31 days to a new housekeeping habit challenge? - Page 3

[renaissanceed]

Doing good so far!

DD and I loaded the dishwasher after dinner and then washed the dishes that didn't fit.  (DS and DH cleaned the toys/living room.)  Then after the kids were in bed I went downstairs with DH while he made his lunch and I unloaded the dishwasher.  There are two dirty dishes in it right now from DH's late night snacking, but that's fine with me!

[marinak1977]

Day 3

Task 1 -
Task 2 - - I cleared the table but there is a stack of DH's papers/mail/etc to file and I can't do it, nor do I know where else to put it. I need to create a good space where he would look at it frequently. Any suggestions?


Key
I got it done
DH did the task
we did it together
task got half done
I procrastinated
I couldn't do it because fate interfered

bonus task got done
DH did a bonus task

[starbuckmom]

Today, I have a huge list of things to get done.  My inlaws are coming into town to help celebrate my twins 2nd birthday.  Thankfully, the kids start parents day out today so it will only be me at home till 3 so I can get a lot done w/o 3 kids needing my attention.  I did a lot yesterday so today should go pretty smoothly.

I will still get my 2 things done that I am trying to get in the habit of doing each day:

1: Making sure the living room is clutter free and toys picked up when dh comes home

2: Cleaning my kitchen completely before going to bed tonight.  Since we are eating out for supper, it shouldn't be hard!

[tanyalynn]

I've flopped on my goals for the past 2 days.  Haven't run any laundry (all caught up), so there's been nothing new to put away, but I haven't finished the pre-existing mountain.  And the 15-minute organization/de-clutter hasn't happened.  On the plus side--I've been really busy cooking and y'all have inspired me to do better with my kitchen.  It hasn't been all the way clean, but given how much extra cooking I've gotten done, it looks pretty darned good. 
 

Originally Posted by marinak1977 

Task 2 - - I cleared the table but there is a stack of DH's papers/mail/etc to file and I can't do it, nor do I know where else to put it. I need to create a good space where he would look at it frequently. Any suggestions?
 

We have a basket for stuff coming into the house--once the tree is down, we'll have a table put back that holds the basket on top and has a shelf on the bottom for packages that arrive.  My goal (just got the table cleaned off before Christmas) is that everything that comes into the house that we don't immediately put away, goes on the table, and then it's all together for when are ready to deal with it.  I read the idea of a Landing Zone, one place all the stuff you come in with--keys, purses, mail, papers, whatever--all together, and room to hold the stuff that you don't deal with immediately.  Ours is divided into two spaces nearby, but I think it'll work.

[tanyalynn]

Originally Posted by MrsHin2002 
Would prefer large bags in the garage (since when full they're too big for the spaces) and have smaller bins/buckets in the kitchen, to be emptied each night. Not sure how best to empty the kitchen garbage each night without using extra bags... (one for each day). Want to start with this one as this is probably one of the biggest problems -- esp the compost bowl/bag...

This may not work for you, but my mom has enough plastic bags come into the house--Target, grocery store, like that--that she uses them in the kitchen as her trash bag.  She's got an old bucket that functions as a small trash can under the sink and depending on the size/activity of your household, it seems like about the right size for daily use. 

[MamitaM]

Jan.1.

Jan. 2.

Jan. 3.

Jan. 4. I was a bad girl last night and didn't get this new chore done. No real excuse, I could say that I spent a little more time nursing my son to sleep and I was tired after and wanted to take a bath, which is true, but I still could have done the dishes. I didn't even get the pots done that had been soaking!

Jan. 5. It's only the middle of the day now, so I have time to make more dishes to be washed, but I'm hopeful that they will ALL get done and nothing will be left to soak over night. I'm posting this now so I don't have to come back and hang my head in shame. 

****** Ok, I did it! ALL the dishes are done! ALL of them and it's not even 8pm! My new goal was to have the majority of the dishes done by 8pm. I actually started to slowly add a new "habit" for Wednesdays that I'll really make sure happens in February, getting a load of laundry done and getting the garbage and recycling out.

