Who's cleaning/organizing this week?

[Joshin]

It happens every year like clockwork. No sooner are the holidays behind me and the organizing bug bites. Thankfully, I only have two trouble spots but man, they are doozies!

 

We did our basement storage room Wednesday and Thursday. I hadn't been back there since we moved in and the other three members of my family decided it was the catch-all room for everything. It was bad, and we overflowed the trash can and the 90-gallon recycling can with all the junk pulled out. For example, I don't think my older DS has thrown away a dog food bag since we moved in. (Feeding the dog is his responsibility.) Instead, he has been shoving the empty bags in the storage room. But it's done now, and I plan to keep tabs on it more closely going forward.

 

Today I decided to tackle my main trouble area -- my office/school room closet. It's just a small single door closet that I use for craft and school supply storage. I have it tricked out with drawers and shelves to maximize space. My failing is I got in the habit of just throwing leftover craft supplies in there instead of putting them away, compounded by the kids doing the same thing. I also started shoving extra school supplies and projects in there willy nilly. It took me an hour before Christmas to dig out my sewing machine from the heap in there, so I knew it was time. Yeah, this is turning into a bigger project than the basement! The only thing keeping me going is knowing once it's done, my entire house is in order! (Well, except for DH's office, but that's his space so I don't even care, lol!)

 

Anyone else tackling any big projects while on hiatus from school? Wanna whine and commiserate with me, followed by some hearty pats on the back once we finish up?

[Cassy]

Christmas seems to have been one big cleaning/organising challenge. I had to transform the dining room from a school room to firstly a party room, then a Christmas lunch room - with lots of cleaning before, during and after. Yesterday and today we've been slowly taking it apart and by tomorrow it should start to look like a school room again. With eight members of our family staying for two nights I also had to clear, organise and clean our two guest rooms and also tackle two of the boys rooms, putting two boys together in one room, while the other two were on a blow-up mattress on the floor in our bedroom. Again, things are slowly drifting back to normality. Sadly I seem to be coming down with something and feel so achy and lacking in energy that complete normality may have to wait a little longer than I'd envisaged.

[Soror]

I always catch the bug this time of year as well! It is compounded by having a new baby and not getting any big projects done for awhile due to my lack of energy during pregnancy. I had a few trouble spots

- the laundry/pantry room- lots of bulk groceries- I needed to sort through and refill my cabinet supplies and pull everything out to sweep/mop (which then led to re-organizing my kitchen cabinets)-I took care of this today

 

dd's room - she had overflowing of toys from Christmas- we thinned down books to make room and reorganized/rearranged a few things yesterday

 

Still left to do:

the basement- mostly this is dh's tools and bee supplies now.

 

I have some other rearranging I want to do but I'll have to wait for dh to help as it involves moving furniture that is way to big and heavy for me.

[Robin M]

I got the cleaning bug this morning but was stopped in my tracks when knee cap dislocated. Old injury that comes up now and again when hit it the wrong way. I'm sidelined for now.

[Joshin]

Cassy, I feel your pain! Our school room/my office is also our guest room, so when family comes we have to bring the guest bed out of the basement and move the boys' desk out. Fortunately, no one came for Christmas or Thanksgiving, so hopefully we won't have to rearrange until family visits in summer!

 

Robin, ouch! I hope your knee feels better soon!

[besroma]

We are cleaning and decluttering this week.

 

We usually leave our Christmas decorations up for a few weeks after Christmas, but I am so ready to have everything in order that we started packing them up today.

 

I have loads of paperwork to sort through....

[myfunnybunch]

I've got the boys' room and my room done. Next up: My dd's room, the basement, and my closet (eek!). I also need to clean the living room--the big reorganization is going to wait until we get a new, smaller entertainment center. Then I am going to clean, paint, and reorganize the entire room.

 

I clean and organize in December and June, and a mini-organization in September. It's been WAY easier the past 3-4 years, ever since I started doing it regularly.

 

Cat

[runbikeswim]

Me! I am a crazy woman.

[swellmomma]

Yup. Cleaning, and purging and scrubbing this week. I always do during the week between xmas and new year's. I like starting off the new year with a clean house.

