Yesterday (Monday) was our first day of summer. While we were happy to be home and together . . . it wasn’t exactly fun. In an effort to catch up AND get ahead, I declared it Cleaning Day and we tackled ALL the major cleaning tasks which we usually spread out over a week.
See ALL those scribbles down there at the bottom??
When I sat that’s “usually” how we do it, I’m talking about how we do it in an ideal world, and we hadn’t been living in an ideal world lately.
So it had to be done.
Or nobody would be inviting anybody over this summer.
Anyway, it was NOT a fun day, but Mama feels better. And now, these daily tasks we’re focusing on for the summer will gain more traction.
After all that work, and after Hubby exclaiming about how clean the house looked . . . I still almost justified leaving this:
Right. My natural slobstinct was to justify NOT doing the dishes because “hadn’t I done enough already??”
Don’t worry. I went against every fiber of my being and took the less-than-five-minutes necessary to load the dishwasher and wipe down the table.
So this morning, I got to wake up to a house that actually looks like I spent ALL day yesterday cleaning. If I’d awakened to that picture above, it would have felt like I’d made zero progress yesterday.
Hmmmm . . .
Daily habits. They make or break this whole deslobification thing.
It’s SUMMER!!!
I love this fun and crazy and unscheduled time of year with my kids, but the lack of routine sends my house into chaos!
For the summer, I’m focusing on the four simple habits that will keep (or bring) any home out of Disaster Status.
Here’s how we did:
Do the dishes
Sweep the kitchen
Check bathrooms for clutter
Do a five-minute pick-up
Our extra task for yesterday:
Laundry (every last sock), Dust and Vacuum, Mop, Clean Bathrooms
How did you do today?
Share your own success and failures in the comments!
Don’t forget that you can get your own copy of my Surviving Summer Checklist by subscribing to my email list. You can sign up for daily emails (only sent if I’ve posted something) or weekly summary emails. Plus, you won’t miss a post! Click here to sign up for free.
If you’re completely overwhelmed at even the thought of the four habits listed here, don’t worry! I totally understand! I recommend my books: How to Manage Your Home Without Losing Your Mind and Decluttering at the Speed of Life for a step-by-step guide to getting your home out of Disaster Status.
If it’s your first time at ASlobComesClean.com, welcome! Right now, we’re totally focused on helping our homes survive the gloriously routine-free summer! Regular blogging will resume when school starts in August! Until then, find out what goes on around here the rest of the year by checking out my decluttering strategies (based on WAY too much personal experience) and my free printable checklists. See my advice on getting started.
And if you’re worried about whether you’ll fit in here, read this.
--Nony
WOW! You guys did amazing Nony. Now you can “relax” a bit more and get back to doing fun summer things 🙂
Exactly! Heading to the pool today!
I have adopted your 4 task idea. Must complete 4 before the video games start. It’s amazing how well children will clean when you dangle what they love most in front of them.
Sounds like a great start to summer! I’m working on getting my teens to put their dishes they use in the dishwasher after they use them this summer. So far pretty good.
Barely got my 4 basics done. 2 little dogs and DH underfoot today.
SLOBSTINCT – My new favorite word. I LOVE it! Nony, you may have just introduced a new word to the English language. When I googled it, aslobcomesclean.com was the only result. How long do you think it will take for “slobstinct” to make it into the dictionary?
Hahahaha!! I’ll totally take credit for it!!
That’s some good SEO right there! 🙂
I’ve had approximately twelve hours sleep since I woke up on Saturday, so I’ve gotten exactly nothing done in my house. I have, however, taken my mother for outpatient surgery (and sat in the waiting room until she was ready to go home), gone to visit a sick relative in another city (no, I shouldn’t have been driving), gotten groceries, and made sure supper was ready every night. Hopefully this trend is over and I can tackle some housework later today. Hopefully not until after I sleep for about ten hours. Okay, so six will be good. 🙂
Hope you get some rest!!
We just got back from a week-long trip, so I spent the day on de-slobifying our suitcases. Tomorrow is laundry day, so tonight my toddlers helped me sort the laundry into piles. Apparently, we need to work on learning the colors a little better, but we had a lot of fun getting the clothes ready for tomorrow. The trip is making me feel really behind, but I’m trying to get back on track.
Nony, I know you are having fun at the pool–but I’m drowning. You said something recently about you used to think that housecleaning was a project–and that didn’t work–so you changed your thinking. How did you do that? I need to change my thinking, too, and I don’t know how. I’ve tried just “doing it anway” but white knuckling my daily chores doesn’t last. (Things start looking good again, so I stop working.) Help.
Focusing on these ultra-basic tasks. Doing them no matter what, even when there are only two dishes to wash. It was a long time coming, though, and only changed through many many lightbulb moments over time of focusing on those habits. Have you listened to the podcasts? QUite a few people have said that hearing has helped things sink in better for them.
Thanks Dana! I haven’t heard all of them–and so I listened to two (two!) while I did what you said not to do which is try and clean the kitchen from top to bottom first. However, it took me two podcasts (two! an hour!) just to do some of the dishes, (no dishwasher which makes me feel stupidly sorry for myself), take the obvious bits off the kitchen table and wipe down the stove top. It was so much more enjoyable listening to you as I worked, so thank you!
I will start the four habits ad report back to you as often as you have a post up. Thanks again.
so, June 12
dishes-check
sweep the kitchen floor-check
check bathrooms–check
5 minute whole house declutter–done–though I could do several sessions!
After 2 days, close to the beginning of this Summer, of taking care of a few animals at 2 different houses, while also focusing on packing for our own trip which starts BRIGJT & EARLY the morning after both families get home…
I’m starting to have, oh, this is what Noni talks about when doing so much at once, thoughts! Haha!!
I did sweep the floor. Yay! kids helped take trash to curb & they did the recycling. Dad also had them fold some towels.
I got to say yes to hanging out with friends in the morning, because I’m seemingly on track with packing 👍