Edited by MamitaM - 1/5/11 at 4:37pm

[Brisen]

Jan 5 -- Managed to get everything done more than an hour earlier than yesterday; still took a long time, but that's a big improvement.  I'm finding that the toughest part is keeping all of the kids engaged and busy with something.  Random playing breaks out, which is great, but I want it to happen after all the work is done.  :P

reading/journaling/plan day
exercise
clean litter box
shower
chore meeting w/kids
make breakfast
clean up kitchen
get kids dressed, brushed, etc.
tidy bedrooms
start bread

[renaissanceed]

Dishes all clean and put away tonight;  again kids helped with after dinner clean up and I just finished unloading the dishwasher. 

I think the key for me is to pick one task, like dishes and do it for a month before adding a new one.  Then it's a routine and it's easier to add something new.  This worked really well for me a couple of years ago when I wanted to make sure I had my vitamins daily and started flossing and drinking enough water - I just did them one at a time over a period of 3 months and they all stuck really well.

[starbuckmom]

My inlaws came into town last night so I hadn't had a chance to respond to yesterdays goal.

My living room looked great!!  I even swept the floor and mopped too!

The kitchen was clean and the sink was shiny before going to bed.  I did have a moment of deciding whether to go to bed with dirty dishes in the sink or just take the few minutes and wash them up.  I washed them up and I am so glad I did!  It will make getting breakfast on the table a lot easier.

Today is the birthday of my twins.  My dh is staying home so I don't know how much I will really get done. 

[dayiscoming2006]

First day was successful. 

• did dishes
• washed/dried/folded two loads of clothes
• did random organizing
• etc.

Yesterday was somewhat pathetic but I did more than I had usually been doing so still an improvement from the past. I only got the table and counters cleaned off.

Hopefully today I'll get more done. I've gotten the Motivated Moms chore planner. I'm really hoping that helps. I think it will though cuz it seems to fit my personality type.

[ltlmrs]

1.

2.

3. &

4.

5.

But, I went to the homeopath yesterday and she gave me a remedy for the nausea.  So, this morning I wasn't sick!    I have to go pay the rent and do the laundry today, but I'm hoping that if the remedy keeps working, I'll have some energy left to at least do a load of dishes, if not get the kitchen clean. 

Key:

Kitchen clean after every meal - not the goal, but would be great!

Kitchen cleaned for the day

Nothing got done because I was genuinely too sick

Could have done it, but didn't

DH saves the day!

[Brisen]

Jan 6 -- Didn't have a great start this morning.  My 1 yo woke up shirtly after & did & was cranky & nursed for a loooong time.  I ended up doing a bunch of blog stuff, even though I've been aiming to keep off the computer in the morning.  But the house was tidy from the night before and the kids got themselves cereal for breakfast.  Then a neighbour kid cae over around 9:30 -- apparently, school is still out this week.  So he stayed & the kids all played and I decided to drop the routine for today.

[ltlmrs]

1.

2.

3. &

4.

5.

6. Okay, so this only partially true.  The dishes are washed and it's clean enough.  I did get the laundry done (though not put away) and the rent is paid, but by the time we got home I was too tired to do anything else.

Key:

Kitchen clean after every meal - not the goal, but would be great!

Kitchen cleaned for the day

Nothing got done because I was genuinely too sick

Could have done it, but didn't

DH saves the day!

[marinak1977]

Day 4

Task 1 -
Task 2 - - I actually cleared most of it but didn't finish till this morning

Day 5

My house got cleaned today Aaaah.... I wish I could afford to do this more frequently.

Task 1 - (although I had to do very little as DS wanted to snuggle in bed all evening
Task 2 - DH even took care of his giant pile of papers.



Key
I got it done
DH did the task
we did it together
task got half done
I procrastinated
I couldn't do it because fate interfered

bonus task got done
DH did a bonus task

[MrsHin2002]

I've been doing well since I signed up for this on the 3rd. Interesting how my first instinct is to focus on what I can buy to make my tasks easier, more efficient... instead of making new habits with whatever I have on hand (cardboard boxes, etc).

