Sunday, September 9, 2012

Week 1 | 20 days to organise and clean your home

I have decided that the Organised Housewife is a gift from above!  For years I have struggled to keep my home clean and organised, and with a few simple printouts and words of encouragement, I have managed to turn our house completely around!!  See for yourself...

Task 1 - the kitchen
We have quite a large kitchen, however more bench space equals more crap we can dump there. On Monday I spent four hours scrubbing every surface, door, handle, you name it...putting away appliances, throwing away clutter, and more. All of that elbow grease was worth it, even if I did feel a little sick from all of the Spray and Wipe! We've managed to maintain this space all week now, even washing the dishes every night (a major achievement).

Task 2 - the master bedroom
If ever there was a candidate for the next episode of Hoarders...this would have been on our nomination video.  Our bedroom is the first room you see as you enter our front door, and I have always shut the door before letting anyone in. The before photo was taken part way through the process. Hubby had stripped the bed and started piling stuff on top. There was literally a ring of stuff piled high around the bed, and very little carpet to see. A few hours after work on Tuesday night saw it spick and span. We even lifted the bed and cleaned underneath. It was disgusting!! We slept so much better that night (probably more from exhaustion), and have made the bed every morning since. I'm proud to keep our bedroom door open.

Task 3 - the laundry
Yes, our laundry is bottle green! When we first built the house eleven years ago, I went a bit crazy with the colour, and this room hasn't been touched since. I threw out a lot of stuff from the laundry...empty bottles of stuff, and a mountain of dust bunnies.  I even pulled out the dryer, and swept and mopped from behind...so disgusting! A lot has built up over the years. I culled the number of products we keep in there, and stored the remaining ones in a green caddy I forgot I even had!

Task 4 - the pantry
This space wasn't too bad...just a little rearranging needed. Hubby took over this space and pulled everything out, wiped down the shelves and returned everything in a more logical order.

Task 4 - the living room
Our living room is the most used room in the house, and you can often find baskets of washing, random toys and more in there. It becomes a general dumping ground occasionally, and I am always on the kids backs to put their things away.  This morning, I finally had time to tackle this space...even pulling the tv unit out and sweeping/dusting behind it.  Everything is now back in it's place.  The Berts soft drink crate may look like clutter to you, but it's a life saver for us. All of the kids shoes are stored there. I am more than happy to have a box of shoes on display, than have them kicked all through the house.
I'm really looking forward to seeing what the Organised Housewife has in store for us this week! We're still working on a morning and evening routine, but things are certainly getting easier now that we can find things. I can almost see the light at the end of the tunnel. Oh, and if you thought the "before" pictures above were bad...you haven't seen the worst of it yet!! Yes, I'm going to be brave and share more of our "before" photos...keeping it real people. If I can inspire you to tackle your space too, then it's been worth it.  It's never too late to start.

The Organised Housewife

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