Diaper Swappers

jjgammon · 06-18-2012, 03:37 AM

Because trying to clean my house right now would be, as Grandpa says, as useless as teats on a boar hog. And I know I'm not the only one in this situation.

Here's what I spent the last 2.5 hours brainstorming. Read it over & tell me what you think.

It's loosely inspired by: FlyLady, Just Mommies, Motivated Moms, AND- C25K. Wait you ask, "What's running got to do with clutter and housekeeping?" I like the very gradual 3 days a week approach used by the C25K plan. Because my house and my body are both out of shape, and neither got that way overnight. So neither could be fixed just by going out and running full steam.

As we ease into the babiest of baby steps, we are only going to have 3 days a week scheduled. Feel free to do other housework on the unscheduled days- for the first 6 weeks we are focusing on clutter and I would hate to see a toilet that went a month without cleaning

For Week One, I am going to be borrowing from Unsolicited Advice. The first few weeks of her series " One Year to a more Organized Life" make a great start for our efforts here. It will feel like we are hurrying through, but you are welcome to go back and finish it in more depth on your own.

Just a note- the link to the worksheets she provides seems to be broken- She's changed hosts and not updated the blog entries. BUT- I found them

Day One:
1. Think for a while on who you would like to be accountable to. Would you rather share with just one person, or with the group as a whole?
2. Head over to Unsolicited Advice. Check out her One Year to a more Organized Life series. Today we are going to use Week 1- Finding Your Purpose. Complete the first worksheet page.

Day Two:
1. Take a picture of the worst view in your home.
2. Spend 30 minutes working on your "worst view" and photograph it again.
3. Share the photos with your accountability partner or the group.
4. Go back to Unsolicited Advice and spend a little while working on Week 2 -The Bare Minimum. Fill out page 2 of the worksheet in pencil. Trust me on this one. Make your Bare Minimum as basic as possible. I would recommend no more than 6 or 7 things on your everyday list, and no more than 1 thing per day on your every week list. One thing on your everyday list should be "do daily chore from every week list." The daily chore is not a set in stone part of your daily routine, but try to do it when you can. Over time it will get easier to remember and do.
5. Divide your everyday list into Morning, Daytime, and Before Bed.

Day Three:
1. Spend 30 minutes working on your "worst view" and photograph again.
2. Line up with the 2 photos from Day 2 and share with your accountability partner or group.
3. Spend a few minutes looking at your progress.
4. Go back to Unsolicited Advice one last time. Complete Week 3 - Brainstorming for the Rough Draft. Again, do the worksheet in pencil. DO NOT worry about this- like the title says, it's just a rough draft.
3. Choose either your Daytime or Before Bed routine and do it. Why not start with Morning? Because I know I sure couldn't start with Morning. I have trouble remembering ANYTHING before I've had my coffee, and by the time I've had my coffee and breakfast half the morning is gone already. So we'll jump in with one of the others to get our habit-forming ability warmed up. Once we have both of them down then we will work Mornings back into our lives.

And that's the end of week one. WooHoo!

Week Two leaves the paper and planning behind and jumps in full steam. Remember the routine you tried on W1D3? Do it every day this week in addition to the assigned tasks.

Day One
1. Decide which room or two you want to start with. If you are most motivated by seeing completion, pick the least cluttered room. If you are most motivated by seeing amazing progress, pick the most cluttered room.
2. Take a before picture of the room you've chosen.
3. Spend 30 minutes working on decluttering.
4. Take an after photograph.
5. Time for another accountability share!
6. Be sure to do your chosen routine.

Day Two
1. Spend another 30 minutes working on your room of the week.
2. If you have time and desire, work another 30 minutes.
3. Take another photograph.
4. Time for an accountability share!
5. Don't forget your routine.

Day Three
1. Spend another 30 minutes working on your room of the week.
2. If you have time and desire, work another 30 minutes.
3. Take another photograph.
4. Time for an accountability share!
5. Don't forget your routine.

Your room should be fully decluttered by now since you've put in 1.5-2.5 hours of nothing but decluttering. If not, you might need to call Hoarders and arrange to be on the show

For Week 3, repeat Week 2 on another room or pair of rooms.

For Week 4, we're going out on a limb and adding another routine! So now you will be doing your Daytime & Before Bed routines every day along with the assigned decluttering. Pick another room or pair of rooms.

Week 5- You know the drill. Pick another room or pair of rooms and spend the week decluttering and practicing your routines.