 

 

Yesterday was my office, which along with my bedroom(the 2 are connected) is the catch all for everything that needs to be hidden when the doorbell rings. Today I have been taking down the xmas decor, putting away the xmas gifts, and organizing the school space in the kitchen, I will finish the night off cleaning my room. Tomorrow is big project day. Sanding all the livingroom walls, and washing them and *fingers crossed* getting the primer on them for the next step of renos. In between drying coats etc I will be cleaning out the backroom(which along with being the pantry, deep freeze and dryer room is where the tv is during the livingroom renos and the kids have turned it into their personal lounge, yeah it's a mess.

 

Sunday the kids come home so round 2 of put away the gifts occurs and then tackling the kids bedrooms. If I have time I will start the first coat of lazuring the main livingroom wall. If not oh well. New Year's Eve I will tackle the basement. It must be done by midnight so that I can start the year with a clean house, and a fresh start. The rest of January will be spent on the nit picky organizing but the bulk will be done.

[Coffeemama]

Me! I packed up two boxes of VHS tapes and "baby" DVDs today and am currently working on creating a new filing system. This weekend Ill be vacuuming drapes and reaching into those dusty forgotten areas of my home.

[teamturner]

I began to tackle my laundry room, which is my worst catch-all space. I really want to take out a countertop in there and give myself more space. The coutertop, or any flat surface in my house, ends up piled high with stuff that I don't know where to put. I have 3 give-away bags and one box to donate. Plus 2 bags of trash so far. And I'm getting to the bottom of my laundry, which now I need more hangers for. :confused1: I really like the looks of this for laundry basket storage but may settle for this instead.

 

Unfortunately, I have several more rooms in my house that need major attention. Hoping I finish at least one of them!

[Rose in BC]

I tackled the piles of paperwork that needed sorting, probably six months worth. Hit the jack pot when I found a hundred dollar gift certificate from last Christmas!

 

I removed two garbage bags full of stuff to give away and two bags to throw away. (Sorting through my whole dining room, which houses our main computer and office stuff.)

 

Tomorrow I tackle my bedroom.

 

I hope to get through the whole house by end of January...I work full time and homeschool so we'll see what I can do.

[Audrey]

I am trying. This is my only week off all year. Of course, I have a rotten sinus cold this week. I'm doing the best I can, but as the rest of the family is also sick, we're making what amounts to no progress at all. :thumbdown:

[staceyobu]

I am planning on doing as much as possible before we start school again. With no school during the day, I actually have some time to organize. I am trying to be die hard about getting rid of stuff. We have very little closet space in this house and it's hard to keep stuff trimmed down enough that there is a place to put it. I also need to make room for the kids new toys. Which means, getting rid of old toys! It's hard, though. I feel like we need baby toys, toddler toys, and big kid toys!

[HomeschoolMamaOfTwo]

I get the same bug every year as well! I just took down on the Christmas decorations last night and started with the decluttering, cleaning, and finding our new items a home today. I feel like I am constantly doing this, like it never ends. But there is always stuff that needs sorting, it seems. My main projects are:

 

Master Bedroom

Master Bathroom/Closet

Pantry

Office

Laundry Room

Space in kitchen where we walk in and drop everything

 

This places ALWAYS seems to become cluttered again even after I just clean/declutter them. I need to work on some permanent solutions.

[readinmom]

I am planning on the great clean starting tomorrow. This is usually how I spend my New Year's Eve day. My goal for the week is to clean out all unused items out of the garage. I have some furniture pieces I was planning on fixing up to resale but never got around to it. They are taking up a lot of space. I am also going to impement FlyLady's cleaning agenda so I don't become overwhelmed trying to do everything at once. In the past, I have burned out halfway through and tossed the stuff back in the pile. Not this year!

 

I would like to have a garage sale in January following the 1000 items, $1000 strategy.

[Melinda in VT]

I've been doing some small projects this week. Thursday I sorted through all the papers from my job and cleaned that half of my desk. Yesterday I organized my closet and got bagged up some clothes that I won't wear anymore. I also cleaned my bathroom. Today I made the family sort through all the shoes and boots cluttering up the entryway and garage. When we get rid of the ones that don't currently fit anyone and the ones that have holes in them, the space looks a lot neater. :-P

[blondeviolin]

My husband took down the Christmas tree and we added another bookshelf to the living room. We also pulled out all of our games, put in shelves and sorted the games onto said shelves. I need to get to my desk and one kitchen counter, but today is errand day, tomorrow is Sunday, and Monday is my anniversary. It probably won't happen until after The Husband goes back to work!

