September 7, 2009

"Shine your sink" - courtesy of the Flylady

August 24, 2009

Today I woke up to a not-so-clean house. After a full weekend of being gone and not getting our regular “straightening” done, I had quite a mess to clean up! My DH, bless him, loaded and ran the dishwasher last night but there were already more dishes on the counter, toys on the floor (along with dirt), a messy dining room table and clothes strewn about the small downstairs space (frequent costume changes by my daughter).

When I wake up to a mess this large, my mind feels so cluttered I don’t know where to start – SO…I hop on Facebook to see what other people are doing. Of course, I’ve turned off the newsfeed of actual domestic divas who just annoy me by announcing they’ve got not only a clean house but also hold down a full time job, home school their kids and knit afghans for poor children in Africa while baking 6 dozen cookies. Like I really need to feel any worse about myself!! Usually when I choose this course of action, I either don’t get anything done or if I do accomplish much, I don’t spend much time enjoying my daughters.

But, recognizing my tendency to extreme avoidance when I feel overwhelmed by housework, I vowed not to spend my time on the internet or phone today. Instead, I channeled one of my favorite organizing/cleaning gurus, the Flylady. Her mantra is “shine your sink”. So, not knowing where to start, I emptied out my kitchen sink and shined it. It looked amazing so I did all the dishes. Feeling energized, I kept going.

This is the plan I followed:

1. Shine the sink
2. Finish cleaning the zone I started (kitchen/dining)
3. Pick up the floor, table and counters
4. Wipe the same
5. Sweep the floor
6. Clean the floor with home made cleaning solution and my deck brush (this is my super-duper cleaning tool) and wipe with a clean towel
7. STOP to eat and play with the kids.

I cleaned with a zealous vigor while my youngest took a nap and my oldest played with her toys and then watched a little educational TV (a great use of TV!). It took about two hours for me to do all this, mainly because I’m a little psychotic about my floors but it felt great to have a clean space to play and have lunch with my kids. I’m really proud of what I accomplished today.

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