Motivated Moms chore list - Page 13

[frugalmama]

I have the program, but haven't started yet. Our house is a wreck and really I'm not sure MM is enough to get it clean - does that makes sense? Some of the things on MM we don't do at all - dusting, etc.

I've been trying to declutter, but we have so much stuff as we're a two-family household with lots of books & medical stuff, that things tend to develop into stacks and piles because things come up in the middle of trying to deal with the mess.

Has anyone used MM with a really messy house? Is it better to start with something else and then go on to MM?

[ltlmrs]

Just bought MM. I've resisted it for a long time because I kept wanting to develop my own system. But, I never did! Or if I did, I never followed it.

I've been doing some major decluttering these past two weeks. I'm still not done: have to sort through Ladybug's outgrown clothes and put into storage, do two weeks worth of laundry and finish The Room of Doom (our spare bedroom where I dumped stuff as I was decluttering to make the process go by quicker).

frugalmama, looking at it I definitely think you can clean a very messy house and follow the system. Since I have a lot to do before I can enter "maintain" mode I'm planning on doing the daily chore list and then on non-work days getting as much additional stuff done as possible. My biggest challenge when doing major cleaning has been that I'll clean one room, go to the next and don't maintain what I've already done. Why don't you not do the tasks that are somewhat inessential (like cleaning light fixtures) and replace them with a task that you have to get done in your specific circumstances?

[maddymama]

Hi frugalmama,
I think you can definitely clean a very messy house with this.... just write in one chore as X minutes of decluttering a day, and then jump in where ever you can to do the other chores. I always tell myself that any cleaning I do is better than not cleaning anything.
I'm having trouble motivating myself for MM this week. We were on vacay last week (yippee) and DD1 started school this week, and DD2 and I are enjoying relaxing and the peace and quiet. I keep telling myself that on Monday I will start MM full force again. I am forcing myself to do the daily chores every day, but I wasn't going near my mop today. :-)
~maddymama

[ShellieC]

Well, I didn't start mm when I signed up a couple of weeks ago since it was the 1st day of dh's 2 week vacation. I've started today though and have done half my chores, and think I'll really like it.

It was so weird to just clean the top shelves of my fridge! It was really hard to restrain myself from doing the whole fridge but I knew that would take up more time in my day that I could be using on other chores, and that it would come around later. What a thought!

I find I have to adjust mm to my house's needs and not get hung up on things that don't work for me. I have a teenage cousin staying for us for a few days starting tomorrow, so have to add on some things to prepare for it, but decided to follow todays chore list in spite of that.

[wombatclay]

I need to declutter too... we're actually adding space (building an addition) but there is still too much stuff! Some of it just can't be helped (no closets or storage space so some stuff just doesn't have a real "home") but there is still stuff that should go out!

toilet- I clean the toilet each night before I get into the shower. It's just about my only flylady habit, but it works pretty well. We have very mineral rich water so just a few days of not cleaning means the bowl requires a major scrub but if I do a quick swipe each night the minerals don't build up and it only takes a moment.

vacation- I got off track too due to vacation followed by road food induced food poisoning. I decided to just start up without going back over the "missed days".

[frugalmama]

I'm attempting to get started with MM - We added in a 20 minute clean-up session {soon to become 30} in our school routine since we are hsing. I'm hoping between MM and the 30 minute daily cleanup we can eventually get this house back in shape.

[tanyalynn]

This looks like it will be really helpful. We, too, have accumulated clutter, for us due to a move during a very stressful time, but I think this fall I will get the remainder taken care of.

I like the 2 weeks/page format, I know that strictly doing things on the day they're labelled isn't going to work--Thursdays are our insanely busy co-op day--but shifting it around a bit in the week could work well.

And I can already see that some of these will spur some good cleaning--even if I don't get the kids' room dusted, for example, I'll get a bunch of stuff pulled out from under the bed and organized/downsized (DD has actually told me, on her own, that she wants to work on getting rid of stuff she doesn't use anymore, woo-hoo!) and so hopefully by the end of the day, the house will be cleaner and more organized. And eventually I'll get to a maintenance point, hopefully before the kids turn 18 and move out (they're 4 and 6 now).

[clutterwarrior]

Originally Posted by tanyalynn

And eventually I'll get to a maintenance point, hopefully before the kids turn 18 and move out (they're 4 and 6 now).

LOL if only they would move out at 18!

Seriously though I love my kids and don't want them to leave home for a while yet, but I don't think mine will be leaving till they have all finished university, so probably at around age 23 if I am lucky! My kids are aged (nearly)19, 16, and 8....so I have another 15 years perhaps at least till my kids have all moved out...

wombatclay I hope you are all better. I got off track this week too, with travel and then dislocating my finger.

But today I am getting back in the groove again, even mopped both kitchens.

