New Life Solutions - Housework

Part 1 of New Life Solutions

This right here is what I need in my life attached to Merry Maid contractor.

I told y'all before, I hate to clean. I hate washing dishes, I hate vacuuming, I hate sweeping.  The only thing that I do like to do is: clean the bathroom.  Why?  Because I have a thing about going to public bathrooms and mine has to be clean at all times even if the rest of my house goes straight to shit.  I'm tired of all the mayhem and foolishness (biggup Niecy Nash and Clean House)!

So while I was researching this topic on how to get better organized, to keep an organized home, and be that perfect soccer mom that only exists on television, I came across this site called Organized Home and I do believe that I am officially in love and am going to use as much ink and paper from my job to handle my business as possible. 

Clean House is possibly my favorite home and garden type of show ever.  Niecy and her big girl pills (a phrase that helped MIB take her big girl pills and eliminate her muscle spasms after her surgeries) make my day and give me life.  But, watching her show gave me bittersweet feelings because I long for my house to be organized and clean like the ones they make over and I know that I can get mine that way.  The bitter part of that pill?  My house can look like the before version of some of those folks homes.  It's not THAT bad, but bad enough. 

So YCMs, I needed to make a plan.  I was like "OK, I can't keep doing this.  This is embarrassing and what am I teaching my child about how she should keep house?"  And when I came across Organized Home, and started looking at their printables for organization (not just the cleaning part but home in a whole) I was smitten.  I was ready.  The mayhem and foolishness was about to be deuces (cue Chris Brown). 

The first thing I did was join Organized Home's New Year Grand Plan Cleaning Challenge (GPCC).   It actually started January 3rd, but better late that never.  Basically what this plan does is break down your house based on rooms and gives you a printable checklist for jobs and job owners.  For example, they have master bedroom and bathroom.  Then it's broken down into what needs to be done, who's going to do it, and when the task has been completed.  And instead of having all of these tasks be completed in a day or two (which is what I tended to find from some of the other sites I visited) Organized Home actually tells you to take a week.  Give yourself a day to clean out just your dresser drawer.  Then Tuesday, work on your closet. Thursday, handle under your bed.  Saturday get your ass up early and take those clothes that you sorted on Monday and Tuesday down to the Goodwill or Salvation Army. 

Now everyone might not have a guest room.  Maybe you have a one bedroom apartment.  Or you have a house and no porch.  That's cool.  Just print off the rooms that you need, print off extras if you have several bathrooms, or rename one of the pages (just in case Organized Home didn't happen to mention the one room you need to clean).  Organized Home's particular plan is 14 weeks long, but once again, based on what rooms you do and don't have, your list's completion will be longer or shorter than the given 14 weeks. 

Once I'm done with the GPCC, then comes the hard, daily work hence the New Life Solutions.  I am going to have to maintain the clean that I just worked so hard to create and once again Organized Home saved my ass because they have even MORE printables to help me become the soccer mom of the year.  Organized Home has another section called the Household Notebook and it is perfect, especially for YCMs.  This section tells you what a Household Notebook is, how to make one, possible dividers for your notebook, printables for everyday things, holidays and hobbies. 

I don't do hobbies that require organization so those printables mean nothing to me.  The holidays one, I'll probably make one for my mom because that's her thing.  But the printable notebook for the everyday stuff, yes ma'am.  The everyday notebook stuff includes printables for daily to dos, seasonal chore check lists, weekly menu planners, inventory sheets, first aid check lists, travel checklists, directories (family yellow pages, restaurants, family numbers, etc.), and even dietary trackers (hmm...I can incorporate these into my NLS Diet).  Once I get these printed off (oh and I will, sorry work y'all gonna have to take that loss) and really get things written down and organized; I think my life will go so much more smoothly.  I will have more time for MIB, myself, and other little projects that I have running. 

Eventually, I want to be the super organized YCM that everybody wants to be like and hates at the same time.  I want to look like I have my shit together, a bin for everything, a container for everything and so on.  But, I think I am going to just be happy with being able to have things clean and starting on my road towards organization. 

YCMs - How are you going to use NLSs to get your housework under control?