A Post by Bridgette

Spring Cleaning

It’s that season again- the weather starts getting nicer and you start feeling that extra life and energy from the promise of warmer days ahead. The sun is shining, the birds are chirping, and it’s the perfect time to air out the house and give it a good spring cleaning.

Some may get the urge to spring clean, and others may dread it. I’m one that gets the itch to clean! One of my favorite things about spring cleaning is that it feels different than “normal” cleaning. Maybe that’s just me, but it’s just a little more fun in the spring. Here are a few ways to make the most of your spring cleaning experience.

Plan Ahead

As Kim’s oldest daughter, I grew up living the home management strategies taught in “Home Management: Plain and Simple.” Having an organized “battle plan” and a list of tasks for each room makes the work go by quickly and so much easier. With a list and a plan, you never have to wonder where to start or what to do next.

As an adult, I don’t have my mom around all the time to make those lists for me anymore. So, if I’m not intentional about making a list or referencing resources such as “Home Management: Plain and Simple,” I end up hopping from room to room and task to task with no rhyme or reason. This causes the work to be done inefficiently, and oftentimes I’d jump from one task to another without completing it. Save yourself this trouble by making and/or using a plan for your cleaning day!

Use the Resources Available to You

Does planning out your spring cleaning day sound… daunting? Don’t know where to start? We’ve got you covered! In the Free Resource Library you will find printable lists for each area of the home.

These lists include daily, weekly, and deep cleaning/spring cleaning tasks for each room. Print these lists and keep an appropriate copy in each room. (In a drawer, taped to the inside of a cupboard door, or someplace easily accessible for reference).

Having a to-do list in each room makes it possible to send an older child, husband, or helpful family member into that room with a ready to use battle plan. This makes delegating tasks that much easier.  

Spread it out

While tackling spring cleaning in one day may sound appealing, it may not be a realistic goal depending on your unique situation.

Between your typical daily demands, distractions, and unforeseeable interruptions; it may be almost impossible to conquer this battle in one day.

For your own sanity and the well being of those near and dear to you, it may be best to spread your spring cleaning over a series of days or weeks. This may be a time when it makes sense to utilize a system such as “The Whole House Overhaul in 6 Weeks.” Or to schedule a few days or a week to focus solely on spring cleaning tasks. Think about your schedule and what works best for your family, and base your plan on that.

Avoiding interruptions

Whether you choose to do your spring cleaning in a day, or spread it over a month. It’s helpful to plan it in a way that you’re able to give it as much focus as possible. Trying to accomplish spring cleaning while distracted or interrupted can be a challenge. Scheduling a dedicated day or planning around other commitments is one way to avoid distractions and work efficiently.

For example: Schedule your spring cleaning on a day that isn’t interrupted by children’s appointments or music lessons. Picking a day that is free and clear of other commitments allows you to focus on the task at hand. 

Save Time in the Kitchen

Another way to give spring cleaning more focus is to cover your bases before you start. Plan ahead for meals and snacks. Perhaps leaving a veggie or fruit tray on the counter for children to “graze” on will save you from being interrupted by snack time. Planning a crock-pot or freezer meal for lunch/supper is a great way to save time and effort in the kitchen too!

Plan ahead for Small Children

Many spring cleaning tasks can be delegated to older children, but what to do with the littles? They typically want to be in the middle of all the “fun” and hang out where all the activity is happening. While it may be fun to let toddlers “help” for a while, here are a few ideas to keep them occupied for when you really want to focus on the job at hand. 

Spring cleaning day may be a time to set up a special activity (distraction) for the youngest children.  Or it may make sense to put an older child in charge of occupying the younger ones for the day. Another idea would be to allow the little ones spend the day/afternoon with grandma or another family member/friend. Plan ahead for how to manage the younger children so you can achieve your spring cleaning goals. Think about your family and what works best for you, and base your plan off of that.

Set the Mood for Spring Cleaning

Setting the mood for the day and being intentional about creating a positive experience changes spring cleaning from another big project, to a fun and enjoyable day of work.

Putting on some happy and upbeat music, a podcast, or an audio book helps to set the mood for the day. Maybe light a few of your favorite scented candles too! Make yourself a fun smoothie or drink to take with you as you go, or bring along a water bottle (does cleaning make anyone else thirsty or is that just me?!)

One of my favorite ways to set the mood for Spring Cleaning is to start by opening all the windows and letting that fresh air into the house. Airing out the house helps to bring that energetic springy feeling into the home to help carry you through your spring cleaning tasks.

You’ve got this!

You’ve planned ahead, prepared your crockpot dinner, thrown open the windows, and set the mood for the day. All you’ve got left to do is jump in and knock out spring cleaning, step by step.

Head to the Resource Library to access printable cleaning to-do lists for each room of the home, lets get to it!

Home Management: Plain and Simple

If you have dirty dishes, laundry, and a home to keep clean; have I got the book for you!

This book is for ANY kind of home manager. Whether you have kids, no kids, large family, small family, homeschool, or don’t homeschool. If you have a home and want to learn how to manage your tasks better- this book is packed full of the skills, tips, and hacks you need. Get it here.

The post How to Make the Most of Spring Cleaning appeared first on Home Plain and Simple.

