Monday, October 18, 2010

There's enough time. I think.

                                                 Simplify 101

I can't be the only one that does this - spring cleans in the fall?  

Our spring is usually spent outside the home - pressure - washing the house, cleaning the windows, screens.  Tearing out the bits of yard that didn't survive the winter and planting the garden.

The fall is when deep cleaning happens inside.  I usually plan out what needs to be done as a countdown to the Christmas holiday - something i got from Fly Lady.  I know everyone knows her - but it's true - without her game plan, i would be sunk before the malls ever put up the first Christmas tree of the season! Do you follow her?

http://www.flylady.net/pages/FlightPlan.asp

What I love the most is the plan never changes so you're never behind.  Your house is broken down into zones - and it's just repeated each month  - so if you start mid-month, no worries, you just cycle your way back through until the deep cleaning is complete!


I'm starting this week - and this week is the master bedroom.  But before i can get to this....
    from pottery barn

....I have to clean my little heart out!  (actually as cozy as that PB bedroom looks, i think flylady would be ALL over that stack of books and the clutter on the nightstands!)

Thankfully, i'm not left alone to my own devices - there is a playbook that tells me exactly what to do and the order to do it in.  Here is the master bedroom playbook for detailed cleaning you can find on her site:

MASTER BEDROOM - DETAILED CLEANING
1. POLISH FURNITURE
2. CLEAN OFF THE DESKS
3. CLEAN COBWEBS
4. WASH MATTRESS PAD/DUST RUFFLE
5. FLIP MATTRESS
6. EMPTY TRASH
7. WASH WINDOWS
8. CULL SOME BOOKS FROM BOOKCASE
9. STRAIGHTEN DRAWERS
10. CLEAN UNDER THE BED
CLOSET - DETAILED CLEANING
1. STRAIGHTEN THE TOP SHELVES
2. ARRANGE THE SHOES
3. TAKE SUITCASES TO BASEMENT
4. DUST SHOE BOOKCASE

If you want to start along with me - here is the schedule and i have already given you the link above - i'm ready for the most wonderful time of the year to be here! almost.

These are the zones for October - mark your calendars:

  • Zone 1: The Entrance, Front Porch and Dining Room (October 1)



  • Zone 2: The Kitchen (October 4 - 8)



  • Zone 3: The Bathroom and One Extra Room (October 12 - 15)



  • Zone 4: The Master Bedroom (October 18 - 22)



  • Zone 5: The Living Room (October 26 - 30)




  • Maybe i'll document in pics to make you all feel better about where I'm starting from! Misery loves company :)


    3 comments:

    1. Okay, you had me at clean. My house feels dusty and dirty and unmanageable! I was thinking that I needed to keep some sort of system, because I can never remember when I changed the sheets on which bed and so on. I am off to the link to get started! Thanks friend!

      ReplyDelete
    2. Well, now! This looks fairly do-able. Considering I really. really. do not want to clean the whole house at once right now. So I haven't cleaned anything. I'm thinking the deal is to take one day and do the area, then the next week the following area, until you are done with the whole house. Then is there an upkeep schedule? Looks good to me!
      xo
      lynn

      ReplyDelete
    3. Good golly, many of those have been on my Do list for the longest time, time being the operative word here. Since I broke my ankle in July, I've only been doing the barest minimum in cleaning and it shows it. Once I get fully mobile again, look out!
      Yes, please do post pics as you go! I've checked out FlyLady in the past and right now again, and something about the whole "fly" metaphor, the writing style, the graphics just doesn't appeal to me for some reason.

      ReplyDelete