Week 6. We did 2 weeks with 1 daily routine. We did 2 weeks with 2 daily routines. Now it's time for the dreaded "M" word. MORNING. We are going to spend this week concentrating on completing all 3 daily routines every day. If there are any rooms still in need of decluttering, follow the declutter week schedule as well. Next week we will be starting deep cleaning so be sure you are done with clutter mamas!

ashley0929 · 06-18-2012, 06:25 AM

I'll do this with you. =)

hbee · 06-18-2012, 06:43 AM

Love it! Except for the photosharing.

hbee · 06-18-2012, 07:23 AM

I would love to do it as a group, but am willing to do it with a partner.

2+2macht4 · 06-18-2012, 07:29 AM

I will join when do we start

KiltedKingdom · 06-18-2012, 08:54 AM

I would like to try this. This week will be crazy because my BIL dumped his kids on me this week (he stays with us during the week because he works with my dh. He has his 2 girls because his ex is in jail. So now I get to watch them all day every day this week so that he can spend an hour with them in the evening.) and we're going out of town for a long weekend, so I'll be busy catching up on laundry and packing and shopping and everything, and I would REALLY like to not come home to a ginormous mess, which means lots and lots of work for me this week.

I'm off to go print off the worksheets!

sarahhh1 · 06-18-2012, 09:22 AM

I'll join, but I will probably disappear for a while in September after I have the baby.

Ready2Bmommy · 06-18-2012, 10:11 AM

Since I'm likely to be flaky

I'd rather do as a group to keep a partner from hanging.

jjgammon · 06-18-2012, 10:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ready2Bmommy

Since I'm likely to be flaky

I'd rather do as a group to keep a partner from hanging.

Hehe, I TOTALLY understand!

So ladies, how do we want to do this? Or I guess the question is actually WHERE? Keep it here in Minimalist, move it to the Facebook group, or start our own forum outside of DS? If it works out for us, I will eventually move it to it's own site anyway for the rest of the world to try...

Holly dolly · 06-18-2012, 11:09 AM

I would love to do this!! I might be a little flaky as well...I work Mon-Thurs and sometimes have little time to do anything extra around the house.

I'm fine with having a "partner" or doing it as a group...whatever works!

