Fourth Thursday and Friday

I have to be honest that I didn't feel like doing any housework this Thursday. I looked at the routine and it said vacuum the kitchen/dining and steam this floor and dust the four long venetians in the dining room and the one in the kitchen. Ho hum.

I cleaned up the kitchen and did a load of washing. After lunch I got out the vacuum cleaner and the steamer. They just sat there. My husband and I watched a James Bond DVD and I did some sewing and book reading. No. There was no motivation to do the housework. I felt a bit bad about it because I could see the floor badly needed vacuuming and steaming.

The fourth Friday is 'sponge the edges'. Now this can be left for a while so I decided to do the vacuuming and steaming and dusting on Friday instead. I felt good again. The dust was gone and the floor shone. Great.

None of this means that my routine is not working. Quite the opposite really. Having set things for set days allows me to juggle and massage a bit without losing track.

I love my routine :)

Cheers,
Val

Fourth Tuesday

I had Monday off as per the routine and we did the shopping.
This Tuesday I was feeling a bit sluggish. It has been pretty hot for ages now.
I got a bit of second wind in the afternoon and did a load of washing and vacuumed the bedrooms. At some time during the day I remember emptying the dish washer and doing the kitchen tidy up.

I didn't look at the schedule til today  (Thursday) and since I was feeling pretty good after finishing my January mini quilt I checked the schedule and dusted the lounge room blinds (Tuesdays chore). There are still the window and door to clean but I am looking at them now and they still look pretty shiny so they can wait another month. I don't want to knock myself out playing catch up. That is SECRET NUMBER 3 and it is good advice.

Kitchen tidy up
My kitchen tidy up happens everyday and includes washing up my stainless steel cutlery that I don't like to put in the dish washer and washing up those pesky plastic containers that don't fit in the dish washer very well. I wash the two cutting boards and wipe the counters under them and around the hot plates and the splash back behind the hot plates.

If the scourer is getting a bit worn I use it to clean out the sink and plug hole then throw it away.

I wipe up the few things I have washed up.

Sometimes I do all this while my porridge cooks.

A load of washing
I find that for the two of us washing three times a week is enough.

I collect the tea towel and hand towel from the kitchen. and the counter mats I use in the kitchen.
I collect any clothes left in the bathroom and the two hand towels we use.
I collect any clothes I have left beside my bed.
Anything in the clothes basket also goes in.

Clean hand towels
I really love having clean hand towels every second day. Before I got myself sorted the hand towels just got changed when I thought they needed a wash and I used the kitchen tea towel for several days just letting it dry out. Now I get a new tea towel everyday.

I started putting out a bathroom hand towel for each of us a while back because I noticed that the bath towels were getting grubby from us wiping our hands on them. Neither of us really wanted to use the shared hand towel. Now the bath towels stay clean and I use one end of my hand towel for my hands and the other end for my face. Washing them every second day they never actually get dirty and they always feel nice to use.

Cheers,
Val

Third Sunday

"What happened to Saturday?", you say.

Well, I just couldn't be bothered and I didn't even look at the routine. Since I didn't have much on today I did a bit of catch up by putting in a load of washing and changing the sheets. 

I did not catch up with vacuuming the lounge and steaming the lounge floors. I may suck up a few of the big bits of fluff when I get the vacuum out on Tuesday to do the bedrooms, but only if I feel like it. The steaming can wait til next month.

I was still feeling a bit lazy today so I did short spurts.

I spent 10 minutes tidying the kitchen and putting on the washing.

I spent 20 minutes cleaning the patio table and the front door. No before and after. They just had some dust and a few cobwebs.

I spent nearly 20 minutes cleaning the long windows inside and out. I did not do the top part inside because it requires taking down the blinds to get the screens off. Maybe next month I will do that.

You will just have to take my word for it that the windows are clean. I didn't feel like pulling the blinds up again.

The first time I cleaned these windows there was mildew on them and a dirty grey film that I just couldn't believe. It took me 3 months or three cleans to get them looking respectable. Now there is just the odd bit of fly dirt and some dust that comes in when the windows are open. When people have come for a meal and I open the blinds for more light I am so pleased the windows are clean.

At the time of writing this I still haven't made up the bed, but the sheets are sitting on the bed waiting.