[Baseball mom]

Um you people are making me feel real bad :unsure: Oh who am I kidding I don't feel bad :laugh: I am being lazy this week :blushing: but I am sure enjoying it :thumbup:

Yes I would love for my house to be clean and organized before the new year starts but it ain't gonna happen and I am not gonna stress.

[Maela]

I am!!

 

Yup. Cleaning, and purging and scrubbing this week. I always do during the week between xmas and new year's. I like starting off the new year with a clean house.

 

This exactly! LOVE starting out the year with a fresh, clean house! This year I'm really going all out too.

 

Yesterday, I did our bedroom and the kids' bedroom. And reupholstered our dining table chairs! (They were so gross.) Today, I did the play/schoolroom, and I'm about to start the hallway and family room. Tomorrow the bathrooms, and Monday the kitchen. Dh is working on the garage and yards.

Edited December 29, 2012 by Maela

[Laura Corin]

I deep clean at this time of year. When the weather is good I'd rather/need to be in the garden. So for ten months of the year I pretty much push the hoover around and do a bit of light dusting, clean the bathrooms and keep the kitchen roughly hygienic. At this time of year, I scrub every room: clean the mould off the sealant around the windows, take apart bathroom fans, get into the corners of the carpets, move the beds, mop the hard floors, wipe down the walls of the bathrooms and kitchen.

 

I'm about half done: I've been off work for about a week and I have a week to go. So I'll just keep on going. Maybe I'll even get to the utility room/boot room, which is just filthy.

 

Laura

[Guest]

Yes. Painting and organizing, decluttering and cleaning. Crazy, endless painting. I keep thinking I'll put up some photos, but I procrastinate on it because I don't know if it will work right on the new forum. Today I sanded and painted the second of two built-in bookcases in my office. They look SO great now! I am giddy! Except that I still have painting to do in the sunroom, the upstairs hallway, the staircase, the master bedroom and bathroom, including the vaulted ceiling, master closet, one kid's closet and one bathroom. Gah! I've finished the family room, including ceiling, kitchen, hallway, foyer, trim in the foyer and today the bookcases. :svengo: I should have done either the sunroom or the bathroom today as well, but I spent the second half of the day dreading pulling it out to do and it didn't happen. :thumbdown:

[Jayne J]

Robin, if you are sidelined with a bad knee (sorry by the way--ouch!) could you send your cleaning bug this way? Mine, which is generally as regular as a clock and as bossy as a Drill Sargent, has neglected to show up this year. I am stuck, wallowing in Christmas chocolate and inertia, waiting for my bug, and lazily eyeing the pile of stuff to be done. I am really starting to become concerned, as my bug has never been this late before...

[Joshin]

I've been checking the thread off and on today, awesome to see so many others getting their organizing and cleaning goals done, too! I'm just like Swellmomma and always want everything neat and clean by midnight on New Year's. DH laughs at me because I get quite superstitious about it. House must be clean, laundry done and all bills paid by midnight, otherwise I'm afraid we'll end up with a messy and money-stressed year!

 

I can see the end! After cleaning the office closet, I spied DS7's desk, or "the lab" as he calls it, in the corner of the room. We have three desks in here, his, mine and DS12's. DS12 and I keep very clean desks -- drawers organized, top nice and neat. DS7 on the other hand, keeps his like a mad scientist's. Bits of wires, battery packs, half-finished drawings, toys in various states of construction, and possibly a pencil (although never when he needs one for school work). I can't deal with it anymore! I picked up some tackle boxes at the thrift store this morning and I am putting away all his little electronic bits and bobs. I also found an old desk organizer during the basement cleanup, so all his school supplies will have a home. The pencil box thing just isn't working out for him.

 

Once I finish this, I'll throw together some dinner then we're going to take down the holiday decorations. That way everything is ready for our normal Sunday cleaning routine and we can kick back on New Year's Eve and Day! Whoo-hoo!

[Carrie12345]

I've been working in my loft, where we have the dog crates, our school/art/science/office supplies stored, and our chest freezer and pantry.

 

I've also worked on the shelf in my closet. Uncovered an unopened package. It held a replacement remote and the invoice read 2008. Oops.

