The presents are unwrapped and life is slowing and returning to normal, but my house a mess. Time to find a home for our new toys and our old toys to find a new home where they will be loved. The new year always has me wanting to de-clutter and organizing our home. I just love getting things in order for the New Year!!
I have the habit of wanting everything to be perfect immediately, which usually has me burnt out and unable to complete the organization of the whole house, which is a huge project. A proverbial elephant, if you will.
Best way to eat an elephant??? One small bite at a time….. We all know this saying, but fail to apply it to our lives. In our house, we apply this idea to paying down debt as well as cleaning our house. If you view the elephant as the big goal your life depends on, you will be very disappointed. Instead if you focus on smaller goals, you are able to maintain focus and celebrate each sucess, which helps you stay motivated!
Years ago I found the “Cleaning Grand Plan” at the Organized Home webpage. The Cleaning Grand Plan was written by Katie Lackey. This is a plan to clean and organize your entire home in 14 weeks. By breaking the areas of the house down this plan allows you to complete everything without burning out.
I plan on embarking on the journey through The New Year’s Cleaning Grand Plan in 2012. By doing this, I will have my house organized and clean by April! This allows me time to spend outside when the weather warms up. I honestly hate spring cleaning….I don’t want to clean in the spring, I want to be outside and enjoying the Minnesota Spring! So since I have to be inside during the winter, why not get the cleaning all done during those winter months.
Ready, Set, Let’s start the new year off right with a plan to clean/organize our house!! I challenge you to join me in participating in the New Year’s Cleaning Grand Plan Challenge at Organizedhome.com!!
The Fourteen Weeks of the New Year’s Cleaning Grand Plan from Organizedhome.com:
Week 1: January 1 – Gather Your Tools!
Week 2: January 8 – Entry/Foyer
Week 3: January 15 – Living Room
Week 4: January 22 – Kitchen/Pantry
Week 5: January 29 – Dining Room
Week 6: February 5 – Family Rooms
Week 7: February 12 – Bathrooms
Week 8: February 19 – Master Bedroom
Week 9: February 26 – Guest Bedroom or Pick your Room
Week 10: March 4 – Kid’s Room
Week 11: March 11 – Attic/Basement/Storage
Week 12: March 18 – Garage/Storage
Week 13: March 25 – Front Porch
Week 14: April 1 – Finish Up Week!
God bless you as you look well to the ways of your household!
Proverbs 31:27
Wishing you a Happy New Year!
Jen C
I’ve used this cleaning plan for the holidays, but in the last few years I’ve switched to FlyLady (flylady.net). They give you suggested missions to accomplish each weekday, nothing taking more than 15 minutes. I’m going to follow that in 2012 since I have pretty much deep cleaned everything for the holidays.
@DixieD – I really need to get the deep clean/ spring type of cleaning all done. I have also used the flylady missions off and on as well. But this time I need a deep cleaning to be done!!