06-18-2012, 03:37 AM	#1
jjgammon Registered Users Join Date: May 2012 Location: Enid, OK Posts: 660 Ratings: 7 Feedback: 100% My Mood:	Declutter Bootcamp Because trying to clean my house right now would be, as Grandpa says, as useless as teats on a boar hog. And I know I'm not the only one in this situation. Here's what I spent the last 2.5 hours brainstorming. Read it over & tell me what you think. It's loosely inspired by: FlyLady, Just Mommies, Motivated Moms, AND- C25K. Wait you ask, "What's running got to do with clutter and housekeeping?" I like the very gradual 3 days a week approach used by the C25K plan. Because my house and my body are both out of shape, and neither got that way overnight. So neither could be fixed just by going out and running full steam. As we ease into the babiest of baby steps, we are only going to have 3 days a week scheduled. Feel free to do other housework on the unscheduled days- for the first 6 weeks we are focusing on clutter and I would hate to see a toilet that went a month without cleaning For Week One, I am going to be borrowing from Unsolicited Advice. The first few weeks of her series " One Year to a more Organized Life" make a great start for our efforts here. It will feel like we are hurrying through, but you are welcome to go back and finish it in more depth on your own. Just a note- the link to the worksheets she provides seems to be broken- She's changed hosts and not updated the blog entries. BUT- I found them Day One: 1. Think for a while on who you would like to be accountable to. Would you rather share with just one person, or with the group as a whole? 2. Head over to Unsolicited Advice. Check out her One Year to a more Organized Life series. Today we are going to use Week 1- Finding Your Purpose. Complete the first worksheet page. Day Two: 1. Take a picture of the worst view in your home. 2. Spend 30 minutes working on your "worst view" and photograph it again. 3. Share the photos with your accountability partner or the group. 4. Go back to Unsolicited Advice and spend a little while working on Week 2 -The Bare Minimum. Fill out page 2 of the worksheet in pencil. Trust me on this one. Make your Bare Minimum as basic as possible. I would recommend no more than 6 or 7 things on your everyday list, and no more than 1 thing per day on your every week list. One thing on your everyday list should be "do daily chore from every week list." The daily chore is not a set in stone part of your daily routine, but try to do it when you can. Over time it will get easier to remember and do. 5. Divide your everyday list into Morning, Daytime, and Before Bed. Day Three: 1. Spend 30 minutes working on your "worst view" and photograph again. 2. Line up with the 2 photos from Day 2 and share with your accountability partner or group. 3. Spend a few minutes looking at your progress. 4. Go back to Unsolicited Advice one last time. Complete Week 3 - Brainstorming for the Rough Draft. Again, do the worksheet in pencil. DO NOT worry about this- like the title says, it's just a rough draft. 3. Choose either your Daytime or Before Bed routine and do it. Why not start with Morning? Because I know I sure couldn't start with Morning. I have trouble remembering ANYTHING before I've had my coffee, and by the time I've had my coffee and breakfast half the morning is gone already. So we'll jump in with one of the others to get our habit-forming ability warmed up. Once we have both of them down then we will work Mornings back into our lives. And that's the end of week one. WooHoo! Week Two leaves the paper and planning behind and jumps in full steam. Remember the routine you tried on W1D3? Do it every day this week in addition to the assigned tasks. Day One 1. Decide which room or two you want to start with. If you are most motivated by seeing completion, pick the least cluttered room. If you are most motivated by seeing amazing progress, pick the most cluttered room. 2. Take a before picture of the room you've chosen. 3. Spend 30 minutes working on decluttering. 4. Take an after photograph. 5. Time for another accountability share! 6. Be sure to do your chosen routine. Day Two 1. Spend another 30 minutes working on your room of the week. 2. If you have time and desire, work another 30 minutes. 3. Take another photograph. 4. Time for an accountability share! 5. Don't forget your routine. Day Three 1. Spend another 30 minutes working on your room of the week. 2. If you have time and desire, work another 30 minutes. 3. Take another photograph. 4. Time for an accountability share! 5. Don't forget your routine. Your room should be fully decluttered by now since you've put in 1.5-2.5 hours of nothing but decluttering. If not, you might need to call Hoarders and arrange to be on the show For Week 3, repeat Week 2 on another room or pair of rooms. For Week 4, we're going out on a limb and adding another routine! So now you will be doing your Daytime & Before Bed routines every day along with the assigned decluttering. Pick another room or pair of rooms. Week 5- You know the drill. Pick another room or pair of rooms and spend the week decluttering and practicing your routines. Week 6. We did 2 weeks with 1 daily routine. We did 2 weeks with 2 daily routines. Now it's time for the dreaded "M" word. MORNING. We are going to spend this week concentrating on completing all 3 daily routines every day. If there are any rooms still in need of decluttering, follow the declutter week schedule as well. Next week we will be starting deep cleaning so be sure you are done with clutter mamas! __________________ Jessica - Wife to Rickey & SAHMama to Kahlan (3/29/08) & Elliott (3/29/11) No, those birthday's aren't a typo either. My eBay seller feedback & Etsy shop feedback My ISO/IHA thread

06-18-2012, 06:25 AM	#2
ashley0929 Registered Users Join Date: May 2007 Location: Florida Posts: 1,020 My Mood:	Re: Declutter Bootcamp I'll do this with you. =) __________________ Ashley- wife to Justin, SAHM to Tyler Matthew (04/09/06) And Sophie-Anne Marie (09/07/11) Homeschooling mama

06-18-2012, 06:43 AM	#3
hbee Registered Users Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: PA Posts: 4,492 Ratings: 112 Feedback: 100%	Re: Declutter Bootcamp Love it! Except for the photosharing. __________________ Holly, married to my wonderful DH 7-28-06 The Bear, 9/11. Doin' the (coo coo) pigeon... or swagbucks, or, perhaps even plink.

06-18-2012, 07:23 AM	#4
hbee Registered Users Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: PA Posts: 4,492 Ratings: 112 Feedback: 100%	Re: Declutter Bootcamp I would love to do it as a group, but am willing to do it with a partner. __________________ Holly, married to my wonderful DH 7-28-06 The Bear, 9/11. Doin' the (coo coo) pigeon... or swagbucks, or, perhaps even plink.

06-18-2012, 07:29 AM	#5
2+2macht4 Wahm Moderator Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: I live in Southwest Germany, but have a mailing address stateside in Oregon:) Posts: 10,250 Ratings: 152 Feedback: 100%	Re: Declutter Bootcamp I will join when do we start __________________ Rena crunchy, ecclectic SAH expat mommy to Lu (12/22/2010) and Ez (10/28/2012). Married to my myspace BFF T and living in Germany since 2008.