[MamaAkins]

This is my deep cleaning weekend! So far, I have cleaned and reorganized ds' room/dresser drawers....focusing on removing all the clothes that no longer fit him. With the exception of needing dh to finish securing the bookcase I made, that room is done. Today, I also "un-decorated" the inside of our house. All Christmas decorations and trees (1 large tree, 4 mid-sized trees) have been taken down, packed up, and put back in the shed. (Dh will need to take down the outside lights when he returns from his weekend backpacking trip).

The laundry is all caught up, including all of the bed linens.

 

I hope to have time to reorganize our bookshelves (focusing on the one that contains our homeschooling books). I am working on decluttering the toys (mostly those belonging to my youngest) and the kitchen gadgets. I am also working on our meal plan & grocery lists for January.

[violamama]

Last week at MIL's house, SIL and I practically tied her down and made her let us throw away any expired food. She has a large house & we found stuff going back to 2003. It took 13 garbage bags in addition to a bunch of recycling. We made hoarder jokes and worked on it for more than 5 hours.

 

When I got home, I decided I better not be a complete hypocrite and went through my own tiny townhome pantry. Punchline (you knew it was coming): I had a huge bag of out of date food myself. My overall percentage of good to bad food in my kitchen was probably worse than hers!

 

Now we're at our second Christmas down at my parents place and I'm trying to find decent homeschool planning software and grocery list/food supply software. It's my version of cleaning in lieu of access to our house.

[swellmomma]

FINALLY done sanding the livingroom! (okay mostly lol I have 1 patch above a window in a spot my electric sander didn't fit, I just got back from picking up regular sand paper to do it) That was the worst part of this whole reno. After my break I will be washing the walls (and floor) to remove all the plaster dust now settled in there. Once the walls have been scrubbed and dried I can prime them.

 

The rest of the night will be spent scrubbing the kitchen as well to clear out all teh plaster dust that floated in there, scrubbing the bathroom, and washing the floor in the entrance way.

 

I am a few tasks behind schedule and it is driving me nuts, I may stay up extra late tonight to catch up on them just to get back on track.

[Joshin]

This is my deep cleaning weekend! So far, I have cleaned and reorganized ds' room/dresser drawers....focusing on removing all the clothes that no longer fit him. With the exception of needing dh to finish securing the bookcase I made, that room is done. Today, I also "un-decorated" the inside of our house. All Christmas decorations and trees (1 large tree, 4 mid-sized trees) have been taken down, packed up, and put back in the shed. (Dh will need to take down the outside lights when he returns from his weekend backpacking trip).

The laundry is all caught up, including all of the bed linens.

 

 

 

Fortunately, I did a deep clean and redecorating of my youngest's room a month ago, so I didn't have to tackle that this week. He's my biggest mess-maker but he's kept his room surprisingly neat since we turned it all space and astronaut themed.

 

Just need to take down the decorations. We have the tubs upstairs and ready to go for after dinner. Our outdoor lights won't come down for at least a week, longer if the temps don't get above freezing. They're frozen to the roof right now!

[speedmom4]

We purged and organized the garage! It feels so good having that done. My husband and I both went through our own closets. We got rid of 7 large garbage bags of clothes we never wear!

 

I need to clean all of the insides of my kitchen cabinets but not sure if it will happen before the New Year.

 

Elise in NC

[dangermom]

We did a grand clean-out of the kids' room, and did a lot of cleaning in the schoolroom (it's also my sewing room and after my Christmas sewing frenzy it was BAD, not to mention the kids' mess). All the Christmas stuff is put away too. We've deep-cleaned bathrooms, etc.

 

I'd like to spend the week resting and reading, but apparently that is not going to happen! :)

[UmMusa]

I sprayed my oven using a commercial cleaner (for the first time... yuck) and cleaned it out.

[Maela]

Family room and dining table area done! Can't wait to get the kitchen and bathrooms deep-cleaned.

[Baseball mom]

Y'all are doing GREAT!!!!!

[weaver_67579]

On the bandwagon here too...

Family is in for Christmas #2 this week so not much is getting done. I do have almost all the papers off of my dining table that was mostly hidden beneath a pile cleaned off. I am also working on my terrible e-mail "pile" I have also been getting back in the habit of a morning routine... now if I can get myself into an early to bed-early to rise habit...

