Chemicals in Cleaners

Recently, I was blessed with the opportunity to attend a meeting where the Clutter Busters group came to speak. These people offered many helpful hints on how to declutter your house, and how to keep up with the pace of its maintenance. I have always been a bit overly into organization. Bins, bags, baskets, tags, labels, organization magazines, and cleaning out my house of unneeded items are some of my very favorite things. I am not necessarily OCD about it, but it has become a bit of a giggle for some of my relatives when I say that I need to clean something out. E gets frustrated when I say lets clean the house, because he knows to me that means “lets start by cleaning out the closets” where to him that means “lets dust and vac and make sure that none of our stuff is out”. Anyhow, with AJ becoming more mobile and helpful in making messes, I have had a bit more trouble lately keeping up with the house. The Clutter Busters helped out by offering the rule of 5×5. This rule is a maintenance system by which each day you spend 5 minutes cleaning 5 rooms 5 days per week. It amazes me how much I can get done in 5 minutes. You are to work as hard as you can for the 5 minutes. Cleaning can mean organizing or actual washing. You will be shocked how fast your rooms jump into order! I have also been so motivated during my five minutes, that I often find myself spending even more time in the room at other points in the day! Your 5 minutes can be quasi-multitasking if you are cleaning a bathroom during your child’s bath, or wiping up the kitchen while making dinner… But you need to do five minutes of honest work. You’re only cheating you if you don’t. When my house is really bad, I do 15 minutes in 3 rooms instead of 5 in 5 for a couple of days to get bigger projects done.

Oh, and another rule? Every day when you wake up you need to make your bed as soon as you get out of it. This alone has helped me to be motivated to get things done, and to feel more relaxed when I return to my bedroom. Also, I am finding that I sleep better in a bed that was previously made than I do in a non-made bed.

Do you have a maintenance plan? This is the first one I’ve tried. I’m open to suggestions though! Share your great ideas!!!