Tuesday February 9th, 2010
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Spring Cleaning Room-by-Room
Posted by Regina Leeds on April 30, 2007 - 10:36am.
Think it's impossible to see how your brain works? Walk over to a closet or open a drawer in your home. What you see is what you've got. While a few of you may be looking at something that could grace the pages of a Martha Stewart publication, chances are, most of you are looking at a jumble of products, clothes, and knick-knacks that live together for reasons unknown to your rational mind. Coupons, letters, bills, and a hand sanitizer shoved into your kitchen junk drawer? Don't get embarrassed...get organized!
This month at LIME, my room-by-room checklist offers the perfect opportunity to cut through the clutter while staying light on the landfills and give you peace of mind!
ROOM-BY-ROOM GUIDE:
The Bathroom
The Kitchen
The Home Office
The Clothes Closet
HELPFUL HINTS FOR GETTING STARTED:
- Get a good night's sleep before any major project and work at the time of day you feel at your physical peak. Tired minds make tired decisions.
- Eat a good meal before you start, and have lots of water and healthy snacks available.
- Create an environment that supports your best efforts; music and aromatherapy are a couple simple things that will soothe your soul during the process.
- Be sure you have set aside a block of time commensurate with the size of the project. The ideal first pass is 5 hours.
- Warn family members that you will need some private time, and do not let yourself be interrupted. Nothing is worse than coming back to a disastrous closet when you've used all your strength elsewhere.
- If any aspect of getting organized is outside your comfort zone (for example, if you have a large collection of receipts that need to be sorted and you don't know what to save for the IRS), hire a professional organizer or call upon an organized good friend or family member for guidance.
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Currently my closet is pretty clean. I am however, targeting the kitchen. Out of all the divisions in my house, this is the hardest to keep organized and tidy.
But yes, definitely getting a good night's sleep and having plenty snacks available to keep the energy flowing makes a lot of sense, I usually get weary halfway there and well, I usually just leave the job unfinished.
I just hope I can maintain it clean afterwards, I think that cleaning it might possibly be the easy part for the most part, maintenance is what really get's to most of us.
Maintenance is also import for our bodies. It's easy to slack here and there, not exercise for a few days, eat a few too many pieces of chocolate, but there's a price. Just like my closet if I don't keep it neat it ends up a big mess that I have to devote 5 hours to cleaning out on a beautiful spring day. I vow to maintain my body in the healthiest way I can. And I hear that chocolate is good for you!
When I teach my classes, I begin by telling everyone that they are already organized. In fact everyone is.
Not only is everyone organized but they have a system they work religiously.
The sticky part is that some systems promote peace, order and calm while others keep the chaos going.
Maintenance is just a word for 'a good system.' I teach my clients and students to set good habits in motion. What is a good habit? It is any repeatable action that keeps the environment in order. Consciously repeat the action for 21 consecutive days and voila you have a new habit!
Here are my favorites for every day:
Make the bed
Take out the garbage
Wash the dishes
Put the clean dishes away
and
Put your keys in the same place the minute you enter your home.
Because we are in the bathroom every day, it would work to establish the habit that any product that gets taken out for use, gets put away in the designated spot the minute you are done with it.
Another good habit is to wipe the counter off before you leave. You can use a fancy wipe or just keep a sponge on the counter.
I hope this helps. Thank you all for taking the time to post a comment. It means a great deal to me to have some feedback!
Blessings,
Regina...
The Zen Organizer
yes I try to do this twice year -- since this is the memorial 3 day weekend -- i will be processing the spring cleaning for my closet -- moving the winter items toward the back and returning the summer items to the front.
Making your own homemade glass cleaner will not only give you a feeling of accomplishment it will also improve the way glass looks in your home. The first and most important tip needed when making and using homemade glass cleaner is that natural homemade cleaners will smear unless you first remove the chemical residue left behind from previous cleaners.
John
house cleaners Twickenham
Cleaning any part of the home is really a task we all take seriously. So when it comes to home carpet or rug cleaning then something the vacuum cleaner will just do the part of removing dust. For cleaning of the stains you will want to use non-toxic cleaners so that just the stains go not the color.
Kelly
Persian Rug Cleaning