[CyndiLJ]

Post-Christmas cleaning always hits me...and today I had to clean out all the kitchen cupboards because I got a new set of pots and pans for Christmas! Kids cleaned the game closet, and I even cleaned out my purse! Feels good ;-0

[KatieJ]

I plan to next week. DH hs been home since before Christmas. I am going to send my sewing machine and serger in for tune - ups on the 2nd, and then plan to tackle my sewing room ( not bad, but needs some work). Then if they are not back, I may have to clean my office and get ready for taxes.

Ugh.

[Joshin]

Way to go, everyone! We got the decorations down without too much fuss. I even managed to hang my winter garland across the empty space where the tree once stood. I made it a couple of years ago because the boys complained how boring and plain the living room looks after we take down everything, so it brightens up the space across our picture window until spring greens up outside and gives us some nature to look at!

 

I have to do taxes next week, too. I'm actually a bit excited because this looks like the first year since we became self-employed that we got our quarterly payments on the dot, so we won't owe anything for once. The only other time this has happened in the last seven years is when we bought the house and got our home buyer's credit!

[lea_lpz]

Yep! Have major plans for my junk drawers, closets, and kids rooms until we pick school back up between now and Jan 7 :)

[Twigs]

I was able to find every (except 1) calendar / planner since 1979 and got them stored in 1 place.

[cin]

We are hoping to move this year, so I've been doing some MAJOR cleaning/decluttering/boxing carp up. I cleaned out our bedroom and actually have an EMPTY piece of furniture! It has 3 wider drawers, like a short chest of drawers. Yesterday and today I have been going through bookshelves and any book that is available through gutenberg goes to goodwill. I have a nice size box of books leaving. Also, some of the >sniff< baby books. I need to do more work in the girls' bedrooms, but they each have 4 underbed storage containers to keep their memory things in (aka CARP!). And their legos and stuffed animals.They can still play, but quickly put the stuff away for a nice clean bedroom (haha!)

 

I'm going to finish the books tomorrow, and then get the tree down, and then start going through and boxing some stuff up in the kitchen. We have 2 sets of china which we will keep(DH and I are both only children and inherited them), but I'm sure there's plenty of carp in there that we can get rid of. Monday I'll work some more in the kitchen and then work in the family room, just clearing out. We are renting a storage unit so we can make the house look bigger for showing. I hope we can get it soon, as we are running out of space in the garage!

[Ellie]

I am (although I can't excuse the clutter because I'm homeschooling...said the empty nester... :laugh: )

 

My office...yeah, I have to tidy it up periodically. The office itself doesn't take too long, because there really is a place for everything. However, it has a large walk-in closet that we use for storing office supplies, bill-paying stuff, tablecloths, leaves for the tables, the vacuum cleaner, and more. That will take me longer. And Mr. Ellie's computer desk...oy..he uses any flat surface for filing everything from extra computer cables to records for his Gideon office (he's treasurer, so there are bank statements and more). It is not ok to do that. I'm going to clean my stuff, and then drag him in here and clean his stuff with him.

 

 

We have a finished room over the garage that we call the storeroom. Christmas decorations, household supplies/dishes/crockpots/candles/etc., personal memorabilia, a couple of big boxes of school stuff I thought my dc might use when they homeschooled ::smacks forehead:: and more. I cannot walk in there. It makes me crazy.

 

And the garage. Don't even get me started. Or, rather, PLEASE get me started!!!

 

Those things don't bother Mr. Ellie, and I have to make a concerted effort to engage him in cleaning them.

[justme824]

I'm trying, but not getting too far. I am not feeling 100% so that isn't helping. And my hubby is home this week which tends to slow me down.

[DaffodilDreams]

We took down Christmas decorations today and that spurred a decluttering/reorganizing/rearranging spree in the entire downstairs area. It took the entire day, and my bones ache. The biggest accomplishment was the removal of dd's art area from the living room. We initially had a cute little easel area with a few supplies so she could paint while we were doing other things. It was used properly for awhile but then she began using it as a hoarding space for projects, found objects, etc. It was BAD! Now the supplies are in the craft closet and the easel has been stored away. She had not used it in at least a year!

 

I'm very happy with the downstairs, but we must still tackle the school/play room and the guest room. After that, the garage and attic need some love!

[Donna]

Yes!!!

