Week 3: Living Room and Family Room

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!