4 Weeks To A More Organized Home: Day 6

After a nice weekend break, Money Saving Mom has posted Day 6 of her 4 Weeks to a more organized home challenge.

Today's assignment is as follows:

--Get dressed in something that makes you feel great.
--Sit down with a cup of coffee or tea and create a list of weekly goals.
--Complete your morning routine.
--Set the timer for 15 minutes and run through your home quickly picking up everything that’s out of place and putting it away.
--Clean out the inside of your vehicle. Remove all trash and clutter. Use a vacuum attachment to vacuum all the seats and floors out.
--Find 7 items to get rid of today. Throw them out, stick them in a donate or garage sale box, give them to a friend who can use them, or list them on Craigslist or eBay.

My results:

--I really thought about staying in my pajamas today, as I already had 3 loads of laundry to wash because I did not touch laundry over the weekend, but I walked out in the backyard to check on my seedlings, and my pajama pants got wet, so I got dressed, and I'm very glad I did.

--I sat down with a bottle of FREE frappucino from CVS and made out a list of my weekly goals, and I also made a daily list, because I need that.  After making lists each day last week, I've decided I don't think I can function without one!  Here's what was on my daily list:

• Make menu/weekly goals
• Get caught up on dishes and laundry
• sweep & mop kitchen
• Wipe down kitchen counters
• 15 minute tidy up
• Clean out van

--I got all of *my* list accomplished before lunch, and even decided to re-organize my towel cabinets in my hallway.  Towels had gotten shoved in there every which way and it was driving me bonkers.  I didn't think to grab a before shot, as straightening it up was a spur of the moment decision, but it's looking much better now!

I plan to go through these and do away with a few soon.  You can see that some of them are frayed and there are strings protruding and whatnot, but for now I'm just happy that everything is back stacked by size and my kids can only reach the smaller ones.   It's so silly for such tiny people to be using humongous towels simply because they are pink.

--I finished up mopping during naptime, and then I set my timer for 15 minutes.   I grabbed an old milk crate that I'm not even sure how we came to be in possession of, but it served well.  I really only made it through the kitchen, living room, and dining room, but I cleaned up as I went and if it didn't belong, I tossed it into the basket.  I returned anything that didn't belong in my girls room or the playroom to its place.  When my older girl gets home from school, I've got a stack of stuff that goes in their room (little one is napping right now, so it's still on the coffee table) and a basket of toys that need to be put away.  I'm going to get them into the habit of doing this and hopefully they will be able to go through the house and gather up their things in this way each night.

--After dinner I went out quickly and tidied up my van.  My husband had recently done a big clean up and vacuumed and all, so there wasn't much to do except toss some fast food cups.

Once again I crossed off everything on my list, and I'm feeling very accomplished at the end of the night, which is not something I'm used to, so I'd say this challenge is helping a lot!