[clutterwarrior]

Originally Posted by frugalmama

I have the program, but haven't started yet. Our house is a wreck and really I'm not sure MM is enough to get it clean - does that makes sense? Some of the things on MM we don't do at all - dusting, etc.

I've been trying to declutter, but we have so much stuff as we're a two-family household with lots of books & medical stuff, that things tend to develop into stacks and piles because things come up in the middle of trying to deal with the mess.

Has anyone used MM with a really messy house? Is it better to start with something else and then go on to MM?

I am sure it will work even with a very messy house. In fact my house was much more messy when I started doing MM. This is the first system that has worked for me, and actually gets me cleaning, because with things being more clean it has motivated me to declutter more.

[Comtessa]

Originally Posted by clutterwarrior

This is the first system that has worked for me, and actually gets me cleaning, because with things being more clean it has motivated me to declutter more.

Hear, hear!!!

I haven't mopped the kitchen floor in an embarrassingly long time. It's the one task I just can't seem to manage to do. As soon as I mop it, my toddler manages to run in there and slip and fall and hurt herself. How do the rest of you avoid that???

[frugalmama]

So far I've mopped my kitchen {with my new O'Cedar Promist mop - basically are refillable swiffer wetjet and I LOVE it} today.

Next we're going to do DD's school, then I'm going to tackle the master bedroom closet which none of us have used in a good 6 months. It's pretty bad in there, so it might take all afternoon

[weezix]

Thanks to this thread I've discovered Motivated Moms and i'm just ready to start. I'm looking forward to it. It looks like a great program. My life is so busy and disorganized that I have a hard time keeping up on housework (especially when all 5 of the kids are under the age of 6 and not really all that helpful yet).

[frugalmama]

Mostly done with the master bedroom closet now - I still need to sort out blankets & sheets and cull some to get rid of, but you can at least walk in it now! I should vacuum it too when I get done.

I even did the drawers and cupboards in there that we use for storing health and beauty items {I buy in bulk on sale} and sorted out all the expired medications.

[JulieNicole23]

Hey girls! I just read through the entire thread, and I am jumping in!! I bought my copy of MM last night, and am planning on starting Sunday I can't wait! This is EXACTLY the kind of checklist/system I have been looking for! Now if I can just stick with it!!

[kerc]

Forgive me, I didn't read the entire thread.

So this week's wash the garage windows/mini blinds. I don't have blinds and I'm not washing the windows for a variety of reasons I don't want to go into. When you run across a job like this that you aren't going to do for whatever reason, what do YOU do? Skip it and consider yourself lucky? Add another job? (If so what kind of job)....

[clutterwarrior]

Originally Posted by kerc

Forgive me, I didn't read the entire thread.

So this week's wash the garage windows/mini blinds. I don't have blinds and I'm not washing the windows for a variety of reasons I don't want to go into. When you run across a job like this that you aren't going to do for whatever reason, what do YOU do? Skip it and consider yourself lucky? Add another job? (If so what kind of job)....

generally I just skip it and consider myself lucky!

Usually I do a stack of stuff each day that isn't even on the list, so I consider I do enough that it counts as a substitute....

[frugalmama]

Originally Posted by clutterwarrior

generally I just skip it and consider myself lucky!

Usually I do a stack of stuff each day that isn't even on the list, so I consider I do enough that it counts as a substitute....

same here. We skip all the dusting too.

[wallabi]

well, yeserday I didn`t manage to do much from the monday list, but I meant to substitute - I have no garage but I have a sunroom, so I changed that to clean the sunroom windows (of course, I still haven`t done it, but I mean to get back to it today! ). Other days I just let it go - I don`t do coupons or iron anything and don`t bother to put anything in their place.

as to the messy house thing - my house can get messy so fast/ has some horribly, horribly messy spots still, and what I have noticed is that since i am now setting aside time for cleaning, and have spent money on the "getting organized" plan ($4, hardly a fortune, but it is the thought that counts, perhaps?) I am more inclined to prioritize cleaning up throughout the day and to feel like small tasks are worthwhile because it is all becoming an ongoing process.

looks like we are finally in for a break from the heat today (it`ll still break 90, but not 100!) so maybe I`ll get caught up.

[Gray's Mommy]

I just bought the file over the weekend & have been doing it for 3 whole days. It is totally doable I did the 2 week on half pages. I advance plan & it helps me figure out the priorities quite well.

[FitnessMom]

I also just bought the file over the weekend and have been doing it for 3 days. I think this is going to be a great thing. I am not naturally organized, and have failed to set up my own system that works. I tried Fly Lady but it was just too much. This seems like is a system that will be very easy to stick to doing. I may tweak it a bit to add some stuff in that I already do on a regular basis, but I think knowing when I have to do other tasks and being able to check it off will work for me. I bought the page per day journal, so that I can add in my business appointments and business-to-do list so everything I do in a day is all in one place.