Welcome to Week 6 of the Whole House Overhaul! This week, we’re going to focus on the Toy Room, Schoolroom (if you homeschool), and bookshelves of your home.  If you missed Week 1 through 5 of the Whole House Overhaul in 6 Weeks, read them here.

Clean and Organize the Toys

Depending on your situation you may have a designated toy room, play area, or basement. Or perhaps your toys are in the living areas of the home.  Whatever your situation, this is the week to sort through, organize and clean the toy areas of your home. Depending on your unique situation, you may have taken care of these areas at other points in the 6 Week Overhaul.  If not, it’s time to do it now.

Clean and Organize the Homeschool Room

Homeschoolers, this is the week to organize and clean the schoolroom.  Inevitably there are books, programs, or activities that you are finished with and it may be time to pass them on. Sort through as you organize, setting aside items you no longer use.  Also, organize your arts and crafts supplies this week.

Clean and Organize the Bookshelves

This is also the week to sort through your books and organize them like a library.  There are handy stickers you can find online to put on the spines to organize your books in whichever way works best for your family.  The goal is to be able to find what you need- not just you, but any person in your family should be able to find what they’re looking for.  There are many ways to organize your books. I’ve heard that some decorators organize books by color; while that method may look good in photos, I personally wouldn’t appreciate that type of organization for my books.

Getting Started

As with the other weeks in the Whole House Overhaul, we’re going to add these extra deep cleaning and organizing tasks to the normal weekly cleaning.

We’re going to work top to bottom and left to right- cleaning in an orderly method to help stay focused and on-track.

Collect the trash and take out.  Remove anything that doesn’t belong in the Toy Room, Schoolroom, or on your Bookshelves and put it in its rightful place.  If something does not have a designated place then assign one.

Lets Clean!

It’s time to deep clean the Toy Room, Schoolroom, and Bookshelves.

Start with catching cobwebs.  

Next, clean the light fixtures and change any burnt out bulbs.  

Dust the walls, baseboards and doors.

Clean the windows, curtains, and blinds.

Clear off the tops of all flat surfaces.  

Sort through and organize any  cupboards, drawers, tubs, baskets, boxes, carts, and other containers. Then arrange items neatly.  

Clean out any closets and arrange appropriately.

Dust shelves and arrange items/books in a logical way. A few examples of how to sort books are:

• Eras in history
• Biographies
• Science by topic
• Children’s
• Youth
• Adult

Vacuum the furniture, pillows, cushions and fabric of upholstery.  Remove stains. Wipe any leather furniture with a damp cloth or leather cleaner.

Vacuum the floor, then move the furniture and vacuum underneath.  Use an edge attachment on your vacuum to clean the edges of the carpet.

Rearrange if you need to, want to, or discover a better layout.  A fresh look in a room is inspiring!

Look around for anything that would make the room or area more usable, and make a list of shopping items.

You’ve got this!

By following these simple steps, your toy room, schoolroom, and bookshelves can get the reboot they need. You and your family can enjoy a clean and organized space to play and learn in, and your bookshelves will become a more efficient space too.

To help you along with this journey, I’ve created a Week 6 Checklist in the resource library. 

If you’ve enjoyed the Whole House Overhaul in 6 Weeks, you’ll love the home management techniques in the book! Home Management: Plain and Simple is a book written just for moms and homemakers like you. In it, you’ll find home management solutions applicable to your unique situation. Get the book here!

The post Whole House Overhaul in 6 Weeks: Week 6 appeared first on Home Plain and Simple.

Say hello to Week 5 of the Whole House Overhaul! This week we’re going to focus on bedrooms.  If you’re just joining us, or missed Week 1 through 4 of the Whole House Overhaul in 6 Weeks, catch up here.  

Bedrooms

Bedrooms can be a tricky area. They are a personal space, depending on the personality and age of the occupant/s.  Children of different ages may want to do the cleaning on their own, some may not care at all, and some will need help.  Consider these factors before you begin. It may be helpful to give each person that is helping with this project a list of cleaning tasks. You can find a list of cleaning tasks for the bedroom in the Free Resource Library.  

Getting Started

This week we’re adding extra deep cleaning and organizing in the bedroom to the normal weekly cleaning, as part of the Whole House Overhaul in 6 Weeks.

We’re going to work top to bottom and left to right. Cleaning in this orderly method helps to keep focused.

Collect any trash and remove, then remove anything that doesn’t belong in the bedrooms and put it in its rightful place.  If something does not have a designated place then assign one.

Next, it’s time to deep clean the bedrooms.

Step-by-step

• Start with catching cobwebs.  
• Next, clean the light fixtures and change the burned out bulbs.  
• Dust the walls, baseboards and doors.
• Wash the windows, curtains, blinds.
• Clear off the tops of all flat surfaces.  
• Sort through the dressers and arrange items neatly.  
• Clean out the closet and arrange appropriately.
• Dust and organize shelves and arrange items in a pleasing way.
• Vacuum the mattress, pillows, cushions and fabric of upholstery.  Remove stains.
• Vacuum the floor.  Move the furniture and bed to vacuum underneath. Use an edge attachment to vacuum around the edges of the room.
• Rearrange the room if you need to, want to, or discover a better layout.
• Look around for anything that would make the room more usable and make a list of shopping items.  

You’ve got this!