I've tweaked the details of my new habit as follows:

** kitchen garbage: empty as regularly as needed to avoid smells and definitely before the lid rests on top of the mounded garbage threatening to spill out on the floor (I'm not worried about doing this every day -- we have a medium sized can that holds more than a day's worth and it works well for us -- so I'm returning the inside-the-cabinet one I just bought since I decided that changing it regularly is more important than changing it every day for no other reason)

** kitchen recycling: I have a grocery store plastic box now under the kitchen sink to collect the rinsed refundables and recyclables (not sorted) which I now take to the garage once the box is full to sort into the two separate bags there. The main issue here is not to let any of these collect on the counter or to have the blue recycling bags on the kitchen floor when they're not quite full but too big to fit under the sink. I did buy and install two new bag holders (create some space. com) on the garage wall which are fantastic and really help by using the wall space instead of the floor space.

** kitchen compost: I now have two separate collection types -- wet (the things that will go moldy if left too long) and the dry (mostly boxboard and dry napkins/ paper towels) and will figure out how best to collect these separately as I go on. For now, there's a cardboard tray box holding the dry stuff and a food box collecting the wet -- which like the garbage will go out as needed (before it's overflowing) to avoid kitchen smells and also there won't be compost items left around on the counter for days.

So with these goals in mind -- I've been doing really well. I think it's already making a noticeable difference in the kitchen (we used to have milk cartons waiting on the counter to be rinsed and sorted, for example). I used to always note that once the dishwasher was filled and the recycling/garbage/compost was taken care of, there really was very little left on the counters. So for this month I'm focusing on the recycling/garbage/compost though I'm doing the non-dishwasher dishes regularly as well.

:)

[starbuckmom]

Well, since my dh was home yesterday, we focused on the twins birthday instead of doing any cleaning.  

The kitchen is a disaster.  The only thing I did last night was put away the extra food.  I will focus on the kitchen while the kids have their breakfast. 

[MamitaM]

Jan.1.

Jan. 2.

Jan. 3.

Jan. 4. I was a bad girl last night and didn't get this new chore done. No real excuse, I could say that I spent a little more time nursing my son to sleep and I was tired after and wanted to take a bath, which is true, but I still could have done the dishes. I didn't even get the pots done that had been soaking!

Jan. 5. It's only the middle of the day now, so I have time to make more dishes to be washed, but I'm hopeful that they will ALL get done and nothing will be left to soak over night. I'm posting this now so I don't have to come back and hang my head in shame. 

Jan. 6. I got them all done, but wasn't able to come on before bed last night.

Jan. 7. Got them ALL done again tonight!!!

[aratiaw]

2 Jan: signed up and did well!

3-8 Jan: away on holidays with family. Tried to help out as much as I could.

8 Jan: DH is cooking dinner ATM. I'll keep the challenge in mind as we eat - will post results later.

Update: left cleanup later than I'd like (overtired kids needing attention), but DH and I decided to watch a movie, so we got the kitchen done before we started the movie.

No action on secondary goals yet, (selling extra fridge and decluttering kitchen), but today is our first full day back from holidays.

Edited by aratiaw - 1/8/11 at 2:23pm

[Brisen]

Jan 7 -- weird day because H was off work & doing renovation stuff.  My morning routine was spread out over the day, but it was done, at least.

Jan 8 -- getting back on track.  Saturdays have a shorter morning routine since we're not getting ready for school, so it was pretty straightforward today.

[MamitaM]

Jan.1.

Jan. 2.

Jan. 3.

Jan. 4. I was a bad girl last night and didn't get this new chore done. No real excuse, I could say that I spent a little more time nursing my son to sleep and I was tired after and wanted to take a bath, which is true, but I still could have done the dishes. I didn't even get the pots done that had been soaking!

Jan. 5. It's only the middle of the day now, so I have time to make more dishes to be washed, but I'm hopeful that they will ALL get done and nothing will be left to soak over night. I'm posting this now so I don't have to come back and hang my head in shame. 

Jan. 6. I got them all done, but wasn't able to come on before bed last night.

Jan. 7. Got them ALL done again tonight!!!

Jan.8. Another night when ALL the dishes are done!