Cleaning week 3

I'm back on track and having a much more productive time. I've been doing little things that make big changes, like hanging up my measuring tools. 

It seems silly but having the space right there encourages me to clean them immediately and put them away. 

I also totally re-did out lower entry way space with some stackables we had other places in the house.





The top has a loose change jar. We (Me, Scott, Kaylee) each have a basket to toss our stuff as we come inside. Name tags, wallets, pacifiers, etc. It has made a huge difference. I am moving a key hanger over there soon. as well

Back in the laundry room a moment, where I bought a hanger from Wal-Mart for the ironing stuff so it has a home.




I hung up some pictures in Bug's playroom. Now I can stop tripping over them all the time.




Here's what the kiddo was doing while I did all of this.





At least she has figured out how to get down by herself...most of the time.

I also spent more time in the office.



And after she hit the doorframe so hard she dented hher head and freaked me out (she's fine now) I nailed a pillow to the door frame.

Week 2

Well, this week has not been a good week for me. I have re-written this post in my head about 15 times so I'm just going to word vomit and hope it comes out somewhat understandable. 

I'm discouraged. Really discouraged. After the first week I was running high. I changed the whole laundry room. I hauled a changing table around our house (including stairs). I painted a room by myself. I reorganized Kaylee's clothes and put everything in the closet. What reaction did I get from my husband? 

"Let's see how long this lasts"...*crickets chirping*....wtf dude? So my motivation took a huge nose-dive and I can't seem to get it back. I know that I need to do this for myself and for my daughter, but when I can't even get a "good job" from my husband it is hard. 

Add to this that Kaylee is cutting her top teeth and it is TORTURE for both of us. She was never the best sleeper, but we are on night 4 of waking up every 1-2 hours and I am dying. I am so tired that it also amplifies every other emotion I have. 

Like how I'm so sick of cleaning. It never ends, ever, ever ever. No matter how much I clean the kitchen it just gets dirty again. There is always laundry, toys to pick up, hair to vacuum, beds to make, etc. etc. Now the logical part of me knows that yes, this is life, so suck it up buttercup, but the "I'm so tired I can't think straight" part of me just wants to have a 4 hour period where the laundry is done, the kitchen is clean, everything is fed, and there is nothing I HAVE to do. 

Now...time to focus on the positives, and share the pictures I have taken (doh, camera battery died, will update that in a little bit). 

1) Omg my baby turns 1 this month! She is walking about 75% of the time when she wants to get around, waving byebye, and blowing kisses. She can climb anything put in front of her and, thank goodness, is starting to figure out how to get down from things as well. 

 

She also loves swimming and starts official swim lessons next week! 

 

She does not like when I clean 

 

But she likes to pick out her own clothes now that they are in her closet 

 

2) The laundry room is still clean! 

 

3) Did you know my closet has a floor? It's true. It's not necessarily organized, but it's better. 

 

4) Ditto office. Not great, definitely not where I want it to be, but better. Any progress is progress and it will get done eventually. 

Week 1 - part 2

Ta da! 

I removed the bookcase and am going to hang up the poster (it's been sitting behind the china cabinet forever). My dad is working to build me a three story laundry bin, which will then be labeled "Mom" "Dad" "Bug" and the clean laundry will get sorted into the bins. I will take care of mine and Bugs and my husband gets to put his own laundry away (woot). 

 

I cleaned off the drying rack and restacked the shoes (oh, and painted! It's so nice and cheery in there now) 

 

Cleaned up the bathroom side (with new painted wall. FYI painting around toilets sucks) 

 

And the laundry side. I bought the colored containers at Wal-Mart for $3. Blue has our Tide ColdWater solution and green has the Free and Clear I use for Bug's cloth diapers. They just look so much nicer than the bottles themselves and I can clearly see when they are running out. Not like those pesky bottles where I think it's running out, then buy a replacement bottle, then go for another 6 months. 

 

 

Cleaning Week 1 - part 1

I haven't had a chance to take pictures yet but here are my reflection on week 1. 

I still hate cleaning. Yup, no ifs and or buts about it. But I love the results. It's kind of like working out. 

It will take you 5x longer to do any job when your infant helps you to do it. Seriously. How does it take me 3 hours to do laundry? That little cutie pie would be why. 

I'm going to take a chapter out of gypsy life, as taught to me by the TLC show "My Big American Gypsy Wedding". I have to clean, that's it, so I'm going to stop bitching and just do it. I will take pride in my home and will accept that for the next 10 weeks my job is to care for my child and my house. (This will change at the end of the summer when, hopefully, my husband will be at a better store and able to help me once again) 

I have way too much stuff. I have 6 diaper boxes filled with clothes to get rid of (and 2 of clothes I'm keeping "in case") and cannot part with them. I'm looking at local women's shelters to see if they need them. Our local freecycle chapter just doesn't sit right with me, and I want the clothes to go to someone who truly needs them. 

I can't do things halfway. I decided to do the office this week. So I wanted a bookcase in the office. The laundry room has a bookcase. I moved the bookcase to the office. Well then my laundry room was destroyed, and I needed to clean it, so I decided to do the laundry room. Yeah. I don't even recognize it lol. Pics coming as soon as I can! Hopefully by the end of the day

The 70 days of cleaning have begun! I am going to post pics of my house in its current, not-so-clean state and then update as I go. Hopefully at the end of summer my after pics will be drastically different. Some of the less messy rooms will just get their own posts later on. 


My closet, aka, all homeless stuff goes in here. 
 



My laundry room This is the big project as I hate my laundry room but have to spend a ton of time in there. 
 

 

 

The office/ homeless stuff too big for my closet/ non-baby safe items room (note: there is a baby gate in place so she cannot access this room)

 

 

My little cheeseball. I can't believe she will be 1 next month!