Thursday, February 10, 2011

End Spring Cleaning For Life (Part 2)

Step 3 - With a clean house, it's time to organize. Tackle one area at a time, but don't expect to get the entire house done in a weekend! Enlist the help of a pro if necessary, but get your closets, pantry, kitchen, garage, and bedrooms organized. If everything has a place, it will save loads of time if you can put things away easily as soon as you're done with them.

With your stuff organized, you won't have to do any more heavy spring sorting. Now how about organizing your cleaning tasks? There are lots of jobs around the house that don't need done weekly, but once or twice a year isn't enough. Take one weekend a month and do the jobs that need done monthly or quarterly. Guess what? You just eliminated the bulk of the standard spring cleaning checklist by doing regular, more frequent maintenance

Coming up next, Step 4 and the rest of your life!

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

End Spring Cleaning For Life (Part 1)

I am about to introduce to you a life-changing idea. This is ... (dramatic pause) ... the plan that will clean up your home, your life, and - yes, folks - end spring cleaning forever!

This plan is simple - it only involves four steps:
1. Evaluate
2. Clean & Repair
3. Organize
4. Maintain

If you're like most people, spring cleaning doesn't get done in a day! So take your time with this. Set aside an entire weekend for each step, if you want.

Step 1 - Get your living space clean and ready for warmer weather. There are plenty of checklists and guides around the web, but this isn't a complicated process.

Before you can clean, you have to be able to see what you need to clean, right? So first, clear out the old stuff you no longer want or need. Drop it off at a donation center, box it up for a garage sale, or just throw it out. While you're at it, make notes of any maintenance or repair jobs that need done.

Prepare for Step 2 - Make a list of all the appropriate cleaning supplies you need. Review your list of needed repairs and maintenance and add required items or tools to your shopping list, then head out to your local hardware/grocery/home improvement store to stock up, then get yourself psyched up.

Step 2 - Actually clean, make repairs, and do all the little maintenance tasks you've been putting off. Do a room at a time, or do all the simple little tasks first. Either way, check each thing off the list as soon as it's done. The growing number of checkmarks will inspire you to keep going.

So far, so good? Excellent!