I posted earlier this week about some spring cleaning I’ve got planned.  Here’s the progress I’ve made so far this week:

• Clean our vacuum cleaner (yup, it needs the filter cleaned REAL bad)
• Deep clean the kitchen (scrub the walls, cabinets, counters, floors, clean the inside of the microwave and oven, clean out the refrigerator)
• Deep clean the 3 bathrooms (clean toilets, sinks, mirrors, tubs/showers, and mop the floors)
• Dust and mop our hardwood floors in the entire house
• Vacuum our 4 rugs, our master bedroom, and the basement
• Sweep, mop, and vacuum our basement staircase
• Dust all of the shelves, windows, and blinds in the entire house
• Clean all of the windows in the entire house
• Clean all of the window screens in the entire house
• Vacuum the sofas in the living room
• Vacuum the 3 season front porch
• Purge old clothes from our closets

I guess next week I’ll be working on windows and the remaining floors in the house

The next two weeks is spring break for us – yes, we get TWO weeks!  We’re going to spend some time relaxing, traveling, and catching up on work.  But I’m also attempting to get some spring cleaning done.  Here’s what’s on my list:

• Clean our vacuum cleaner (yup, it needs the filter cleaned REAL bad)
• Deep clean the kitchen (scrub the walls, cabinets, counters, floors, clean the inside of the microwave and oven, clean out the refrigerator)
• Deep clean the 3 bathrooms (clean toilets, sinks, mirrors, tubs/showers, and mop the floors)
• Dust and mop our hardwood floors in the entire house
• Vacuum our 4 rugs, our master bedroom, and the basement
• Sweep, mop, and vacuum our basement staircase
• Dust all of the shelves, windows, and blinds in the entire house
• Clean all of the windows in the entire house
• Clean all of the window screens in the entire house
• Vacuum the sofas in the living room
• Vacuum the 3 season front porch
• Purge old clothes from our closets

I’m sure I’m forgetting something, but that’s a pretty hefty list to begin with!  I’ve already got a few things crossed off the list and our house is starting to look all shiny and clean.  I LOVE it.  I love having a clean house.

What is on your spring cleaning list?  Do you take a weekend to do it, or do you do it over a couple of days?

Have you ever taken a look at your house, or in my case, your car, and noticed a lot of stuff? Clutter?  Or, if you’re like me, is your calendar super packed with activities and responsibilities with little room to breath?  I know that sometimes my life feels so full and it is easy to get swept up and feel a little bit out of control.

A few weeks back, I posted about how I try to keep our house tidy by making sure everything has a home.  And then, my friend Jill shared about how she keeps her life in order with a home management binder.  An idea I still have’t put into practice, all in good time though, right?

But today, I want to share about simple living.

Living simply is something that is so counter intuitive to our society.  We’re all quite busy and we’re all focused on meeting daily needs, wants and desires.  Advertisers vie for our attention non-stop, and various health professionals or organizations compete for the “right” solution to xyz problem, ultimately leading to more confusion.  It’s difficult to navigate life when it is so complex.

However, I do think it’s possible to simplify our lives.  It’s incredibly counter-cultural though, and people may look at you funny – it’s happened to me! – but it is totally worth it.

I’m not talking about selling everything and couch surfing, but about basic choices that will encourage a more simplified way of living – a way that allows more time for relationships that are important to you, decreases wasteful habits, and brings life instead of stress.  Don’t get me wrong though, you’ll encounter resistance, and that might feel stressful at first.  Change is never easy.  But give it a shot and see how things change. You might be surprised!

Here’s a few particular suggestions to get you thinking about simplifying:

1. If you’re relocating or moving, consider living closer to where you will work.  You will gain valuable time together as a family just by reducing your commute.  For some, this is a BIG sacrifice and fairly challenging – I know I was conditioned to like the idea of the suburban dream.  However, living in a city or in a small town is quite lovely also
2. Simplify your media intake.  If you want to be drastic, cut out TV.  This may sound appalling to most people, and when I share with folks that we don’t even own a TV, they’re pretty surprised.  It will force you to be creative, spend time with people, and try new things.  For children, their imagination will be encouraged and relational skills developed in positive ways (after they get over the lack of sponge bob…)   If that’s too extreme for your taste, try reducing gradually – maybe just one show a day or week.  If you go the route of completely cutting it out, you’ll also save money!  Huzzah!
3. Don’t always buy new.  Craigslist, yard sales, and Good Will are helpful tools to find exactly what you need.  Consignment stores are also great for clothing.  Or, get crafty and make it yourself!  I’m so glad my mom taught me how to sew, and I’m convinced that if you know how to drive a car, you can learn how to sew
4. Share stuff.  I’m not sure why it’s necessary for every person to own a lawn mower or ladder.  Sure, it’s convenient, but consider all the time it is stored and unused?  You could go in together with a neighbor or two and share yard supplies and cut down on cost, and maybe open up some free space in your garage.  You could even trade off taking care of each others yard.
5. Get rid of anything you haven’t used in the last 12 months.  This is tough for me – I always see potential in things.  But the truth is, if I haven’t used that item, read that book, or done that project yet, I probably never will.  Make it a habit to go through your closet at the end of each season and pull out items that don’t fit or you no longer wear – have a yard sale or donate them to the charity of your choice.  Give old toys to new families, and sell books on Amazon (I’ve made a bunch of $$ this way in the past month!)  Getting rid of stuff that is crowding our lives can help us simplify A LOT!

