Cleaning Zone 3: Bathroom & Offices

Cleaning Zones

Cleaning Zone 1: Porches & Storage Areas

Cleaning Zone 2: Kitchen/Dining Room & Laundry Room
Cleaning Zone 3: Bathroom & Offices
Cleaning Zone 4: Bedrooms & Closets
Cleaning Zone 5: Living Room & Family Room

Cleaning Zone 3

Bathroom & Offices: Detailed Cleaning List:

Bathroom: Detailed Cleaning List

1.      Wash area rugs

2.      Sweep/Scrub/wax floor

3.      Straighten drawers/ cabinets

4.      Clean shower stall/Tub wax (not the floor!)

5.      Wash shower door

6.      Clean medicine cabinet

7.      Clean scale

8.      Clean curtains/blinds

9.      Wash shower curtain

10.  Throw away empty bottles

11.  Empty Trash can/Disinfect

12.  Clean Toilet inside/outside

13.  Clean sink

14.  Clean under sink/dishpan

15.  Clean decorations

16.  Windex Mirrors

17.  Clean dresser

Offices: Detailed Cleaning List

1.      Clear off the surface of your desk

2.      Make a list of needed office/trash old supplies

3.      Throw out all the trash, empty trash, and disinfect

4.      Put items to keep in a pending file for office day

5.      File Papers

6.      Clean filing cabinet

7.      Put current bills in box/Do not stop to pay bills

8.      Straighten one drawer at a time

9.      Toss out old receipts/tax files from over 7 years

10.  Clean off the monitor screen

11.  Fill printer caddy with paper

12.  Vacuum under desk and the whole room

13.  Dust furniture

14.  Clean windows/curtains

15.  Remove cobwebs

16.  Check supplies of paper and printer cartridges

17.  Stamps and envelopes

18.  Dust and organize shelves

December 2013 Reading List

A Log Cabin Christmas Collection
The Christmas Secret - Wanda E. Brunstetter
Under His Wings - Liz Tolsma
The Dog Trot Christmas - Michelle Ule
A Grand Country Christmas - Debra Ullrick
Christmas Service - Erica Vetsch


The House That Cleans Itself by Mindy Starns Clark

One of the tips that I liked is to look at what your messes are or what is causing the clutter and find a solution to that so your house cleans itself. For instance, if your kids drop their book bags by the door you can provide hooks in that location to make it look nicer. If you have mail cluttering your table you can place a basket on the table to collect it in.



A Marriage of the Heart Collection by Kelly Long
A Perfect Secret
Christmas Cradles
A Marriage of the Heart

A Pioneer Christmas Collection
Defending Truth by Shannon McNear
The Calling by Kathleen Fuller
A Silent Night by Anna Urquhart
A Pony Express Christmas by Margaret Brownley
A Christmas Castle by Cynthia Hickey
The Cowboy's Angel by Lauraine Snelling
A Badlands Christmas by Marcia Gruver
Buckskin Bride by Vickie McDonough
The Gold Rush Christmas by Michelle Ule

Submitted to: 2013 Booking It @ Life As Mom

Clutter Busting Challenge December 2013

I have donated a lot of things this year and am feeling good about my accomplishments.

This months purge:

A trash bag worth of my cloths.

More of my clothes, a pair of uncomfortable shoes, shoe stretchers, and children's books.

A bag, Christmas boxes, a roll of wrapping paper, unneeded 2014 calendar, a Cd, and a broken Christmas bell.

Rolls of Wallpaper, VHS, wrapping paper container, and books

Each month I donate to my Library any magazines and books that I have finished reading.  I haven't showed a picture each month but this month I wanted to share before I drop them off. That's 5 magazines and 2 books which seems to be an average of what I read and donate each month.

 

What went into the trash:

Expired Pop

Expired Cereal

If your interested in reading more of my purge posts from 2013:

Downsizing Our Homeschool
Clutter Busting Challenge November 2013
Daily Focus: Home Office Day
Clutter Busting Challange October 2013
Declutter Tip
Organizing the Kitchen and My Clothes
Clutter Busting Challenge September 2013
Clutter Busting Challenge July 2013
My Magazine Project
Clutter Busting Challenge: June Update # 4 Final
Clutter Busting Challenge: June Update # 3
Clutter Busting Challenge: June Update # 2
Clutter Busting Challenge: June Update #1
How I Declutter
Clutter Busting Challenge: Update #4 Final
Clutter Busting Challenge: Update #3
Clutter Busting Challenge: Update #2
Clutter Busting Challenge: Update #1
Clutter Busting Challenge
My List of DO’S instead of BUY’S for March

