Organizing Tips for Thursdays

I thought each day of the week I would dedicate to a certain subject in order to help me keep my thoughts organized as well. So Thursday I will share and confide in you, how to some of you I keep my life and house so well organized, even though I think most times it's not.

First of all if you need daily simple reminders of things that take no more than 20 minutes to complete at a time, I would highly recommend Fly Lady! This is where for almost a year I got a lot of my organizing tips and the ability to realize I don't have to be like my father and keep my home like a model house along with vertical lines in my carpet when I vacuum only to kill the first creature that wanders into that perfect land. Not anymore. I think I have settled for clean but not so clean that you could eat off my floors. There are certain things I still have issues with like crumbs on any surface and dishes in the sink. I hate things being left in the wrong space so when you come to my house you will generally find things in some order.

My first recommendation would be some sort of weekly planner. You decide which rooms you will clean that day or certain tasks you will complete and then, just keep appearances in the room. I also use the landing of my stairs as locators for items that belong upstairs mostly to my kids and I create a pile for each of them. Of course, most days they forget to stop on their way up stairs and gather their stuff up. I have also agreed that their rooms are their space, and I simply ask that they keep it kinda clean. My oldest does an outstanding job at this. As a teenager at 16 almost she keeps her room about as clean as mine.

After you compile a basic schedule for the week, add one thing that has been bugging you to complete, such as that junk drawer that really needs to be updated, or your linen cabinet. My goal is to clean out my downstairs closet under my stairs that is so wierd shaped it's hard to make anything function in there. Right now, besides cleaning supplies, it houses, coats, games, school supplies for our homeschool kids, art supplies, blankets and various sewing supplies. I guess you could call it a "Supply" closet.

The goal with your schedule is to complete those tasks you list, for example, if on Monday you agree to vacuum all your downstairs carpets and dust, then that is all you do. I have cleaning my bathrooms on Wednesday so I save those tasks for that day only.

So today my challenge for you is to create your weekly schedule and stick to it until next Thursday and comment or email me and let me know how it's working. You can also let me know what you want help on organizing or keeping organized. I would love ideas! Until next Thursday, Happy Planning!