By following these steps you can give the bedrooms in your home the reboot they need! By making the bedroom a clean and organized room you will be able to enjoy the space, and have a more relaxing atmosphere for sleep. To make this task easier for you, I’ve created a checklist in the resource library.

For more home management solutions, check out the book. Home Management: Plain and Simple, is a book written for women just like you! In it, you will find the tips and hacks you need to better manage your home management situation. Get the book here.

The post Whole House Overhaul in 6 Weeks: Week 5 appeared first on Home Plain and Simple.

Welcome to Week 4 of the Whole House Overhaul! This week, we’re going to focus on the entry areas of our homes.  If you’re just joining us for the Whole House Overhaul in 6 Weeks, skip back a bit and catch up with: Week 1, Week 2, and Week 3!

The entry areas of the home easily become a catch-all place where your family dumps their belongings as they walk in the door, then leaving their shoes haphazardly strewn about.  It can be a very frustrating place where family members- especially the younger ones may trip and get hurt. This week we’re going to add extra deep cleaning and organizing to normal weekly cleaning as part of the Whole House Overhaul in 6 Weeks.

We’re going to work top to bottom and left to right. Cleaning in an orderly method helps to keep oneself focused and on track.

Getting Started:

Start by collecting the trash and removing it from the entryway.  Remove anything that doesn’t belong in the entry and put it in its rightful place.  This task can be very frustrating, take lots of deep breaths and put on some happy music. Light a candle or put on some essential oils for atmosphere and then say a prayer.  When you come across an item that does not have a designated “home” then assign a place for it.

Now it’s time to deep clean the entries.

Deep Clean the Entryways:

• Start with catching cobwebs.  
• Next, clean the lights and change any dead lightbulbs.  
• Wipe the walls, baseboards and doors.
• Wash the windows, curtains, and blinds.
• Clear off and dust the tops of all flat surfaces.  
• Clean out and organize cupboards, drawers, and baskets.  
• Dust shelves and arrange items in a pleasing way.
• Sweep and mop.
• Wash any throw rugs.

Outdoors:

• Check out the outdoor area around the entryways.
• Moving left to right and top to bottom, sweep and organize the area around the entry.
• Remove items that don’t belong, and put them away.

Make the entryway a pleasing and efficient area:

Look around for ways to make your entryways more usable. Maybe you could use shoe shelves, wall shelves, or cubbies?  Get on Pinterest for ideas and inspiration then add needed items to your shopping list.

That’s it!

By following these simple steps, you can enjoy a clean and organized entryway! I can’t speak for everyone, but in my opinion it’s 10x more relaxing to come home into a clean and functional entryway. Let’s get to it this week! By sticking through this week of the Whole House Overhaul, you can achieve the entryway you want. To make this week as simple as possible, I’ve made a checklist for week 4- entryways in the Resource Library! Check it out here.

For more home management solutions, check out the book: “Home Management: Plain and Simple.” This book was written for busy homemakers just like you! Get the book here for tips and tricks to help you along on your home management journey.

The post Whole House Overhaul in 6 Weeks: Week 4 appeared first on Home Plain and Simple.

For Week 3 of the Whole House Overhaul, we’re focusing on the living areas! Living areas include parts of your home such as: the Living Room, Family Room, or whatever area of the home your family spends the most time. If you missed the beginning of the Whole House Overhaul in 6 Weeks, catch up by reading Week 1 and Week 2!  

Living Area

The living areas of the home tend to get messy- fast!  Games, books, magazines, toys, socks, schoolwork, and just any sort of randomness- the kind that makes me shake my head.  This week, we’re going to add extra deep cleaning and organizing to your normal weekly cleaning schedule as part of the Whole House Overhaul in 6 Weeks.

We’re going to work top to bottom and left to right. Cleaning in an orderly method helps to keep yourself focused and on-track.

Step by Step:

• Collect the trash and remove, then remove anything that doesn’t belong in the living areas and put it in its rightful place.  I like to use a laundry basket for gathering the items to put away, and then have family members pick out items that belong to them and put it away. Or, I will carry the basket around the house putting things away.  If something does not have a designated place, then assign one.
• Next, it’s time to deep clean the living areas.
• Start at the top of the rooms with catching cobwebs.  Next, dust and wipe the light fixtures and change any burned out bulbs.  
• Dust the walls, baseboards and doors.
• Wash the windows, curtains, and blinds.
• Clear off the tops of all flat surfaces.  
• Dust electronics.
• Sort through and clean out cupboards, drawers, and baskets.  
• Clean shelves and arrange items in a pleasing way.
• Clean the furniture: remove items and wipe.  Vacuum the cushions and fabric of upholstery, remove stains. Wipe and use leather cleaner on leather furniture.
• Vacuum the floor, moving furniture to vacuum underneath.  Vacuum the edges of the carpet.
• Look around the room and think, is there anything that would make the room more usable? Make a list of shopping items.  

You’ve got this!

The living areas of the home are some of the most used areas! Having a clean and organized living area makes for an enjoyable and fun place for the family to spend time together. By following these simple steps, you can enjoy a clean and organized living area! To make this easier for you, I’ve created a checklist in the Resource Library.

