Slow and Steady

Lest anyone think my enthusiasm for cleaning and organizing my house has fizzled out, I had better give an update of my progress. I'll admit I've been more of a tortoise than a hare lately when it comes to cleaning, but I keep reminding myself that that's okay. After all, we know which one wins in the end. I have not undertaken any major cleaning projects in the past few weeks but am focusing more on maintaining the progress I've made so far. On most days that means keeping up with the dishes and working on getting the kitchen in shape. It's not quite ready for its "after" photos yet but we're getting there. The main reason I haven't made more dramatic improvement is that I am needing to devote a good bit of my free time each day to studying for my Physician Assistant re-certification test. I will be taking that test on May 10th so I'm hopeful that I'll be able to put my house in order AND maintain my PA license in 2010!

I've been looking forward to this weekend a lot, not because I have any great plans, but because I don't! I'm hoping to spend a good part of today working on the house. So far I've gotten a bunch of dishes done and given the stove a good cleaning. I was excited to finally figure out how to lift the top off the stove to clean underneath. Up until now I had just been taking off the burners and reaching through the resulting holes to clean inside. This new discovery will make my goal of a once-weekly thorough stove cleaning much easier to carry out!


Here are some of the other things I hope to accomplish this weekend:

• Finish cleaning the kitchen and dining area (to photo-worthiness)
• Assemble my new bookshelf and finish the bookshelf rearrangements in the bedroom
• Pick up and put away all the stuff that doesn't belong on the floor (or at least a lot of it)
• Study some more
• Bake something nice

Well I think that's all I have to report at the moment. One of these days I intend to do an entry about cleaning John's room (which we did earlier this month before I started this blog), along with an update on how he is doing at keeping it clean. But if I spend more time blogging than cleaning that will defeat the purpose, so back to cleaning I go!

2009 - What Happened??

I moved into my new home on June 1, 2008. I was excited about having my own place after a few years of living in a one bedroom apartment. It's not a big house, but it was certainly the most space I'd ever had for my own possessions. I thought that after a few weeks of unpacking and organizing, I'd have an orderly home that I could be proud of. Boy was I wrong!

About a year after moving in, I took a good look at my house and was nothing short of horrified. Stuff was piled up in every corner, covered every horizontal surface, and made it nearly impossible to walk in a straight line from one point to another. How did this happen? I asked myself. Maybe it was the steady influx of my boyfriend's things as we prepared to get married and merge two households into one. Maybe it was his 18-year-old son's presence - a man-child who grew up in a very messy home and was accustomed to throwing candy wrappers and soda bottles on the floor even when sitting within arm's reach of trash and recycling cans. Whatever the reason, it was time for a change. I knew that I had never intended for my house to get this messy, and I never wanted it to get this way again. I didn't want to clean up then forget how bad it used to be. Maybe that was why I decided to walk around and take some pictures.

Mark's "Drawing Table" - You can guess how much drawing he is getting done!

Here's a hint: It's about as much piano playing as I'm getting done!

This makes cooking a bit of a challenge.

Especially considering there is NO counter space!




Help!!!

Dining area: I'm not sure how we are supposed to dine here!

Is this really what I want to greet my eyes when I wake up each morning?

After taking the pictures, I started to work on cleaning. I was so embarrassed by the state of my house that I couldn't even bring myself to download and look at the pictures until almost six months later!

Things have gotten a bit better since then, but there is still a lot of work to do. I recently stumbled upon FlyLady.net (following a link on Facebook that one of my friend's friends posted in a comment on my friend's status). The things I am reading and the new habits I am forming have made a world of difference in my attitude towards and feelings about keeping my house clean. I realize now that the reason things got so out of control was not the fact that my boyfriend was bringing in too much stuff or that his son was leaving a trail of debris everywhere he went. These things didn't help of course, but the real reason my house became such a disaster was that I allowed it to. An orderly house is something that requires constant vigilance. I can't expect to clean a room once then sit back and have it stay that way. It's a lot of work, but I've also realized something else important. Work can be fun! For that I must credit FlyLady.net. Seriously, check it out. You can thank me later! :-)

For years this sign has hung in my Grandma's kitchen:

At eighty-six years old, she is still struggling to bring order to her home. This is a woman who has raised seven children and still works as an architectural designer of beautiful homes and other buildings. Putting one's house in order is no small task!

Which brings me to my reason for starting this blog. We all know how very motivated we feel to clean up when company is expected. We want guests to see our home at its best (without knowing that it doesn't always look this way of course)! After posting a few pictures of my cleaning endeavors on Facebook, I learned that one can feel a similar motivation by opening one's home to friends and family over the Internet. When I post a picture of my messy kitchen with a promise that a clean kitchen picture will be forthcoming, you can bet I want to get that kitchen clean so I can "wow" everyone with the improvement. I also found that it's very satisfying to be able to click through the pictures and watch order emerge out of chaos. Finally, I wanted to show people that no matter how bad the mess gets, there is always hope. If I can reclaim my house from disorder, yours is surely not a lost cause!

2010 is the year... let's get going!