Daily Cleaning: Move Laundry from Washer to Dryer

Laundry is a complete pain.  If you let it, it can consume your weekends and make you all stressed out about the prospect of not having any clean underwear.  Let the madness end.  Come up with a plan to tackle that laundry.

Each day when I get home from work, I plan to put in a load of laundry.  Unless there isn't any dirty laundry, but that's not happened yet.  If it ever does, it's total gold star time.  But anyway, I put the laundry in when I get home from work, and then go off to do other things in my after-work routine. 

At some point, the washing machine is going to beep.  When I hear that beep, or when I realize that the washer is done washing the clothes, I have to go into the laundry room and switch the laundry from washer to dryer.

This seems very simple, but I forget to do it all the time.  In fact, there are a bunch of dirty towels in my washing machine right now.  If I let them sit for hours or days on end, which happens a lot, they start to smell and I end up having to wash them all over again.

So, even if I catastrophe strikes and I don't end up folding and putting away the laundry, at least the clothes won't smell if I do this one small thing.  And that is an accomplishment in itself.

Okay, I'm going to go move the laundry from the washer to the dryer now.  Wonder what's wrong with me?   Think I have way too much free time?  Check out my confession.

Image from Campus Advantage Greensite.

NYE To-Do List

I think today is my last real day to get stuff done during vacation.  We're going to a NYE party tonight, and tomorrow my husband will be home.  I'm hoping we can get some Christmas decorations put away tomorrow.  Here's what's on deck for today:

• 
  
  Daily cleaning list
  
• 
  
  Wipe down baseboards in kitchen
  
• 
  
  Put away rest of gifts under Christmas tree
  
• 
  
  Spend 10 minutes organizing closet
  
• 
  
  Workout for 30 minutes - already done!
  
• 
  
  Hopefully, take a nap in preparation for a late evening
  

That's it for today!

Daily Cleaning: Swish & Swipe a Bathroom

I don't know about you, but our bathrooms can go from clean to nasty in no time at all.  This next part of the Daily Cleaning routine also comes from FlyLady.  It's called Swish and Swipe.

The Swish & Swipe takes some advanced planning, but it will pay off by helping you stay focused when it comes time to clean.  To prepare for the Swish & Swipe, you'll need to gather the following things in your bathroom:

• Windex or whatever glass cleaner you use
• Paper towels or old rags
• A toilet bowl brush
• Whatever soap you have around the house.  FlyLady suggested using old shampoo that you hate.

Put all of this stuff in your bathroom so it's ready to go.

At some point during the day, you're going to have to go to the bathroom (hopefully!).  This is when you'll do your Swish & Swipe.  After you've taken care of business, get out your glass cleaner and paper towels.  Clean all of the gunk off the mirror.  If you need to, wipe down the countertop.

Once that's finished, take that same paper towel, and wipe down your toilet.  If you need more paper towels, so be it. 

Then, take your toilet bowl brush and soap, and clean the inside of the toilet bowl.  FlyLady suggested keeping the toilet brush in an old kitchen canister, and putting whatever soap you decide to use at the bottom of the container.  I bought some cheapy toilet bowl brushes that have little containers to put them in, so I will periodically have to refill the containers with soap.  Whatever works for you is fine, as long as you have something prepared and ready to use when the time comes.

Give the toilet one last flush, and you're done!  Hopefully by doing this periodically, you won't ever have to look at a disgusting toilet.

Ummm..why am I blogging about cleaning toilets?  For real?  Check out my confession.

Image from treehugger.com

Daily Cleaning: Spend Two Minutes Cleaning a Hot Spot

Hot Spots.  We all have them in our homes.  They are those places where stuff seems to accumulate day after day until it's an out-of-control mess.  The FlyLady, Marla Cilley, coined the term "Hot Spot" as part of her FlyLady cleaning routine.  My hot spots tend to be my desk, where we leave our mail, and the laundry room.

For this part of your daily cleaning routine, pick one of your Hot Spots, and spend just 2 minutes cleaning it.  No more, no less.  This is focused cleaning, so you're cocentrating on just this one spot.  Today I chose to clean our laundry room, and I was able to clear off a good area for folding clothes within that two minutes.  Even though I didn't spend that much time cleaning, it was good to see some results!

Why in the world am I blogging about spending two minutes cleaning my laundry room?  Check out my confession.

Menu Plan for December 28, 2009

I'm on vacation this week, so I'm kind of taking things easy.  We have a lot of leftover ham, so I'm trying to plan a couple of meals to help us use it up.  Since I'll be home all week, I'll also be eating a lot of ham sandwiches for lunch.  Here's our menu plan for the week:


Monday - Sushi!
Tuesday - Pasta with ham, peas and mushrooms
Wednesday - Out to eat!
Thursday - Ham, frozen veggies and applesauce
Friday - Tilapia, frozen veggies, rolls

Check out orgjunkie.com for more menu planning ideas!

Today's To-Do

Ahhh, vacation!  I have this week off, so I'm going to try to make the most of it.  I'm totally feeling motivated to get stuff done today, largely because my new Bloggy friend Tori left a comment on this blog.  I'm not alone in the blogosphere!  If you have time, check out her blog - it's totally cute!

Okay, down to business.  Here's today's To-Do list:

• Finish last four student thank-you notes
• Make list of people to send NYE cards to
• Address NYE cards
• Mail out all of these cards (this MUST be done - no sleep until it's finished)
• Daily Cleaning List
• Put away five Christmas decorations
• Trek to JC Penny's to check out Lee jeans that don't gap in the back.  Oh the humanity!  I never thought I'd see the day that I'd be excited about Lee jeans.  Just check me into the retirement home now.  But really, I'm tired of always tugging up my jeans, and people just shouldn't have to see all of that business.  It's not right.
• Spend 10 minutes on the Wii Fit

Image from getzscope.com

Daily Cleaning: Making the Bed

Everything looks much more organized and put-together if the bed is made.  Making the bed should take about three minutes tops.  Even though it's kind of a pain to make your bed every day, it really makes a big impact on what your bedroom looks like. 

Because I get up much earlier than my husband, I put this task in my daily cleaning routine, which I do after I get home from work.  If I'm lucky, this chore might be done before I get home.  But if not, it's a good way to start my daily cleaning routine, because I see big improvements quickly.   

Full disclosure:  It's after 4 p.m. on a Saturday and my bed is NOT made.  The picture shown above is not my actual bed, but it is the bedspreadI have.  Mine just never looks that nice.

Wonder why I'm blogging about making my bed?  Check out my confession.

Photo from macys.com