To learn more about how to improve your homemaking journey, get the book! “Home Management: Plain and Simple” is a book written for moms, wives, and homemakers of all types- to help you along your way and teach you all sorts of tips and hacks for your unique home management situation. Get the book here!

The post Whole House Overhaul in 6 Weeks: Week 3 appeared first on Home Plain and Simple.

In this post, we cover Week 2 of the Whole House Overhaul- focusing on bathrooms!  If you missed Week 1 of the Whole House Overhaul in 6 Weeks, read it here.  

Bathrooms

As most of us know, bathrooms get dirty fast.  Everyone’s bathrooms get dirty- doesn’t matter who you are or how many people live in your home.  No further comments necessary! The bottom line is that bathrooms must be cleaned regularly to keep them from getting disgusting.  This week, we’re going to really dig into the bathroom- getting to that extra deep cleaning and organizing as part of the Whole House Overhaul in 6 Weeks.

We’re going to work efficiently- top to bottom and left to right, and get all the bathrooms at once. So, if you’re cleaning the lights, clean the lights in all bathrooms at one time.  If you’re washing walls, do the walls in all the bathrooms at one time.

Let’s get Started!

First, collect all trash and remove.  Next, pick up! Remove anything that doesn’t belong in the bathroom and put it in its rightful place.  Then take any dirty laundry to the laundry room. Now get out your cleaning supplies and lets get started!

Bathroom Overhaul

Start at the top of the room with catching cobwebs from the ceiling and corners.  Next, clean the lights and change any dead light bulbs. Then wash the walls and doors (pro-tip: next time you paint the bathrooms, use a high gloss paint for easier cleaning).

Step by Step:

• Brighten up the bathroom by wiping all mirrors.
• Next, clean the windows and curtains or blinds.
• Scrub each tub/shower and surround- wipe down and clean.  Declutter the area by throwing out old product bottles.  If you have children’s bath toys in your house, collect them in a storage basket to organize them neatly.
• Clear off the tops of all vanities/sinks and dispose of or store anything not in current use.  Clean the vanities, sinks and faucets.
• Sort through and clean out cupboards and drawers.  Then dispose of old products, organizing items “like with like.”  Clean the cupboards and drawers.
• Clean out and organize towel closets and cupboards.  Take inventory of needs and add them to your Town Day list.  Clean/dust the shelves and doors.
• Wipe the toilets top to bottom.  Extra disgusting or stinky toilets can be more thoroughly cleaned by removing the toilet seat from the toilet. This will allow you to get into the nooks and crannies with cleaning solution before putting the toilet seat back.  If you’re really brave, a pumice stone can be used to scrub hard water and rust stains inside the toilet bowl. No cleaner works better than a pair of rubber gloves and some elbow grease!
• Last, sweep and mop the floor.  Look around for ways to make the room more usable- do you need more towel hooks or a laundry hamper?

You’ve got this!

By following these simple steps, you can give your bathroom the reboot it needs. There’s nothing more relaxing at the end of a long day than a steamy shower in a clean and organized bathroom. To help you out with this week’s bathroom overhaul, I’ve created a checklist in the Resource Library!

For even more home management tips and tricks, check out “Home Management: Plain & Simple” the book written for busy homemakers just like you! Get the book here.

The post Whole House Overhaul in 6 Weeks: WEEK 2 appeared first on Home Plain and Simple.

Sometimes, I step back and realize that life and it’s messes have caught up with me again. The mess is overwhelming and the damage seems irreparable- I may as well torch the house. The home needs a complete reboot- an overhaul. Instead of torching the house and giving up on the mess- I’ve created a 6 week whole house overhaul. Join me on this journey as I spend 6 weeks hitting the “reset button” in each area of the home!

In this overhaul, we’re going to work on organizing, decluttering, and cleaning one part of the house at a time.  To make this a more manageable undertaking, we’ll break it into sections and when it seems pertinent- into detailed tasks.  You’ll find checklists to help along the way in the Resource Library.

I need an overhaul just as much as the next person.  The past few years in our family’s life have been very busy and disruptive to say the least.  Life has been fun, but all the changes we’ve experienced made for some messy times. I’ve found that messy on the outside translates to messy on the inside. Living in a mess, causes my stress levels to rise.  One way I manage stress is to keep the physical part of life in order. Having a place for things, labeling the place if needed, and teaching the family where the object goes- is an essential part of keeping the physical mess (and stress) to a minimum.

Planning your overhaul:

Planning when to do the overhaul depends on your unique daily life.  You may need to schedule a day to take on some of these jobs, or perhaps some of these tasks could fit into your daily routines. A few examples of how to fit an overhaul into your daily routine are: while prepping a meal, take ten minutes to clean out one drawer or cupboard; or wash the windows in the living room while watching a movie with your family in the evening. Organize bookshelves or toys while you’re homeschooling or playing with your little children; or organize a bathroom drawer or cupboard each time you are in the bathroom.  Little bits of progress done throughout daily life is just as valuable as devoting a whole day or week to a big project. Both ways of doing an organizing and cleaning project work, and there is a time and place for working both ways in our lives. What works in this stage of life may not work in a different stage.