 

Right before Christmas, I helped the kids go through their bedrooms and organize. The past two days have been filled cleaning the basement storage area, going through the filing cabinet, then taking all the books/school materials from the music/school room to the basement. My husband is getting ready to put in hardwood floors so I had to empty the room. I moved the shelves to the basement because he's going to make built in cabinets in the music room. Once those are built, I will be bringing most of the stuff back up along with some books from my bins because I will now have room for more of them.

 

My job for today, after I get home from church, is to go through all the craft supplies I have collected from around the house and organize it into a crafting area in the basement for DD and I and go through my scrapbooking supplies. I am determined to begin scrapbooking again and get caught up this winter. I think I am at least 2 years behind. Ugh!!!!

[Sameera]

We had a lot of cleaning & organizing to do, it wasn't easy, until the washing machine broke. Now realizing how many extra clothes we had collected that didn't fit or were just sitting in the cupboard, I donated 7 swing liners of them. An old computer tower, HP scanner & printer (can't afford the HP ink, too expensive) also went to charity.

 

After throwing out 3 large bags of household rubbish - Voila! We have space.

 

The room lighting was too dull, but I found my lost happiness in energy saving bulbs which were equivalent to 100 watts - I no longer feel SAD.

 

Arts & Crafts materials have been sorted (except for the books we may need to get) .

 

I shifted all my kids stationary, folders, work, books etc. in one small room and gave them my desk. I bought an Ottoman box, costing only £3.99 from Pound Stretcher. It's a great bargain. The kids use it in their study room as a stool and they love the new set up & lighting.

 

I still have paperwork to organize & finish off planning sheets for the kids studies this year.

[Audrey]

Oo! Me! I am, now! I'm finally getting past this cold -- just a crappy cough left. So I am cleaning and organizating/reorganizing this week and weekend.

 

I did the living room and the parlor already. I'm avoiding the dining room like the plague (we also do lessons in there, so it's a holy mess), but I'm going to tackle it tomorrow. I keep telling myself that, so I'd better do it or I'm a liar.

[Joshin]

I love seeing what everyone is doing, it helps keep me motivated! Kind of like a big cheering squad :hurray:

 

We have a huge donation load being picked up next week. Mainly outgrown clothing and books, along with some old appliances my mom added to our pile (our donation place takes nonworking appliances because they train the people they help in repair - we aren't dumping trash on them!)

 

i found some pretty fabric organizer baskets at the thrift store last weekend, so I decided that tomorrow I am going to reorganize our linen closet with them. I also noticed that winter has left our coat closet in disarray, so I'm going to try and add a bit more order to that with a few of the baskets to catch gloves and hats. My mom also gave us her very nice carpet cleaner since she only has wood floors now. DH is very excited to clean our carpet tomorrow. White carpet with two boys, a dog and four cats? Yep, it needs it! The crazy previous owners even put white carpet in the dining room! Someday we'll rip it up and refinish the beautiful wood beneath...

[twoxcell]

I am. So far this week I have tackled the kids room, my room, the kitchen, dining room/school room, and laundry room. I have also taken at least 6 bags of stuff to the local mission.

[Donna]

Last weekend, I had four full days at home with nowhere to go...to understand just how rare that is for me, I haven't had more than a day at a time since we moved here except when we had 30 inches of snow twice a couple years ago. So, usually all I get to do is clean bathrooms, dust, and vacuum when home.

 

I cleaned the house from basement storage area through to the upstairs, every closet, bin, box, etc... It feels so good to have everything completely organized. We haven't had that since we moved in 3 years ago. I was good about getting rid of everything we hadn't used and took 2 van loads of stuff to donate. (was going to save it for a yardsale but decided I'd rather just have it all gone now)

 

I had to move everything from the music/school room to the basement so DH could remodel that room (my Christmas/birthday gift) and while I was at it, I created a crafting/sewing area for DD in the basement (it looks really nice and so much better than crafty stuff all over the house). I also organized all my recipe clippings into notebooks so I can find them when I want them. Wow, was that a job!

 

The only thing is...once DH is finished painting, putting in hardwood floors, and building built-in shelves and cabinets in my music/school room I will have to bring everything back up and re-organize that area. I don't mind. It is going to look so nice and I will have a place for everything.

 

My next goal for this winter is to catch up on my scrapbooking.