Cleaning Day {Day 9}

This is the ninth day of my 31 Days of Living Well & Spending Zero challenge. To read all the posts in order, start with Day One or visit the Overview Page.

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Are you ready for this?

It’s CLEANING DAY! I know you’re excited. Can I get a little woot woot?

The older I get, the more of a clean freak I become. But I wasn’t always that way, and even now, keeping things neat and tidy certainly does NOT come naturally to me. It is still something I have to work at every single day. It is still something I have to gear up to do.  It is still work.

To me, it is worth the effort. I spend a lot of time at home, probably more than most people. I am more productive, more peaceful, more creative, more engaged, more fun when my house is clean. I enjoy my life and space so much more when it is tidy. So I clean. And today, so do you.

For those of you who are worried about trying to deep clean your whole house in one day, stop! We are going to tackle a big chunk of it today, but not quite all of it. There will be selective areas that we ignore until later. But our bathrooms will sparkle, our countertops will shine, & our main living areas will be CLEAN.

So let’s get started!

My personal strategy is to start with the room I dread cleaning the most:  in my case, the bathroom. I then do the kitchen, since that is my next least favorite, and from there work my way through the rest of the house. After I’ve cleaned the bathroom & the kitchen, made the beds, & picked up any clutter (I throw it all in a basket for the kids to help put away), I find it more efficient to do things like dusting, windexing,vacuuming, & mopping throughout the whole house all at once, not room by room.

I’ve prepared another checklist for you to use while you clean today. You’ll notice that there are a few things conspicuously missing, such as the home office, the closets, & the kids’ room. This is intentional. We will get there! For today, just focus on the main living areas, the bathrooms, and your own bedroom.

{Get your Cleaning Day Checklist here}

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What’s your least favorite area to clean? Are you a neat freak or do you struggle to keep things tidy? Are you excited to clean today or dreading this task?

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{Go to Day 10}