Cleaning Zone 2: Kitchen & Dining Room

Cleaning Zones

Cleaning Zone 1: Porches & Storage Areas

Cleaning Zone 2: Kitchen/Dining Room & Laundry Room
Cleaning Zone 3: Bathroom & Offices
Cleaning Zone 4: Bedrooms & Closets
Cleaning Zone 5: Living Room & Family Room

Cleaning Zone 2

Kitchen & Dining Room: Detailed Cleaning List

1.      Clean the Cobwebs

2.      Empty refrigerator/Clean thoroughly/Dust back coils

3.      Clean microwave inside and out

4.      Clean stove/oven

5.      Wash canister/knick-knacks

6.      Straighten drawers/cupboards

7.      Wipe fingerprints off walls

8.      Dust/ Wash baseboards

9.      Wash window sills/windows

10.  Dust/Clean china cabinet 

11.  Clean table/Chairs

12.  Add personal touches to table (tablecloths, candles, and decorations)

13.  Clean fan/vent-a-hood filters and hood

14.  Scrub down cabinet fronts/Counters

15.  Clean lights/glass globes over light bulbs

16.  Clean under sink/throw away old rags

17.  Wash Curtains

18.  Clean Plants

19.  Clean Bird Cage

20.  Vacuum

21.  Clean rugs
 

Laundry Room: Detailed Cleaning List

1.      Wipe washer and dryer

2.      Clean the gunk from under the washer lid

3.      Throw out empty bottles and boxes

4.      Empty the garbage can

5.      Check supplies of laundry detergent, softener, spot remover

6.      Sweep and mop the floor

7.      Remove the cobwebs

8.      Put away all clothes

9.      Look behind appliances for odd socks & sweep

10.  Put away extra shoes, and coats

11.  Take supplies of shelf & wash containers & shelf

12.  Wash trash can and disinfect

13.  Clean laundry hamper, and baskets

Artist Trading Cards: Part 1

I decide to try my hand at making some ATC, or Artist Trading Cards. This is my first time making them and it was fun. I had a stack of index cards so I'm using them since they are already cut to size. I used a watercolor and crayon technique with magazine collage. I think they turned out nice.

I named them from left to right, Pinky Flowers and Blue Snow.

Downsizing Our Homeschool

I was holding on to quite a bit of stuff from homeschooling my kids and have been letting things go slowly over the last 3 years. I have found success by finding people or programs that I feel will be able to use my things instead of just dropping them off at the thrift stores. I donated a good portion of school supplies to a Back to School program for needy families this fall. I did it last year too and I still have too much but I'm making progress and will probably donate again next school year. I've also given to a Christmas Adoption program along with coloring books and drawing paper I bought at Dollar Stores to go with them.

 











I donated a whole van load of books to a young homeschool family twice 3 years ago. I have given a lot of stuff away to the homeschool families in our co-op that meets on Friday's. I just take a bag of stuff every other week and anyone who can use it takes what they want. I donated unused 4H project books to our old 4H club a couple months ago. I donated a large tote of 3-ring Notebooks twice this year once in June and again in October. I donated a large amount of manipulatives like flashcards and such to my daughter and the preschool where she works in September. 

I have recently been unloading a 4 drawer filling cabinet of worksheet we didn’t use by taking one drawer a week to recycling. I have 2 drawers left but it’s going to be difficult because my 19 month old granddaughter is getting old enough to maybe use some of it within the next year. I will need to go through them and decide what I want to keep. I would like to organize what I do keep in a preschool system that my oldest daughter can easily follow for her. I will eventually give it to my daughter in a plastic file crate that is themed for each week such as Rabbit week and study the letter R and Round. I am also going to organize a holiday themed crate for my granddaughter to use when she visits.





 










I still have to go through my kids finished work and decide how much, what, and how best to store things. I would like to have one small box for each of my 4 kids that they would like to have and not feel burdened by the amount. I need to go through our textbooks and figure out what I will need until my youngest son graduates. I will donate the unneeded books to the homeschool book sale next  fall.

I'm not finished but I have made progress this year. I have donated and purged a large amount of stuff but now I need to move onto the next step and organize what I am keeping into a manageable and usable system. My project for next year will be to organize the preschool and holiday themed crates for my granddaughter. To organize one small box for each of my 4 kids of finished homeschool work. Donate more school supplies and textbooks in the fall. I hope to have this project finished by the end of 2014.

We are still homeschooling since my youngest is 17 yrs. old and doesn't graduate until June 2015. I will be retiring from actively homeschooling my kids but I have a granddaughter and one grandchild on the way so my journey will continue. The thing I love about homeschooling is that its a lifestyle and learning never end for the parent or children if you instill the love for learning into your lives. I am always working on learning something be it a craft, cooking, or organizing. I'm learning all the time and I can see how my children have taken what they have learned and used it in their lives.