Happy Homemakers -- January 2013

[EmmaGM]

This is a thread for those of us that need a little extra motivation to declutter, tidy up, or deep clean our homes. You're not the only one that hates toilets, baseboards, and that fuzzy thing playing online slots at the back of your fridge!

I don't know about you, but I feel so relaxed and at peace when my home is clean and tidy. It's so much easier to keep it that way when I'm getting regular pats on the back, so let's be cleaning buddies.

I very loosely follow flylady, but any other cleaning regimen (or lack thereof!) is welcome here. Just jump on in!

Week 1: January 1 - 5.
QOTW: Introduce yourself! Are you a stay at home parent, working at home, working out of the home? What is your biggest cleaning 'problem area'?

Bonus question: Do you use any resources to help you stay on task? For example, flylady's website? Link them here and I'll keep a resource list for us.

Week 2: January 7 - 12.
QOTW: What's your favorite cleaning tool or accessory?
Challenge of the Week: Post before/afters of under your kitchen sink!

Week 3: January 14 - 19.
QOTW: Have you ever hired a cleaning service?
Challenge of the Week: Clean floor registers and other vent coverings, pick a room or do them all.

Week 4: January 21 - 26.
Question of the Week: Do you intentionally give yourself a day off from all or most homemaking duties? Do you take a day off weekly, monthly?

Challenge of the Week: Make your bed everyday this week! Just for one week, and if it doesn't improve your mood, you can quit.


Cleaning Motivation and Resources
FlyLady
Cleaning Calendar
Hbee's List!
iOS only: Home Routines
Pay-to-Use: Motivated Moms

[DottieHarley]

OMG I need motivation and a good kick in the pants! I am hoping to get some good ideas and maybe start some good habits.
I WOH ft, as does DH. DH works a weird schedule which means he gets more DD time than the average bear, but means we are both solo parenting except for TWO days per month :-)
The house is clean-ish. The high traffic areas are picked up regularly bc I cannot stand clutter everywhere. But things tend to pile up in baskets everywhere (so it looks organized but is actually chaos).
First thing to tackle: the constant pile of crud on the steps. Lots of going-up or coming-down but Mt Stairs just kinda sits there. I would love to keep this impromptu landing zone clean!
I vacuum the bedrooms maybe once/month and scrub the bathroom floors even less frequently. I need help. i have NO system as you can probably tell.

[umphreysmommy]

Hi this is great!

I am Stephanie, SAHM to two girls. I was basically a slob before but since buying a home last July have been putting effort in.

My biggest problem is the deep cleaning. I pick up and put everything in it's place everyday but really neglect scrubbing, dusting, vacuuming etc.

[momof_3]

I'm Desirea I have 3 kiddos. I am a SAHM but between driving dh to work and driving my dd to school I'm not home much during the day. My entire home is my problem area! Lol. But the kitchen and bedrooms are the worst.
I don't have any motivation besides myself and the threads I read on here.

[Chasing Zen]

Hi!
I'm a WAHM, and my difficult areas are my sewing room and our bedroom. Both see a lot of traffic and tend to get unorganized fast, so those are the areas I'll be focusing on this week.

[EmmaGM]

I'm Emma, a SAHM to my 6mo DS. I used to be super uber ultra cleaning ROBOT. And then I gave birth. Baha. DS was pretty much a total nightmare and screamed for the first 5 months of his life, the poor thing. He's been a completely different baby for the past 2 months but I've gotten set in my lazy ways and I never want to do ANYTHING anymore. Soo... now my once spotless home is a disaster. There are piles everywhere. We're moving at the end of the month so I need to declutter FAST and get myself back into robot mode to make sure my new house never ends up like this.

I think my biggest problem area is floors. I really hate vacuuming and no matter how much I mop, I never feel like my hard surfaces are really clean so then I just never want to bother doing it at all.

[graceworks]

Hi guys

I'm Anna I'm a SAHM to a 2 year old and a 7 month old. My issue is clutter (finding a place for everything, even though we don't really have much) and keeping things (ie fridge, tub, BR floors, windows) at a base level clean so that it doesn't get so gross that I have to do an intense scrubbing every few months when it gets unbearable, or when someone is coming over.

I started in November with a chart of what needs to be done Monthly, every other week, weekly, and twice weekly to keep my house up to a baseline clean. Its been working SO great for the 2 months I've done it...but I need to keep it up and add a few things to it. I need to make the one for January and I'll share it when I do...

A task that is overwhelming me right now that I don't even know where to begin...my gross radiators. They are so dusty and NASTY and were like that when we moved in (we rent) and I don't know how to get the dust out of them. Maybe some kind of skinny swiffer thing I can stick in there. any one have a good idea for cleaning these?

[EmmaGM]

Originally Posted by annaelise A task that is overwhelming me right now that I don't even know where to begin...my gross radiators. They are so dusty and NASTY and were like that when we moved in (we rent) and I don't know how to get the dust out of them. Maybe some kind of skinny swiffer thing I can stick in there. any one have a good idea for cleaning these?

Do you maybe have any vacuum attachments that would reach some of it? I think I would use one of those bath things attached to a stick (like to wash your back) to try and get behind it. (Like this: http://brandonfemme.com/images/11/32...20scrub%20.jpg)

[cdeweese]

Hi! I'm Cindy and a SAHM to two (three in May) crazy kids I babysit twice a week to help out a friend/supplement out income/reason to clean house Our major problem is clutter (mainly paper) on our pass through form the living room into the kitchen and island. A close second is our bedroom and office/storage room. The rest of the house stays relatively clean, but we don't really have a system for organizing paper efficiently. I drives me crazy!!!

Thanks for creating this thread! It's going to be very beneficial to those of us (like me!) who really NEED the motivation

[Holly dolly]

Hi I'm Holly. I work out of the home 30 hours a week. My boys are 2 and 5. I struggle with basically everything.

My house is never disgusting...but usually messy... Partly because I need to train my boys and my dh to pick up after themselves.

I need motivation to get something done in the evenings. By the time my kids are in bed I'm out of energy!!

Today my goal is to put away the laundry in my room and fold the laundry I washed today.