I can't think of any more secrets. I guess you just have to give it a go and you will find that it is not that hard to stick to it. I will keep posting at least until I have covered a whole month.

Cheers,

Val

Third Friday and SECRET NUMBER 5

It is hot and I didn't feel like doing any work this morning. I considered not doing any housework today but I recalled secret number 4 and figured I better take my own advice.

So at 4pm I took all the small things out of the laundry then cleaned the door and window with paper towel and windex. I then used some all purpose cleaner spray and paper towel to wipe over the dryer, washing machine, basin, splash back tiles, tiles and skirting board around the walls, inside door, legs of ironing board, iron, power points and switches, and taps. This took 30 minutes.
Here is all the stuff in the hallway.

This is my laundry.

I came back later at 6pm and folded the washing from yesterday and some old towels I found in the dryer. I washed a couple of hand wash things that had sat on the dryer for weeks. I did a quick vacuum so I could wipe the floor with paper towel and all purpose cleaner. This took 25 minutes.

It is all sparkly now and will be fine for another month.

SECRET NUMBER 5
Make the plan your own by working around your habits and style.

I hate putting things away when I finish with them so they tend to pile up around the place. I leave them til it is time to clean that area. I am not constantly thinking "I must put those away". I know it will be done on the assigned day.

I don't have anything scheduled for shopping day and quilt group day. I think they are enough for those days.

Cheers,
Val

Third Thursday and SECRET NUMBER 4

Wednesday is quilt group day so no washing or housework. I do clean up the kitchen since that is an everyday chore.
Today we went out to the discount Sara Lee shop and bought a couple of frozen cakes to keep in the freezer for special. We took my mum too and she got two bags of mixed veges for $1.75 each and a nice sultana pound cake for $2.50. She can keep it in the freezer and just have a slice sometimes. This outlet at Daisy Hill has their supermarket and catering lines for good discount prices and they also put items on super special. We like to buy the ice cream when it is $3 a litre.
The point is we got back at midday and had lunch and then watched a Poirot episode and it was 3:30 before I looked up the housework routine to see what I had to do. This day is vacuum the dining and kitchen and clean out the dining room.
I cleaned the glass in the display cabinet, wiped the table over with a wet paper towel and cleaned the placemats. I picked up the stuff and put it away then dusted the table legs and the chairs, the lounge and the cabinet. I used a paper towel and windex to clean the pictures and replaced a couple of pictures on the walls. I also put in a load of washing.
It took me half an hour.
Another 10 mins to vacuum and it is done.
Before:

After:

Before:

After:

It never ceases to amaze me how much black dust gets onto the dining table.

SECRET NUMBER 4
Try really hard not to put off doing the job for that day. When you get started it is surprising how quick and easy the job is and how good you feel that it is done.
I don't even look at what tomorrow brings. I don't have to think about it because it is written on the routine.
Sorry the pictures are a bit bad. I have been taking them with the iPad and it doesn't like low light. I will do better next month.

Cheers,
Val

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Third Tuesday of the month and SECRET NUMBER 3

I have been quite lazy the last two weeks. It has been way too hot to get excited about housework. Finally it is down to about 29 Celcius so I got busy and looked up the routine to see what had to be done today.
Third Tuesday is vacuum the downstairs bedrooms and dust upstairs Venetian blinds and clean the windows.
I started about 9:15.
I picked up a few things in the bedroom and put clothes in the washing basket and straightened the bedclothes. It is not clean out the bedroom day so it is not perfect.
Before:

After:

I put the washing on.
Before:

After:

There are only the towels to do now. I will put them in next.
Upstairs there are two rooms with blinds. I dust these then clean these two windows.

I use two sheets of paper towel and fold it over to 1/4 size. The paper and cleaner is from Aldi.

Very little dirt on the windows even though it has been about 6 weeks since I last cleaned them. I clean the window sill at the same time.

I emptied the dishwasher and cleaned up the sink and counters from yesterday and took out the garbage. I only clean the kitchen once in the morning each day.
All done by 10:15.
I still had to hang out the clothes but I just do the washing in between other things I do throughout the day.
Wednesday is a free day since I go to quilt group in the morning. So next day is Thursday.

Secret Number 3
Don't worry about catching up. If you miss an item in the routine just leave it til next month and only do what is listed for that day.

Cheers,
Val

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