then I got side tracked with the laundry room. It is a small room with a closet. DH brought a very large bag of plastic bags to the recycling bin at grocery store. I packed a paper grocery bag full of shoes I don't wear that have been hiding in that closet for donation. The top of the washer and dryer is now clear with the detergents etc on shelf inside closet. Dh was willing to part with 3 of about 15 baseball type hats. He likes to keep them on top dryer but agreed to the open shelf in the closet. A couple of daughters jackets that don't fit her are being donated also. DH came home and said wow, this room even smells good.
Time for a break.
 
#16 ·
Time to motivate myself, just got home from a very busy day at work. I really do not want to deep clean the bathroom upstairs, yet I want to get it out of the way. Probably won't be used until next time we do overnight respite care so it should stay clean until mid September.
Just realized I didn't have my diet coke fix yet today.
This bathroom clean up should go faster as I had practice with the other two.
Here I go... (with very little ambition)
 
#17 ·
Bathrooms all deep cleaned and decluttered, YES!!
After supper I think I will declutter a couple kitchen cupboards. How many coffee cups does a kitchen need when only one of two people living in the house drinks coffee, neither of us drinks tea, and maybe twice a winter I drink hot cocoa. Guests will be coming Sept. 26 but I think I will declutter pantry and keep extra dishes on one of the lower shelves. Curious to see how many cups I have jammed on that shelf! I know last year I gave a bunch to goodwill, how do they multiply?
 
#18 ·
1. The "guest wing" of the house (2 bedrooms and a small bath) are clean for my daughter and family who are coming in Friday night. Everything scrubbed, dusted, vacuumed and mopped.
2. My bathroom is cleaner than it has been in months!
3. The dining room is dusted, vacuumed, mopped.

I still have the following to do before Friday night:
Dust, vacuum and mop my bedroom and living room.
Kitchen - wipe down appliances and countertops, vacuum floor, mop (the floor doesn't really show dirt, but I know it's filthy!)
 
#19 ·
6 kitchen drawers and 3 cabinets decluttered, organized, cleaned. Lots to good will. Now I can see and find what utensils I actually need and have used in the past year. Did get rid of 7 coffee cups, Dh wanted to save the matching set of 8. I blamed Dh for the excess in coffee cups but when we went over the assortment they had been gifts to me over the years (usually with hot chocolate or tea in them). Saved my 2 favorites for myself. Saved a dozen of each fork, spoon, butter knife. Way more forks misplaced over the years than spoons. We do have a special set of silverware put away if we want a matching set for special occasions. Dh does alot of the cooking now that he is retired and works only 8 hours a week. so he was very helpful in simplifying the kitchen utensils.
 
#20 ·
I decided to start down stairs in my at home beauty shop since the inspector will probably be around soon. It wasn't horrible.....but all cupboards have been wiped done inside and out and organized. Everything clean except I need to give the floor a good scrubbing!

I made a list and broke everything down into areas I will tackle. I have been decluttering the last few years so just some fine tuning in order and lots of organizing and scrubbing!
 
#21 ·
My day off work today. Just returned from dental appointment. I need to get about 3 hours of online education done this morning and then I will continue with the kitchen area. Maybe this afternoon we will get the bags of donation items delivered.
 
#22 ·
Food pantry cleaned and organized. It is 2/3 full and not a lot of variety. Mostly pasta, spaghetti and tomato sauces, corn. 3 more drawers and the cookbook/spices/baking goods cabinet cleaned and organized.
Next up pots and pans and lids and baking sheets.
 
#23 ·
Just found out I had the wrong date for dh's family get together here. It is 2 weeks earlier than I thought, I will not stress about it, instead I will use it as motivation to set priorities. I now have 23 days instead of the 40 days I originally planned for. Maybe it will be a blessing in disguise if my daughter has her baby earlier than expected.






\
 
#24 ·
Day 2 (yesterday)- too busy with job, received 3 new projects, closing out 4 projects, no time to organize.
Day 3 (today) - another 2 new projects, so, organizing goes to the back burner again. This is what's been happening since the beginning of this year. I am planning to put 'organize' as an appointment in my calendar to block out the time.

Since I get pay by each project, I am not complaining of work. Eventually the home office to be in good shape. :)
 
#25 ·
That's a bummer Kim! You are getting so much done though maybe you don't need the 2 extra weeks!

I have not got much done this week....been spending time with nieces, cousin and this weekend grankids. So you won't hear from me until Sunday or Monday when I plan to really start in.....my goal is to have everything in the house decluttered once again, organized and deep cleaned by September 31.

Just found out my oldest nieces class is having a fund raiser yard sale next weekend so that will make it easier for me to get rid of some if the better things I have been holding into.
 
#26 ·
Took stove apart yesterday and did deep cleaning on it.. Boy was it bad.. Got all kitchen cabinets cleaned. Took bedroom curtains down as washed and washed windows inside and out. Today just cleaned the bathroom as always changed rugs, mopped floor and cleaned stool good. Got to go to work after while.. Laundry is down to 1 load. Will wash rugs in rest of the house tomorrow and sweep and mop all floors..
 
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