31 Days To Clean Check In Days 1-5

Homemakers Challenge - 31 Days to Clean

This was not the week to start a challenge!  We were starting back to school after having 2 weeks off for Holy Week and Pascha.  That meant we were really supposed to hit the books hard because we had 4 weeks (now 3!) left of this school year.

If that wasn’t enough, I’ve been sick.  I haven’t been sleeping because I have this horrible cough.  I also ended up with two out of four sick children.  I made the command decision that we would do what we can and that I will just plan on repeating the 31 day challenge over and over again.

Christian at Joyful Mothering proposed a 5 day a week schedule. This means that we’ll be going past May 31st.  She wants to allow for days off to avoid burnout.  Oh yeah and to allow for life to be well life like it was for me.

I intend to follow the 5 day idea but I suspect that I won’t be taking Saturday’s off.  We typically allow for projects and deeper cleaning on Saturdays.  If I do one or 2 projects on Saturday, I won’t feel quite so pressured trying to do the cleaning challenge *and* teach four children (highschool, junior high, upper Elementary and my fourth one doing Special Ed).

I also decided that for each project we will do what we can and do more then next time we do the challenge because we are so going to do this again and again!

I’m struggling with the Mary challenges.  I did write down a list of reasons for why I wanted a clean home (Day 1) My reasons are not lofty or spiritual.  What is motivating me is purely my flesh. I don’t want to be frustrated anymore.  I get frustrated trying to find the things I need. I don’t want to be depressed and discouraged.  A messy house is a depressing and discouraging place for me and I don’t like it.  I want to save money!  Yes money.  I had crossed it off and then I decided that “mistake” was not a mistake.  When I can’t find what I am looking for, I end up purchasing something I don’t need!  Or because we didn’t take care of it, it got broke or became unusable and has to be replaced.  That is a waste of money. I want to save time.  I hate wasting time looking and looking for things or losing things because they get buried.  When the house is clean or at least not cluttered we have more time, more money and I’m a happier person!

The other Mary challenges were a bit too much for me to try to tackle mentally this week.  Those are more long term projects that I need to ponder more about. 

For the Martha Challenges, I skipped making a list of cleaning and organizing supplies.  I think I’ll keep a list and jot down specifics as I discover a need.   So moving on to day 2,    The fridge is a longer project but I did get some nasty stuff thrown out and I washed down three of the door shelves.  So progress has been made. 

Day 3: Haven’t touched the top of the cabinets or fridge but my wonderful 15 year old daughter took Murphy’s oil soap and lots of elbow grease and tackled the lower cupboard doors and drawers.  They look great! 

Day 4:  I love having a self cleaning oven!  I have the oven going right now on its self clean cycle.  I should be able to get the microwave done too.

Day 5:Has morphed or blended with another project we needed to get done.  My husband needed to take off the plastic wrap and since he had to take down blinds to do it we’ll be washing the blinds from the kitchen, dining room and living room.  I’m excited about this one.  The blinds have been grossing me out for a long time but I never had the motivation to take them down and do something about it.

Thought I’ve labeled things with Day 1 Day 2 etc, please keep in mind that I did NOT do them Monday-Friday and I did NOT necessarily do them in order. 

And I need to mention that this is a FAMILY project.  All members of my family are participating in some way with this 31 day challenge.  It’s the only way we’ll get it done!

Do you want to participate?  Do you want to see what others are doing?  Just click on the graphic at the top and you can see the posts that Christian has been making.

Comments

  1. Well, I bought the book after reading Debra's entry. And now you are motivating me to get off the couch. This could be good.

    Amy B

    ReplyDelete
  2. What's your secret for cleaning blinds? I've tried so many different methods with little results. I feel like just buying new ones. I wonder if a tub of bleach would clean them without turning them (I have some that are cream colored).

    ReplyDelete

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