That’s just a few ideas to get you started.  I’m sure there are TONS more I could think of.  Or maybe you have your own.  Please share!

A few weeks back, I posted about how I try to keep our house tidy by making sure everything has a home.  And then last week, my friend Jill shared about how she keeps her life in order with a home management binder.  An idea I still have’t put into practice, all in good time though, right?

Well, I was thinking about the bigger tasks that are easy to forget – ya know, like getting your oil changed regularly? Or changing your furnace filter?

So I made a list of “the biggies” – things around the house that need to be done annually, and then divided them up by month.  Feel free to make your own list, and then plug them into your calendar so you don’t forget!

You know you want to be like Martha and get your cleaning groove on.

January: Clean medicine cabinets; toss expired meds.

February: Clean all the hard-to-reach places: behind the stove, refrigerator, washer/ dryer, sofas and under beds.

March: Steam-clean carpets.

April: Organize the pantry and kitchen cabinets.

May: Wash windows and screens.

June: Wash duvets, blankets, comforters, spreads, pillows.

July: Clean and organize the garage.  Ditto with the basement.  Toss or donate items you don’t use anymore.

August: Clean out drawers and closets. Donate usable clothing and items to charity.

September: Defrost and clean freezer, refrigerator, stove, oven.

October: Clean your gutters after the leaves fall.

November: Polish silver, wash china, dust inside the china cabinet. (Just in time for the holidays!)

December: Turn mattresses; vacuum upholstered furniture and drapes.

I know one of the toughest things for most families is to keep their house clean and orderly.  Let’s all admit it – we each have at least one room, corner, drawer, or closet that we hope guests won’t stumble upon because it is FAR less than organized and tidy.  *raises hand with the crowd*

Let’s face it, we’re not perfect, nor do we have time to be.  But there are probably some simple ways to make life easier when it comes to housekeeping. We don’t need to have sparkling toilets or shiny sinks every day, but it’s definitely possible to still have a pleasant and well-kept home.

There are probably TONS of posts on this in the blogosphere, and I’m sure there are lots of great tips.  Obviously you’ve got to figure out what works for you, your family, and your schedule.  But I’ve found that a few simple things have helped us keep our house in tip-top shape (for the most part!) that I’d love to share with you!  We’ll start with just one for today…

1) If it doesn’t have a home, it becomes homeless.

(Where’s the baby? Ha!)

Piles of unread (or read!) mail stack up fast, shoes get cluttered, and  dirty laundry is scattered about when it doesn’t have it’s own place.  Same with pens, paper, staplers, post it notes, rubber bands, and the TONS of odds and ends that probably all occupy the proverbial kitchen “junk drawer” that many of us have.

(Look, an old doorbell!)

Give each of these items a home, a place where they belong so that when an item is finished being used or has been read, it has a place to go and doesn’t just get left willy-nilly all over the place.  And, get rid of the old doorbell…

For us – this means we don’t have a junk drawer.  There’s no need for us to have 327 pens and unsharpened pencils, 5 old batteries, post it notes, white out, and earrings that have lost their mate collected in a drawer in our kitchen.  And you probably don’t need that either.

What you might need is one permanent marker to write on freezer bags, two pens to jot down recipes or grocery lists, and a pad of paper.  That’s it. And we don’t even do the pad of paper, we have a small white out board on the side of the fridge with magnetic markers.

All that other stuff has a home in our “office” where we’ll actually use white out, pencils, and post its.  And you can find homes for shoes, laundry, etc just by having specific baskets or closets for them.  We put a small cute basket near our front door to place new mail in and our rule is that once it is read, it either needs to be recycled or processed (pay the bill, file the checking statement, or whatever).

I’ve found that if EVERYTHING has a home, the amount of clutter and mess in our home is GREATLY reduced.

Giving everything in your house a home can be a long process – it will require you to get rid of stuff you don’t use, find creative ways to use space, and break some bad habits.  But we’ve found that it is definitely worth it!

PS – The Nester has some awesome tips over on her blog from yesterday that I just spotted.  She’s got some really great ones for families and kids too

This is the first time I’ve participated in My Happy House’s Weekend Planning, and it really helped!  I was super productive on Saturday and got most of my household plans completed – before lunch!

Let’s take a look back and see how I did.

House:

- Clean the bathrooms

- Vacuum the dining room (our rug is shedding BIG time!) (I did the front hall rug too!)

- Put away Christmas decorations

- Menu plan for next week (Still need to put some finishing touches on this since we still have leftovers to finish)

Personal:

- Return a few odds and ends  (Stores closed)

- Head to the post office to ship something (Gonna happen today!)

- Return dishes to a church…from a year ago!  Sad but true.  (*sigh* I’m ashamed that this still hasn’t happened…)

- Date night with DH! (We went to Des Moines for Vietnamese food and a movie!  A special treat, for sure!)

I’m pretty pleased!  Especially since a few other random projects around the house were completed!