Week 1: Kitchen and Dining Room

The last couple of years have been busy and disruptive in my life, the kitchen typically takes the brunt of that.  While I’ve found that taking care of one little problem at a time is very helpful, it’s also good to have a dedicated time to focus on a reboot of the space. We’re going to spend one week focusing on cleaning and organizing the kitchen and dining room.  These rooms get the most use in the whole house, along with the bathrooms. Food is an essential and unavoidable part of life, and the kitchen is where that unavoidable mess happens. The kitchen gets messy, dirty, and unorganized in the blink of an eye.

Kitchen Cupboards and Drawers

Starting to the right, and moving left through your kitchen. Go through one cupboard or drawer at a time, emptying the contents. Only keep what is necessary, and put the rest in a box for the thrift store or into the trash. Then clean the cupboards and drawers- inside and out.  

After cleaning the cupboard/drawer, put your “keep” items back- unless there is a better place for them. Try to keep organization and efficiency in mind when putting things away. You may want to hold back certain items to be transferred into a different location.  Keep “like with like” when organizing your cupboards! I find it helpful to keep all the glasses in one place near the sink, the coffee cups in a cupboard near the coffee maker, knives in the knife drawer etc..  

We’ve got one week dedicated to this task, so let’s break it down into doable portions.  Perhaps, clean out one drawer or cupboard per meal time. Or devote one afternoon to the cupboards and drawers. Put on some happy music and lets get to it!  

Kitchen Pantry

Tackling your pantry one shelf at a time, remove shelf contents and check expiration dates.  Throw out the old/expired items and donate the ones that you won’t ever use. Wipe the shelf and place your items back, putting “like with like.”  Clean out the cobwebs at the top of your pantry and sweep the floor. This task is another one that you can break into parts- adding to chores at a mealtime, do it while you’re baking something in the oven, or do it all at once in an afternoon.  

Kitchen Counters

Start right to left with your counter space, removing items and wiping the countertops.  If your counters are cluttered, consider whether the item is better stored elsewhere and do something about it.  Find a new home for the counter clutter.

Sink

Wipe your sink and faucets, making them shine.  I prefer the powdered Bar Keeper’s Friend for removing stains and marks in the sinks. It’s the best cleaning product for that in my honest opinion. Make a new habit by cleaning the sink, faucets, and backsplash every time that you wash dishes.

Dishwasher

The dishwasher can get gunky around its seals- which doesn’t take much to clean off, but it’s a disgusting job.  Get up some gumption and grab the paper towels. Spray it down with a good cleaner, and let it soak a bit before wiping it all off.

All of these tasks can be done one part a time tacked on with meal chores, or by devoting part of a day to doing them. Work through them in a way that makes the most sense for you and your unique schedule.

Refrigerator

The refrigerator is a job that can be easy if it’s cleaned frequently, or a big job if it’s been awhile.  Just like we’ve been doing, clean one shelf at a time. Remove the items, disposing of the out-of-date items, clean the walls and shelf, then replace the items.  Put “like with like” as you organize your refrigerator. Wipe the outside of the refrigerator. If you can, pull the refrigerator out from the wall to clean behind and under it.

Stove

Start by cleaning the outside of the stove top to bottom.  I find it helpful to use a vacuum to suck up excess crumbs from the stovetop before scrubbing if it’s especially messy (yes, my stove gets that dirty- I’m human too!). For messes that have dried and hardened onto the stove, put water on it and let it soak for a bit before scrubbing. Reference the instructions in your oven manual for cleaning the interior.

Table, Chairs, & Bar stools

Top to bottom, give your table a good scrubbing.  Then wipe down each chair and bar stool. If there are screws loose, tighten them.  If a chair is broken, repair or throw it out before it causes someone to be injured.  

Walls

The next step to a clean kitchen is to clean the walls and doors.  You can use a long handled tool to dust, or perhaps you need to use a ladder and scrub with a damp cloth.  It depends on how dirty your kitchen walls and doors are. Next, clean the door handles and light switches. One hack to make wall cleaning easier if you have young children, is to use high gloss paint when/if you paint your kitchen!

Windows

The window above the sink is usually dirty from water splatters. Even if you don’t wash any other windows this time, do the sink window.  Scrub the tracks and interior parts of the window sash, then wash the glass inside and out. Wash the window screen either outdoors or in the shower.  Wipe the window sill. Depending on how many windows you have, washing them all can be a big job. You might decide it’s best to take a half-day or weekend to tackle the windows.  Alternatively, depending on your budget you could hire a window cleaning company to do your whole house once or twice a year.

Lights

To really spruce up the area, clean the lights in your kitchen and replace burnt out bulbs. Then, spend a few minutes sweeping cobwebs from the ceiling and corners of the room.

Floors

Sweep and mop the floors.  If your floors are especially dirty, use the two bucket method.  One bucket for soapy water and the other bucket for clean water. Rinse the dirty rag or mop in the clean water bucket and load up with soapy water for the next section of floor.  When your clean water bucket gets dirty, dump it out and restart with clean water. This keeps your soapy bucket from getting dirty too soon and makes for a better cleaning of the floor.

You’ve got this!

By following these steps, you can successfully overhaul your kitchen and dining room. A clean and organized space makes for a better work environment in your kitchen and a more enjoyable dining experience!

To help you along with your kitchen overhaul, I’ve created a Kitchen and Dining Room Cleaning Checklist that you can find in the free resource library! You can find even more life changing cleaning and organization tips in my book “Home Management: Plain and Simple.” To get the book, click here.

