4 Weeks to a More Organized Home: Assignment #12
I jumped in on Money Saving Mom’s assignment again today. I was willing to do it yesterday, but it was cleaning out the silverware drawer. I just did that last week! Today’s key assignment was something I definitely needed to do.
::Get dressed in something that makes you feel great.
I did that first thing this morning–my running clothes. After my run, they didn’t make me feel great anymore, just sweaty. I dressed again in my favorite jeans and shoes. I find wearing shoes to be very helpful to increase my productivity.
::Sit down with a cup of coffee or tea, refer to your list of weekly goals, and make a list of no more than 5-7 specific things you want to accomplish today.
I mostly did this last night. I find I’m much more able to make realistic plans the night before. Then I tweak it again in the morning. I got most of them done today. I didn’t fit all the errands in around my child’s naps, though.
::Complete your morning routine.
Yep.
::Set the timer for 15 minutes and vacuum the main living areas of your home.
This doesn’t take me even close to fifteen minutes.
::Clean your microwave, stove top, and/or oven.
Okay, this is the big task for today, and it’s a big one for me. Just a couple of days ago I looked at the bottom of my oven, and…ugh. My microwave and stove top are pretty clean and frequently wiped down, but not the oven. The main problem is that I usually notice the oven being gross while it’s hot, which gives me a great excuse to not clean it and time to push it out of my mind before it cools.
The floor is barely visible through the glass.
My oven hadn't been cleaned for a yer.
The oven had a bunch of baked junk on the bottom, but the racks weren’t too bad. The door also had baked stuff, and greasy brown gunk on the glass.
The loose ash from my oven floor.
First, I got out my dustpan and swept the bottom.
I spent about thirty minutes scrubbing away, and wasn’t particularly pleased with my results. I started with water and dish soap, and kept using harsher and harsher cleaners. I have a question in to the Maintenance Man about the best way to get the remaining stuff removed. I also added this task as a repeating item every three months on my to do list–I don’t think I’ve cleaned my oven at all in a year.
A mostly clean oven.
A marginally cleaner oven door.
::Find 7 items to get rid of today. Throw them out, stick them in a donate or garage sale box, give them to a friend who can use them, or list them on Craigslist or eBay.
I’m in the midst of doing a purging of boxes. Right now I’m on the boxes of notes and textbooks from college. I have almost every note I took in my entire college career, and I had a long career. In fact, I even found some notes that aren’t mine. Does anybody need some one-inch three-ring binders? They were my favorite way to take notes, so I have a lot to give away now.
