LISTS "To do or not to do!"

That really is the question....

I am almost cringeing as I write this as it's going to sound SAD to most of you, but I am on a campaign which involves a "Cleaning Experiment" for a few months, by then I hope it will either have developed into a habit or I will have thrown the idea out as ridiculous!

The aim is to have the housework and home responsibilities under control so that I have more time to enjoy and explore new things without there being an imbalance....have my cake and eat it? Perhaps...enjoy life to the full, embracing new challenges...definitely.

So here's the thing (where have you all gone?!!)

5 Areas in the house

Bathrooms B1
Bedrooms x2 B2
Kitchen K3
Living Room and Study L4
Middle Area,Hall, Stairs and Landing M5

So there is a 5 week rolling programme which runs from Mon-Fri. I have tried to keep it as flexible as I can so that I don't get all legalistic about it.

The idea is this:

The house itself has to be fairly together ie carpets hoovered, sinks wiped, sort of acceptable.The idea is NOT that everything else gets ignored until you get to the allocated week for that Area!

Week 1 is the Bathroom which means that for 5 days I concentrate on that area particularly. Some days I may spend 15 minutes tidying a shelf or folding the towels in the airing cupboard. On another day I may spend an hour on something. Last week I touched up the ceiling paint in the shower and cleaned between the grouting. They were the long jobs, but I know that in 5 weeks I won't need to revisit that area for long at all so I can concentrate on something else in that room which had to wait until I came full circle again! It has been a good feeling to look at a room, that you have "attacked in stages", without it being too onorous at all.

This week it is the Bedrooms and I was appalled to discover 5 hankies under the bed, covered with thick dust! This led to me going to extremes and moving the bed across the room so that I could wash the carpet. So there's a job I shall not be repeating next month! I even cleaned on top of my wardrobes and I found a box of scapels up there...hmmm. The furniture polish I made was a bit overpowering on the Lavender essential oil front so next time I will take the advice that 2-3 drops really IS enough! The olive oil and vinegar combination worked well though. Little by little the cleaning chemicals are disappearing from my cupboard and are being replaced by simpler recipes.




So that's it really. Of course decluttering, simplifying and organising happens along the way, which tick my boxes, so I'm happy!

At the weekend you have 3 choices:

Have a rest!

Continue working in that Area...

Start the next weeks Area...


The main thing is not to become a slave to it and enjoy yourself as you potter around.

In the meantime I will keep trying to get some photos and images on here!