The post Whole House Overhaul in 6 Weeks- Week 1 appeared first on Home Plain and Simple.

Simple steps to start a Cleaning Day in your week and five reasons why you should. Cleaning is a necessary and unavoidable chore. Living in a clean home makes life enjoyable.  We can’t relax or have fun when things are dirty.  I’ve written a lot about Cleaning Day (and Deep Cleaning) in Home Management, Plain and Simple, this is the quick version.

Five Reasons for Cleaning Day

• Living in a clean home makes life pleasant.  Cleaning Day is something to do every week so that the dirt doesn’t pile up.  Cleaning Day is not a project day that is done when you can’t take the dirt anymore. It is most effective as a regular occurrence.  Cleaning Day is when you take care of things that get dirty and put off a smell and unpleasant texture. Things such as: dirty floors underfoot, dirty tables and counters, dirty bathrooms, and dirty sinks.

• A Cleaning Day will bring peace to your week.  When you have a plan for your cleaning, you’re prepared ahead of time and you’re ready to do the work. You have your lists ready, and your supplies on hand.  Your favorite music keeps you moving, and you finish it off with your favorite candle or essential oils diffusing.

• Free Time: you are ready for friends and family or an enjoyable weekend alone with books. When you have freed up time in life by keeping things consistently clean, you are prepared for anything.

• You can redecorate or change your furniture around because the regular cleaning is complete.  Because your home is clean you can have fun being creative with your decor. 

• You save time because it’s fast and easy to clean something that is hardly dirty at all.  When the dirt piles up it takes more effort and cleaning product to get rid of the dirt. But when these tasks are done weekly, they are easily manageable.

Simple Steps to Start

• Check your family’s calendar: choose a day of the week and time of day that makes sense for your family to have Cleaning Day.  This day ought to be a group effort by all the persons who live in the house, even little children can help “clean” with a wet cleaning cloth.
• Make Cleaning Day fun: play upbeat music, having cleaning races, and rewards. Maybe you are cleaning alone? Treat yourself with something fun when you’re done!
• Create a list for each room: list chores to do every day, every week, and every quarter.  Cleaning Day is the day of the week to tackle the bigger jobs on the list.
• Organize your cleaning supplies: and have them handy.  Restock your supply.
• Cleaning Day is essential for the good life! Each week that you have Cleaning Day the faster you and your family will get at cleaning.  The chore lists for each room will become automatic.
• Get a Worksheet for Cleaning Day in the Free Resource Library.

The post Five Reasons for Cleaning Day appeared first on Home Plain and Simple.

I don’t have all the answers for you and your specific life, but I’ll offer up some ideas I’ve found helpful that might be applicable to your life.

Teach Your Children to be Independent in their Homeschooling

Let your child fail forward. No matter if your child is a two-year-old or a twelve-year-old. They will want to try things, and if you’re in their way, you’re holding them back. Yes, stop them from stepping too close to a cliff, but let the child explore and challenge their skills. By trying new things and testing their limits they learn to overcome obstacles, fear, and develop a can-do attitude.

Be the encourager. You’re the cheerleader. Listen to the words that come out of your mouth when speaking to your children and give thought to how the child hears those words and your tone. If you’re afraid that your child will fail or get hurt, they’ll catch on to that emotion.  A positive attitude will let your child know that you believe in him. Don’t be the reason your child holds back. Teach your child to embrace and press through challenges.

Imagine Independence

When your child holds back from a challenge ask him, “Why not?” Encourage him to think of the good things that will happen by overcoming the challenge, or even the worst-case scenarios and about how he would address those instances.

Ask him “What if…?” and think through scenarios and even do role-playing. What’s the worst thing that can happen? Usually it’s something to just laugh about. Teach him it’s through mistakes that we learn.

If he gets stuck with schoolwork, remind him to look back in the book to remember how to do a skill. Encourage him to “Look it up” or “Let’s look it up together.” Don’t do things for him, but give him hints and encourage him in his focusing skills. Remind him to reread the directions.

Trust Independence

Trust that your child will do his schoolwork and chores without you hanging over him. He won’t be able to develop independence if you’re hovering. He’ll let you down. Accept it. There’s learning in that. Create a consequence for not doing his work. Rebuild the trust. Don’t compare him with his siblings, each person is an individual and works differently. Allow each one to develop his own way of learning and doing things. We like to think that our personal way is the best, when it’s not necessarily so. Allow each person to have their strengths and weaknesses and help them to identify them and work from that place.

Say “Yes.” So many times it’s easier for us to automatically say no when a child asks permission to do something. Creativity, imagination, and living outside the box comes with freedom. Let your children explore, and then work together to clean the messes that inevitably occur.

The Reward of Independent Children

You can walk away from children who are independent and change the laundry loads, brown the meat, change the baby’s diaper, or pick tomatoes in the garden. Reality Check: they may or may not have been completely focused on their work while you stepped out of the room. Be prepared for that scenario and talk with them about trust, goals, respecting others, or whatever the situation calls for. You’re teaching them life-skills in these things.

