Monday, January 19, 2009

Mid-Winter Cleaning

I was getting nervous that I wouldn't get my usual mid-winter cleaning started... but I have hit my stride.

I got alot accomplished this weekend. I cleaned out my dinning room from all of it's new piles that came back after Christmas. I also caugh up on all my dishes and laundry. I swept and mopped the dinning room, kitchen, hallway and front steps. Then I hit the kids rooms. In the girl's room I cleaned it up and vacuumed. Then I went through all their clothes to pull out any that are a bit small. They received alot of clothes for Christmas and now it doesn't all fit in their dressers! I am thinking of buying a dresser at Ikea ($39.99 for a 3 drawer dresser) to add to their room for more storage. But not until after my 30 Days of Nothing.

Then I cleaned the bathroom. About a week ago, when I was hoping to be inspired to clean, I checked out The FlyLady. Her plan is always to do just 15 minutes a day of cleaning. And she has a zone-by-zone approach. The day I checked it out the 'zone' they were working on was the bathroom, and although I was inspired... I find it hard to find 15 minutes a day and would rather do about an hour on Saturday. So I did her whole Zone: Bathroom plan over the weekend. I dusted the ceiling and corners for cobwebs, then got on a stepstool and dusted my light fixtures (boy-were they dusty)! Cleaned the counters and all the items on it, the sink, the toilet, swept and mopped the floors. Then I grouted the tiles I had been putting off doing for months. (They had been covered with plastic so the area wouldn't get wet). I put up a new shower curtian liner, and cut a "good section" out of the old one to cover the window in the shower. I gave the shower and tub a good scrubbing. Whew!

I then went to my son's room and started cleaning. Then we decided to put up his old bed in his room- so he would have two beds. One for a sleep-over or for dad to sleep on, or his sister to sleep in there from time to time. He is always so upset that the girls get to sleep in the same room and he has to sleep alone. So now if the timing is ok- someone can sleep in there with him. This meant moving around some other furniture.. but in the end his room looks all clean and put together.

I also sat down and straightened out some paperwork. I did the last of my 2008 FSA submissions and the first one for 2009, and faxed those in. Then I wrote 2 letters I needed to get out. I balanced the checkbook, paid some bills for the end of January, and got all of that stuff in the mail. Whew! Whew!

The only room I didn't touch this weekend was the living room- which now looks horrible- since everyone was in there while I was cleaning the rest of the house all weekend.

So, onto the school-week, and next weekend I am hoping to finish up a few more things. I am relieved that I got so much done this weekend, and made good use of my 3-day weekend!

No comments: