Housekeeping???

Oh... my.... GOODness!  Have I fallen off the wagon when it comes to keeping a tidy house!  Mind you, I was "taught right"!  My mom was an immaculate housekeeper, and while our homes were never magazine-worthy as far as decorating goes, it was always neat and welcoming and you would be hard pressed to find any dirt or dust!  We cleaned EVERY week, and once a month we did extra things like washing throw rugs, cleaning light fixtures, and vacuuming the furniture.  Then there was "spring" or "fall" cleaning, where the carpets were cleaned, curtains taken down, washed, dried, ironed.. windows washed and kitchen cabinets cleaned inside and out!  I HATED it!  Oh, don't get me wrong, I loved having a clean and shining home, and I didn't mind the actual work.... too much... but what drove me UP THE WALL was the way my Mom managed it.  You see, I want a visible check-of list so I can pace myself, check off accomplished tasks, and see the light at the end of the tunnel.  My mom would give me one job at a time. When I finished one, I was given another.... ALL DAY LONG! No reward of free time until everything was done, and you never knew what "everything" was.  If I complained, her patent response was, "when you have a home of your own, you can do what you like".  Boy, did I take THAT to heart!!!

I quickly found out that my mom had a lot of things right.  Do things on a regular basis and it doesn't ever have to be overwhelming.  I even like doing a spring and fall deep clean... but life doesn't always give you the right time to do it.

This busy summer/fall, I let things get really far behind.  It IS hard to make yourself clean when there is a construction project going on indoors, even if it isn't really invasive.... ( we remodeled our main bathroom). There was still the clutter of displaced "stuff" and piles of tools and materials.... dust gets tracked all over... it was NOT worth the bother of cleaning when you were living in a mess.  SO, when we had the project finished, and I got back from my/our trips, I decided to get my act together and find the inspiration to GET THINGS DONE!

Before

The tear-out 😲

After - ahhhhh!

In the past (when my kids were little), I had found a housekeeping method outlined in a book ( I think the authors were guests on a TV talk show that I liked), that I bought, read and implemented.  As we have moved (at least twice) and our lives have changed (kids to empty-nesters) I have modified this method and updated my routines several times.  But this time, I needed more inspiration... so where does one go?

The Internet!
Originally I was looking for the same gals/method that I had before (S.H.E., Pam Young and Peggy Jones) so that is what I searched for.... but it didn't get me anywhere. Next I searched something like "housekeeping methods" and found "Flylady". Now I had heard of this before, but it was when I was already doing S.H.E., so I had not paid too much attention to it.  This time, there were Flyladies all over the place, and not so much S.H.E, so I started watching.  I found many Youtube posters, all outlining their routines with Flylady, but one in particular struck me. So I went back to the Flylady page,started reading up, and between the Official webpage and the Youtube gal that I liked, I was officially INSPIRED!

 Now I am forming new routines and sticking with the program, (which is very forgiving) and I am making good, visible progress.  Each week you focus in a different area of your home, while still doing a basic maintenance clean in the main areas. This particular week was the kitchen (to which I added my mud/laundry room).  So not only are my dishes all done up morning and evening, but I have cleaned and reorganized two countertops and one cupboard, as well as cleaning and reorganizing my laundry room shelves and cleaning the inside and outside of my washer and dryer.

My clean and tidy countertop with my "Flylady Shiny Sink"!

Messy Laundry space

Now tidy and clean!

In addition to all that, I have been working on sorting out my Workroom so in my "free time", I can get back to sewing!  Let me post some of my "before' and "after" pictures!  I have been working on this for a month now, so there is more organized than just this week's Kitchen Zone!

Workroom 'Left's, BEFORE 

Workroom "Right", BEFORE

Workroom "Left", AFTER

Workroom "Right", AFTER

The Workroom has been the 'any extra time' project for the past month. I have worked in here most on the free weekends, since it really needed my full attention for longer periods of time. Sorting, putting away fabrics and bits and pieces, reducing, mending, ironing, and hemming pants.... I have all of DH's things done and now have just a couple of my mending projects to finish. Then I am ready to start a project again!

Hall bookcase, BEFORE

Hall bookcase, AFTER

This is just a final example of the kinds of things I have done... two locations of bookcases have been sorted, purged, cleaned and reorganized.

I also went through closets, cabinets, the basement and garage to purge and give things to the Church rummage sale.

As people who use this "Flylady System" say about their housekeeping progress: "I'm Flying".