How to homeschool multiple ages at once? Table Time

Homeschoolers call it a variety of things, I’ve heard Circle Time, Morning Time, we called it Table Time. Table Time for our family was when we gathered together and did certain homeschool activities as a group. Particularly Bible, history and science. Afterwards, the children did their individual schoolwork. Over the years of doing Table Time, we added activities and took some away depending on our interests and things we were studying. Different seasons of life affected how much time we took for Table Time. The beauty in it is that you get to tailor it to your unique family and situation.

Table Time is a distraction free time

Nobody is to jump up and leave because they forgot (fill in the blank), including myself. Of course… babies and toddlers. Be prepared with things they can do during Table Time. When I had babies and toddlers, I prepared specific tubs of activities that they could play with only during Table Time. We did the same thing during Read Aloud Time. By keeping specific activities for special times, they were special and enjoyable for that reason.

After Table Time, a person may leave to do the thing they remembered, do their reading in their favorite reading chair, or stay at the table to do language arts for example. After Table Time, I can leave to change laundry loads or put a chicken in the oven, or gather my bill paying supplies to take to the table and work on while the children still at the table do their schoolwork.

Some years we did science or history projects in the afternoon while the littlest ones napped.  I did home management tasks before or after these project times.  This is how you incorporate home management into homeschooling.  Tack a task on the beginning or the ending of an all-together activity.  Write down a routine for these set times.

Phonics Time in Your Homeschool Day: How to Teach a Child to Read

Assign a certain time of day to teach reading to your non-reader. Be consistent.

This is the time of day when you must sit down with a child. No options. Put a reminder in your phone. No interruptions. Plan what the other distractible children in the house are doing during this time. Commit to it. Do a certain amount of phonics or reading practice with your child. Use a timer.

Make it enjoyable. If the child doesn’t enjoy the readers you are using, find another story series. Your child may get stuck and need time for brain development, it’s OK. Instead of the child trying to read to you, you choose an easy reader and read to him. Move your finger left-to-right under the words so that he understands the direction his eyes should move when he is reading.

Again, do a home management task before and after this activity.  Keep a list of tasks you want to accomplish on a specific day and do those tasks as you move through the day.

How to Set Up Your Homeschool?

Having productive homeschool times is how we move forward efficiently effectively and can do the other activities of life. Sort your homeschool items by subject or person, whatever the situation calls for, and keep them organized in baskets, tubs, or on a shelf. Keep these baskets, tubs, or shelves near your homeschool area. Everything should be easy to grab, do, and then put away in its assigned place.  Efficient movement keeps you and your family moving smoothly.

Have a set place for Table Time, Phonics Time, and Read Aloud Time. It shouldn’t take ten minutes to prepare for a school event. Have what you need in a basket or on a shelf right at the place that you’re going to be working at. Avoid the friction that clutter causes.  You want to be able to call your people to the location and do the activity. When your family is finished, put everything back into the basket, tub, or on the shelf. Everything has a place, everything in its place.

If you have a designated place for certain activities and have the necessary supplies nearby you can move more efficiently and have a more effective homeschool. Then you can move on to the next thing, for your children it will be Chores, Free Time or Play Time and for you it will be the home management work, your hobby, or your work-at-home career.

Workbooks to help you think through your homeschool days and your home management work are located in the Free Resource Library.

Being deliberate with home management work, being prepared and getting your team together make our efforts more effective.

How to Be Deliberate in Your Home Management Work

When you do a task, just do it. Distractions will come, take care of it quickly, but let the distraction go and carry on with the original task that you were doing. You might need to go back to your To Do list or your Home Management Book to get refocused. That is the beauty of the Home Management Book.

Tell the family that at a certain time, chores are going to occur and all people are expected to participate. At the pre-arranged time, gather together, put on the music, set the timer and go.

How to Be Prepared for Home Management Work

Make an action item list for each room. Be ready with the supplies needed to clean a room. Create a chore closet or cupboard with the necessary supplies in a basket or tub for each assigned room.

Distribute the necessary room supplies to the person with the action list for the particular room. Perhaps it’s not a written list but a picture list. Take a picture of the room when it’s clean and put that with the action list and let the person know that their job is to make the room look like the picture.

How to Assign Rooms to the Home Management Team

Whether you are a team of one or two or five or eight, assign each team member an area of the house.  Each team member is responsible for that area of the house. Be appropriate for the age and ability of the team member. Be appropriate for how often a room needs cleaned at your house. A front entry may need cleaned once a week but the kitchen floor needs swept twice a day. Each house and lifestyle is different so be thoughtful about how you live in your house and assign tasks to the level of cleanliness you desire in each specific area.

Have Fun With Your Life

Don’t make a clean house your idol. I’ve been with families that looked like they didn’t truly live in their homes and the children behaved as if they didn’t truly live. It seemed that they weren’t allowed to and when they did get to have fun it was painful for the mom. I’m sad for them. I love clean and organized. I think it makes life so much more enjoyable and allows us to be creative when there is a clean slate to get inspired in. Take that clean area and have a good time in it. Then clean up your mess. It will be OK.

Playtime

This is the time of day when your children just go and be children. Be wild and free outdoors. Be creative. Go play hard, run, jump, climb. Play a game. Go with your children or set them free in you predesignated limits of space.

