House Organizing and Cleaning Part 2

So, if you don't want to dig through the sites in my previous post for some nuggets of wisdom, I'll tell you some of the things that have worked best for me.

1. Morning and Evening Routines. Both the Organizer Lady and Flylady talk about the importance of written morning and evening routines. Start out with a short list. Here's an example of a morning routine: Make the bed, get dressed to shoes, empty dishwasher, check calendar for appointments. An evening routine could look like this: Water plants if needed, shine sink, check calendar, lay out clothes for tomorrow, brush teeth. Once you have the routine down, you can add something.
   
2. An Inspiration Area. This is one spot in your home that you make sure is all clean and shiny before you go to bed. Flylady uses the kitchen sink as her suggested inspiration point. The idea behind the inspiration point is to have something to give you a sense of accomplishment. Also, the inspiration area has a tendency to spread. Once you clean your sink, then it's natural to start cleaning the counter next to the sink, then the other counters. . .
   
3. The Timer. Flylady says, "You can do anything fifteen minutes at a time." A lot of times people look at a task and are overwhelmed by the size of it. If we tackle a job fifteen minutes at a time, we eventually get there. Also, if it's something you don't want to do, you can tell yourself, "I only have to work on it for fifteen minutes." Sometimes, if I can just get started on a project I'll end up working on it even longer than fifteen minutes. Using a timer means that you don't have to keep looking at the clock. I like to "race the timer" to see how much I can get done in the fifteen minutes. One last thing about timers. If I'm having a bad day and can't even get myself to do fifteen minutes, I'll do five minutes instead.
4. Mt. Vernon and Mt. Vesuvius Methods. These are from the Organizer Lady to give you an idea of where to start if you have a mess to deal with. I'll let the Organizer Lady explain it. Look at Step Three on this page.
   
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5. Be Nice to Yourself. Flylady says, "Your house didn't get messy in one day, it won't get clean in one day." Beating yourself up over what you've done or not done in the past is not going to help.
   

Anyway, so there's some tips from me to you. I hope they help.

Smiles,
Linda