Free Time

Free Time is what an individual child can do when he is done with his schoolwork and chores. We have a saying at our house, “We work before we play”. If I see someone doing Free Time activities before they should be then I follow up with that person. We aren’t perfect people at my house and we all tend to want to do a fun thing before work. It takes the effort of everyone in the family to devote the first part of the day to getting the work finished. We work before we play.

Recess

This is a timed interruption we will take during the school day to burn off the physical energy. It might be planned or somebody might be told, “Go run around the house five times”. We also use the Pomodoro technique of focused work for 25 minutes and then a five-minute break. Use the break to run to the bathroom, change the laundry loads, stare out the window, get a drink and cheese stick, etc.

You can do it!  Home management and homeschooling can work together with planning and moving through the days deliberately.

Go get these two workbooks in the Free Resource Library.  They will help you think through how you’re doing things in your house and help you identify what you can do to make your best days even better.

The post How to Homeschool and Manage the Home: Homeschool, Keep the House Clean, and Still Have Fun! appeared first on Home Plain and Simple.

This is Part One of the Series How to Manage Your Home and Homeschool Simultaneously

It’s easy to get busy and get scatterbrained about our home management work.  I clearly remember chaotic days when it was all I could do to make sure that everyone had food, water, and sleep!  The basics of housekeeping were clean floors, clean bathrooms, and clean dishes—and that accomplishment was a very real challenge!

Boundaries for Home Management Tasks

Assigning days of the week to my home management work was a gamechanger for me.  It eliminated the overwhelming feeling of being surrounded by never-ending tasks.  Mentally, I could look at a pile of laundry and tell myself that I would do all the laundry on the day that I assigned to laundry.  Today, I will do one load and it will be a priority load.

That boundary that I created brought relief.  I did this for every area of home management.  On the assigned days, I set aside a block of time to work on the tasks for that day and as my children grew older we worked as a team.

Generally, my days are Laundry Day, Office Day, Kitchen Day, Town Day, Cleaning Day, Gardening Day.  Your days might look a little bit different.

There was a season when we had an assigned Sewing Day because my girls and I greatly enjoyed that.  I put Office Day with Town Day because I could drop off some kids at piano lessons and pay bills at a picnic table at the park while the rest of the kids played.

We are all unique, with different homes, one-of-a-kind families, there are different times of life that affect our homes, and we must create what works for us.  Take the idea of assigning your specific work to a day of the week, put your focus on the specified tasks for that day and then let it go for until next week.

Don’t do other home management tasks on the assigned day

When I assigned a day for a specific work, such as grocery shopping or cleaning, then I did my best to not do the work from other assigned days.  These boundaries meant that I could focus and do better work in the area that I was focusing on.  I wasn’t scatter-brained trying to do many things at once and not doing anything well.

By assigning the work to specific days I knew that the work would get done eventually.  The house cleaning had a day and I could let things go in the meantime, knowing that the work would get done on its specific assigned day.  On Cleaning Day we give the house a reset point.

When we try to do a little bit of everything throughout the day we act in a disjointed manner and nothing truly gets to a “done” place.  Of course, nothing in the home ever stays “done”.

But we can:

• give it a new starting place
• get a sense of accomplishment
• mentally let go of it until the next time

Stop Working

Boundaries are stopping places.  By doing a work to a certain place and stopping we gain freedom.  Freedom from the pressure of undone work.  Freedom from mental overwhelm.  Freedom from guilty pressure.

We gain freedom to take time to play with our children, to do hobbies, to have a side-job.  Fact: the work of home never stops. You must choose to start and stop the assigned work for the day and do a fun thing.

People wear clothes that get dirty, eat food that needs made, dishes that need washed, floors get dirty because people walk on them, children never stop learning their gross-motor skills and they will make messes along the way… make a boundary for yourself and your family so that you can stop working and have fun times.

Assign a time of the day for the home management work

I am not going to tell you to plan every half-hour of your day for each person but it certainly helps to have some routines and hard-stops during the day.  I created routines for myself, for my babies, for my preschoolers, and for my school-age children.  These times gave everyone direction for getting their work accomplished and when they had free time.

Create a strong evening routine to set up a great morning.  A morning routine that gives everyone in the house a good start to the day sets up a productive morning of schoolwork.  Meals at set times help create circadian rhythms for the family’s sleep schedules, this helps for bedtime and naptime routines.

Assigning a time of day, or times during the day, for the home management work means that we get focused time on work and we don’t have to live in a mess.

What about laundry?!

I have a large family and we live on a farm.  With livestock.  That’s a lot of very dirty clothes, to state the obvious.  For a lot of years, I assigned a certain number of loads per day and on my assigned Laundry Day I played catch-up and cleaned the laundry room.

Because I had babies that got me up early, I got an early start to my days.  My laundry mantra was “4 loads by Noon”.  In later years, it became “4 loads by 4”.  These days, a lot of my family does their own laundry on their personal time-frame and I put my personal focus on the Laundry Room one day a week.

Assigning home management tasks to the days of the week will look different for your family depending on your situation.  Create a system that works for you.

I created a workbook to help you think about your home management work and how to plan the tasks into your week. It’s located in the Free Resource Library.

This is Part One of the Series How to Manage Your Home and Homeschool Simultaneously

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The post Home Management: How to Assign Days of the Week for Tasks appeared first on Home Plain and Simple.